Iowa 09 Trip - Sat 7/4

4th of July with the Masson Side

You know: family, sunny, 100 degree hot weather, swimming and BBQ, fireworks....

.... well, 3 out of 6 aint bad.

Family: Check.

BBQ: Check.

Swimming: Check.

Aunt Shelly (Papa's sister) and Uncle Kevin held their annual BBQ/Swim family get-together at their place in Morning Sun, Iowa. I was so excited that we would get to go this year.

Unfortunately, it was about 65 degrees and cloudy and misty!!

But we made it work.

(and in case you are wondering about fireworks - well, the town had them, but as we had seen a good display the weekend before in Fairfax and our kids were tired from a long week and we had a 90 min drive back to C.R. - we opted to leave around 7:00)

I didn't get a good pic of Aunt Shelly, so here is one from February when I was back in Iowa for my Grandma Ruth's funeral.

Lunch

Playing a brick wall brain teazer with Ethan while we waited for it to stop misting and warm up...

Kevin and Shelly had made homemade icecream. But it was so chilly that Kaylin had to wrap up in a towel so she could enjoy her ice cream :)

See? Papa was there ;)

It was good to see him again. It had been SOOO long! ;)

Ethan trying to warm up after ice cream

Krystin waiting to go out back and enjoy the pool

I thought, "Hey, we have some time to kill, why not snap a picture of the kids in their 4th of July outfits??" It turned out about the usual.

As I look at these 2 pictures, I am thinking, "Yep. Krystin is 3." :)

Finally.

It stopped misting and warmed up to a balmy 65/70 degrees.

Fortunately their pool is heated.

Oh. AND they have a hot tub.

Here Krystin is with Sammy (Shelly's/K daughter) and Caitlin (Noah-Shelly's S/K son-wife)

Ethan's dive with the life saving fish ;)

Kaylin's turn

Krystin was no fool. She hung out in the hot tub :)

Kaylin had a great time with Dad.

(side note - that is Uncle Kevin in pool by Dan)

UP...

UP...

... And AWAY!

Caitlin and Noah

My expert dive :)

Ethan being such a good older brother and helping Krystin with her arm floaties

Hot tub convention

Back in for more ice cream

Debbie, Kaylin, and Papa

Uncle Bob (Papa's brother) has always been good with kids..

... just don't play "poof and pow" with him ;)

Telling Papa good bye

Thanks again, Shelly for picking up pool toys for the kids to use.

We had a great time seeing everyone.

And swimming on a chilly, cloudy 4th of July day won't soon be forgoten.

But will we be back down?......

"I don't kno-ow"

:)


Back at Grandpa and Grandma Jordan's house, we went out to look at lightning bugs (we don't have them out here
I really like this shot Mom (Penni) took.

Unfortunately for Sweetie, Mom and Kevin's backyard neighbors were lighting a few fireworks ;)

Krystin cuddled with Grandma for a bit

We enjoyed their fire pit

Iowa 09 Trip - Sun 7/5

Roth Family Day

Oh......

My kiddos crack corn, and I don't care,

my kiddos crack corn, and I don't care,

my kiddos crack corn, and I don't CAAARRRE ...

'cuz Mama's sleepin' in !

Early Sunday morning, Kevin took the kids outside to husk the corn we were going to eat for lunch with Great Grandpa and Grandma Goff

They all 3 were very maticulous (no surprise, really)

Then Grandpa played Brain Quest with Ethan.

Ethan loved this game.

(Fortunately, when we got back home, I found the card version of it at Costco)

Kaylin even got in on the action.

Here she is thinking about her answer.

She also had some good questions. She is not reading yet, but likes to pretend.

Here is a sample Kaylin question:

"The gate is open, the pig runs out.... True or False?"

:)

(I think Grandpa asnwered "true", to which Kaylin - obviously dissapointed she didn't trick Grandpa replied, "oh... yes")


As I mentioned earlier, Great Grandpa/Grandma Goff came for lunch.

