In June, Mike's entire family made it home- including us. Even though we just got to Texas, we drove through the night so we could go to Kimmy's (Mike's youngest sister) graduation party. Then our nephew Landon was baptized. And all in the same weekend our niece was blessed. It was a whirlwind of a weekend. Mike had to get back to work after that, but I stayed for a few weeks to hang out with everyone while we could.
The whole Hansen family. One crazy bunch.
I didn't have a photo of Kimmy at her party, so this is what we did during the party. Some very competitive games of corn hole
Mama, Papa and their kids. From left to Right, Kimmy, Maria, Dedee, Jenny, Mama, Papa, Mat, Mike and Chris.
Crazy cousins. Landon, Colton, Jackson and Lydia.
Lydia turned 8! Ella, Josie, Lydia and Maddie. Ella and Maddie were in North Carolina and we didn't think they were coming, but they surprised everyone by coming up for the weekend!
We went to Cosi, a cool science museum in Columbus. Uncle Kyle photo bombing.
The boys helped papa reload some bullets.
This picture makes me laugh. The kids had so much fun and totally wore themselves out. Except for Colton I guess.
We went to Amish country and got delicious food. Cheese, cinnamon rolls, donuts, popcorn. . . mmm, mmm, mmm. We stopped at the truck patch where they have a petting zoo and Big Ben- the biggest horse in the county. My girls sure thought he was big.
After Big Ben, the kids were ready for a ride on Grandma's little pony.
And I went for a ride on a little motorbike. It was pretty fun.
At Cosi they had one of those wind simulators. I think we had 5 kids in there. Maybe 6.
There is this awesome waterfall about 10 minutes from Mama and Papa's house, but not a lot of people know about it. It was super fun to go and play in it. It's not too deep and the water doesn't run to fast so the kids really enjoy it.
The kids piling on Uncle Mat.
Colton really enjoyed chasing grandma's chickens. Gathering eggs was a favorite activity too.
We were able to take the kids fishing and it was awesome! I've never had better fishing conditions. We caught a fish almost every single cast so the kids were never bored. Everything was small and we put it back, but with our very last worm, Lydia caught a trout that we ate with dinner. Let's just say that the kids enjoyed catching fish much more than they liked eating it.
While all of this family bonding was going on, Mama was preparing for the church Trek activity. Mama was in charge of about 100 youth 14-18 who dressed up in clothes from the 1800's and pulled handcarts 8 miles- reenacting the pioneers. Here is Mama, Papa, and Kimmy on the first day.
Not only did Lydia turn 8, but a week later, Josie turned 2!!! We were at Chris and Nicole's house on her birthday helping them pack to move into their new house. We did stop long enough to eat some delicious ice cream cake. Josie sang right along with her happy birthday song. And since we were packing, we couldn't find any matches- they had been packed already, so Josie just pretended to blow out the candles.
Right before we left, we went to the Columbus zoo. They had a new Africa exhibit, but my favorite was watching a polar bear swim and play with a ball.
The Hansen's live on a hill that is great for slip and sliding.
Mike flew back to help me with the drive back to Texas. On our way we stopped at Mammoth cave.
The kids enjoyed a hike.
The entrance of the cave. I'm afraid I don't have any good photos from inside, but here are some stock photos. It was really cool. It is the longest cave on earth. They have discovered over 300 miles of it and are still finding more.
Mama's sister's came for Kimmy's party and of course they set to work getting food ready. Dedee is helping set up Kimmy's display table with photos, awards, and a video.
Landon's family at his baptism.
Baby Evelyn's blessing.
No comments:
Post a Comment