Camping, Camping and More Camping

We've gone camping 3 out of the last 4 weekends...I'd say our summer is off to a great start!!  Here's a WHOLE BUNCH of pictures documenting our fun.

 Harper and Mason

Seriously…could these 2 be any cuter?!?!

Charlie and Kade

Could these 2 be any cuter?!?!  ha ha ha

The first night and these 2 were out cold.

Friday's are always so exciting exploring the campground and planning out all of the activities for the weekend!  Not to mention the build up of excitement from all week.  The kids are usually extra crazy, and extra tired, on Friday nights.

 Swim all day...

Party all night…

Makes for extra tired kids on the second night as well!!

Last weekend's camping trip unintentionally fell on Father's Day weekend.  Erik and I were reading the list of activities at the campground and noticed they all had something to do with Dad's and Kids.  We looked at each other and said, "Is it Father's Day on Sunday?!?"  Needless to say, Erik did not get a card or any gifts because I didn't exactly plan ahead :-)

The lucky guy did get to spend the weekend with all of these crazy kids though!

Owen and Mason

Little Miss Ellie Belle and me

Owen, Jack, Kade and Ellie

Owen, Ellie, Mason, Rylee and Kade

I love this picture of all the kids (minus Jack, he was already home and in bed--a day of camping is rough on an almost 1 year old!)

I can't believe I got 5 kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time!  Miracles do happen!

I couldn't pick a favorite "silly face" picture so I posted them both :-)

A clown car

With Owen in charge.  This isn't going to end well.

The best we could do for a family picture…

at least the kids are cute :-)

On Sunday, Father's Day, we (by we, I mean, Kade) did a little fishing before packing up our weekend of fun and heading back to reality.  Can't wait to go again!!!

The fish slayer and his little side kick

Mason on the dock...

…requires extra vigilance...

…and an extra strong hold courtesy of Mom :-)

He was not happy taking this picture.

We didn't have any bait so we used leftover breakfast sausage.

Apparently fish like sausage (I hope it didn't kill them…oooops) because Kade caught this big guy after only 5 minutes of fishing!!

Erik doing his fatherly duty, taking the fish off the hook...

and letting the kids touch it before throwing it back.

Kade was way too busy sausage fishing to be bothered by pictures but look at how cute that little guy on the right is!!  Seriously…those cheeks.

My new favorite picture of all time of Mason…man, I love that smile!!!

Kade started playing 8 and Under baseball this summer.  We were very hesitant about signing him up to play baseball with kids that are potentially 3 years older than him, especially since he skipped T-ball, but it's turned out great!  His skill level is even with the rest of the team and with his size you can't even tell he's 1 of the 3 five year olds on the team.  Plus, his good friend Charlie is on the team so that helped with his initial shyness nerves.

They use a pitching machine for the 8U league and he does great!  Kade's always been able to hit off of a pitch (ask to him to hit off of a T and that's when it gets ugly!).  It took him a few practices to get used to the machine but he's got it down now.  He's gotten a hit every time, except once in the first game, at bat!  

I was more worried about him catching a ball with his face instead of his glove because, at the beginning of the season, he couldn't catch a ball to save his life but he's caught on quickly!  He even caught a pop fly in one of the games!  

And, he looks SO.DARN.CUTE in the uniform!

Erik is one of the volunteer coach-dads on the team, that's him behind Kade (who is playing 2nd base).

Lucky #7 made it to first base!!

Rounding 2nd and running hard!

Video of Kade at bat.  

Mason has fun at the games too!  I don't have many pictures of him because I don't have a lot of time to whip out my camera before he's crawling up to the top of the playground equipment (that isn't exactly 2 year old friendly), or jumping into huge puddles of water, or stealing other kid's toys (as seen below), or begging strangers for a snack and/or helping himself into other kid's snack bags.  

One of us is EXTREMELY tired after 1.5 hours of baseball and it isn't the coach, or the player, or the toddler….

Mason and one of his favorite little buddies, Harper!

Like everyone else in the world, life has been BUSY!!  It feels like I haven't sat down for 2 weeks straight, but I love my crazy, beautiful life--and I have 2 very handsome boys to thank for it!

I've recently discovered the beauty of getting up about an hour and half earlier than necessary so I can actually get some stuff done (how did it take me this long to figure that out?!?!?).  The blog posts being one of them.  I actually had time to look back at some pictures and realized I forgot to put a few "gems" in past posts.  So, here they are…the forgotten pictures.

We rarely let Mou out of the house.  We don't want Mason to be the kid that needs a blanket or stuffed animal with him at all times in order to function like a normal human being.  However, this day (for whatever reason) we let him talk us into Mou going for a car ride.  

Look at that sweet face and that sweet death grip on Mou!!

I try to wash Mou and Na-night every week.  Even though they don't go outside, they still get pretty disgusting.

Mason helped load them into the washer and then he proceeded to watch them get their bath.

Worm hunting!!!

I do like digging for worms, I don't like picking them up.  Luckily these 2 are more than willing to do the dirty work for me!!  

Lookin' good, big boys!!

Memorial Day Weekend

We've officially started our summer camping season!  We went big for 2016's maiden voyage…a small group of 22 of us descended upon Yogi Bear.  It was a blast!!  The kids have never been so entertained and the adults have never been so tired!!  Thank goodness for bedtime :-)

The kids fished...

Kade's very first fish ever…a tiny bullhead that fell off the hook.

I'm pretty sure the dads took at least 100 fish off of hooks over the course of the entire weekend.

I got smart the 2nd day and made Kade wear glasses.

Way too many wild hooks flying through the air.  And I really like his big blue eyes so I wanted him to keep both of them.

The kids (I mean Mason) sat on tractors...

He wasn't happy when he had to share the seat.

I think Mason sat on these tractors for, I don't know, 48 hours total?

And if we wasn't sitting on the tractor, he was sitting on the train!

Here he is with his buddies Nyle and Charlotte

They are all saying "Choo Choo"!

We rode pedal cars...

The kids mini golfed...

We had a dance party with Yogi and Boo Boo..

We went on wagon rides...

Mason wasn't a fan of the giant bears.  He got on the wagon, then the bears got on the wagon and Mason promptly left the wagon in tears.

We had campfires and smores...

The passed out at night and took some pretty amazing naps...

The kids did end up in the camper for a little bit while it rained, 

no worries, we had movies and toys to entertain.  

"Roughing it" is not my idea of a good time while camping :-)

And, most importantly, the kids had a blast playing with all of their friends...

Nyle and Mason

Harper and Mason

The "big" boys!

These boys are the reason this camping trip happened!  They formed a friendship at preschool this year, so the moms formed a friendship during playdates and the dads formed a friendship by default :-)

Kade, Porter, Charlie, Nolan and Tucker

The 5 amigos.

I love this picture….next up for these 5... Kindergarten!

And finally, the 22 of us.  I can't believe we actually pulled off 2 pictures!!

Summer is here!!  Let the fun begin!!!!