a father's day hike

We decided Father's Day weekend would be a great chance to cross off the hiking path on our summer list.  We packed up a picnic lunch and headed out. 

 This is the first time in awhile that I've got my big camera out.  I missed it.  I need to keep it back out in sight instead of put away in my bag.  I used to use it so much more when it was within reach.

 I guess the kids missed my camera too.

 We came to the creek that runs through the trail and you'd think we had just arrived at Disney World.  They kids were pumped when we told them they could wade in the water.  They could have stayed all day.

Skipping rocks lessons from Dad.

 

 They walked away and said "that was the funnest thing ever!"

It was definitely fun watching them too.  I wish we didn't forget about this hidden little spot all the time.

It was a great, low-key weekend celebrating this amazing daddy and all that he does for us.

Maybe some day one of my children will look like me.

{for those of you who are local, we were the Sand Creek trail at Bethel College}

a big month of soccer

 We have had a blast watching Mason play soccer for the past 6 weeks.

 Dave is coaching again which makes it even more fun.  His patience with those 5 year olds is pretty outstanding.  At any given practice you could probably see over half the team doing something completely different than what they were supposed to be doing. It was quite comical at times.

 We went an entire indoor soccer season scoring zero goals this spring.  But we have made quite the turn around in outdoor.  Although they don't really keep score and announce a winner, I'm pretty sure they won all but one game.  And they scored lots of goals! It was especially fun to see a handful of different kids score...it was pure joy watching their reactions!

I'd say that many times games are one based on the goalie. And this particular game, it wasn't too hard to score on this goalie who got distracted and left the goalie box.  His foot even got stuck in the net and he couldn't get it out when he saw the other team coming to score.  It was a little sad and a lot hilarious.

 And while we're on the topic of soccer, we also made quite the trip to Indianapolis to watch our nephew play in a soccer tournament.  With a sister fighting cancer, his world has kind of been turned upside down.  He and Dave have a special bond and Dave really wanted to support him at this tournament, since it was only 11 hours away...as opposed to 16 to their home in Michigan.

The trip was originally just going to be Dave and I.  We didn't think it sounded one bit fun to have kids ride for 11 hours just for a day and a half of soccer.  But plans fell through and after our plans changed 15 thousand times in the few days before, we finally decided to just pack them all up and take them along.  To be honest, it wasn't one bit fun.  Until we were out of the car.  We used to travel so well, even with a 3 and 4 year old on an 18 hour trip to Florida.  But this baby of ours does NOT like to travel.  So he has decided to make us all know about it.

  But as awful as the car ride was, it was worth it to see this guy play soccer and hang out with him and his mom for a while.  Unfortunately, the weather caused the tournament to be cancelled on Sunday, so we only saw his 2 games on Saturday.  Such a bummer too, because being the #1 team out of Michigan in that age range, I'm pretty sure they could have won the whole thing!

 

 Mason has loved playing soccer just like Jeremy.  When he scores goals, the first person he wants to call is Jeremy or Uncle Jason.  And this past game, with his 3 goals, Jeremy taught him that he had a "hat trick".  Mason thinks "hat tricks" are pretty cool now. 

Last Post of Sydney's Celebration Cruise {Cozumel}

 Our 2nd stop was a rainy and dreary Cozumel.  It was a little bit challenging trying to decide what to do when we ported.  A lot of the rest of the group were headed off to an "Amazing Race" excursion we weren't sure if our kiddos would enjoy.  Several of the excursions we would have been willing to pay for, the kids weren't old enough for.  So in the end, they stayed on the boat with Papa and Nana and Dave and I got a few hours on our own to go zip-lining. The rain didn't last, but the rest of the day was cloudy and gray.

 We met back up with the kids and were determined to find a beach.

We rented a dune buggy and took off on our own. 

We found Paradise Beach (man, it's been so long, I THINK that's what it was called) and the rest of the day was perfect.

The kids loved swimming out to all the blow-ups with Daddy.

We left the beach and wanted to cruise the main strip of Cozumel.  I looked back during our drive to see this...

 

Both of the kids got to choose one souvenir from each stop.  Taylor decided her souvenir would be hair braids.  And to our complete surprise, our fairly reserved little girl begged for a whole head of braids, as opposed to just a single little braid or two.  She's only 6 years old in Cozumel once, so we agreed.

Just a few more pictures from the boat...

 

Love this picture of my handsome boys.  (sorry for the quality - they are pictures of pictures :-)

And a few more memories I don't want to forget...

 like the way theses kiddos slept so hard every night (this was back in Florida in the hotel, not the boat).

 and the sweet note and gift of change Taylor wanted to leave for our cabin maid,

And the surprise that Taylor and Mason got when they arrived back in Wichita to find their brother was still awake and had come to the airport to see them!  As we got closer and closer to home that day, they could hardly stand the fact that we still had a 30 minute drive after getting off the plane, before they could see their baby brother.  So his surprise airport welcome was super sweet!

 

It was an amazing trip and such a special time with Dave's side of the family.  We are truly truly blessed to have been able to do both of these trips.  I have thought many times back on our summer already and can hardly believe all that we did.  We missed our sweet Gavin terribly! But we are so thankful for the fun and memories we made with our two oldest.