More Birthdays - TONS OF PICTURES

We have been crazy. We are having so much fun this summer. Since my last post we have been going non stop. After the twins birthday party we kept busy going to parks and swimming by Gigi and Papa. We got a new patio door ( this was real thrilling as now we can go in and out the back easily and have a screen!!!) We went up north for 8 days. That rocked. All the kids did some fishing (including Kenzie) and spent tons of time hanging out by the lake. Cam got to do water skiing again and he is a real ham. He also loved Grandpa Gerald's new 'little boat' and spent half our vacation rowing the new boat around and fishing. The weather was great the whole week. GiGi and Papa even came up for 2 days to experience our Up North. We got to spend a lot of time with all of the kids and I actually felt like I spent some time with each of the kids on their own - which is rare and really fun too. Came back from vacation had a busy week and then this weekend we celebrated Cameron and Kenzie's birthday's! Cameron turns 9 on the 9th and Kenzie will be 1 on the 11th. Because it is Cam's golden birthday this year we decided to let him have a Friend birthday party (his first one). We booked the party for bowling because I did not want all those kids at the house and I don't ever trust the weather. We had the party Saturday until 2 and then at 3 we had our family party at the house. It may not have been the best plan to have the parties on the same day and it was a little busy but overall I think they both went well. I did have a pretty big headache after bowling with 12 8 to 9 year olds for 3 hours but the kids were good and it actually was a lot of fun. Then home to have another party. I absolutely love our families. They are both super helpful and we could not do the things we do without them so that party went off without a hitch also. Sunday should have been a lazy clean the house day but that did not sound like any fun so Ben and I decided to take the kids to the Betty Brinn museum and then went out to dinner at Olive Garden. It was super fun to see Clayton and Calvin explore everything at the museum. Cameron seems to have a really good time also and Kenzie was her usual 'happy about everything' self. She did get to explore a bunch and really liked the little kid areas. It was really fun and only a few minor issues of repeatedly losing Calvin (who takes off every chance he gets) held us up. Just makes me aware that I would not be able to take the kids there by myself for quite a while. Enjoy the pictures they are much more interesting then my typing!!!!

Kenzie driving the boat Up North!

Clayton driving!

Cameron driving

Calvin driving!

The kids with GiGi and Papa

Cameron fishing on his own!

Ben & Grandpa Gerald take Kenzie, Cal & Clay out fishing in the boat!

Kenzie's first fishing trip!

Ben and Cameron catch some Bass!

Clayton, Calvin and Grandpa Gerald in the "yittle boat"

Cameron tubing!

Cameron skiing!

Kenzie laying on the beach! (eating the sand)

Cameron JUMPING in!

SUPERMEN!!! Calvin, Cameron & Clayton
Cameron taking Lauren for a tube ride - Rowing the boat!

Cameron giving more tube rides (to Calvin and Lauren).

HAPPY 9TH CAMERON

HAPPY 1ST KENZIE

Cameron and the Pinata!

Clayton gives it a try!

Calvin's turn!

Cam and the pinata

Our Clan - Kaylee, Calvin, Isiah, Lauren, Elsa, Cameron, Kenzie, Clayton, Xavier

Cameron

Cameron's new cane pole!

Birthday PRINCESS!

Kenzie riding her new horse!

Kenzie enjoying her cake!

Kenzie loved her cake - She even licked the plate!

Cameron hanging out at the museum.

Clayton tries some golfing!

Clayton does some shopping!

Calvin drives the bus!

Calvin milks the cow!

Kenzie harvesting some corn!

Kenzie checks herself out!

Golden Birthdays & Bay Beach

I better post these as this week is shaping up to be busy again. We had a wonderful and busy last few days. We spent the week recovering from our trip up north and trying to get ready for the twins 3rd birthday. Grandma Grace saved us by allowing us to have the party at their house which meant we did not have to clean just cook for the party. Ben took care of most of this! So these are some pics from the big GOLDEN BIRTHDAY PARTY. It was so funny. All week Calvin would wake up in the mornings asking if today was his golden birthday party by Gigi. Clayton spent the week trying to figure out how to hold up three fingers. It was big preparation for them. Here are the results.

POOL PARTY!

They were excited to open presents. Clay on the left - Cal on the right!

Clayton figured out how to show off his 'three'!


They loved their movie chairs.

Calvin on the left now and Clay on the right!

(for those of you who notice the cake did say both names you just can't see Calvin's)

Then we had a wonderful 4th. Church, nice naps, party by my sister's, and then Slinger Speedway fireworks in the church parking lot with neighbors. No pictures but a great time!

Now on to TODAY - Bay Beach with the whole family!!! We decided to chance it even though it looked like we may get a little rain and we did but overall it was GREAT! Can not believe how much fun it is just to watch the kids faces and hear them talk about every new adventure. All the kids got to go on a ton of rides and there were no major meltdowns. Although when it was time to leave Cal really wanted to go on one more and Clay kept asking about coming back.

Cam enjoying the kiddy rides!

Clayton in the fighter planes! All the boys got pretty serious about these!

Calvin loving the fast race cars!

Kenzie loved the Carousal. Check out the rain in the background. We stayed on the ride to try and stay out of it but we still got poured on.

Twins (Calvin on left, Clayton on right) enjoyed any ride they went on!

Cam took Kenzie on her first ride! She loved it and did not want to let go when it was over.

