Santa Claus in July?!?

Santa Claus, Indiana that is! We made one last trip of the summer and headed to Holiday World. I had heard about Holiday World last year and we decided to give it a try this summer. Then we asked our dear college friends, the Gorsch's, to join us for the weekend. Once they said they could, we started planning for our mini-weekend vacation.

We arrived at the Santa's Cottages cabins Saturday afternoon. We were in a 2-bedroom cabin that was really nice. It had a full kitchen, living area, 2 bathrooms, back patio with a grill and a fire pit. Once we were unloaded, the dads ran into town to get the last few groceries we needed and the moms took the kids to explore the grounds. Here are the five kiddos before we set off.

Cameron (4 mo.) & Hannah (2 1/2 yrs.) Casey, Sadie (4 yrs.), Kinnick (2 1/2 yrs.) & Macey (1 1/2 yrs.) Gorsch Our first stop was Elf Pond where the kids got to feed the fish.

Then we made it to the play area that was equipped with a HUGE sandbox and sand toys, a little play house, horse tire swings and a playground. Here is Hannah and Sadie sitting in front of the play house.

Hannah also liked swinging on the tire swings.

After playing, we came back to the cabin to have a cook out of hamburgers and hot dogs, cheesy potatoes and corn. Although it was really hot outside, Marc made us a fire so the big kids could make smores after bath time. Here is Hannah and I waiting to make our marshmallow.

We started off bright and early on Sunday to head to Holiday World. We decided to do the amusement park first, then come home for lunch, then back for the water park and finally finish up with whatever we had left of the amusement park. It was really, really hot and it took us a bit to get into a groove. But, we covered a large section in the morning before our lunch break.

Hannah and I on the carousal - a nice mild ride that Hannah loved.

Then, at Holidog Town, there was a little roller coaster that Hannah could ride with me. It was a little bumpy and faster than I expected, but I think Hannah enjoyed it.

We also rode the Eagle's Flight before we had our lunch break.

We headed home for lunch and air conditioning. We wanted to have the kids rest a bit since we were hoping to make it until the park closed at 8:30. After a couple of hours, we put on swim suits and headed to the water park!

Here are all the kids with Santa Claus!

And the Casey Family.

The water park was really awesome! We didn't quite get to experience the whole thing. There were a ton of areas for the kids to play in. All of us enjoyed the lazy river at one time and we also took turns taking the bigger kids down the slides they could go in. The daddys even got to go on a couple of big people slides while Kristina and I had the kids going down a new area of all little slides. We definitely could have spent a whole day just at the water park!

Here is a nice self-portrait of the Casey family hanging out at the water park.

After we dried off and changed clothes, we went back to the amusement park for a few more rides. We covered a lot of the parks, but probably could have spent a few more hours there. We came home, made homemade pizza, bathed the kids and put them to bed. It was a long day, but tons of fun! We enjoyed hanging out with Marc & Kristina after the kids went to bed. It was great to have adult time as well.

We are so blessed to have friends like the Gorsch's in our lives. Our friendships have grown over the past 10 years and continue to do so everytime we get to hang out. It's awesome that now our kids are growing up and getting to see each other every few months. Thank you, Gorsch's, for taking this vacation with us. We can't wait to do it again sometime!

We're Off to the Zoo!

This past weekend we were able to spend some time with our dear friends Marc & Kristina, their kids and Marc's brother's family from Colorado. They were all on the way to spend some time wtih Marc & Nathan's parents and made a stop in St. Louis. We were glad to help out and open up Hotel Casey for a couple of nights. Saturday morning, we were up and ready to head to the zoo! It was a warm day, but the kids seemed to have fun. This is the whole crew! And the only shot of everyone all day. With seven kids seven and under, two strollers and a wagon, we didnt' take a ton of pictures becuase we were all helping out with the kids. It was a fun time, though, and we did see a lot of animals. When we were done, we went to Pujols 5 for a late lunch. Tim & I had never been there so we had a great time. We spent some time together during the evening and finished our weekend with a cook out on Sunday after church. It was a really great time to see Marc & Kristina and their kiddos and even more to get to know Nathan & Cori and their kids as well.

