DeWitz Reunion

We made a trip to Fargo last weekend to attend the DeWitz Family Reunion. The kids had a great time but were more than tired on the trip home... Hanging out - playing basketball and doing chalk drawings - all in a days work as a kid.

Gavin & Nolan playing ball.

Reagan FINALLY fell asleep for a nap when I took her for a walk. Had to "park" her by the van so that she wouldn't wake up with the noise in the garage.

Kyra's self portrait (with help from Kaitlyn) - a ballerina dancer. Of course what else?!

The girls doing sidewalk chalk art.

Having some lunch.

Hayden and Reagan waiting for their food. Hayden is wondering why Reagan stole her snack cup. Reagan was NOT going to give it up easily (even though hers was the same exact type of cup).

The kids doing a chalk drawing of Cally.

Nope, she isn't tired at all. She came a grabbed her blanket from me, walked over to the door and pulled up a slab of cement?!Reagan's first drink out of a straw. She did great! She LOVED the slush drinks.

Snack time for Reagan, Saddie and Hayden.

No BS-ing going on here! :-)

Kyra and Brittin hanging out in the pool.

Nolan on the slip-and-slide.

Carley watched the boys for a while and then decided she wanted to try it but her "sliding" was actually "crawling". She had fun though.

Jacson trying out the slip-and-slide. Looks painful?!

Gavin enjoying the slip-and-slide.

"The boys" Jacson, Nolan and Gavin.

Brittin decided to jump in the pool with all of his clothes on so Kaitlyn helped him find a change of clothes aka her shorts with a hairband holding them on and Scooby's shirt (oh, and Scooby is the dog)! Ernie LOVED this outfit.

The "big kids" making the "little kids" FLY!

Brittin and Carley swimming - they could be twins. 6 weeks apart and same hair color/skin tone. Aren't they cute!

Enjoying the trampoline.

At the park with Nana and Papa and Dolce. Reagan was trying to get Papa's hand (trying to keep herself awake).

The girls enjoying a swing together.

Reagan should have felt like queen on this big swing.Kyra playing peek.

Reagan climbing up the tunnel - she did pretty good all by herself. She can also now climb all the way up a slide by herself.

Gavin testing his plastic rock climbing skills.

Carley crossing the bridge.

Reagan enjoying all of the elements of the jungle gym. Swinging - her favorite. She laughs at you every time she swings close to you. For some reason that's funny. No smart comments needed!

This Week

Kyra, Carley, Isabella, Gavin and Isaiah decided they needed to have a "farmer's market" at the end of our driveway today. They made signs and were waving them at passing cars. Wouldn't you know it, one eventually did stop. Bless her heart, the "customer" as the kids called her gave them $5 for an onion and two zucchini. They were on top of the world. She was the only customer for the day. Reagan enjoyed her first TWO pieces of corn on the cob last night...and boy did she enjoy!

We finally ended our baseball season. Now we have swimming next Monday and then 4 - count them 4 - Monday's off until another year of dance begins.

Carley after a hard day of play. Yikes, could she be more dirty?

So, the night that we returned from our Alexandria 4 day weekend of fishing and fun, Jed went out to "check" on the garden and came back with this "present" for me. So, he went to bed and I attempted to do beans. Needless to say, I did not get through all of them that night but the rest seemed to do just fine in the fridge overnight. Thanks dear!

Kids Say the Funniest Things

I was watching a friend's two children yesterday (one is Gavin's age and one is a little younger than Kyra). I was doing dishes and just enjoying listening to the kids "bargain" with each other.

Gavin: "Let's go outside and play."
Isabella: "I want to go upstairs and play dress up."
Gavin: "Please, go outside with me, I'll be your best friend."
Isabella (already half way up the stairs): "Will you promise to marry me too?"
Gavin: "Okay, okay, I will marry you, now will you go outside with me?"
Isabella: "Sure!"

And off they went... :-)

Vacation to the Lake

We took off Wednesday evening to spend a long weekend in Alexandria at the lake. We had beautiful weather for fishing and swimming. If the kids were not sleeping then they were in the water swimming or on the dock fishing. Great weekend with the family! Carley on the drive there - she makes Mom's sunglasses look good!

Took us about 4 hours to get there - they all did pretty good. Reagan is not our perfect little car rider, but she did okay.

