This picture is taken at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Notice how Carter loves to hold fingers when he has his pipe in. Too cute.
Carter is always spoiled by his loving sisters.
My vacuumers!
Hailey and Olivia took a "Fun with Clay" camp last week and loved it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because Hailey's first love has always been crafts. They made: honey pot, fairy house, candy dish, fish plate, a pinch bowl, and a taco fish. All are on display in our home and very precious.
A couple of weeks ago Auntie Julie and cousin Brittany came for a visit and we decided to take an overnight trip to the Water Park of America; a five minute trip! I can not say enough about how awesome the hotel and water park is for both adults and children. Hailey probably enjoyed it the most braving all of the slides and surfing. I wish I had my camera for the show when Hailey, Mike, Brittany, and Julie all surfed--it was a good show. Carter and Taylor were good little troopers taking it all in and accepting the fact that the family raft included them despite their fear and apprehension. Needless to say, we were all exhausted after the over-night, but plan on making another trip there sometime soon.
This past weekend Brad, Pam, Cassie, Jacob, Madison, Wil, & Gin visited us for a fun packed weekend at the Miedema Motel. Saturday night's entertainment was the Twins game; the Twins lost but the best entertainment was watching the kids.
Carter was a monster at the game and sat only when being fed sugar and caffeine resulting in an exponential growth of energy.
The girls favorite part of the game was the cotton candy even though it didn't last very long. I tried to make a "one hand" rule hoping to keep some of the mess confined to one hand, but all was lost--Thank goodness for Carter's wipes.
Last week Grandma Miedema visited us for what was planned to be just one night but turned into three. We went to Minnehaha Falls and were really disappointed that currently the water is so low that there were not any "falls" to see so we then opted for the family bike--very hard work! The kids had a great time with Grandma and I was able to sneak away on multiple occasions for errands and other fun stuff.
HAILEY SIX YEARS OLD
I can't believe that Hailey is already six years old. She has become such a fun, kind, and intelligent young lady who loves to laugh, play with friends, tell stories, do crafts, and read.
We had a great day Friday starting with donuts that she had requested and a Wally's hamburger & strawberry shake.
At 2pm we had a back yard "Soak up the Sun" party that involved pools, tents, slip-n-slide, and sprinklers. Almost 20 of Hailey's most loved friends came to celebrate and do the traditional "hokey pokey" pool style in honor of her birthday.
Last week we did "tie-dyed" t-shirts with our next door neighbors: The Syrjamakis'. Hailey, Olivia, and Taylor did them on their own and I thought they turned our great and we didn't ruin any other clothes in the process.
Now with all of our summer vacations completed and Mike busy with his fellowship we visited our local pool that is located just 1 mile east of our home. It has been a huge success with the kids and we purchased a membership for the rest of the summer. Hailey has really become an excellent swimmer daring to go down the big water slides, dive for rings, and jumping off of the board. 
This week Hailey and Olivia started their King's Kids Bible Camp. They leave every morning around 9am and return at 4pm. They were so excited about the bus ride. I can't wait to hear what they thought of the day.
This past weekend we had an incredible weekend up at out friends' Veurink's cabin. The cabin is located north of St. Cloud on Crook Neck Lake. There were four couples and 11 children all in one cabin--it went awesome and all of the kids had a blast. I believe that the high light for the kids was fishing off the dock and catching "sunnys".
Taylor's treasure from her canoe ride with dad.
Watching daddy ski
All of the kiddos
