Second Half of Summer 2010

So the next half of the summer started with Stephanie, Todd, Dillon, and Dominic came to visit from Utah and cousins were reintroduced...

Riding 4-wheelers at Kathy's....Rachel, Zachary, and Dillon...note the 4-year-old is driving the 9-year-old around!

Dominic, Taylor, and Abbi (Julia's 2 girls)...Abbi dislikes fireworks

Shot off parachutes for the kids...Dominic got this one

Mike helping light sparklers

Rachel helping Stephanie make a cake

Went to the water park ....Stephanie is at the top left with Dominic...Rachel and Haley to the far right

Steph and Todd had the idea to rent jet skis at Lake Rathbun in Iowa....so we all took our turns riding...except my dad.

Julia and Luke .... I was a little nervous to drive/ride too fast

All summer long it had rained almost every other day....flooded many things...took this picture at Lake Rathbun....this sign is at the edge of a parking lot by the marina

Another picture of the marina....the building to the right is suppose to be at the edge of a parking lot...now it is in the lake

Storytime at the Library...for the past few years we went to storytime....the girls love it as they have activities for them to do and yes they have stories read to them...Rachel is in the pink hat.

The Worlds Fair aka Queen City Fair has a talent show.  Rachel and her friend Chrissy sang a Taylor Swift song.  I was so proud of them for getting up in front of an audience and you could hear them sing....go them!

Next was our surprise trip for the girls...we took them to Branson.  On the way we stopped at the Zoo in Springfield, MO.  I love this picture as the giraffe was right there to where we could pet and feed them...it was so neat!

We rode the train...and then headed to BRANSON!

Driving down the strip we saw this....Haley was so excited....Mom, look at that...wow she kept saying!

This was the outside of the Titanic exhibit....this was one of my favoriate places we went...LOVED it!

We then went to Silver Dollar City.  The last time I was there I was 14 and Chris was 8ish.  I did not take my camera with us as I was afraid to get it wet...wish I would have now cuz I missed a lot of pictures.  When we first walked in they were doing a skit of a gun shoot out....guy and a girl....it was pretty funny....the girls were loving it.  We then went down the hill a bit and there was a roller coster ride...Chris and I do not like them, but figured we could ride one with the girls.  We get to the staging and the roller coster seat we are in are backwards...two little girls and their mom are sitting facing us.  I expressed that I do NOT like roller costers and then little girl that was about 6 said that is okay as you are sitting backwards and cannot see what is coming...made Chris and I feel great...NOT!  We made it through, but that was the only one we rode.  It was a fun day!  This picture was taken after showing how hot/soaked we were from the rides.  We had a lot of fun...the girls loved the Fire in the Hole ride, the log ride, and the roller coster just for them. 

This documented how hot it was.....HOT!

Another picture after Silver Dollar City

The girls at Table Rock Lake

Haley with her duck quacker while riding the ducks and Rachel at Ripley's Believe It or Not

Of course, minature golf has to be played while on vacation...everyone made a hole-in-one!

Rachel and Haley with Charlie's Angels at the Wax Museum

See the smile....Jeff Gordan and Dale Jr. the closest he will probably get to them

This was the night after we got home....Haley was playing with her folder and the next thing we knew she was asleep like this....too funny...I think she was worn out!

And to top off the summer for Rachel....her bestest friend Quinn came for a visit.  It worked out just perfect to surprise as we met Quinn and her mom at the school parking lot.  I told Rachel I had to pick up some papers from some lady...well we waited and finally they pulled up, Quinn had her window down, and the first thing Rachel said is "you got me again mom."  They had a blast in the pool and just hanging out. 

All in all this summer was a quick summer, but many memories made!

Summer Happenings...the first half....

Our summer started off as a busy one.  Both the girls were in ball this year.  We did not have very many games that overlapped each other, but at Haley's first game she was chasing other kids, fell, and broke her arm.  She had to play in the outfield and could not bat...she was pretty bummed about that!  Rachel this year moved up to where the kids pitch to themselves.  This was hard as the balls came in there very fast, but she adjusted and did a great job at swinging and hitting the ball.  Here are some pictures of our first half of the summer.

Haley sitting in the dugout...3rd one from the left

Haley doing some sort of dance while in the outfield and with her broken arm.

Haley after getting her splint...she broke her arm at her 1st game before the game even started....running around and fell on it.....2nd time she has broke an arm...thinking she is going to be accident prone!

Rachel down and ready...actually I was taking a picture of her in her stance before her ball game for a project :)

Rachel and her team during a game...Rachel is on 3rd base

Getting ready to bat....she struggled with this, but by the end really improved...this year they pitched to themselves and those balls came in fast!  Note I am in the background coaching 1st and Haley is cheering Rachel on!

Lots of swimming this summer...between rain storms, but the girls have really got some good use out of the pool with friends and family!

Rachel, Haley, and Ann (my niece) at the Ottumwa Beach...Ann stayed with us for a week.  The girls had a lot of fun with her, enjoyed making things in the EasyBake, and really did not want her to go home..We will have to have another play date! 

My other niece Ashley at her graduation party...she graduated from high school and it makes me feel old as I can remember her taking her first steps and now she is taking a big step of going to college.

Rachel and Haley in the red shirts waiting for the race to start....there have not been many races, but the girls are right there to cheer their dad and Uncle Mike!

First day of summer school...the girls did not make it very long with summer school...decided they had had enough school...cannot blame them!

Both girls have lost teeth this summer...kind of funny as Rachel pulled her own tooth at Haley's ball game and if you know Rachel she has no pain tolerance!

Playing in the small pool (as the girls called it) at Gma and Gpa Chidester's house!

Science Project...

Rachel had a science project....the solar system. After planning out what she wanted to do and what sizes the planets were, we started constructing the solar system...

Haley was operating the camera...

Haley was so excited to help paint...They started on the sun and Haley was booted after painting the sun.

The finished project....Rachel is pointing to Earth!

She labeled and numbered each planet so everyone knew which order they were supposed to be. We used some stars that we had for a little extra touch...

Easter Happenings 2010...

Easter started off with the Easter parties at school. This is Rachel's class getting ready for their egg hunt. Rachel is in the pink dress with the white tights. They had some eggs with candy and some eggs with money in them. With they money they had to count how much they had to how many prizes they could buy out of the prize bag. A learning experience while having fun!

This is Haley's class getting ready for their egg hunt. They all knew they had 6 eggs they could collect and they were very good about counting to 6 eggs and stopping. They really had fun and I really enjoyed watching the excitement as they picked up their eggs. Haley is to the left, in front, with the pink skirt and white shirt.

Grandma Eggers hid some eggs for the girls to find around her house.

This is Easter morning playing the waiting game....

Rachel after she found her basket....

Haley after finding her basket....