August Update - Part 1

 I posted about July happenings and here's part of  August.

I didn't have much time for the garden, but I always enjoy doing a little something with it. This year a friend gave me a bunch of tomatoes so I used my peppers and we made enough salsa for the year!

It's good for kids to work, on this particular day Ethan's job was to unload the top half of the dishwasher. He  decided to have a little fun with all the cups. Yes we go through a lot of cups on a hot summer day at our house! Maybe someday the kids will learn to reuse them. :) 

This is the Navigator windshield. You're probably wondering how it got broke. Well, we talked to long after church one night and Anton started messing with the buttons in the Navigator. He switched it to 4-Low which makes us only be able to go 30 mph, cause it's broke. We were in the drive-up at Dairy Queen getting kids their little reading reward and as I was turned around passing back ice cream Mark started going forward and then put it in reverse to try to get it out of 4-low. Well I hadn't quite sat back down as the Navigator jerked back into reverse and BAM, I nail my head on the windshield in the parking lot hard enough to break it. Only things like this happen to my family. :) Oh and do my kids show me sympathy, NOOO, they started lecturing me for not having my seat belt on! 

  

Mark and I hosted our 15th class reunion. Fifteen years, wow we're getting old!

Allison learned to crawl! The older kids thought it was great fun at first. Now that she gets in their stuff, wrecks their farms and eats their little toys, they don't think it as great as it once was. 

Elijah and I would build little towers to encourage Allison to crawl over and knock down. 

Cousins playing in the water. Seems someone ran the sprinkler over and it needed a little attention.

First she started crawling, then she got two teeth!

Potatoes were another veggie I planted. The kids love to dig them. It's so fun to see how many you'll find and how big they'll be. 

July Update

I've neglected my blog for the last couple months, busy with kids and everything else! I thought I  would still add a few pictures even though they seem like they were taken so long ago. 

This is Allison learning to sit up well at 6 months.  

This hot and sweaty motocross rider looks like he needs a break! Most of the month of July was over 100 degrees, not ideal for riding.

In addition to the July heat we didn't have any rain, making the dirt a fine dusty mess, perfect for 2-year olds to play in. 

Covered from head to toe in dust!

We braved the heat and made it to the county fair one evening in search of idea's for next year when Ethan will be in 4-H. I suggested a nice chicken like pictured above, Ethan is leaning towards hogs or maybe a lamb. 

I found the directions to this PVC sprinkler on Pinterest. They kids and I dug through the barn and found a bunch of  old PVC saved from our hog sheds and put this together. Ethan especially enjoy cutting the PVC with the hand saw, he really likes building things in general.

My motivation to freeze sweetcorn wasn't very high this year, maybe that's something to do with five little kids to run after. :) We did end up doing a smaller batch and Allison had fun helping too. 

We celebrated Amelia's 7th birthday in the Ozarks, which I previously posted about. 

Mark torn his ACL riding motocross this spring and ended up having surgery July 3rd. This would be his first time in the hospital. I have to say it felt a little strange not to be the patient and to leave the hospital without a new baby. :) Mark wouldn't allow me to take any pictures of him in the hospital, so here's one of him and Allison doing physical therapy at home. 

Lake of the Ozarks Vacation

Last weekend we headed south to the Ozarks with my family. This was the first time we've been on a family vacation together in many years! We had a great time and the kids loved it! Highlights were the waterpark, go-karts and visiting a cave. If your looking for a fun place to go with an easy drive I would recommend Lake of the Ozarks!

There is NO sleeping in on vacation with this little princess! Allison was up bright and early every day, and here she is ready for dad to get up and start the day!

Grandma picked up these water toys before the trip. They were very tipsy in the water but perfect for hallway racing in the hotel. :)

Day two was spent at the water park. The kids loved it!

I liked this park because it wasn't to big, yet it had different area's for different kids age groups. Here's Ethan in the bigger kids area crossing the lily pads.

Ready or not here I come, Auntie Ang!

Allison did great and even hung out with other people besides me. 

