It's GALA!!!

As we were packing to go up to Indiana for the 4th, I noticed that my packing list was shorter and my nerves weren't shot when thinking about the trip.  I realized that this was the first year that I was not pregnant or breast feeding, which turns out to make life a whole lot easier!  So not only was packing a breeze, the 8 hour trip wasn't that bad and the kids weren't too restless.  We ended up having a wonderful time with family.  

Kyle got some good chunks into the air this year.  Last year he was too little.  He accomplished treading water and not tipping forwards or backwards while in the water with his life jacket.

We had perfect weather.  We had a couple of cool days but we filled those days with games and a trip to the Ft. Wayne zoo.  

 Adam's grandma and grandpa Mark had four children.  Then there were 9 grandchildren and a lot of great grandchildren.  So when this group gets together, it's a big crowd.  Adam's mom hosts the 4th of July every year at their house.  They grill out, celebrate summer birthdays, walk over to the park for the town fair, and then stick around for fireworks at the park.  

That's grandpa and grandma Mark in the middle with great grandbaby Cooper on her lap.

Thank goodness for Tia who will do rides with the kids

The kids' annual merry-go-round ride with Grandma and Poe.

This is take #68 of 145 of the kids.  Kyle was a monster.  Adam was passing out gummies as a treat for anyone who would sit still.  As you can see, it was cloudy and windy.  Every morning it looked like this and by the third day, Aubrie asked, "Does the sun EVER shine in the mornings in Indiana??!"  

Granny met her match.  Emilie liked to sit in the back of the boat with her and they would talk and talk about anything and everything.  Sometimes you can catch them both talking and neither listening.  :)  The kids had so much fun with Granny.  I'm sure she had to take naps for weeks after we left.  They were constantly playing peggity, old maid, doing homework, coloring, playing stone school, and Granny even hopped on the hopscotch with them!  Go Granny!

The whole fam

Neighbors gave us some sparklers and we weren't sure of them.

View of the lake while waiting for fireworks.  We kept the girls up to watch them this year.

Standing on the end of the pier, looking back at the cottage.

The lake is Petey's favorite place in the world.  He is spoiled with lots of swimming, sleeping on the couch, and cleaning up table scraps after we dine outside.  He is so patient while Kyle tries to ride him like a horse.

Granny was swung on this porch swing when she was a little girl.  The kids were chatting up Gaga while they swung.

For those of you who don't remember, last year we caught a turtle for the girls and Aubrie named it Gala.  She feel in love with it, talked to it, kissed it (ewww)...

Well, this year we "caught Gala again!!"  Aubrie was so excited to see her old pal.  Adam took the picture below.  We were sitting at the table, playing scrabble, and she was contently sitting with her turtle and playing with it for the longest time.  

We noticed Gala had pink paint on her tummy.  We didn't know why until some neighbor boys walked by with a net and a turtle and they said that every turtle they caught, they put some paint on their shell so that they knew if they caught it or not.  GREEEEAAT.  That means that next year we can't just "catch Gala".  We are going to have to catch a turtle with pink on its stomach.  

Gaga told us that 70 years ago, this July, he landed on Normandy beach when he was just 19 years old.  We got to hear some neat stories, but most of all, it made our Independence Day just THAT much more meaningful and we are so thankful for all the men and women serving now and who have served in the past.  This also includes the family who hold down the fort at home when their loved ones are away.  We are so thankful for you!

I mentioned earlier that we went to the Ft. Wayne zoo on one of the colder days.  Adam and his sister used to go to Ft. Wayne when they were little on cloudy days.  I was a little weary of going to this random zoo in a smaller Indiana city.  But this zoo was AMAZING!  It's a children's zoo, so that is probably why we were so impressed.  But their train ride actually took 10 minutes and went somewhere!  They have a ski lift you can ride and look at the whole safari exhibit.  Peacocks and ducks just wandered around everywhere.  They had misters hidden in the brush that would come on and cool you off periodically.  The selection of animals were awesome.  My favorite... the lions.  Kyle brought home a stuffed lion in honor of Bill the lion.  We also got to FEED THE GIRAFFES!  So cool.  I loved this zoo.  It definitely made Nashville's zoo look like no fun.  But then when we came home, we found an article that showed the Nashville zoo's plans for expansion and improvement and we can't wait to see what they will do!

The kids all went on a pony ride.  Kyle sitting on a pony cracked me up, but then his pony got a little frisky and started trotting off and Poe had to run along him to make sure he didn't fall off.  I could NOT stop laughing. 

Feeding the giraffe.  Emilie picked out a stuffed giraffe from the zoo.  It had about 4 name changes before she got the name Barbie.

Adam and I took a day trip over to LaPorte to visit Nick.  Both Nick and Steve went to school in LaPorte and then played at Belmont with Adam.  We couldn't wait to tour the historical city of which two great me were born.  Nick is a lawyer there, but soon will be mayor.  Then President.   Nick's lovely wife, Ashlie, cooked us some lunch and we sat lakeside and caught up on life.

Before we went to lunch, we stopped by Nick's office to see where the magic happened.  Adam was so impressed he decided to sue the NCAA for using his name and likeness on a basketball video game.  Nick will win us millions...

We had a lot of fun on our vacation. The kids were so sad to come back home and so was I.  But we have been filling the days with lots of fun and a couple of camps.  I'll share that some other time. 

Love to all!

Pin It Now!