Grandpa, Carley and Jason the first morning there, waiting for their breakfast.

Grandma having breakfast on the deck with the 3 older kids. It was chilly the first morning but it just kept getting nicer and nicer throughout the weekend.

Gavin's first catch.

Carley waiting for a bite.

Kyra's first catch.

Kyra was all about touching them and throwing them back. Her brother was all about NOT doing any touching or throwing back. :-) Just catching for him thank you!

Uncle Brandon doing some fishing.

And another. This kid spent all day on the end of the dock and the fish would just swarm his worm. Even though by the end of the 4 days the fish in that area were very well fed, we did have good luck catching lots of sunny and perch along with a few bass. As always, the kids did better fishing off the end of the dock than the grown-ups did fishing in the boat.

The girls fished a bit but most of their waking hours were in the water. Here they were playing mean monster (as you can see by their faces, they were growling).

And another...

Carley caught her first one. She is so proud.

And Grandpa's prize winner - winner for the smallest one caught that is. :-)

Reagan loved playing in the water by the shore.

Carley and Reagan trying to build a sand castle.

Reagan - she loved to try and eat the sand and rocks. After she got a particularly large mouth full of sand one time, she decided that was not as much fun as she once thought.

Carley hanging out on the rocks. So serious!

Daddy pushing Reagan around on the "boat" as the girls called the rafts. She loved this.

She was ready to head down the dock. She also had no fear of walking right off the dock.

Gavin on his little stoop waiting for the big one.

Carley, Daddy and Reagan taking a break from swimming.

Reagan decided she wanted to go fishing. She picked up her brother's tackle box and was headed to the dock.

Kyra thought that Uncle Brandon's tube would be so much fun, but she ended up chickening out before we went out. Carley on the other hand - we couldn't get off of the darn thing. Here she is on her first tube ride with Mom.

Gavin was not as sure about this "fun" as Carley was, but he did end up and try it and as long as we went slow he thought it was okay to do - but he only did it once. Fishing was more important to him.

The first night at sunset.

Zoey - "won't anyone play with me". She was such a good puppy the whole weekend (minus the night that Britton and Lacy were up with her at all hours of the night because she got sick from the goose poop she tasted earlier in the day). We told them it was good practice for kids!

Britton kayaking at sunset. Zoey even decided to join him for a bit.

Cute little sea monsters aren't they?! I can't believe they didn't shrivel up from being in the water so much.

Taking a break from fishing - it lasted 5 minutes then it was right back to the end of the dock.

"Come here fishy fishy."

Reagan and Daddy catching a snack and some shade.

Sharing a snack at the end of the dock.

I think this was his biggest catch - he was SOOOO proud!!!

Grandpa relaxing.

Reagan hanging out with Grandma!

Kyra pulling one in with Dad's help.

Carley went out on the kayak with Aunt Lacy and Gavin went with Uncle Britton.

Grandma and Reagan hanging out together again.

Gavin getting some lessons from Uncle Britton.

Jed taking a breather.

Jason and Reagan trying the tube.

Reagan playing in the sand again.

Lacy & Britton going for a tube ride. Hold on!

Day two of tube riding for Carley - this time with Uncle Britton and Aunt Lacy. We couldn't get her off!

Day #2 sunset.

Grandpa fishing at sunset. Britton fishing off of the kayak - this may take some talent. Yikes!

Jacque and Bryon kayaking at sunset.

Britton fishing and Zoey dreaming of what fish tastes like!

Kyra finally decided she would trust Dad to take her out on the kayak, and she ended up paddling them back in all by herself.

Cute little kayaking boy!Daddy and Gavin headed out at 5:00AM to fish with Britton, Grandma and Grandpa - they caught some fish but the big story was how Britton and Gavin both caught turtles.

Gavin kayaking with Grandma - he loved that he got the hang of this by the end of the weekend and could go in his own kayak and do it all by himself. Mom thought he looked too little to be able to do it by himself...But he was so darn cute!

Another catch - he wanted me to take a picture of all of the fish he caught, I decided we could become a little more selective when he pulled on in every 2 minutes.

Day 3 was a warm one, everyone was cooling off in the water.

Britton enjoyed catching this large bass right off the dock. Grandpa, Gavin and Grandma & Carley kayaking.