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.

Tonight Papa Ronnie is here staying with us while he is in town for the World Pork Expo.  Thank goodness the rain came during the day so that it was dry enough for us to play outside tonight after supper.  Josiah & Anya showed him how good they are at hitting the ball off the tee and of course JP had to take a spin with Papa on the lawn mower.  Now the kids are in bed and Ron & Jason are busying talking Hawkeye football….big surprise huh??!!

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!

On Thursday, Anya graduated from ECP preschool in a great ceremony. All the kids danced, sang, recited poems and at the end of program each child got to walk across the stage and receive their portfolio and diploma. It was a fun show and the kids did a fantastic job. We are so proud of Anya and the progress she made during her year in preschool. She is a bit sad she won’t get to see her friends regularly anymore, but is looking forward to starting pre-K in the fall.

Grandma Barb & Great G’ma Ruth came down to watch Anya’s graduation and stayed with us until Saturday. On Friday the kids went to Adventureland with their babysitter and her kids and G’ma Barb, Great G’ma Ruth & I did all sorts of shopping. It was a fun girls day out and we got lots accomplished. Saturday morning we all headed to the downtown Farmer’s Market and boy was it busy, but fun. After the market, G’ma Barb & great G’ma Ruth headed home and we headed back out to Adventureland for some afternoon fun. We got season tickets for the year, so we anticipate spending quite a bit of time there, especially once the new waterpark opens up!

Here are some pictures of Anya’s graduation.

We headed to Ringsted last weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day.  What do we do when we are on the farm?

Ride on golf carts

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and drive tractors of course!!

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What else would we do??

On Mother’s Day we went out for brunch at the Elk’s Club in Estherville and all the adults ate way too much food and all the kids  caused WAY too much commotion.

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But, that seems to be a perpetual theme when you combine eating in a public place with my kids.  Oh well!

Here are a few more pictures of our weekend and we hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day!

Because sometime, just 1 blanket isn’t enough!