More Pearl Lake fun

We kept busy even when we weren't by the lake. The big boys helped Buppa with a painting project in the train shed.

The cousins and 2nd cousins

 Little folding chairs work as walkers!

TJ and my cousin's daughter, Abby, had a lemonade stand during the association meeting. If you look very carefully, you can see "and Jojo and Jimmy" added in on the sign as well. Not sure that's lemonade in the pitcher though?!

If you can't drive the truck, you might as well climb on it!

Not sure if Isaac is pushing the truck or being dragged along--possibly a little bit of each.

These two took turns riding and pushing this toy. 

Posing with Uncle Sam! Jimmy and Isaac are dressed for the holiday; TJ and Jojo just happen to be wearing their bathing suits, which are the right color. Poor Ben sticks out in his orange, and ironically I actually did have some red, white and blue along for him!

Grammy and Buppa with their five grandsons (three in Pearl Lake shirts!)

Red, white and blue birthday

Isaac turned 1! Being born near the 4th of July ensures a red, white and blue theme! Not to mention, a chance to get everyone together--the Regenfuss family, Rhyan family and Jack and Betty came over for an evening of fun and cake.

A firecracker cake

Ikey and his momma

Ben with his party band

The Ellestad four

The kids' table

Eating at the coffee table

Jack and Betty, relaxing on the new porch

Trying out the new porch table!

And the inside table group

Daddy and Ben

4th of July at Pearl Lake

When we can, we try to spend the July 4th weekend at Pearl Lake. Panoramic fireworks that we watch from the boat, playing in the lake, time with family, and now, Isaac's birthday!

The big boys love to fish and are always asking Corey, Uncle Pat, Buppa or Daddy to do it with them. We actually let them both use hooks now, with supervision.

Lots of cute Ben close-ups from this weekend.

Naptime on the docked pontoon!

Hanging with Buppa

Grammy feeds Ben yogi; Isaac wants in on the spoon action

Momma and Ben

They're not truly wrestling--more just holding each other up!

The big guys always end up out on Big Mable during the booze cruise. This time, the ladies took our turn!

Everyone wants to help drive!

Ben gets a chance by himself.

TJ skied!

The boys rode Big Mable with Niki and Corey

A recreation of a picture from the year (or two?) before...this time with the bookends!

These two were like turtles with their life jackets on--if they tipped over, they couldn't get back up! They did like playing in the sand though.

Another Mable ride with Buppa! I had stitches in my thumb, so I was out of commission lake-wise this weekend. :( 

Jet skiing with Daddy

Jojo's fish

TJ's fish

Saying (a temporary) goodbye to good friends

Good friends of ours are spending the 2015-2016 school year in Florida. We were sad to see them go but happy they'll be coming back! Before they left, we hung out several times, including our favorite buffet lunch at Erbelli's. 

These two are 6 weeks apart. They'll have changed so much in a year!

Preschool buddies!

This dark little back room is the hidden secret at Erbelli's. It's small and private with convenient access to the buffet--perfect for families with wild children! We sit here every time if we can.

We also had our first (and last) date night with Dennis and Amy. We went to SkyZone, the trampoline park, and had so.much.fun!

Playing dodge ball with some high school/college (?) kids

Check out my air!

Love this perfectly timed photo of the four of us!

Group selfie!

After jumping, we went to Zingo's for dinner and then topped off the night with custard. Hoping to do more dates nights when they return!

Benjamin is 10 months

So this kid turned 10 months! 

He spends lots of time standing up on furniture...

 And other places...

In fact, he's quite the stunt man! (Below he is standing on top our garbage can insert--I had taken the full bag out and he tipped this over and used it in his never-ending quest to get into the pantry.)

And the gates on the stairs don't even hold him back--the gate fell over and he just climbed right over it.

He also likes to put things in his mouth:

Sometimes it's fake food...

And sometimes it's real food--this pickle--his first--amused him for about 15 minutes when we ventured out to eat as a family one night!

Here he is sitting on a quilt I was binding outside.

And eating breakfast "like a big boy" at the little table with Jojo.