Here Grandma is reading "George and Martha, One Fine Day" to the girls.

This was a favorite story the whole trip.

Meanwhile, out back Ethan was showing his Kid-friendly Road Atlas to Great Grandpa.

(Ethan loves maps and roadsigns. This entertains him better than a comic book)

Hey! A decent picture of me from the trip!

(I seemed to have relaxed a bit too much in pajamas and relaxing clothes..... Oh well - I was relaxed!)

Eating Lunch

What Iowa Roth family that could make it came over for the afternoon.

This is my cousin Makenna.

She is one of many relatives that are due to have a baby in October.

(I guess Krystin started a trend ;)

While relatives were arriving and I was taking pictures,

Dan and Ethan just hung out.

Can you see the resemblance here?)

Of course, Dan perked up to make fun of my picture taking ;)

Uncle Dale

(who, may it be noted to a certain Brenda Willis - was our first choice for a pastor for our wedding ;)

Anyway - Uncle Dale has always been great with kids. Here he is tormenting my 3 children.

Poor Krystin. "Traumetized" (okay - not really, but it makes a more interesting story) she ran to Dad for comfort......

..... only to be trapped :)

You know what is funny?

As I selected this photo for the blog, in the background (at our house a month later) I hear:

"Easy-Peezy, Lemon-Squeezy" :)

Thank you Uncle Dale and Aunt Lori

Kaylin ran over to Aunt Deb (visiting from Indiana) to see if "Easy Peezy-Lemon Squeezy" worked with her

We went outside to have graham cracker ice cream dessert.

What?! You don't know what that is?

Let me tell you.

Crushed up graham crackers mixed with butter to make a crust.

Add a layer of chocolate syrup.

Slice up a brick of vanilla icecream.

More chocolate syrup.

Top with more graham cracker crust.

Aunt Marti, Uncle Steve, Cousin Zeke

Aunt Lori and Uncle Dale

I fished out Kevin's Washers set.

Krystin and I had a nice game together. I wish I would of had someone take a picture of her and me playing. I remember playing washers when I was in summer fun camps during early elementary. I think I even won a ribbon in it.... probably a participation ribbon. But still.

Men playing Bocce Ball

Dan, Kevin, Andrew (Makenna's husband), Steve

Zeke and Andrew playing Ladder Ball.

Andrew somehow recruited Kaylin to be his caddy.

But he payed well. Every once and awhile he would give her a quarter. She kept this in a borrowed bag from the washers game.

She came up to me at one point and said: "Mommy, is this real?"

After she had amassed 3 quarters, Uncle Dale pulled her over to him and asked if he could have one of her quarters.

You could see the wheels in her head turning and the internal struggle.

"I know I should share. But I worked for this money.. and it is real."

But in the end, she gave him a quarter. I was proud.

And THAT is when IT started.

Uncle Dale explained that when you share, God has away of rewarding you with more (or something like that). And Uncle Dale placed a DOLLAR BILL in her hand.

Now Kayln was up to $1.50

Here she is thanking Uncle Dale

See the look on Andrew's face? He was not to be outdone by his Father-in-Law.

He told Kaylin that if she gave him her 2 quarters, he would give her TWO dollars.

NOW Kaylin is up to $3

I don't have a pic of it, but in the end, Great-Grandpa Goff trumped them both.

He called Kaylin over and said that if she gave him $1, he would give her a $5 bill.

She ended up netting $7 !

But the story doesn't end there.

As Kaylin was sitting on my lap, not fully aware of what had just happened, and I was helping her count her money, she said -

"I'm gonna go in and give my brother and sister each one (a bill) so that we each have some money"

Yes. I was very proud of my daughter that afternoon! :)

And side note: we still have that $7. We are going to take the kids out to a special ice cream place. We've just been so busy with other special treat things going on that we haven't done it yet. But when we do go get ice cream, we'll remind the kids it is with money that Kaylin earned by being a good helper and sharing)