Father's Day

On Saturday afternoon we met Keith, Shakun and Baby Lucas at Red Robin (Keith's favorite) for an early Father's Day lunch.

The kids always love spoiling Lucas.  He is slowly getting more comfortable with them.  

What better way to celebrate Father's Day than with hamburgers and French fries?!  

On Sunday morning I picked up donuts and coffee and set out the spread at church for dads (and lots of kids) to enjoy!  

Hudson showing off his sourdough loaf he made for our Father's Day lunch.  

We went out to Roy's parents for Sunday night movie night, complete with fresh strawberry pie for dessert.  Why are all the photos I took about the food we ate?  😆

The three adore their Dad and I totally understand why.  

Thankful Roy can see his dad on Father's Day.  

June Things

I love summer.  It's such a sweet time of year filled with so much fun, flexibility and memories.  Here is my random collection of pictures, not featuring specific events from the month of June.  

Ivy loves art.  Drawing and coloring are one of her favorite things.  I hope to keep that spark alive!  

Princesses + Popsicles

The kids and I did an Escape Room at a local library.  It was our first attempt and we escaped!  

Pool dudes chilling/working on their tans.

The Ackerman family (who Roy and I know from our earlier Ames years) were visiting from Thailand.  We were thankful for the opportunity to host Nate, Shannon and their sweet girls.  

Several members of the church Youth Group headed to Backbone State Park for 3 nights/4 days for a retreat.  

A crochet lesson for Greta at a coffee shop.  She learned how to crochet a ball.  

Culvers lunch with the girls while Hudson was out of town.  

They do love each other....sometimes!

This girl never tires of playing at the park.  

Greta was gone to camp for 2 weeks in a row (church camp for 6 days, home for 2 nights, basketball camp, Mimi's house) so Ivy took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in her big bed.  

Will she catch a fish?  🐟

Hudson took Ivy to a movie, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.  

Enjoying her ice cream on an outing with Papa and Nana.

She lit up every single light on the board at the library.  

A LEGO purchase for Hudson.  

Another Culver's stop for Ivy,

Hudson and Roy.

Ivy turned 6 1/2 on June 28th.  We celebrated with donuts and pastries (all cut in HALF).  

As always, Hudson spent lots of time in the pool this summer, which is long course season.   

Getting tips from his coach before diving in to compete.  

Art at Aunt Ang's house.   

Ang took each of the kids on a lunch date this summer.  Ivy went to Istanbul Cafe. 

Greta Plays Softball

Greta played softball again this summer with a local recreational league in Urbandale.  

Uncle Ryan bought her a new glove, which she picked out.  

Roy was an assistant coach for her team, the Tigers. They had one game a week and one practice a week.  Their last game(s) of the season were in a mini tournament format. They won their first game so then had to play a 2nd game (a team they had lost to two times prior during the season). The Tigers had some great hits and good fielding and were able to win the game and take home the first place medal.  

It was a sweet summer night (in more ways than one).  

Little sister wants to get in on the fun too.  Ivy is just waiting for her turn to play ball.  

Very proud of her 1st place medal. 🥇

 

30A - Wednesday

Wednesday we had most of the day to enjoy the sea and sunshine before heading to the airport for our evening flight home.  

Roy biked to pick up our breakfast (while we were still sleeping).  

Donuts on the last day sounded like a perfect idea!  

We hung a blank poster on the wall (Greta made it) and added blessings to it all week long.  Naming the blessings helps in giving us a heart of gratitude.  

The girls wanted a picture by the pool. They had a blast playing here.  

Putting our feet in the sand one last time!  

Love my guy 💙

It took them a few tries to get the timing right for this shot, but it's one of my favorites from the trip!  

Take me back!  

We took an Uber to Destin (where we flew out of) and went on a 2 hour dolphin cruise.  

Here we are waiting to load the boat...

Ivy was the most persistent about wanting to do the dolphin cruise so she was all smiles.    

We spotted a pirate ship on the water.  Ahoy!  

The captain of the ship gave kids a chance to take over. Ivy was the first to take her turn.  

We saw some dolphins, but not a lot.  It felt like just as much cruise as dolphin searching.  

A boat ride is always a good idea.  

Proof of the dolphins...

After our cruise we ate lunch (Greta and I shared fish tacos) along the pier.  

One last family picture before heading to the airport.  Farewell, Florida!  

We landed in Minneapolis around 10:00pm and had a 4 hour drive home.  

Roy got some sleep while he could.