On Tuesday the 29th we got up early and started our drive to Wisconsin – we went all the way to Lincoln Nebraska!
We gave Benji his birthday presents throughout the car drive! And we stopped for food and shakes that night!
On Wednesday we jumped back in the car and rolled all the way to Gurnee IL right by GREAT AMERICA. That night we had time to got to Golden Coral! and swim at the hotel pool!!
The boys got home and then we had 2 days before our big Wisconsin trip! And we were leaving on Benji’s birthday so we had to figure out when to celebrate him. We did his favorite dinner and cake and spanking train on Sunday!! He did not love his cake – I thought it was cool but he says he’s not excited to drive so he would have picked something else. I should have done a Rubix Cube but… such is life and we are all good.
He was too full from dinner but we had to do birthday:
On Monday we got all packed up and cleaned up and Benji had the entire Drama Club over for a big 80’s arcade party that evening!!
It was nice to have a couple of days of down time and getting ready for our next summer adventure.
The kids went to play with Gus, Dagny, Mae and Kit one of the days:
Christian came over, Millie lost a tooth, …
and Lego days
These guys hiked and biked and rafted and bore testimony and had a great Campout with the ward! Wednesday June 23rd thru Saturday June 26th.
The Greatest Dad out there! Ben is Amazing and we all love him. We had a pretty chill sunday and dinner and stopped by to say hey to Grandpa Nettesheim!
We had to give Benji an early bday present before the Super Activity!! And then Than and Erica stopped by with cookies and ice cream to make sure I was surviving my first Fathers Day without being able to call my dad – it was one of the hardest days I’ve had.
On Friday we went to the lake with Matt and Jamie and Michelle and kids! The water was perfect for an hour float and soak.
We ate Dinner at the park that night and met up with Pete and Amanda. Then back to the house for games and we hung out all day Saturday up there playing games and eating and swimming and watching the Bucks basketball game. Mom and Dad and Emily and kids even came up for Saturday.
So after the wedding on Saturday Shannon and Tommi left for their Honey moon in Puerto Rico, Eggers and Kevins fam also had to leave. Brady and Sam and Kelsey left Sunday. Then Michael, Ryan and John left on Tuesday. Mom and Tracie left on Wednesday and Josh and Mal stayed at our house until Friday and then went to Joels and to Mals bros for another day or two. IT WAS A SUPER FUN COUSIN FILLED WEEK.
One night we let the kids do Kong Kones and a SURPRISE DINNER! Surprise Dinner is so fun! They got to each pick one thing from Maceys to share for dinner!
And then the adults went to dinner – we did an early 40th bday celebration for Josh – Yummys:
This year Josh and Mal came to Strawberry Days Carnival with us! And we met up with Cousins: Falabellas, Wrights, Matt and Jamie and Hancocks! Lots of kids to ride rides. Some liked them and some didn’t. It was super hot but always worth it.
So Tuesday after the wedding Jacqi invited us up to the aquarium that she works at in Kaysville. It was me and the kids, Josh and Mal and kids, Megan and Kids, Tacie and kids, and we had Cove and Perry. So Jacqi and Braden met us there and they got us in for free and they gave us LOTS of tokens to feed the animals! And they let Jacqi take the kids in the tank to swim with the stingrays and sharks! It would have been hundreds of dollars if we had paid for it all! We ate lunch out in front of the mall and then headed in:
They had some interesting animals for an aquarium – sloths, pigs, birds, fish, jelly fish, tortoise…
The kids LOVED going in the water and touching the Rays and Sharks!!! All 7 of my kids did it. Jacqi was a great snorkel instructor for them:
We also got to let the sucker fish eat our feet and hands!! It was a very hands on experience and we had lots of fun!
Some of the kids went to Julia’s gymnastics in the morning and then we ALL went to the provo pool for the rest of the day – coming home late after dinner!
We had so much fun swimming I forgot to take pictures.