Demo Derby

Before Karson & Ellary came along, before we were even married (which was really only 6 months before we found out Karson was on his way), DJ used to run race in Off Road Derbies, and Demolition Derbies.  He stopped doing them because, well, they cost money, and require a lot of time.  Two things we don't have an excess of. :)  That and I wouldn't say that purposely crashing into other cars is a particularly safe hobby.

Last weekend, we went to the Hudsonville Fair's Demo Derby.  DJ got the itch.  He mentioned in passing to a friend of his after the fair that he was itching to get back out and race/crash.  Well, he had a derby car that he was going to scrap out, but it still ran if DJ wanted to use it for the Derby.

A few days later, we were doing this...

 

...and this...

 (baby + red paint = covered)

We agreed that we would turn it into a family event.  If DJ was going to go work on the car, the kids and I were going to join, too.  We gave them each a paint brush, and set them  free to paint the back of the car, while DJ and I painted his sponsor's name all over it. 

Karson was so very excited to see Daddy in his "crash 'em up" car!

For anyone who doesn't know what a demolition derby is...

12 cars in that wooded rectangle & crash into each other until there is only 1 car left running.

Telling Daddy Good Luck...

 

Watching for Daddy...

 

Going for a walk with Nana...

Then it was Daddy's Turn.

DJ was the 6th car out.

His car stalled, and he couldn't get it restarted.

Bummer.

But still, he had so much fun.

 

It took them five minutes.  

Five minutes in the pits and they were playing in the dirt.

We are very proud of our Daddy.

You watch...he will be back out again next year. :)

Feeding the Ducks {Holland State Park Camping}

We just got back from 3 back-to-back camping trips.  We have basically been gone since the middle of July.  The first trip, we just went 30 minutes west, to Holland State Park.  I wanted three days on the beach...get up,  go to the beach, go back to the trailer, go to sleep, get up and go back to the beach.  Yea...that didn't happen.  Thank you Michigan weather...it was freezing.  And raining.  Like it was in the low 60s.  The water temperature was in the 40s.  We didn't get to play on the beach, we we had a lot of great family time in the trailer while it rained. :)

We had a break from the rain one day, so we headed out with some duck food to feed the ducks.  My kids LOVE to feed ducks, and I carry around a container of duck food in my car always.    

 

Of course, it started raining again when we started walking back to the campground...

InstaFriday

Happy Friday!

 Linking up the last few weeks of Insta pictures with Jeannette from Life.Rearranged.

I like the beach.

A lot, a lot, a lot.

So do they!

They needed a rainy, low key day.

We Rainy days means we move the table to the corner of the dining room, and it becomes a play room.

Anything, and everything can come out.

They really loved their PlayMobile 123 farm and zoo this day!

Again, the beach.

A different day.

Have I mentioned I love the beach?

I also love stripes on the beach.

And my kiddos love their Aunt TT.

After nap curls.

Playdough & coloring.

Ellary is a little high maintenance.

She doesn't like bread, so she won't eat sand witches, unless they are grilled. 

High maintenance.

She does like peanut butter.

When lunch includes a PB sandwich, I just give her a bowl of peanut butter and a spoon.

He insisted on sleeping by his door.

We kept moving him to his bed, he kept moving back to the door.

He stayed there all night long.

Ellary usually nurses for 2 hours, every night.

'Usually' means...sometimes more than 2 hours.

Last Friday when she started nursing at 8:00, and was done, and out cold at 8:20, I knew I was in trouble.

It wasn't going to last.

I was right.

I tried to lay her down and she woke up, so I tried to nurse her back to sleep.

She wasn't having it.

Then she saw Karson on the video monitor.

That was the end of that.

I finally just got up with her, and let her play.

Karson wasn't asleep yet either, so we let him get up too.

He was thrilled.

We were leaving for camping the next day, and still had a few things we needed to pick up at Family Fare.

Family Fare has free popcorn.

The kids LOVE the pop-pop store.

So....we loaded them up in their jammies, and took them for free popcorn at 10:00 at night.

We didn't even bother putting shoes on them.

Fishing with a 1 and 3 year old...interesting!

Rainy camping morning crafts.

Even when it is only 60 degrees in July, I still love the beach!

YUM!  Camp Breakfast.  Enough said.

Before we left the campground, DJ dumped out the left over worms from fishing.

The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever, and kept bringing them to me.

Nice.

 They are so completely opposite.

In every way.

Except that they both carry around an armload of comfort items, at all times.

Including their waters.

Karson has B's & Doggie.

Ellary has Baby, Blankie, and Doggie.

B's are plural...2 of them...because when he was a baby I was never good at only giving him one.  

So he attached to both of them.  

Oops.

Ice Cream

So I like ice cream.

I really, really, really like ice cream.

A lot. 

I get my love of ice cream from my Mom.

Who also really, really, really loves ice cream.

Last summer, I couldn't have any.

Ella's little tummy couldn't handle even the tiniest drop of anything dairy until she was 7/8ish months old.

We are making up for that this summer.

And my little one, who I was worried would never be able to indulge in an ice cream at the ice cream place, shares our love.

It all started when Ella was sitting on my Mom's lap at What's the Scoop...

 She stole her ice cream cone.  

Silly Mommy had gotten her a bowl of ice cream.

 She was very proud of herself.

And then there is Karson.  Who is obsessed with Blue Moon ice cream. (yuck!)  Then we discovered Candy Playdough icecream...blue moon ice cream with colored cookie dough pieces.  He loves it!  (ewwww)

So the next time, we got Ellary her own cone.

She was in Baby Heaven.

 We get ice cream...a lot.

My kids are ice cream pros.

It is just plain fun to go out for ice cream.

It makes for very happy kiddos!

{and a very happy Mama too}

Many times now, people have comment on ho well the kids do with an ice cream cone.

There is a reason for that.

They have lots of experience with ice cream cones!

 

{ And now I want ice cream.}