Our family picture from the reunion. We had 80 total there for the reunion. My grandmother was one of 8, so we have a huge family.
My grandmother, Doris. She doesn't get out of bed much, much less out with lot's of people. She had a wonderful time.
Here is Zach feeding the dolphin. He wanted to just drop it in, but Liza helped him to wait for the dolphin to come and get it.
Here is Zach with his cousin Hannah and his second cousin Jack.
Isabella at the Shamu show. She thought it was cool. Zach would have, but he slept through the whole thing since it was about his nap time.
Liza and Isabella enjoy the show along with my uncle Dan.
Liza and Isabella on the roller coaster in Shamu land. Liza said this was not even the biggest ride she went on. I guess the fair in Warsaw got her ready for the big rides! Zach, once again, would have enjoyed this one too, but was 2 inches too short and there were no exceptions. He was not pleased. :-)
And after....
I celebrated my birthday on July 21st here at home. We had a fun time. I went out to a movie in the afternoon, then we went out to eat at Red Lobster and came home to a cake that Liza and Zach had baked for me. We had fun blowing out the candles (Zach blew most of them out) and eating cake.
The kids listened to a story each night and a lesson with a skit thrown in for flavor.
Tonight's activity was coloring eggs. They also had an easter egg hunt, but Isabella, being the youngest one there, didn't get any. She came over to me and said, "I never get nothin!" I had to laugh.
Dogpile! Jayson jumped on Luke, and then Isabella and Zach jumped on top.
On Tuesday the cousins all went to the water park in Columbia City. They had lots of fun in all the big sprinklers.
On Tuesday evening, Lucas planned a birthday party for Melayna and me. She'll be 1 on July 20th and I'll be older than that on the 21st. :-)
Zach enjoyed the cupcakes.
Isabella had some belated birthday gifts. One was a set of Dora books to help her learn to read. Her cousin, Morgan, is just 3 weeks older, but has already taught herself to read. She grabbed the set of brand new books and read them all to Isabella. I think Isabella believes now that she can learn to read too.
Zach and Marissa wanted to play baseball with the bigger kids, but enjoyed hiking around the flowerbed instead while they watched.
Not to be outdone by her brother, Isabella was showing off the goose egg she got when bonking heads with her cousin.
Here is Zach's patriotic windmill. I think it only took him 5 minutes to tear apart. But he had fun!
Gramie helping Isabella on her windmill
Liza with Isabella and Zach
Isabella's new pencil case...
She caught several fish in a short time.
I tried for a while to catch one, but didn't have much luck. All I had to do was hand the pole to Isabella and she'd hook a fish right away.
She liked catching the fish, but she was happy to let grandpa put the bait on the line. :-)
Here Liza and her brother Noel have Zach and Marissa on their shoulders. They thought that was great.
Melayna checks out Gus, Liza's parent's dog. He is bigger than her in just about every way.
When we first got here Zach was scared of him, but now he is warming up to him and will even pet him now and then. He even gave gus a hug goodnight when it was time for bed.
Liza rode the carousel with the kids. They loved it.
Isabella just hit the minimum height of 42" so she could ride alone. Morgan was quite a bit shorter, but since Isabella was tall enough, they could ride together. Didn't make a lot of sense to me, but they still had fun!
Zach and I riding on the ferris wheel.
The kids all went together on the boat ride. They had fun when Zach wasn't bugging Marissa.
After rides, we went to the animal barns to look at horses, pigs and cows. We also went in to the kid's barn and the kids got to touch some baby animals. Zach thought the baby duck was pretty cool. Isabella really liked the little horse.
