Summer Fun- 2024

 Summer 2024 was fun, full, crazy, and busy!  We played hard and we had a great time doing it!  By time summer was over, I think we were all ready to get back to school- but not because we were having a bad time, just because we were all exhausted from all of the fun things!  After getting home from our Niagara Falls trip. we jumped into June and all the summer things: swim lessons, soccer, visits to MN, and Madi wrapped up her dance year with a recital in Ames on Father's Day. She did a great job and looked so cute up there on the stage.  Katie, Madi, and Zach all did swim lessons as well as soccer at the church on the corner during June.  They all worked hard and did great!  All of the kids also had camps throughout the summer, and- of course- we did our family "Summer Fun List" that kept up busy as well!  

Katie did Spikefest volleyball camp, Madi did art camp, Zach had a science camp, and Colton had a couple of computer-tech camps.

Summer Fun List 2024

Dad:  Eat at a new restaurant 

• Went to Pizza Ranch- the kids loved it!

Mom:  Yankee Doodle Pops (Fireworks show at the state captiol for the 4th of July)

• Went with a group of friends including Morales' and Johnsons.  It was hot and the jazzy intro music was too long, there were tons of people, and the fireworks were a little underwhelming, but overall a good time and felt patriotic!

Colton:  Driveway Movie Night

• Always a fun time!  We watched the new Descendants movie and had plenty of neighborhood kids join!

Katie:  Camping

• The only weekend that ended up working out was the hottest weekend in August and was so blasted hot!  We were sweating up a storm.  We got an electric campsite and had box fans going in and out of the tent but we were still dying! 

Zach:   Science Day

• I'm never a huge fan of all the science experiments but Zach loves them and the kids always have a good time. We did Boo Bubbles, some fluffy slime, rock candy, and the mentos-diet coke experiment.

Madi: Bowling

• This was our first time bowling as a family!

Other fun things this summer included: trips to the zoo, celebrating the 4th of July with too many fireworks and the other Days, berry picking, Blink 182 concert for me and Jenna in Minneapolis while Mark watched our kids in Rochester, icecream truck, and a first annual (maybe- but it was fun!) cousin swap.  We met up halfway between rochester and ankeny and Olive stayed with us for a 5 days while Madi and Zach went up to Rochester with those cousins.  We all played so hard that week- eating out, school shopping, swimming, urban air, sprinklers, trampoline, sleepovers, etc. 

Colton also put together a cardboard arcade with his buddies this summer.  He spent months working on it and spend more money on it than he made.  It ended up being a bit chaotic overall but I think most kids had a good time and it was a learning experience for Colton.  

I also ran a virtual (In My Running Era) 10K.  

Lots of walks, playing outside, bike-rides, beautiful sunsets, and more.  Summer 2024 was one for the books!