August Fun

Summer is winding down but the fun hasn't stopped! We got to hang out at Aunt Linda & Uncle Darrel's farm for Darrel's birthday party last weekend . Zachary liked looking at Linda's pumpkin patch, chasing her kitty, walking down to watch the train go by, roasting marshmellows, and seeing Darrel's combines. He also liked looking at all the "sweet corn" in the fields;) The farm sure looks nice after they worked so hard to clean things up following last year's hail storm.

A few weeks ago we went to the Iowa State Fair. Cousin Rebecca and her best friend Eva were so excited to take Zachary down the big slide. He loved it! Too bad it cost $2.50 each time he went down!! The sky glider was a hit, as well as milking the cow, Little Hands on the Farm, the corn dog and ice cream cone.

We also spent a few days at Mahoney State Park again. We went last fall but wanted to go again to try out the pool. We all had fun on the wave pool. Zach had no fear each time the waves crashed into him and knocked him down!

Hope you all are having a wonderful summer!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Zachary!

Zachary has been looking forward to his birthday for a few months. He's even been practicing singing Happy Birthday to himself!!! We remember last year when he really had no idea what a birthday was and was clueless about blowing out candles. A lot has changed in the last year! So far he has gotten to blow out candles twice already today (and the day is only half over)! We had candles in a blueberry muffin this morning, then candles in rice krispy bars with some church friends this afternoon. Tonight the three of us will do something special together.


Momma heard one of her favorite songs on the radio this morning. It's by the Sidewalk Prophets. I thought it was a good birthday message for our big boy:

Be strong in the LORD and,
Never give up hope,
You're going to do great things,
I already know,
God's got His hand on you so,
Don't live life in fear,
Forgive and forget,
But don't forget why you're here,
Take your time and pray,
Thank God for each day,
His love will find a way,
These are the words I would say

Happy Birthday, Zachary. We love you!!!

What we've been up to......

It's been awhile since we've done a post.....we'll try to give some highlights from the last several weeks:

We had our block party last night. The firetruck and ambulance came so the kids could climb in and check out the equipment. Zach got an ambulance from his Aunt Allyson, Uncle Marty and cousins Sam and Raquel so we've been talking about how an ambulance helps people with "owies". He was interested in looking at it but wouldn't climb in. He liked the firetruck a bit better and wasn't scared to get in and out of it.



We closed off the street for the block party so the kids could run/bike laps in the street. Zach is only interested in any sort of bike for about 20 seconds, then he'd rather run. One neighbor boy must of felt sorry for him not riding on a bike so he offered to give Zach a ride in a wagon. Before we knew it, all the kids were in wagons! Where are the helmets!!??!!

A few weeks ago we headed to KC to Tim and Emily's. We were lucky to see Collin play baseball and dive in his diving competition.

We headed to the Indianola balloon races on Saturday. Rebecca joined us. We ended up parking at the highschool to watch the balloons since by the time we got close to the launch site the balloons had already lifted off (it took us 1 hr to get through the town of Indianola due to all the traffic). We had a good time and even got to see some land.

Zach got to check out Daddy's binoculars.....

Zachary also got to participate in VBS for the first time. He went 4 evenings at the NorthBranch station. His favorite part was the music and dancing......."rock this party.....everybody dance now".....


We spent a weekend with the Kragel family at Grandpa Dick and Grandma Phyllis' house. It was fun to have everyone together again. Zachary's challenge for the weekend was remembering Sam and Raquel's names. He had it down by the 2nd day!


We had an early bday party at Grandma & Grandpa's. The candles and party hats were Z's favorite part of the party!


First tractor ride with Daddy & Grandpa Dick...