4th of July Celebrations

We had a fantastic 4th of July at Austin and Mallory's house this year! The cousins played, we had some awesome BBQ, the kids participated in a bike parade, and the fireworks show was fabulous. It was a wonderful evening with family.

Mom and Dad contributed some sweet corn to the feast. I could eat sweet corn every single day of July and August! Love that stuff. 

Roman was testing out the bikes in advance of the children's bike parade.

The kids were introduced to snakes and snaps this summer.

The children all loved being Uncle Kevin's assistants with the fireworks.

Nothing better than a 4th of July Picnic! Sweet corn - check, Watermelon - check, Cousins - check! 

It wouldn't be a 4th of July Celebration without some smoke bombs, am I right?  

After dinner we walked down to the cabana to lead the bike parade. These guys were excited to get on the dock and watch for turtles.

Everyone received some candy for being in the "parade". There are big air quotes around the word parade because the Hoekman cousins were appoximately 90% of the participants in the event. Hahahaha! It wasn't so much a parade ... mostly just our own kids doing a couple of laps on their bikes. ;)

This little peanut was the cutest! We just love our cousin Esther!

  

Our very own Roman Candle with his sucker.

So we have a 2 year old and 1 year old in our group that were eager to walk yet these two big kids wouldn't stop whining until they were pulled home in a wagon!! Good grief! 

We watched fire works late into the night so getting the kids up and ready for adventures the next day was a little bit ugly! ;) We said goodbye to Grandpa Glen and Grammy Sharon and headed west for a week of fun in the beautiful Black Hills with the Storm crew. We had the best week and made so many wonderful memories! Can't wait to share blog posts of our trip.

Thanks for the fun and memorable 4th of July celebrations, Hoekman family! 

South Dakota Trip - Cousin Time in Brookings

Our favorite thing to do when we are in South Dakota is spending time with our cousins. Lucy and Roman have 6 cousins in SoDak and absolutely love to play with this pack of kids.

 

Abby and Julianna arrived at my Mom and Dad's house on Saturday morning and many hugs ensued. ;)

Abby is almost exactly 1 year older than Lucy and Roman is almost exactly 1 year older than Julianna!

 

On this day we made the short trip to Dan's old stomping grounds of Brookings for a trip to the Children's Museum of South Dakota. Look at this sweet view of our backseat. 3 Kids sitting comfortably! #AnotherReasonIAmLovingMinivanLife 

 Friends, this Children's Museum is incredible! We could have stayed all day long!

The kids had fun in the auto repair area. :)

 

The climb a cloud exhibit was a huge hit!

 

There was an awesome Dakota tipi and sod house to explore!

 

The big kids had a blast at the ice cream shop.

 

Roman loved the water play area. 

 

 

You can tell that he was super impressed by his older cousin Paul and all of his antics.

 

 

It was definitely getting close the 4th of July holiday - someone made an American Flag on the giant light bright!   

 

The outdoor area was so cool! They had animatronic dinosaurs and Roman was impressed!   

 

Here he is pretending to be scared of the big T-Rex.

 

Look at this sweet little crew! I have the best childhood picture of eight Hoekman cousins sitting on the edge of our sandbox and this one reminds me of that same set up. :)

 

 

We had to snap a family pic in front of the dino! :)

There were splashpads and water features to jump in, just perfect for a hot day.

 

Everyone had the best day. :)  By the time we were done with our museum trip, Roman was completely soaked!!

 

Abby enjoyed the water.

 

There were a bunch of fun outdoor musical instruments so the kids put on a little concert.

 

 We had a picnic right outside of the museum and we sang Happy Birthday to sweet Anna! I can't believe that this girl is already 7 years old!  

 

 How adorable are these girls? I am so grateful that Lucy has these two as her cousins.

Here are Grandpa and Grammy with their grandchildren. What fun!

 

On the way back home we took the girls. There was some Barbie play including a wedding in the back of the van. I heard Anna say, 'Do you take this man to be your new Dad?' Hahahaha!

 

This was the boy van! These guys were headed to Kevin and Katie's house for the afternoon.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the girls at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Dress up is always a favorite activity. I love that a new generation of kids is playing with the same dress up clothes that I used to put on when I was growing up!

 

We wrapped up with day with a 4th of July celebration at Austin and Mallory's house - watch for a post coming soon. :)

South Dakota Trip - Sioux Falls

After a full day in the van, we were pumped to arrive in Sioux Falls. The first stop of our trip was Grandpa Glen and Grammy Sharon's house.

 

The kids were eager to burn off some energy!

 

 

Grandma and Grandpa have a new rope tree swing in their yard!

Do you remember this little gem from our Hoekman Family weekend in 2016?

 

 

Well, here is the same swing! Lucy loved this rope swing last summer and she was so excited to do some more swinging this season! She literally sat on this swing for hours. Roman tried it a couple of times but somehow his center of gravity was off and he was just not able to sit comfortably and hang on tight. So Roman claimed the swingset swings and Lucy Bear had zero competition for her beloved tree swing. Haha!

 

 

Roman enjoyed the swingset!

 

 

Later that evening, Grandpa showed off his new toy to the kids and let them drive the new riding lawn mower around the yard. Lucy and Roman loved every minute!  

 

 

 

It felt so good to stretch after a long trip. The weather was absolutely perfect on this evening and there were no bugs. Heavenly!

 

 

We grilled out for dinner and started our 4th of July Celebrations.

 

Popsicles - Check

 

Fireworks from a stand down the street - Check

 

 

Beer in a Patriotic Cat Koozie - Check

Hahahaha!

 

 

The kids settled in for a fireworks show

 

Choreographed by their dad!  

 

 

High drama ensued when one of the ground spinning fireworks kicked up a pebble that hit Lucy in the leg. She was not impressed. All in all, it was a great evening. It brought back a lot of memories from our wedding rehearsal dinner! Nine years ago in this very yard, we had the best celebration with family and friends complete with a firework show! Good times! :)