First Family Camping Trip!

 After the farm, we headed to Steeleville, MO for a camping trip with Beth, Byron, Ella and Sam!  What a blast! We took the kids on a 7.5 mile float trip! They all did great! They had so much fun swimming and catching minnows.  Lily Claire was quite the minnow catcher!  The kids played all day and the adults had drinks at night! It was fun! We decided that we will definitely be going back next year!

{Farm}

 Matt had some time off so we headed to the farm for a few days. We enjoyed some good family time together while we were there. The first day we stayed in the water pretty much most of the afternoon. Then went up to the house for a BBQ.  After that we decided to head back down to the lake for some fishing.  IT was the BEST fishing time EVER!  The kids caught tons of fish. Matt could hardly keep up! Every time Aidan would cast it out...he would catch a fish! Once Lily got started she started catching fish like crazy too! As it started getting dark...poor little bit had not caught one. (Maybe because she doesn't like to let her pole sit still...)  It was sooo cute...Aidan and Lily put their poles down and decided to cheer on Anabelle! Well, she reeled one in and caught one all by herself!  She really likes the idea of catching fish but is scared to death of the actual fish. I couldn't even get a picture of her standing by the fish!  The next day the Worley's came up and we did some more swimming and fishing! It was nice to get away!

~Silly~

Anabelle and daddy have some fun and relax on the patio!  (Anabelle had an eye infection-this darn infection has made its way through all three of the kids more than once!)

~Sleepover~

 As our summer days began to vanish it was time for Aidan to have a sleepover. ( I had promised him all summer that his buddy could spend the night!)  The day was filled with a picnic and playing at the park, swimming and playing outside and then some boy time with the Lego Ninjagos. The boys slept on the top bunk and fun was had by all. This was Aidan's first sleepover at our house. He has spent the night with Caleb one other time. This is all new territory for us but the boys did great!

Six Flags

One of the most exciting things we did this summer was go to Six Flags. We have never been and although I wanted to take the kids, the cost was just not worth it! However, Aidan's friend invited us along and had some free passes so we super excited and very thankful for the invite! Well...we were there for about 10 hours. I left Anabelle at the sitter's and spent the day with my older 2. Boy, did we have fun! We rode a ton of rides....Screaming Eagle, Ninja, American Thunder, Pandemonium, the Boss...it is official...my kids LOVE ROLLER COASTERS! They are fearless! I couldn't believe they went on half of the rides that they did! I forgot how sweaty and hot you get after a day at an amusement park. The kids talked about it for days! (I had a bit of a headache from riding the Ninja three times in a row:)

Happy Birthday Matty!

I surprised Matt for his birthday and took him to a Cardinal game! Cals and Sharon went with us! We all had a great time!

Aidan...a.k.a. Mertz or Mr. Mr.

 This is the day that....

Aidan's Nana came up to watch him play.....
Grandma and Grandpa were there too.....
It was hotter than heck with no shade at all.....
AND Aidan HIT A GRAND SLAM! I mean LAUNCHED it over the left fielder's head!
Needless to say he had an enormous cheering section!

That is his pose after the game!  He was so excited. He kept saying...I hit a home run and I was like no buddy a grand slam. I had to explain why a grand slam was better than a home run! Definitely a moment we won't forget!

Lily Claire...our Tinker!

Lily Claire ended her very first softball season. Lily is a go getter and has always been very athletic. I attribute a lot of it to having an older brother.  However, A LOT of it is her! She has a crazy natural ability when it comes to sports, endurance, etc  She is fearless and has always been. This was Lily's first season and she was determined that she was not going to hit off the tee. She wanted the coach to pitch to her.  And he did. She had a season filled with lots of hits. She made several good plays. (And played first base a lot because she could catch)  Her coach came up to me after their party and said, "Wow...your daughter is so athletic. I sure hope you keep her in sports!" I started laughing....yes...yes...I see lots of sports in our future!  I love her and love watching her play! Now on to soccer!

Purina Farms

We met some of Lily's friends at Purina Farms for a play date! The girls had a great time....we petted animals (we all loved the baby pigs), milked a cow, played in the barn.  It makes me laugh how excited they are to milk a cow.  The best part of Purina Farms (besides the fact that it is free) is the dog show! It is really neat! All three of the kids loved the dog show. We actually saw it twice.  The dogs jump off a diving board and so all sorts of tricks! This is a must for us in the summer time and a good time was had by all!

Another New Park---Zachary Park in Lake STL