4th of July

Well our 4th of July is the big reason for the trip home every year. We had such nice weather building up to the 4th. We thought is was going to be so nice to have cool weather and we wouldn't sweat to death playing wiffle ball. Well just because every day was nice doesn't mean it is going to stay that way. On the 4th it just poured all day. I couldn't believe it. We hoped it would let up but no can do. We didn't let it ruin our day though. We went to the parade anyway. Lucky enough we knew someone living along the parade route so we sat on their front porch. It kept us dry which we were grateful for. Then we made our way to my cousin Kristi and Dustin's house for the festivities. We ate lots and lots of food and visited with family for a while still hoping it would stop raining. We have an annual wiffle ball tournament that we were not going to miss. Since it didn't stop raining we decided the game must go on, and it sure did. I opted out this year because I really needed to keep an eye on the twins. It gave me an excuse to stay dry. Jeff, Jake and Zach all played however. Jeff and Jake got on the same team and Zach got on a team with my brother Terry. Zach lasted about a half and inning before he got too wet and tired to continue. He curled up in a ball on the lawn chair and fell asleep for a few hours. He did get a few good innings in though. It was his first year getting to play and he was so happy to get to. In the picture of Zach hitting, Jake is playing catcher.

The games continued on most of the day. Jeff and Jake's team got into the final game for the championship. Jeff got really into the game and when it came down to the wire he sacrificed his body for the team. He made Superman slides into home plate on one play and then the same dive into 1st base on another play. His slide into home was very graceful but the one into first base didn't go as well. Both of them resulted in a very big muddy mess as seen in the picture. The other picture is of him trying to hit a home run. He didn't get it on this hit but he did get one later on in the day.

The babies had a lot of fun playing in the rain. They got pretty cold so after a while I had to change their clothes and keep them inside. There was a lot of mud puddles to play in so they really enjoyed themselves.

I got a short video of the games as they were being played so the viewing audience could get an idea of how crazy the rain was that day. We had a great time but are really hoping that we can actually come to Indiana and have a 4th of July without any crazy weather. Here's hopin'.

Playing in Indiana

We have been having a lot of fun with family in Indiana. We will be here for another week. Jeff left a few days ago to go back to work but will fly back to Indiana and drive home with us. The kids are missing him already, which of course he loves. I wanted to post a few of the fun things we have been doing. We have had a chance to go swimming twice. The weather has been pretty good but definitely not for swimming. I guess there is a trade off. We have also been playing a lot of Wii with my nieces and nephews. There have been many heated tournaments with some fun memories happening. My favorite was watching Jeff do the Dance Dance Revolution. The man has rythmn as you will see.

Like I said before we have gone swimming and the kids have loved having so many kids to play with. The water has been really cold but they of course will have fun anyway. Here are some pictures of us swimming. The first is of Ryan. Doesn't he look like he is having fun. The babies kept climbing up the life guard chair. We caught them in the act. Luckily, my brother Terry is assistant manager at the pool so we didn't get into too much trouble. The next two are of Alex and Zach. Jake spent most of his time going off the diving board and down the slide so we didn't get any pictures of him.

Jeff got to go to an Amish barn raising. He said it was just like out of a movie. They drove up to the house and all the horse and buggies were everywhere. They started working and Jeff said he was amazed at how they worked together. We went back later and they were almost done. I couldn't believe it. Definitely a cool experience we were fortunate enough to see. Dad is really good friends with the Amish in Orleans so they welcomed us and let us watch. They normally don't like pictures taken but from far away it was alright. We got some good pictures.

We have had many long days and short nights. The twins and boys have held up well but one of the days we were returning home Ryan gave out right in the middle of playing. I had to add this picture in because I couldn't believe he fell asleep with the toy in his mouth and it stayed there.