Being a true Dutchmen we figured out it would be cheaper to do a group birthday party, at the water-park. Since Amelia turned 7 that week it worked out perfect!

They even put her name on the sign. She felt very special. :) 

The fun didn't end that day, after the water park was go-karts. Everyone enjoyed this, except Anton. He thought the ride was a little rough, or maybe Grandma is a scary driver. :) I think Ang ended up winning, but that depends on who you ask. 

Family picture at the Go Kart track. 

To much fun for one day says Anton!

The great debate was whether to rent a boat or take a boat tour. We opted for the tour since we had several little ones. It was a slow ride and the kids were bored. I thought it was fine, because I enjoy looking at houses. But if I had to do it over I would pass on the tour and rent a boat and just go out before the big boats start making waves. 

Aw, what a nice bunch. :)

Tan-tar-a the place we stayed at has a few pools this one has a water slide and we put it to good use!

Elijah all geared up in his protective swimming attire. 

Anton wouldn't have anything to do with Uncle Alex at the beginning of the trip but it didn't take long and they were best buds. 

California Trip

Mark, Allison and I headed to San Diego, CA last week for a Farm Bureau Trip. We had a great time, wonderful weather and lots of very nice people to travel with!  We had hoped to take all the kids or at least the older ones along, but it was going to cost to much, so we left the four older ones with Grandparents and took Allison. She was a great little traveler, and made friends from Iowa to California by smiling and cooing  at EVERYONE! :) Here are just a few of the pictures I took.

 Three tour buses full of Iowa farmers got to visit a variety of Southern California farms on Friday. The first stop was this 138 acre farm. They grew avocados, which are the trees growing up the hill. Grapes growing out of the blue tubes and organic lemons, where in the weeds on right side of the picture. They also had oranges, grapefruit and clementines. These poor farmers have so many regulations to deal with it almost didn't seem worth farming because of all the "stuff" they have to deal with. Mainly the government regulations  but also people stealing their crops at night.

This is a nursery we drove by on the way to another farm. I think these are shrubs, the picture doesn't do justice to how big and steep this hill full of plants really is. 

Our second stop was a mushroom farm. This process is quite a science! They too have tons of regulations, inspections and it's hard for them to find employees because of the hard work that is involved. Notice the plastic around machines and on the roof. It's coated in oil and used to catch a tiny mushroom fly. They aren't considered organic, but it didn't seem like they had to spray for bugs much at all. 

They have six harvests a year. The big ones are ready to go, and the little white ones will be ready soon. We all got a sample if we wanted!

A tropical plant nursery was our last stop. They grew plants like this for stores like Home Depot and other large retailers. It to was quite a process to keep everything healthy and looking good. They have had harder times in the last few years with the economy.

Mark was in charge of Allison at the greenhouse, when I met up with him, this is what he gave Allison for a chew toy.

Saturday we visited a naval ship. This tour confirmed that I wouldn't survive being in any branch of the military! Here we are in front of a plane that on display. 

I thought we could use bunk beds like this at our house! :) 

The Brig at the bottom of the ship. It was a little hot in some area's and I actually felt a little claustrophobic at times. Again, I would never survive the navy.

Mark enjoyed looking at all the airplane controls and thought it would be fun to learn how to fly.

Our transportation for the afternoon! I'm sure any motorcycle Mark saw cruising the streets, he would have gladly traded this snazzy ride for. :) 

Mark looking super cool. :)

One thing I wanted to do was go to the ocean again. It was way to cold for me to swim in, but nice enough to walk along the shore. 

Allison's first dip in the ocean.  

She's the only one of our kids to make it to an ocean so far!

Sunday we had free time until noon so Mark and I decided to go to a church I found online. It's called The Rock and it's sanctuary held 3,500 people! When we walked in we were greeted and had our bags searched before going into the sanctuary. They had breakfast for sale and a huge bookstore to shop in. The service started with very loud music and reminded me of the Conventions I went to as a teenager. This was very different from our Sunday worship, but I enjoyed it!