MN trip [pre reunion]

On July 7, my cousin's son, Dustin died unexpectedly....just so sad, 23 years old...just married 28 days before. There really are no words to describe how sad it is. The funeral was on July 12, so we drove up a day before we were planning on for the Birky reunion, to attend. Death is just a hard thing, especially an unexpected young person's death. The only thing that makes it bearable for those left on earth, is to know that believer's will go to a much greater place in Heaven, and someday we will get to reunite with them again. At the burial, it lightly rained just for a couple minutes...almost as if God was even crying. Christian looked up and said, "Why is everyone sad...Dustin is in Heaven now!" 

If only our human emotions were as simple as that. I will continue to pray for Dustin's family and new bride, as it is just terrible hard to understand the pain they all feel.

On the drive to MN...

We went to Carol & Kenny's house Thursday afternoon and evening. It was so nice outside, so we played games outside...then had a very yummy supper!

 The sunset that evening was simply amazing...the picture does not grasp the BEAUTY.

We stayed at Tam (my cousin) & Cal's house....so did Brent & Alyssa's family. Friday morning, the kids had fun exploring outside. It's so nice to have nice weather :) Then in the afternoon, we headed north to the camp that the Birky reunion was being held.

These two are buddies....Kade and Christian.

Beat the heat

It's summer...it's hot.

It's hot everywhere...most regions in the US are hot, so there's really no need to complain, because that's just the way it is. 

I'm SO very grateful that we have a home that has air conditioning, we have cars that have air conditioning, I work by 12 hour shifts in air conditioning, and we have running water.

I feel for those that don't have one or all of these things...that would just be really hard.

So anyways...

on the lighter side, in order to "play" outside, water has to be involved for it to be enjoyable.

We have used both the sprinkler park in town and the water park in McPherson for this! 

Yay for both :)

At the water park with the rest of the family.

Brent and Alyssa....and Mom floating down the lazy river.

Dad with the kids in the splash area.

 Ben doing a cannon ball! (I think that's Dad in the pool.)

Maddox going off the diving board! (Yep, it is Dad in the pool.)

Almost 3...

Just a month away from turning THREE...

Frequent sayings and quotes from CMH...

"Oh....I didn't KNOW that" (after he's told or given something for the very first time).

"Because, I just want to......because.....because I just need to.....because.....because." (because = frequent usage!)

"I don't need to sleep."

 (Often said well before either one of us has even mentioned it's naptime or bedtime...a clear sign he is INDEED very ready to lay down!)

"Baby bro'ler...." "Is baby bro'ler going to pop out of your belly?"

He is frequently referring to his baby brother throughout the days.

"When I get big like Mitchell, I can go off the diving board. I can. When I get big like Mitchell."

(Apparently Mitchell is the current reference to "big".)

Current supper prayer (this is every supper...not just a one time occurrence of the pause part) :

"Thank you for the food." Pause...he looks up and says, "Do we say Dear God first?" 

Then he restarts...

"Dear God, thank you for this food." Pause...looks up and says, "But we haven't eaten yet!" 

Then he restarts..."Dear God, thank you for this food..and thank you for Grandma and Grandpa...and thank you for... (each food item that is on the table gets a separate thank you)."

A special visit from a very special family

My very dear friend Ranee, and her family from Iowa came to visit us.

They arrived Thursday afternoon....

we showed them around the place a little,

the kids had fun exploring the toy options,

ate some supper,

then had dessert in honor of Justin's 30th birthday in May!

After supper we took a walk with the wagons to Crosswinds..

a place that we usually like to go to look at the pond and check out the bullfrogs.

With the lack of rain, and the rather warm (HOT) weather...the pond didn't exactly look like it did a few weeks ago. It was barely there! And what was there was very mucky.

 Can you find the bullfrog?? 

See what I mean about gross...that can't be desirable even for a frog.

[Friday]

Ranee and I went to Newton in the morning to check out some sidewalk sales...

we found a few bargains (that's almost to be expected :) ).

After we got home, we packed up a picnic lunch and loaded everyone up for a visit to the park.

I love their expressions. Meet Luke and Tessa. 

After our picnic we went to the sprinkler park, just a block away. Oh boy, there were shrills of joy! Christian had never been...he was a pretty big fan!!

So was Luke...

 (blurry picture...but it was too perfect not to include..the buckets were a hit!)

Tessa tried it out eventually...it maybe wasn't her favorite thing ever.

It was pretty chilly water, regardless of how warm it was observing.

I can't tell if Christian was just cold or had to "go"...maybe both, who knows.

We went home and some long naps were taken. 

Then we decided to go to Freddy's for supper (I'm probably their #1 fan, so I thought it would be appropriate to introduce the Brokaws).

 There were three very silly kids that wanted their pictures taken...

And..a very special treat was their new Freddy's t-shirts!!! Thank you to Justin and Ranee (this also meant they got free frozen custard...oh my!)

Future Freddy's advertisement....

And to top it off, we made a trip to Target..with our "triplets" (as one person asked).

A few stories before bed...and we completed our day!

[Saturday]

Ranee and I have many things in common.

We had a list of these in college.

Anyways...one of these things now, is how the blogging world has made its place in our interests when free time presents itself. We share many of the same blogs that we follow (we occasionally talk about them as if we are pals and we all know each other...except they don't really even know either one of us exist). All of this to say, Saturday morning we went to check out an antique store and "barn" of sorts that has been featured on one of the blogs called Whatever. Alyssa came with us, she even chauffeured us..AND she has an actual connection with this blog lady, so she's legit if she acts as though she knows this blog lady. Regardless. we found some treasures to take home. It was a little overwhelming all the possibilities you could buy...the creativity could really get going!

We ate at a local deli place..and had a delicious wrap.

Meanwhile, the men were watching the kids...which I must say was mighty appreciated! 

The two of them didn't seem to have any troubles coming up with things to talk about...which is a good problem to have :)

That afternoon we had a tour of Kansas Electric from Dad.

Complete with a ride on the lift, checking out the machines, and icecream bars.

Everyone was pretty pleased :)

After naps, we played outside for awhile.

Then ate grilled pizza.

Then went to Mom and Dad's for dessert.

 I think we were checking out pinterest here...or possibly somebody's blog..either way, we were quite into it.

A few attempts at getting a picture of us, prior to the morning of leaving...

those husbands of us were a little out of control with the picture snapping!

I love this dear lady...she is quite special to me :)

 And a story before leaving from MJ!

Thank you SO much for coming to visit!

I do hope our next visit is soon...but in the meantime we have our blogs and phone calls to keep us up to date :)