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! :)

Grandma Camp

Lucy and Roman thoroughly enjoyed a few days at Grandma Camp with Grammy Sharon this summer! They had a great week.

 

Grandma is a teacher so the kiddos always get some learning time when they are home with her. Here is Romy working on his letter R - completed with Ninja Turtle stickers.

 

They played outside when the sun was shining -

 

They had fun riding bikes down the road.

 

 

There is nothing better than a picnic on a summer day. I love that both Lucy and Roman have their own lunchboxes all packed up. :)

 

 

They even had picnic lunches inside when the weather was not ideal.

 

 

The kids love making things in the kitchen with Grammy so they baked banana bread, brownies, and made pizza during her visit.

 

 

I was off of work on Thursday so we had adventures together on that day. We headed to the library for story hour. Lucy is quickly become a good little reader! I love it!

 

 

Roman opted to grill for everyone on this day.

 

After library time, we went to Golden Harvest for lunch. Their deli is the best! Lucy thinks that their grilled cheese sandwiches are the cheesiest.

 

 

Roman enjoys their peanut butter and jam.

 

We visited the Golden Harvest garden area before it started to rain. Lucy and Romy wanted to posed for picture on the big bear.  

 

We headed home and Mama packed for our upcoming Storm family vacation to the Black Hills while the kids watched Minions and hung out with Grammy!

 

After so much rain and cool weather in Rhinelander this summmer, we were so excited to see the weather forecast for Rapid City! Woohoo!

 

 

On Friday morning, we loaded the minivan with 2 kids, 2 parents, 1 grammy, 10 days worth of vacation clothes, swim stuff, yard games, sleeping bags, lawn chairs, a cooler, Anna's birthday gift, grandma's stuff, toys, books, food, basically everything but the kitchen sink. And we still had room available. #Hallelujah #TotallyOnBoardWithMiniVanLife 

 

 

 

We made the trek to South Dakota without any issues. Yay! It helps to have a Grandma in the car to hand out snacks and keep the peace. Haha! Lucy took the opportunity to crack open the book 'Put me in the Zoo' and read it out loud cover to cover! Wow! :)

 

Get ready folks! We have a whole lot of South Dakota posts coming up - we had the best trip!

Grammy Sharon & Grandpa Glen Visit Rhinelander

As previously blogged about, my mom and dad came to celebrate my birthday weekend in Rhinelander. :) Normally summer weekends in Rhinelander are a perfect time to enjoy the lakes, grill out, play outside etc. This year has been unseasonably rainy (We broke records for the amount of rainfall in April and May and we had more than double the average amount of rainfall in June). So, we have lots and lots of water (and mosquitos!) and chilly weather to contend with this summer. Definitely not ideal. When Mom and Dad were here, I am pretty sure that we had 1 day over 60 degrees when the sun was shining! Ugh! We still had a fabulous time though! Instead of heading to the lake, we swam at the indoor pool at the YMCA (while Grandpa Glen read books and Dan worked out) and had a picnic afterwards.

 

Here is our crew!

 

We had a quiet Saturday afternoon watching Beauty and the Beast - the live action version with Emma Watson. This film and soundtrack is the children's latest obsession. (Whew -- we can finally have a break from the Trolls soundtrack! Haha!)

 

 

On Saturday night, we went out for dinner at our favorite spot - Brown Street 151.

 

 

The kids were so excited to get chocolate milk!

 

 

We had some serious Rummikub Tournaments.

 

The girl side of the table. Love these ladies. 

 

Grandma Hoekman would have been proud! She absolutely loved this game. :)

 

Grandpa wasn't feeling the best so he took lots of naps - Ranger was his cuddle buddy. :)

 

 

Church was supposed to have outdoor services/summer picnic on Sunday but it was cancelled due to bad weather (Shocker!). So we went to church inside and returned home for more Rummikub.

 

Grammy Sharon taught Lucy a new game - Snowman. This is essentially the same thing as Hangman. Lucy loves this and I am still in awe of how many words this kid can spell!

 

 

 

On Monday morning while Mom and Dad headed to work, the kids spent a day with Grandma and Grandpa. First stop - the Children's Museum!

 

Our kids love this place - Lucy worked in the kitchen and Romy headed to the Reading tree.

 

They pretended to be forest rangers and posed for pics with the big moose.

 

 

After a fun morning; they ate lunch at Lucy's Lunch Box. Of course this girl was pumped!

 

 

Next Stop - a Nature Center near Minocqua. These two love being outdoors.

 

They returned home and the kiddos caught toads while we grilled supper.

 

 

Here are some close ups!

 

Thanks for the wonderful long weekend Grammy and Grandpa! Grandpa Glen headed home to South Dakota early on Tuesday morning but Grandma Camp continued for the kids over the next couple of days. I promise to update the blog with these adventures soon. :)

37 Years!

I celebrated my 37th birthday at the end of June! My day was filled with delicious treats. :)

 

First - my sweet co-workers picked up cupcakes in honor of my special day. They were amazing. It probably goes without saying that Crandon, WI is not known for its culinary delights (Haha!) but it does have one of the best cupcake shops ever! If you are ever in town, you must stop by BC Cakes - they have incredible cupcakes! Yum.

 

 

Later in the day my dear hubby came home with this treat from Golden Harvest. A lemon cheesecake. Dan, you are the best! Delicious!!

 

 

My kids are waaaaaay more excited about my birthday than I am! They could hardly believe that someone would be old enough for 37 birthday spankings. ;)

 

 

My mom and dad came to celebrate with me this year! We just love their visits!

Lucy and Romy couldn't wait to snuggle with Grammy Sharon and start reading books as soon as she arrived.