Cam took Kenzie on another ride and this time she even cried and held on when it was over.

All three boys in the helicopter. Cameron was such a good sport with the little kids.

Cam and Uncle Troy on their favorite ride! I think they rode it at least 6 times. Even in the pouring rain! They were soaked!

We even got a family picture!!!

Quick Pictures

Just wanted to share some pictures from our weekend up north for the "Rettler Family Reunion" up north style. Busy week. Busy life. Twins will be three on Saturday and we are getting ready for their party. My brother is visiting from Germany. And work is all keeping me hopping!! Will share more pics after the birthday party!!!!

This was the whole group together! It was a blast!

Cam teaching Clay to fish.

Cam's big catch (Ha, Ha)

Cam and Kenzie chilling at the lake.


Daddy and Calvin hanging at the cabin bar.

Dad and Kenzie!

Daddy and Kenzie dancing!

CLEANING HOUSE!

Clayton cleaning!

Calvin and his favorite thing - The water hose!!!

Twins getting to work - Cleaning the house!

I know you didn't really think

I

was cleaning the house - did you??

And just because I love this picture!!!!

Hope you all have a great day.

Ear Piercing, Mineshaft, The Zoo & 3K Orientation

So I braved it last Wednesday and took Kenzie in to get her ears pierced. I always said if I had a girl I would get her ear pierced when she was very young and I was a chicken for the first couple months now I did it. I might be bias but I think it is super cute!!! Kenzie did great. She did cry but overall she was a super trooper! Then she got a super bad cold and that was the rest of last week. It was very sad to watch the little girl who never cries just miserable. She recovered by the end of the week which was great because we were going to have a nice laid back weekend. As my title indicated this was not the case. Friday night we hung out at home. Saturday Ben's Dad came over and they cut trees in the back and Ben worked outside for most of the day. I tried to get stuff done in the house. Then we took the kids out to dinner at Mineshaft - where we realized that we had not taken all four of the kids out to a sit down dinner (other then Ponderosa) by ourselves in a while. Not long after we got there we knew we were out numbered. A couple of potty breaks later - we did make it through dinner and actually ended up having fun too. We braved the arcade/game room and also had a good time there. All and all a really fun family time! Somewhere along our Saturday Ben and I had discussed a spontaneous trip to the zoo for Sunday hoping to avoid the rain. We did it! After early church and breakfast at our favorite place (Ponderosa) with Grandma Grace and Grandpa Dick the decision to go to the zoo was made. Sister Wendy was called and the speedy stop home to pack some stuff and a grocery trip to get some snacks then off to the zoo. It was a perfect day with the family. Got to celebrate nephew Xavier's 5th b-day and Grandma Grace's 25th (ha, ha) birthday too. I am always amazed that our kids are able to tolerate all the chasing and craziness without to many meltdowns. They are so wonderful. The zoo rocked - of course. It was a lot of fun and we only briefly got rained on!

So today was a big day as well. Calvin and Clayton had Orientation for 3K at St. Peters. All morning we were talking about them going to school. They were both very excited. At one point Calvin and Clayton were discussing how they have to do their homework and I explained that they did not have homework. Then Calvin stated that we had to go to the store and buy some homework. It was sooooo funny. The boys had to get their little backpacks on and it was cute. Ben and I both took them (Kenzie came along too). I was glad Ben was there because Clayton was a little nervous and had to keep coming back to us for reassurance. He was very shy and unsure. Whenever his teacher would give a direction he come to us. Calvin quickly jumped in and followed along with what the other kids were doing. They both did great. They even did an art project!! I am really excited for them to start in September!!! 2 hours 2 days a week. A nice little start.


Hoping this week is not quite so busy!!!

Kenzie with her new pierced ears!

Kenzie loving the Zoo!

Cameron getting eating - Calvin not even phased!


Clayton, Cameron & Calvin loving the Zoo!



Calvin!

Cameron!

Clayton!

The Boys!

The DuBois Family!

Grandma & Grandpa with Kenzie!

The twins walking up to school!

Calvin & Clayton in 3K doing their art project.

Memorial Day

We had a fabulous time going up to the cabin for the almost perfect Memorial weekend. The weather was GREAT, the company was SUPER, and the relaxation was much needed. One thing was missing - CAMERON!!! He was not able to come with us because his auntie Amanda (His dad's sister) got married this past weekend and he was a greeter for the wedding. We know he had a blast at the wedding but we sure missed him. I will be getting some pictures of him from the wedding and posting them soon!

As for up north is was wonderful as usual. Over the weekend we got to hang out with a bunch of the family. There were 18 adults and 13 kids (age 8 and under). Crazy and so fun!!! We got there early Friday morning without anyone puking on the way up and spent the majority of the day at the lake, Saturday more lake, Sunday - church (puker on the way) and then MORE lake. It always amazes me that we can spend 4 days with our family and all these crazy kids who are off their schedules and lack sleep and still have such a great time. The kids have a blast and they actually get along with one another without to many major issues. So we got home Monday evening and picked up Cameron and now the count down to our next trip up is beginning. Three weeks till the Rettler Family Reunion at the Cabin which will add even more people!!!!!
Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Kenzie loving the Lake

Clayton and his Dori!!

Kenzie sunbathing!

Calvin with his Glasses on!

Calvin loved driving and riding in the boat!

Clayton even tried out a drive!

Calvin & Kenzie chilling on the pier.

Kenzie getting an early start on fishing!