A Beach in Iowa

Some friends invited us to go to Kent Park to swim with them today. The kids had a great time playing in the water and the sand. This is an Iowa Beach, not a San Diego beach like I grew up on, but it will do.

Ammon wasn't so sure about going into the water at first. He preferred burying himself in the sand instead. He wasn't so sure about it being clean and the bacteria in it. He soon warmed up to the water and was going under having a great time.

 The boys saw their friends doing "chicken fights" and wanted to give it a try. Without anyone to fight Ammon really just for a piggy back ride! Rebecca was pretty excited she could go in so far with the boys.

 The swimming area in surrounded in these thick yellow tubes. The lake stays fairly shallow up to the 1st tube, then gets pretty deep out to the 2nd one. Ammon liked to sit and then stand and balance on the 1st tube.

Sand Castle building 

The kids started building a castle with their friends until they left. The boys kept working on it until they had 4 pools and a good sized castle. Rebecca decided that instead of building the castle she wanted to bury her legs. She spent a good 20 minutes putting wet sand on her legs. She asked me to get dry sand to put on top and the final touch. She was so proud of her buried legs.

While Rebecca buried her legs the boys started racing. They'd start at the back on the beach area run down into the water, swim all the way to the 2nd yellow tube and back. They did this a good 6 times and laughed the entire time.

 This has got to be one of the favorite pictures of the day. I was brave and took the camera out in the lake. Ammon was floating on his back and I snapped a few pictures of him. He was calm, the water rippled just enough to show movement and his lips stand out so pink. He thinks it looks like he's drowning, but I think it looks like relaxation.

Simeon, Rebecca and Ammon had such a great time playing and swimming. I had to eventually drag them to the van to go home. All that was missing was big sister Corrine and dad. Corrine's off riding horses at Girl Scout Camp this week and dad was at work.

This is a must do again activity. This time with Corrine and maybe even dad.

Fishing @ Kent Park

We started the night with the youth from church fishing with a Park Ranger. Johann was the only one to catch anything. The kids didn't want to leave the pond and eat dinner they just wanted to fish. After eating dinner we headed down to the main lake where they'd recently built a new dock.

We were the only one's there so we had the area all to ourselves. The new dock was really nice. It got you out into the water away from the rocks. There was even a center area that you could fish in. We had much better luck at this lake.

It got late and dark, but the kids still didn't want to stop fishing and playing. Corrine caught a crayfish, Ammon caught a good sized large mouth bass, Simeon caught a little bluegill/sunfish and Johann also caught a small bluegill. Rebecca busied herself with throwing rocks into the lake.

This was our 2nd fishing trip of the summer and marked another thing off our summer bucket list.

Blank Park Zoo

This cute zoo is always so much fun to go visit. The kids all finished the 1st level of the library summer reading program and they all got a free ticket to get in the zoo. It was perfect timing since we needed to come get Simeon from camp this weekend anyways and this zoo is in Des Moines.

This zoo only take a few hours to see all the animals, ride the train, feed the animals and explore all the fun playthings the zoo has to offer. The train is always a hit to ride. As we we're waiting for the train ride to begin we got to see the teenage wallaby's wrestling. We said it reminded us so much of our kids!

We found this cute hippo water fountain and Rebecca feel in love with it. It had a sensor that made hippo grunts at you. Rebecca went back for a couple of drinks. Ammon tried to scale mount hippo!

Right by the hippo drinking fountain there was an elephant statue. Ammon went up to see what it was and got squirted. It was quite a shock. The elephant was a mister and made elephant noises. The kids got pretty wet playing with this guy!

The petting zoo is always a top spot for our kids. The cages have been changed since we were last there and now it's easier to get at the goats level and feed them. The food we bought got feed so quickly, so then the kids picked up food that had fallen on the ground and fed the goats. Ammon & Rebecca could have stayed and feed these guys for hours. The fish feeding area was also a little different, but the fish we're as hungry as ever.

We were lucky to see the lion right up at the fence wide awake. It's amazing how big his head is.

The kids also feed the giraffe. The giraffe was so hungry that the lettuce was gone before I could get pictures of the kids actually feeding it. Rebecca also fed it, but then wanted to get away from them and not get her picture taken.

We got there right after a rain storm and left just as another one rolled in. We had sun and blue skies for our visit to the Zoo. 

Fishing @ Sand Lake

Ammon got a closed reel fishing pole for his birthday last week and today was casting it into the

street getting a feel for how it worked. He also had a baseball game just across the street from this new lake area that the City has been developing. We decided to pack our fishing polls up and go right after the game.

Corrine surprised us with his fishing skill. She caught over a dozen fish and had a few more almost make it to shore before getting off her line. We joked that she must had put a 'love potion' on her worms because she could catch a fish, get it off, rebait, cast and bring another fish right in! She was amazing!! She had a small hook which probably really helped her get so many fish. 

Rebecca can cast really well for someone her age. She's figured out her pole and can get her line out pretty far. But the only thing she caught was the back of her shirt and the carcass of a dead fish! She was a patient fiser and she almost got brave enough to hold a fish, but settled for just touching it.

Corrine with a few of the fish she caught.

Dad caught the only big mouth trout of the night. 

Ammon caught 2 sunfish or blue gills. His hook was too big and the fish were able to get the worm off without getting hooked. He is an awesome caster and really got some good use out of his new fishing pole.

We had to finally drag the kids from the lake well after the sun had gone down. They wanted to fish the night away! Johann loves fishing, so this was so much fun for him. Simeon's at camp this week, so he missed out on the fun. Mom needs to get a license so she can fish too. 

When we were driving home I made the comment "I guess we can mark fishing off our summer bucket list." To which Ammon very quickly replied "I'm adding it back on again then!"

The kids are already begging us to go fishing again!

A Little bit of a sand lot baseball game

Sunday afternoons can be hard for the kids. We usually keep them inside and do quiet activities, but today we just couldn't keep them in, or us for that matter.
Being in the middle of 2 baseball and 1 softball seasons we live, breath, and eat baseball and softball right now. Simeon's been teaching Ammon the finer points of pitching and he's getting good and fast. Rebecca wanted to try her bat at his pitching, so a small game started with the kids. Then Johann and I joined in and the game went from quiet and friendly to loud and a bit more competitive. Add in a camera in many different hands and the pictures afterwards show a fun, loud (sorry neighbors trying to enjoy a quiet Sunday afternoon), laughter filled, energized game of backyard wiffle-ball sand lot baseball.

Rebecca getting some batting tips from Simeon. Sadly this is the only picture with him in it and you can't even see his whole face.

ATTACK MOM!!!

This bat I got a Home Run into the neighbors yard. Wahoo!!!

Dad got a home run and an automatic out because he hit the ball into the "dog yard". The kids call the neighbors yard one house over and behind us the "dog yard" because they have a dog that barks and barks and nobody will go get the balls hit into that backyard. The owners say it's a really nice dog, but so far no one wants to go find out! We've lost a dozen balls or more to the "dog yard" since we've lived here.

Ammon the catcher. For some reason I really like this picture even if you can't see his head.

Ammon waiting for the pitch.

Corrine playing catcher days before we learned that her sore foot was multiple stress fractures and what appears to be an infection in her big toe and he was stuck in a boot.

Ammon our amazingly strong monkey swinging on the swing set in front of the massive wall of hedges the neighbors haven't cut in years. 

Days like this make me want to bottle this time, put it on the shelf and keep it from aging to make it last longer. 

We have so much fun as a family. Nobody's too old, too young, or too cool to play together.

Families are AWESOME!!