Swimming @ the Governor's Inn

Thanksgiving weekend is like a vacation for the kids and an awesome break/Holiday for Dad but for Mom... it gets to be a few very LONG days! So what better way to break up the craziness than with a bit of swimming in the middle of the Winter? Wahoo! The kids have been begging to make it to the Indoor (Thank goodness!) Water Park at the Governor's Inn in Casselton. Well, we've only lived here 6 years and we finally made it. It was a lot of fun!
And better yet.... it turned out to be like a Partay with all the people we met there unexpectedly. Too funny! We ran into  our across-the-street neighbor, Nicole & her girls. (They actually moved out a month or so ago and are trying to sell their house- So...if you wanna live by us- it's for sell;) AND the Budges happened to be out there for the night. It was a lot of fun! Liberty & Anni had a blast together. Heather & I had a fabulous time visiting in the hot tub & watching the kids (including my BIG kid- love ya, Honey!). Heather even invited us to order pizza and eat dinner with them. Bonus!!! Love it when unexpected, fun things happen. Thanks Heather for dinner and the company!
Here's some of the fun we had-
Swimming & BBall:

Lily Pad Water Walk:

Water Sliding:

Eating Dinner with the Budge Family. Thanks guys! It was lots of fun!

Definitely have to do that again sometime!

Our Back to School Partay

School starts on Tuesday so, for our Friday Movie Night we had a couple friends over to celebrate our last weekend of Summer. A big Back to School Partay- hurray!

The Larsens, the Elders & the Tuckers came over for pizza, some water fun, and a movie. (Well, the Elders came just for dinner but it was good to have them) We got all the kids some food and that was about the last time we saw them until we started the movie. They play really well together! We set up a couple pools and the sprinkler by the tramp for them to play in. It was a nice, hot, muggy night so they thorougly enjoyed being in any and all of the water. We actually just had to start the movie and tell them several times before they would even come in. 

We did excuse the Tuckers to go home before the "girly" movie so that KTuck could have time to prepare for her ONE WOMAN ACT on Sunday. (Good Luck lady!) Then, the Larsens and us watched High School Musical in honor of going back to school. We love those shows!!! Brett seranaded all the kids along with the movie and there was a lot of eye rolling going on. Too funny! Just wait until all these girlies get older and wish some good-lookin' guy would sing to them! ;) I AM one lucky woman!

Good luck to all the kiddies in school this year! Have fun, be smart, be good, & Choose the Right!!!

Buffalo River 2010

I mentioned that this Summer has been perfect to be outside., right? Well, we took advantage and spent every Friday we could at Buffalo River. Totally got our money's worth with our year pass! Thanks to all our friends that spent their Friday mornings with us. (especially our die-hards, the Tuckers!) We'll always have such fond memories of our time at the lake.

Yeah for Buffalo River!

Water Fun @ the Cooks

To enjoy the last bit of our Summer, Brooke invited everyone out for a little Water Fun at their place. The kids had a blast! The Potters even brought their waterslide. The kids played on the tramp and in the sand, had waterfights, slid on the slides, and the older boys even tried to catch the garage on fire. Oh, the fun we have when we are all together!! LOL! The adults and some of the kids enjoyed our Potluck lunch- man those are the best! And it's always fun to visit with these ladies!

This has been a perfect Summer to enjoy the outdoors. I'm so gonna miss it! (Unfortunately, I am all too aware that Fall is soon approaching followed by the famous Fargo winter- oh joy!)

Thanks Cooks for having us out!

At the Lakes with the Cooks

Our dear friends, the Cooks are the most giving people we know. They are some of the hardest workers and are always sharing all that they have with others. We love them!
Since they have no other way they could spend their limited time already (LOL!), they ended up renting a lake place for the month of August. Today, they were gracious enough to invite us out for a day at "the Lake". We had a blast!
They got a place with a small little cabin with 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, a sitting area and a screened porch. It was just perfect for their family and having friends out during the day. The beach property was fabulous! It was a perfect day for it too- the lake was like glass for most of the day. A huge shade tree, lots of sand and tons of things to do! We got to spend the day with the Cooks, Liz & Bryant Zollinger, the Tuckers, the Brewsters, and the Mausolfs. What a great day!

We all got a turn out on a tube or at least pulling a tube. It was Liberty's absolute favorite! (In fact, she paid for it for several days after! Oops! The back of her legs got fried!) KTuck, Julie & I got out together. What can I say?- I AM A Whimp. My arms are still sore and Brett was actually very kind in his driving. It was a crazy ride but lots of fun!

Justice's favorite had to be the Kayaking. He was in them every chance he could get. Conner & him would go out pretty far in the lake. I wasn't sure they would be able to get back. LOL!

The Cooks bought a water Trampoline to bring to the lake. It wasn't very bouncy but the kids loved swimming out to it (or getting a ride to it in the kayak- thanks Emily) The older kids loved taking turns jumping off of it into the water. A very fun addition to the Lake experience.

Last but not least, Brett was in love with Jerry's Jet skis. Theses things were like race cars on water. They were super fast and mega powerful. Wowzers! Brett even tried his luck at Slalom Skiing. After he finally got his size 13 foot into a size 10 boot (LOL!), he was off. He looked awesome! You are amazing, Honey! What a hottie you are! Some of the younger boys tried their hand at raft skiing. They looked pretty cool as well.

Thanks so much to the Cooks for sharing their place with us! We had a fabulous day! Thank You!