Thankful Thursday

Did you miss me? I had a feeling I would blog less during the summer but I hoped to blog more than once a week! Now that we're home from vacation I'll try to post a little more often. Here's what I'm thankful for this week.




I'm thankful for such a wonderful vacation. Time spent with family is priceless.

The great-grandkids.

What's a family reunion without matching t-shirts for family photos? Here we are waiting to get lined up for the group photo.

I'm thankful for a mom that takes lots of pictures. On vacation I was having too much fun in the water with the kids that I didn't get a chance to take many photos. Lucky Mom was there to capture these moments.

Kael tried waterskiing! He was so confident and gave it a shot but didn't get up. He said he'll try again when he's a little older and I have no doubt he'll get right up.

Kent on the slalom. 'Nuff said. What a stud.

I'm thankful that Kent sometimes pushes me out of my comfort zone. I usually ski about once a year just to make sure I still got it, but this vacation, Kent and I double skiied! He's really good and I am really not. He and my sister double skiied and did a high five that looked pretty cool so I wanted to try. Kent and I did manage to touch hands but Kent and Tam's high five looks way cooler so I'll show a picture of that instead. :)

Turns out I LOVE canoeing. Like really really really love it. I'm trying to talk Kent into getting one.

I'm thankful for kids who love the water. Because I love to be in the water. Jumping off the floating dock is some of the most fun I've had in a long, long time.

I'm thankful that with five kids under age 6 in our cabin we were all able to get a good night's sleep!


Now that we're back home, I'm thankful that Brooklyn is hanging at our house today. Kael and Kylee love spending time with her as much as I do. She is such a peaceful, lovable little girl.





I'm thankful that I have a mother-in-law who isn't quite as squeamish as me! Kael wanted her to feel his wiggly tooth and she asked if he wanted her to pull it and he said "Yes!" so she did. Popped it right out. That's tooth #2 if you're keeping track.





I'm thankful to live in a city that is so dedicated to "playing". I think I heard this statistic correctly from our mayor- he said that Ankeny is one of only 19 cities in the nation that has been named as a Playful City for the last four years in a row! I believe this designation comes from KaBoom!. To celebrate, last night was our All City Play Day which is a really cool event. There are a bunch of activities for kids and families to do like canoeing (which I wanted to do so badly after I recently discovered how much I loved it! Evidently everyone else wanted to canoe too because the line was too long for me to wait.), a dunk tank, big wheel races, basketball, touch-a-truck, bean bag toss, face painting, potato sack races and stuff like that. We really live in a great community.

I would have been really thankful for a bottle of water (or four) at the All City Play Day. I tend to be over prepared as a mom, but last night I was completely unprepared for the 90 degree temps at 6:00 in the evening. Kael was in some long black basketball shorts and a black t-shirt and I had failed to bring any hats or sunglasses or even put on a coat of sunscreen on the kiddos. Duh, Laura. Needless to say, as fun as the event was, we didn't last long.

When you're Kylee and you're at the face painting booth, you sometimes ask if they can put it on your leg instead.

I'd be crazy if I didn't mention that I'm thankful Summerfest starts today. Unlimited carnival rides? We're so there.

Hope you all had a great Fourth of July! Happy Thursday!