McGregor Weekend

The Henkes family was hosting a reunion in McGregor, so Daniel, Patrick and Mom took a flight back to Iowa to visit the family. Josh had baseball that weekend so he stayed home with Dad. 

The boys were excited to find out their plane was outside on the tarmac. They got to walk right up to the plane and board on a ramp instead of a jetway. They were very impressed.

First stop in Iowa, was to Saylorville lake where the Weldons were camping out in their motorhome. We got to spend a few hours with the cousins. 

Then we headed to McGregor to play with cousins on the other side of the family.

With Uncle Jon and Grandpa around, there is a lot of fun to be had by rambunctious boys. 

Plus, lots of water time. 

Daniel even tried his hand at skiing. He got up for a little bit. He says he'll try again next year. 

He loved tubing though. 

And they both loved swimming in the river. 

Then we headed over to Pikes Peak Park for the reunion. It was fun to see all the family together. I apparently got so lost in it, I forgot to take pictures. Trust me. It was fun and there were a lot of people there. Hopefully the whole family will visit next summer. We need more river time. 

Daniel's Baseball Adventure

Daniel wanted to try baseball again this year. He got on a team with quite a few friends from school. 

This is the first year the kids got to be catcher. I think Daniel really liked this position. He was even okay with the helmet and pads when it was really hot. 

This is how he felt about baseball most of the time. I don't think he will be signing up next year. 😆

Rox Stars

Patrick started t-ball this year. He was very excited to get to play instead of watch his brothers. He was on the Rox Stars and loved every minute of it.

I see more baseball in his future. 

Van Wyk Visit

We enjoyed some quality time with the Van Wyk family when they came out to visit us for the week. It was a great trip with a little time around the house and getting out to explore Colorado. It's nice to have people visit us. It makes us do things we wouldn't normally do out here and see a lot of fun new places. 

One place we have to take people when they visit is Freddy's. It's so good.

We also hit a new pizza place after one of Josh's ball games. I think Charlotte looks up to Uncle Joe. 

One of the places we decided to visit was Georgetown and their train. It was a nice little mountain town. The train drives in a loop but you get some great views. 

We got off the train halfway and took a mine tour with lunch and panning for gold included. It was fun to learn all about the old mines. 

We stopped in Idaho Springs on the way back to enjoy a cold treat. 

I think they all liked it. 

After a long day of sight-seeing, the cousins enjoyed a group sleep over in Josh's room. Good thing he had a lot of floor space. 

We had fun in the kitchen with the kids making watermelon slushes. 

We took the family to Dinosaur Ridge. We enjoyed this last year and thought they would as well. It's neat to see the dinosaur footprints and bones in the rocks. 

Plus, dinosaur bones taste good.

And it's fun to lift up rocks.

Another day we wanted to take the cog train up to Pikes Peak. On the way we stopped at Garden of the Gods to let the kids run around on the rocks.

 

Then we made it to Colorado Springs and hopped on the Cog Train up to the top of Pikes Peak. It's over an hours ride each way but makes for some good views and wildlife viewing. 

The ride home was almost as exiting as Joe and I spent the entire hour trying to convince Daniel that he didn't need to go to the bathroom as much as he thought and he would make it to the bottom. It worked. He made it. 

Thanks for visiting Van Wyks. We had a great time and hope you did too. Come back again soon!

AYL Night at the Rockies

Each year, the league Josh's baseball team is in has a night at the Rockies. Each team gets to walk on the field in a parade before the game and then sit as a team to watch the game. 

The boys love it every year. And this is such a fun team to hang out with so the parents have a lot of fun too.