My Awesome Little Brother

My brother, Brian, came by today for most likely the last time for more than 2 years. He's off to Malawi next week with the Peace Corps.  While I'm sad to miss him, and a little jealous of the adventure, I'm mostly excited and proud of him! So Kevin took the day off of work to visit and we spent a great morning together before he left this afternoon. 

Of course, it's beautiful outside today, so we had to walk up to a local café for lunch.  The kids thought that was a real novelty and had a hard time not running in the street. 

We had to get a few last photos together, kinda fun.

And Chloe is really going to miss Uncle Brian.

We're all going to miss him.

If you want to know more about why he's going or what he's doing while he's in Malawi, click here.

Fun on the Lake and a Little, Big River

When all was said and done, and we were on our ridiculously long drive home, Kevin and I asked the kids what they thought about our vacation in Minnesota.  We asked for their 3 favorite things that they did.  Their responses varied of course.  Jadon loved tubing with Daddy

and swimming in the lake.

Micah had a great time fishing

and doing the boys vs girls photo scavenger hunt.

Chloe asked to have her birthday on vacation every year, it was obvious she loved being the center of attention.

But the one thing they all said was that they LOVED going to the headwaters of the Mississippi!

It was drissly and dreary that day, but we decided to go anyway.  All the kids ended up soaked, falling into the river at one time or another (sometimes on purpose, sometimes on accident). We all had such a great time and the kids really thought the idea of walking across such a HUGE river was awesome!
Jadon got to cross with Kevin.

And even Lydia made it across with Mark, although convincing her to let Daddy help was quite a trick.

Even Mommy and Zac got a picture taken on the rocks, although we did cheat and cross the little bridge.

(something about slipping on the rocks with a baby strapped to me didn't sound all that appealing)
What great memories we made! And I love that most of the fun was just enjoying God's world!

One Week

some of our kids at Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi River

1200 + miles
18 children
28 adults (give or take)
1 lake
4 boats
2 kayaks
7? cabins
800 + photos
1 river
2 birthdays
1 fish fry
1 campfire
3 potlucks
TONS of fun

Berry Hunting

What do you do when you see this?

My kids know.

For a couple of weeks I've been waiting for the signs advertising strawberries and I finally saw them last week.  So we made a plan to go out and get some a couple of days later.  I wasn't really sure how it would go with 4 kids along, but we decided we were up for an adventure. 

So with specific instructions to pick only pretty red berries with no white and no green, off they went into the patch with Isaac strapped to Momma's back. 

They did a really great job and picked gorgeous baskets full of bright red berries!

Those kiddos were hot and sweaty after all that hard work, but it was so much fun!!

And of course I rewarded them with yummy Strawberry Stuffed French Toast the next morning.

Daddy's are the BEST!

A couple weeks ago, we had the opportunity to visit a different park with the whole family.  We had a great time together running around and exploring new things. 

For some reason, parks are always more fun when Daddy comes along.  I'm thinking it may be the crazy ideas he comes up with, like putting 3 kids together on one swing. 

Or just the simple fact that he plays on the equipment with the kids.

Divide and conquer.  Daddy plays on the equipment while Mommy mans the baby and the camera.