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On Sunday we made our first trip to the state fair. We didn’t stay too long since we will be going back several more times before the end of the week, but we did have time to visit Little Hands on the Farm. JP was in “farm heaven” !!

Here are a few more pictures of our farm adventure!

Last week our church had it’s vacation bible school with the theme “High Power” soccer. This was the first year Anya was old enough to go (and just barely–the minimum age is 5, so she made it by less than 2 weeks!) and she had a blast.

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Jason volunteered as one of the team coaches while I floated here and there and manned one of the water stations to keep the campers nice and hydrated! Despite not knowing much about soccer, Jason had a great time coaching his team (he had about 12 kids ranging from 1-3 grades) and really enjoyed interacting with the kids. Anya just enjoyed the opportunity to socialize with kids (big surprise, I know) and after a few attempts to try and play soccer, she decided that chatting with the goalie was more her scene

As entertaining as it was to watch the soccer, the real fun came in watching the kids learn and become excited about Jesus. What a great week!

Here are a few pictures of Anya’s first year at VBS!

This last weekend we joined the Miller Family & Papa Jim and G’ma Barb in Forest City for a fun (and HOT) couple of days celebrating Puckerbrush Days. We left Pleasant Hill bright and early on Saturday morning to be at the parade by 10am. The parade was very good–especially the Miller Pharmacy Float–and the kids got another ridiculous amount of candy and other goodies. After the parade we did all sorts of fun things around town–bounce houses, kiddie train rides, firetruck rides, ice cream breaks and finally we ended the day with a great fireworks show. I think kids and adults finally climbed into bed around 11:30pm and were all asleep by 11:31pm!

Sunday we were lucky enough to get to spend the day on Clear Lake on the Miller’s boat. Thankfully, it wasn’t quite as hot as Saturday, but we all still got plenty of sun! We spent a lot of time with the boat anchored jumping off and swimming in the water (which was probably about 75 degrees!!) and after awhile we got the tube out. Anya was so excited to go tubing…she tubed with me, daddy, Noah, Zachary, Aunt Jill and finally Aubrey. There is nothing funnier than watching a 4 year old and a 5 year old in a tube together–especially when they are screaming to “go faster” the whole time. What little daredevils!! Josiah swam some in the lake and had a good time—but he much preferred to be sitting at the wheel “driving”. The boy is obsessed with anything that has a wheel!

Finally at about 5:30pm, we decided we had better get headed home. Needless to say, after 2 exhausting days in the sun, it was a very quiet ride back to Des Moines.

Here are the pictures from our Puckerbrush fun!

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On Saturday we had Anya’s 5th & Aubrey’s 4th birthday party. We had a house full of friends and family and the weather was perfect for the kids to play outside! Thanks to everyone that came to help the girls celebrate–it was a fun day.

Here are a few more pictures of the birthday girls’ fun day!

We had a jam packed 4th of July weekend.  We met Papa Jim & Grandma Barb at Cutty’s in Okoboji on Friday night spend the weekend at the camper and the Miller family joined us on Saturday.  We had a great time hanging out at the camper and just taking it easy.

Sunday we loaded up for the day and headed to Armstrong for the annual 4th of July festivities!  We ate at Nazareth church for lunch and then headed to Gram Martha’s house to watch the parade.  The kids had a great time watching the parade and managed to collect a ridiculous amount of candy!  After the parade we went to the park to watch Noah in the pedal pull, let the kids play in the park and watch the fireman challenge.  Finally, after thoroughly exhausting the kids (and ourselves) we called it a day in Armstrong and headed back to Cutty’s to relax for the evening.  We spent the rest of the day in the swimming pool (fun) and trying to avoid the mosquitoes (not so much fun)!

Monday morning, after a delicious breakfast on the grill, we packed up and headed back to Des Moines….well, Jason, Josiah & I did.  Anya was lucky enough to get to stay and spend the week with G’ma Barb, Papa Jim & Aubrey!  From what I heard, the girls had a great time and the grandparents survived, so it was a successful week!!

Here are a few 4th of July pictures….enjoy!

Do we love summer??

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What do you think???

This last weekend we celebrated Father’s Day weekend in Ames & Boone with the Papa Jim, G’ma Barb and the Miller clan.  We all met in Ames on Saturday and spent the morning at Reiman Gardens and the afternoon at the new Aquatic Center in Ames.  The kids had fun hunting down all the gnomes at the Garden and going in the Butterfly Pavilion that had 400-800 butterflies in it.  It was amazing how beautiful the butterflies were–only God could create such amazing colors!

After touring Reiman Gardens, we spent the rest of the day in the water.  It was so much fun…for the kids & adults!!  Anya pretty much spent her day going down a tamer version of the flume slide–I bet she went down it over 50 times!  Josiah was partial to the red, curvy slide and the lazy river.  After spending over 6 hours there, we were exhausted and hungry.  So, we cleaned up quick and headed out for supper at Hickory Park…….YUMMY!!!

Sunday we spent the day on the Boone & Scenic River Railroad that leaves out of Boone.  We went on the picnic train, so we got to bring our own lunch.  It was a 2.5 hour train ride and we got to go over a VERY high bridge, the Des Moines River and see a lot of beautiful scenery.  It was definitely a fun way to spend Father’s Day!

Here are some pictures of our Father’s Day fun!

Things have been pretty quiet around here since returning from Texas.  The crazy amount of rain we have had (just in case you haven’t noticed how much it has been raining) has kept us inside more than any of us particularly care for. On Sunday we did venture to Sigourney for the Redlinger Family reunion (Jason’s paternal grandma was a Redlinger).  It was fun seeing some of Jason’s extended family and watching Jason participate in the “kitchen band” (playing the dish drying rack with a slotted spoon).  The kids were totally enthralled with Aunt Brooke’s puppy they had brought along for the day.

Here are a few pictures of the reunion.

Last week (Wed-Sun) Jason & I got to take a business trip to Dallas, Texas to attend a trade show for Graphic Authority.  Neither of us had ever been to Texas and we had a lot of fun.  The tradeshow was at the Arlington Convention Center which was right in the middle of Cowboy Stadium, Ranger’s Ballpark and Six Flags over Texas.  We spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the trade show, but we did manage to sneak in some fun also.  Being the amusement park enthusiasts that we are, we went to Six Flags twice and holy cow do they have some crazy roller coasters!!  We also discovered a few great places to eat with Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen being my favorite of the week!

While we were gone, the kids were busy helping Papa Ronnie, G’ma Jeryl and Aunt Joni run the farm in Winfield. They had a great time and of course Josiah spent some quality time with Papa Ronnie in a tractor!!

It was a fun week for everyone in the McArtor family!

Our holiday weekend was pretty low-key, yet a ton of fun. We spent most of our time in the backyard with the kids running back and forth between our sprinkler and the neighbors and the parents chatting and occasionally running after a rouge child! We did manage to leave home to go to Adventureland Saturday night to ride the rides at night while they were lit up, church on Sunday and today to the greenhouse to buy our last few pepper plants for our square foot garden. What a fun couple of days–really makes me look forward to the next couple of months and more summer fun!

Here are our weekend pictures…enjoy!

And lastly, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all the service men and women (past and present) for the job you do to keep us safe. God Bless You!