Our First Real Camping Trip!

We took our first real camping trip on Friday night.  We have gone camping several times at my family’s lot at Mark Twain Lake, but we have always had the pleasure of staying in someone’s camper so that doesn’t count as real camping!  Since Friday was supposed to be so nice we packed up our camping gear and headed to the river to camp on the sand bar.  The boys played in the water for a while until they realized it was cold when they got out, then they just played in the sand while we put the tent up.  When they were done swimming we took their life jackets off and put them in the sand.  The rule was they couldn’t go past the life jackets without them on.  We think they really enjoyed not having to wear them the entire time and just running everywhere in the sand.  Then there was a surprise and the Pirate Ship the Gypsy Rose II came to the sand bar.  We took a walk so the boys could see it.  They even got to try to catch footballs that the Captain was shooting out of his cannon.  We went back to our spot and ate Boy Scout Burgers for dinner.  We then roasted marshmallows and finally went to bed.  The next morning it was quite chilly, but once the sun came up over the trees it warmed up quickly and the boys were able to swim a little more before it was time to go home.  They did much better than I expected.  We had so much fun we are already trying to plan our next river camping adventure!

Will, Levi and Max 

Huck 

Will 

Levi 

Max 

Huck and Will 

Max 

Dale watching our Boy Scout Burgers cook in the fire!

Levi 

Me, Levi, Max and Will racing in the sand! 

The Gypsy Rose II 

Max, Me, Levi, Will and Dale 

Max, Levi and Will

(They were filling our empties with sand, I know how it looks!) 

Will, Dale and Huck 

Huck is pooped! 

Levi and Max 

Will, Huck, Me, Levi and Max 

Levi 

Dale and Levi 

Huck  

Will 

Levi 

Dale and Will 

Dale and Max 

Max 

Will 

Max 

Max, Will and Levi 

Dale cooking Bacon and Eggs on the fire for breakfast! 

Max, Levi, Dale, Huck and Will 

Will 

Huck 

Max 

Levi

What's been going on?

I have been bad about updating my blog lately.  It seems we never do anything, but yet are extremely busy all the time.  Dale and I just got back from Jamaica.  The boys stayed with my brother and sister-in-law half the week and with Dale's parents the other half.  They had fun and we had fun, but I was sure ready to come home to see them.  Shortly before we left Will FINALLY started going potty on the big boy potty and wearing big boy underwear all the time.  I was nervous that while we were gone he would regress, but thankfully he is still doing awesome.  I can officially say that the boy's are all potty trained!  Now if I can only get them to clean the bathrooms!  Man do those boys have terrible aim.  But no more diapers just more Clorox!  They have all really been into music lately and listening to the radio.  Their favorites right now are "Pontoon" and "5-1-5-0".  We brought them drums back from Jamaica and they will play the drums and sing "Pontoon".  One of these times I hope to catch it on video because it is soooo cute!  They also pretend a lot.  They are constantly pretending to be our friends Ben and Erica riding jet ski's.  It's hilarious!  But enough of the cute stuff, that's only a small part of the day!  Most of the day consists of fighting.  They have gotten so good at fighting that I think they make things up to fight about, especially Levi and Max.   Man can those two fight.  There have been several occasions where I make them sit in time out together holding hands and make them hug and kiss and tell each other they love the other.  They hate it!  They straight up wrestle each other down now.  Ahh!  It's only going to get worse and more physical.  We are ready for them to go back to pre-school and have that structure again.  They are ready to go back too, but they don't start until September 5th.  Hopefully we can get in a few fun things before then. 

River, Pool, River and More River!

We haven't really done much this summer, but one thing we have not failed on is river and pool time!  With the river being messed up the past few years we have really taken advantage of using our boat this year.  Another thing we have really taken advantage of is Grandpa and Grandma Hackmann's pool.  The boys love the water so whether we say pool or river they are happy.  Although with this crazy heat we have been having sometimes the water isn't even refreshing, but it's much better than being stuck inside!  We look forward to much more river and pool time for the rest of the summer

Our once a year trip to Kinders!  (It took 2 hours to get our food which is why we only frequent Kinder's once a year when peach daquari's are in season!)

Levi, Baylen, Max, Hunter, Will, Colton, Tara, Josh and me!

The boys have been begging me for goggles.  I can only guess that my nephews have some and since they are older, actually know how to use them!  So I finally found a three pack and surprised the boys with goggles. They insist they need them to go under water, but their under water consists of getting their mouth wet!  Oh well, it makes them happy and they look super cute! 

Max 

Will 

Levi

More River Time!

Will, Levi and Max 

Max and Dale 

Me and Levi 

Levi, Max, Dale, Me and Will 

Will

Goofing Off!

The boys love to wrestle around with Dale.  They were being so funny the other night so I snapped a few pictures!

Dale, Levi, Max and Will 

Dale, Levi, Max and Will 

Dale, Levi, Max and Will 

Will, Levi, Max and Dale 

Will, Levi, me and Max reading library books!

(Dale was looking at pictures in my camera and noticed that I am never in any so I think he felt bad and decided to snap this one!  I am glad though!  I never get a picture with all of them.)

Fourth of July!

On the Fourth of July we stayed with tradition and went to the St. Charles Parade.  My sister-in-law Tara, my nephews, Dale's parents and my mom all went.  We were lucky to get there early and snagged a spot in the shade.  All the boys loved the parade and got very excited to catch candy!  The rest of the day we just hung out at home.  We were going to ride our bikes to the river front to watch fireworks but blew a tire and didn't have a spare.  We really didn't want to deal with the crowd so we decided to walk on the Page Extension Bridge to see if we could see them there.  We could see St. Charles fireworks and some that were on the St. Louis side.  It was a good idea but just not the same as being right there.  But the boys were happy and that's all that matters.  

Levi, Will and Max 

Levi 

Max 

Will 

Hunter, Will, Baylen, Levi and Colton

But where's Max? 

Max is pouting of course and wouldn't participate in the picture!

Will wants to be just like daddy!

Ready for the parade to begin!

Levi, Will, Dale, Baylen, Max, Hunter and Colton!. 

Levi, Will, Max, Baylen, Hunter and Colton 

Grandma and Grandpa Hackmann with Max! 

Mama Weber covering Will's ears from the loud drag racing car and motorcycles!

Levi 

Max 

Baylen, Levi, Colton and Hunter 

On the bridge!

Will, Max, Levi and Dale 

Will, Max, Levi

Me and Dale

River Time!

Tuesday evening we took the boys on the river, but when the boys go on the boat forget about a boat ride!  "Go straight to the sandbar daddy."  They love it!  They have so much fun playing in the sand and splashing in the water.  We plan on doing this much more before the summer is over!

Will and daddy! 

Max 

Levi 

Will 

A Float Trip with daddy!

Will, Levi, Max and Dale 

Will, Levi and Max 

Levi 

Max and daddy! 

Levi and daddy! 

Will