A Trip Up North

We made a long weekend out of the Fourth of July and headed up to Minnesota/Wisconsin for some time with Tim's family. We decided to break up our trip and left Thursday afternoon for Marion, IA to stay with our dear friends Any & Lindsey Knopp and meet their adorable new son, Liam, who is a month old. It was too short of a visit, but absolutely great to see them and meet baby Liam.

Friday morning we were off for day 2 of traveling and made it to Minnesota by lunch time. After a quick lunch, we all went to the Plainview pool so Hannah could swim her little heart out (her favorite summer activity!). They have a great kids pool and she felt right at home. Kyle and Nikki arrived later that day and we went out to dinner. It was a great start to our time together.

Saturday was a low key day of playing and just being together. Hannah made breakfast with Nana in her new apron and chef hat from Nana. She is definitely our little cook and baker!
We went back to the pool that afternoon since Aunt Ni Ni wasn't there yesterday. We came back and grilled out and Hannah and Cameron played on Nana & Papa's swing set. Here is our little man swinging away.Sunday was a busy day -- so much that I didn't take a lot of pictures that day. We started out at church and then made our way to Wisconsin for a dual family get together. First, we had a baby shower for Nikki. Yes, our kids our going to have their first baby cousin born this November! We are all so excited for Nikki & Kyle. The family got together to shower Nikki with some wonderful baby gifts. After a short break, the men of the family joined in and we had a really nice barbecue to Meet & Greet baby Cameron. Ken & Delaine did a great job putting it together and we were so thankful to get to visit with a lot of family that live in the area!

We decided to leave the afternoon of the fourth and head to Kyle & Nikki's to help break up our return trip home. So that left us with the morning to have some more fun with Nana & Papa. They took us to this great toy store near them. There was a nice little bench to take some photos of us. Here is our family ready for the Fourth of July!

Next up was Nana & Papa with the grandkids.

Then Aunt Ni Ni with her niece and nephew (Uncle Kyle was playing softball during the day.)

There were tons of toys and one whole room of handmade wooden toys. Hannah got to pick out one toy and she chose a metal Elmo lunch box. Cam got a wooden truck to zoom around when he gets a bit bigger. There was also this amazing carousal that was all handmade from wood. It took them nine years to make it. Hannah went with Nana and had a blast!
We went back to Ken & Delaine's for lunch then took off for the first leg of our return trip. We were very gracious that Kyle & Nikki let us stay with them. At this phase of our lives, taking the trip in two days is a great option! We made it back home on Tuesday to rest from our busy weekend. We had a wonderful time with Tim's family and are so thankful for our time with them!

Three Months and Growing!

It seems like the theme for this month is growing! I mentioned Cam's stats at 10 weeks in a previous post. Around that same time, we switched him to 3-6 month clothes. Over the next three weeks, he is now in 6-9 month clothes and possibly somewhere around 17-18 lbs (according to our home scale)! Holy moly! We have a big boy on our hands!

Cameron is eating 6 times a day and is sleeping from about 9 pm - 7 am each night. We finally dropped the middle of the night feeding which feels wonderful for our sleep! I'm hoping that once we start some cereal and then food in the next month or so we cand drop another feeding and extend his night a little more. He is doing really well with falling asleep at night on his own with only a little crying each night. Naps are getting better every day as well. Some he goes down great with no crying and others just a little crying. We are still swaddling him, but if he wakes early we will unswaddle him and flip him on his belly. He absolutely loves sleeping on his belly!

Of course one of my favorite parts of the past month have been watching him smile and laugh. He will now smile witout prompting and we have gotten him to laugh a little as well. Such a fun part of this age! He loves to lay under his play mat a reach and grab for the toys that hang above. Cameron does great on his tummy and can hold himself up on his arms for a good amount of time. He also has found his hands a loves to chew on them.

Cameron continues to be a joy in our lives and we thank God for him all the time! We are blessed to call him our son and we are excited to see what new things happen in the next month!