June 2013 Summer Time Fun

  June came very fast, and I can not believe that it is basically done all but a few days left. June started with fun and ended in fun as well for us.
   The first week of June Joel and I spent it with our dear friends/ Joel's godparents. Joel's godfather had to fill in at Red Oak Church of the Nazarene, so we went with his and Joel's godmother. We decided to camp for a few days at Viking Lake that is near by. Joel's godparents love camping there. We went there with them last year, and fell in love with everything down there. It is our favorite place to camp now too.
  Anyway we went to camp. The weather did not play fair the days we were there, but we made the best of it, and enjoyed it. We ate smores, chicken, corn, hot dogs, hamburgers, brauts, kabobs, ect. over the campfire. The boys has a water fight with the water guns, and us ladies sat and talked. Our new thing this year to try was walkway solar lights that we placed around our camp area. Joel and I even played glow in dark ring toss over them. 

Joel looking at a bird

   Since Joel had earned enough stickers for the zoo; his godparents and I decided to take him to Omaha's Henry Doorley Zoo. It was so much fun. We will have to go back someday because we did not see everything there. It was so exciting to watch Joel interact with the different animals there. My favorite part was when we were in the Aquarium area. They had King Penguins. Joel and one of the penguins would have races. Penguin would swim in the water, and Joel would run up and down the glass. I think at one point Joel got so giggle he almost fell. My least favorite I would have to say was the fruit bats in the Lied Jungle. They swooped down over our heads. The bats were Joel's and his godfather's favorite. The two of them laughed as others would scream.

Another favorite of Joel's was the dinosaur alive exhibit at the zoo. Joel loves dinosaurs, and so does his godfather so the two of them were in heaven been near all them. It was neat to hear Joel talk about each one of the dinosaurs, and he knew some by name. Joel even got a t-shirt in memory of the dinosaurs and the zoo. 
  We even rode on the train that is there. Joel was so thrilled to ride on a real like train in the zoo. We got to see some of the animals from the train that we would of missed, because it was getting late in the day. We even learned about animals we never had heard of like a skink. 
  The next day it rained on us off and on, but we managed through the rain to have wonderful meals over the camp fire. The boys enjoyed a hike through the wilderness. We said good bye to the lake by going over to the fishing docks and sticking our feet in the water.

Joel at Swimming Lessons

  Over the last couple of weeks Joel had been busy with activities. Since Joel did not want to do t-ball this summer, and I did not get him signed up for soccer enough time I had to sign him up for other summer activities. Last week Joel did play in the park. He was there for 2 hours Monday through Thursday. They played, ran through the maze, did crafts, hiked, and even had a picnic lunch the last day (still wished I knew a head of time). He had a blast and that is what was important. I was busy with different activity so I did not get over to take pictures. 
  Joel this week had swimming lessons. He missed two days due to having the flu (yes flu in the summer). He got to go though the last two days. He impressed his swim coaches both days. Yesterday I decided to go watch him at his lesson, and take pictures. The second half of the lesson they let the kids have fun. They got to go down the different slides even the one in the deep end. He also got to jump off the diving board. The swim coaches were right there with floating devices to catch them. Some of the kids changed their minds about the diving board not my son he jumped right off the board not trouble.

  In the evening I took Joel back to the swim pool to swim. He loves to be in the water. Due to not really feeling up to par I decided not to swim. A friend stayed near Joel. I also had Joel's swim jacket on him so he would basically float since he likes playing near the alligator at the pool. It was fun to watch him laugh and smile. It was hard to not want to jump in and play with him, but with my health I felt it was best to not. Plans are to take him swimming again tomorrow hopefully. We are also looking to more what the summer has stored for us. Trip to Adventureland, County fair, State Fair, and so much more planned. We can't wait.

Arkansas Spring Trip 2013

Joel and I on Rich Mountain

Well, Joel and I took our usual spring trip to Arkansas during Memorial week. Usual it is somewhat of a relaxing time period for us. The start of the trip however was a little rough. I had a horrible earache that would not go away. 
   After suffering enough of the pain from my ear I caved and went to the walk in clinic in Mena, Arkansas (where some of our family lives).I so wanted to cry. Come to find out I had a severe bug bite that was infected all the way down into my ear canal. They had to take a needle to drain some of the puss off.
  Joel was a trooper while our Grandma took me to the walk in clinic. He was keeping Grandpa Bob entertained, or as Joel says, "I babysat Grandpa." It is neat to see our Grandpa and Joel have fun together. Those two laughed and laughed so much over the week. Grandma enjoyed Joel as well because he never failed to have us on our toes. 

Joel's Picture Taken on Rich Mountain overlooking Lake Willamena

  One of the days we went on the mountain as usual to just have fun. Even though we have been on the mountain numerous times it is something Joel enjoys. Joel and I usually take a picture together, and we take turns taking pictures of the scenery. Joel is getting better each time he does it. I actually been thinking of entering his photography in the county fair, and maybe a few of mine. 
   One day we had talked about having a picnic lunch somewhere just for the fun of things. The day was hectic, and plus we heard the weather may not play nice. So, we changed our minds of going anywhere. Then Joel got a brilliant idea. He told us there was no need to go out for a picnic. Instead we had a picnic in Grandpa's Man Den. We turned on music, and had so much fun.

On the way hope we decided we needed to stop and just take in the scenery. Plus Grandpa was need to rest. Joel, Grandma Lil, and I decided to tour Precious Moments Chapel. It had been a couple of years since Joel and I had been through there, and our Grandma hadn't for quite some time. It was fun just to walk through again. After we got done touring we decided to eat lunch in the picnic area.