4th of July

This year for 4th of July we totally took advantage of the long weekend and headed down to Alabama to celebrate.  Chad's Aunt and Uncle live on a lake down there and they have every toy you can think of: a lily pad, a wave runner, 3 boats and to top it off a big ole' pier and cliff to jump off of.  I mean seriously?  And I'll tell you what we took advantage of ALL OFF IT.  These kids (and adults) did not stop.  I'll spare you my words of wisdom on this post (mainly because I'm just too tired) because I think the pictures speak for themselves.  A BIG thank you to the Alabama Auchly's for the hospitality.  Hopefully we didn't outstay our welcome because I hard rumblings of a "4th of July Tradition"...SURPRISE!

Baseball Season

Nolan is totally into baseball these days.  He actually played on two teams this summer but for some reason I only have pictures from one.  #momfail  And he also recently tried out for a new team so it seems as though Baseball is the gift that keeps on giving...ALL YEAR LONG.  

He played first base on both teams and got his fair share of hits (inclusive of a home run).  Don't worry, he is completely humble about his abilities (not at all).  We will work on that while we play Baseball ALL YEAR LONG...did I mention he is playing ALL YEAR LONG now?

Father's Day

It seems our Father's Day tradition is to go over to Chad's parents for a little swimming party.  The Kids get to swim and hang out with their cousins = they are happy, the men sit in the corner and drink beer = they are happy and the women slave over dinner and keeping everyone happy (that might be a stretch...like a big one) = we are pretty happy.  This year was no different...swimming, beers, cousins and smiles.  A happy father's day indeed.

Branson or Bust!

Get ready for picture overload!  We recently went on a little trip to Branson with some friends of ours.  Everyone who knows me at all knows that I have a special place in my heart for Branson.  I can't explain it, there's just something about good ole' country fun that makes my heart happy.  This trip was no exception.  Might have been the best trip yet!  We had a great itinerary set up for our long weekend and it quite honestly went off without a hitch.  

The first day we spent the day at an indoor water park because the weather outside was less than stellar.  After that we made our way over to the Dixie Stampede.  We had 20 people in our party and Chad had called ahead to get our tickets.  Well for whatever reason the Dixie Stampede thought we were part of a reunion so at one point in the show the "Struckmann Family Reunion" got a special shout out!  And then we continued to play on the "Struckmann Family Reunion" for the rest of the weekend!  The Dixie Stampede was SUPER fun for everyone, kids and adults alike.  I would look up and down the row of our crew and at any given time someone was dancing, or shouting, or stomping, or clapping or some combination of all of those.  It was awesome.

The next day we headed on over to Silver Dollar City.  With 10 kids of all different ages (and heights) we did have to split up a little bit throughout the day but I think everyone got to experience their fair share of rides and games.  Kids were happy (and exhausted) which meant the parents were happy (and exhausted).  I also realized on this day that my kids have graduated from the "baby rides", and I had the whiplash to prove it.  The little one wants to keep up with the big one so he's got some guts for a 4 year old!  He's going to give me a heart attack that one.

 

The next stop for the "Struckmann Family Reunion" was a day on Table Rock Lake.  It started out a little rocky as the boat rental place would not give us an anchor (apparently they lost too many) and there aren't really any places to go to on the lake.  So we did some tubing and attempted to just float in the middle of the lake.  That did not work.  So then we decided we were going to trespass and just use a private dock that had two open boat slips.  My anxiety (and many other's I might add) was through the roof.  I am a rule follower and this my friends was most definitely not allowed!  I spent the next 1-2 hours trying to drink my anxiety away as I sat on the boat and hid from anyone on the dock (and perhaps acted like I was asleep once or twice), while the boys and the kids pretended like they owned the place!  We eventually left the dock and found a little island in the middle of the lake to pull up on, this was a much better idea in my mind!  So we hung out here for a while and did some relaxing.  Perfection...just wish we would have found it earlier!

 

 On our last day we weren't quite ready to go home, so we decided to take in a little mini golf before we hit the road.  There were quite a few holes in one and quite a few hole in 13 (if you're Bennett).  A perfect way to end our vacation.