Happy 7th Bday, Zach!

He finally got the remote control helicopter he has been wanting! And his dad got one for his bday too so they can have heli wars. :)Some of Steve and my friends from high school were able to come to the party with their little ones, and it was so much fun to see our kids playing with their kids.

Mikayla hit it off right away with Megan, the daughter of one of my best friends from high school. They invented these "grapes on a pretzel" lollipops and passed them out to everyone. :)

Family Time

Sorry it has been so long since I posted - we have been just too busy having fun here in the States! Our trip back across the ocean went amazingly well, with only 1 delay.

Back in the States after almost 4 years!
I asked Ben to watch our carryons while we got stuff off the luggage belt - and this is what I saw when I turned to check on him. :)
Since we arrived back, we have been having a BLAST catching up with old friends and especially spending time with family. Jen, Zach, and Steve have all had birthdays in the few weeks we have been back (pics of Zach's coming soon), and we have gone on vacation with both sets of grandparents for a few days. We actually had a family reunion with Steve's side of the family, and the kids got to meet their cousins for the 1st time!

Some rousing games of mini golf and shuffleboard...

A trip to Silver Dollar City amusement park with both families...

The kids surprised us by going on all the roller coasters and LOVING it! Even Ben went on the crazy ones. Mikayla was the only one big enough to do the loopty loop one, but she went on it a total of 6 times! That is a total of 30 times flipped upside down! Crazy girl.

Lots of swimming...

We attended the musical "Noah" with Jen's parents, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually had more fun watching the kids' eyes than the actors! :)

While it has been fun doing vacation with family, it has also been fun just being able to hang out and work together. Zach has been doing a great job with the weed-eating. (Also, check out our HUGE praise behind him - the vehicle that my parents got for us to use while we are back! We are helping with payments while we are here, then they will probably resell it after we go back. It will be perfect for us as we log a whole lot of miles this summer - it is so comfortable to travel in and even has a built-in DVD player! :) )

We are so thankful for all the special times we have had with family since we have been back!