Wisconsin

The time seriously flies when we go back to Wisconsin! It is unbelievable - before we knew it it was time to leave. We stayed pretty low key this summer. The kiddos truly just want to play with their cousins and don't want to spend to much time in transit!

 The Olympics were on this summer so they decided to attempt a synchronized jump into the pool. Yep... they need a lot of work.

They also created a new sport "tennis ball" - baseball with tennis rackets. We all had a good time at the park playing together. The way back was probably the most fun though! As most of us piled into the back of the truck... a few brave ones went on foot or scooters, etc. Marty running with the baseball bag was entertaining. Uncle Chuck was seemingly funny riding a scooter and appearing to chase Caleb and Drew on it. Lisa yelling out the window about the creepy guy chasing the boys and seconds later passing Khris' neighbor (an police officer) with many kids hanging in the back of the truck as well as the boys sitting on the tailgate drinking - Lisa appropriately chimes in with - this is legal right! Needless to say he shook his head turned the other way and pretended he never saw us!

 Drew loved climbing this tree... pretty sure he gave Grandma a heart attack though!

 Glow in the Dark Swimming

 The attempted campout that turned into the camp in! I think Michaela and Hollie made it out all night!

 The kiddos - The tree!

In the grand scheme of things posting this now, many months later makes this picture more memorable as Grandma and Grandpa have since moved. This is more than likely the last picture that we will ever get in this tree!

The girls making naan with Uncle Marty as they requested it and wanted to learn. Yep... we ran out of rolling pins and they are using a wine bottle! It worked amazingly well!!!

Madi's Birthday!

Since we had just gotten back from the Bahamas right before Madi's birthday, she decided instead of going away somewhere for a couple of days that she would have a low key birthday day at home and then get to stop at the American Girl store in Dallas to shop on the way to Wisconsin a week or so later. So her requests were a rainbow cake and Main Event.

 Rainbow Cake

 Dance, Dance Revolution with Daddy

 Rock Climbing for like 2 hours!

Last of the Bahamas

So I am now ridiculously behind on this blog - I am going to attempt to catch back up - what I can remember at least!

The remainder of our Bahamas trips was full of snorkeling and feeding the fish, hanging out at the beach, swimming, swimming and more swimming! Love the Atlantis though Marty is vowing not to go back after spending yet another birthday at the Atlantis with swimmers ear.

Dolphins!!!!

So we had to up the stakes a bit for dolphins this time. Though the facilities at the Atlantis are convenient and gorgeous... this time we ventured off the property so that our dolphin experience could also include having the dolphin "foot push" us across the lagoon. It was soooo cool and all four of us did it including my sweet but unadventurous little guy! After hugs, kisses, dancing and a lot of silliness with Shawn and Goomba everyone got a turn to be pushed across the lagoon. The trainers told the boys to tie their shorts tight and the girls to hold on tight to their bottoms. That was good advice! :) It was hard to believe how fast you got going so quick.

 Madi being pushed...

Drew being pushed...

After the dolphin fun we stayed on the property and let the kids play on all the inflatables. Their favorite was the one they called their wipeout course. There were many wipeouts!

It was definitely a fun filled day!

4th of July Atlantis Style

We weren't expecting a whole lot of 4th of July happenings considering we were not in the US anymore. Much to our surprise the property had a crazy, huge 4th of July celebration. The carnival and amount of decorations alone was crazy but the fireworks show at the end of the night was amazing. We were all in awe the whole time. Even Drew who hates noisy fireworks, sat (ears plugged) in amazement through some pretty crazy loud fireworks. So go figure - you can leave the country and still celebrate!

Bahamas - Take 2...

No trip to the beach would be complete without Bahama Mamas. We spent a ton of time at the beach this time. Both Madi and Drew were into snorkeling and Drew really got the hang of it this time.

 Fortunately we were able to follow this sting ray at the beach for awhile while snorkeling. The best part was he was free to snorkel with! And to think Marty wanted to pay a ridiculous amount of money to snorkel with the sting rays. This was soooo much better.

 The kids favorite ride is the Rapids River. Madi managed to go flying off the tube during one of the rides through the waves again. They loved flying down the rocky rapids and going through the steamy caves. I think it takes about 20-30 minutes to get around the river each time but it is definitely a lot of fun.

 He really is having more fun than it looks like!

 Madi and I in our matching yellow stripes.

Drew needed his picture with mama too. We weren't quite matching though.

Bahamas - Take 1...

The Bahamas has definitely climbed up our list of favorite places to visit. It is gorgeous, there is tons to do at the Atlantis and the rooms are climate controlled. Not that that all doesn't come with a price - that is if you like to not starve. If you are reading this - you probably know we aren't the kind of family that likes to starve. We stayed a couple more days this time than the last visit and I swear we didn't get to as much as I thought we would including any spectacular pictures to replace some of the larger prints in the house.

 Here is our favorite bridge on the property. It just looks fun when you head up to it.

 Our sweet Madi Cakes

 Our sweet Drew Doo

It was just a little warm

Thanks for looking at something else Drew! :)