Kelly Reunion in Lisbon

 We got to meet my cousin's wife and kids for the first time this weekend. (Aug 10th) Here is their youngest, and the youngest Kelly to date, Haddie. I have another cousin having a baby boy in November. Can't wait to meet him, too!

 Classic Kelly shot. Take a picture of the person taking a picture of you. Ha!

 Terri hosted the party this year. We spent the day in the park in Lisbon, North Dakota. Big thanks to Terri for providing amazing food all day (and some others contributed treats and snackies, mmmmm).

 There was lots of playground equipment, a pool (which nobody used), a mini golf course (which nobody used), and lots of space to play frisbee. We played ourselves out!

 What's this contraption called again? Oh yeah. A merry-go-round! You don't see these things too much nowadays.

 Beth is pushing (great) Grandma Kelly and Colin on the swings. I don't know who the kid in black is, but the kid in blue and white is named Parker. He lives right next to the park and joined us for some frisbee throwing. We shared a cookie and lemonade with him as well.

 You don't see teeter totters too much either. I'm not sure how much the girls like them. But Daddy makes anything and everything fun!

 Again, random kid in black.

 Grandma Kelly helped Abby take her nap.

 Haddie and Chelsea got along swimmingly.

 Yes. Honk Mommy's nose some more. 

 Grandpa Kelly and his brother, Paul. I can see the resemblance, can you?

 Great Grandma Kelly with all of the attending great grandchildren. And me holding Abby, because she is clingy and doesn't happily go to other people, OR stand there and smile nice.

 Jennifer and Colin hanging out. Colin was cute referring to us all as his long lost cousins. Ha! Love it!

 Martin and Maureen

 Our family group

 Paul's family group

Colin in front, in back is my cousin Jim (Paul's son) and his wife Kandee, who is holding Haddie, then Paul's wife Debbie, and Paul

The Originals, minus one

Grandma Jeanne and five of her six children

Maureen, Terri, Mary

Mike, Paul, and not pictured is Joe who didn't make it to the party

C&A Visit, Library Summer Wrap Up

 This girl loves shoes and flip flops, and bankets!

The library hosted an end-of-summer-reading wrap up shindig at the South Hill Complex. They had all sorts of fun activities. Chelsea is the only one who wanted her face painted.

 Her favorite colors

 I didn't get too many pics of the C&A group. We did see them a few times, but we weren't on vacation and still had to work and stuff, so we didn't see them as much as we would have liked.

 The bouncy house wasn't as popular with my two as bouncy houses usually are. Maybe it was the wet grass? Who knows.

 They herded all the kids from all the activities over to the magician when it was his turn to perform. Unfortunately my girls were not the least bit interested in what he was doing.

 Wesley liked playing basketball.

 So did Abby.

 Check out the tippy toes here!

 My girls LOVE spending time with Grandma Heit!

 Who doesn't love a little sidewalk chalk?

 Chelsea missed out on getting a balloon earlier because they chased the kids over to the magician. She was fortunate, later on, to get the LAST balloon animal the clown had to offer. It even survived for about 1/2 an hour before it popped.

 I got this mid-plop. Abby overbalanced and ended up on her rear, ha! Cute.

None of my girls did this, but they had little sumo suits for the kids to sumo wrestle. It was pretty funny to watch. Hip, hip, for reading and the library!

Camp, the Parade, and the Fair!

 These first ones are from "Girl's Camp" this year. It was not camping, but rather more like an EFY for just the young women. They called it encampment. But it was fabulous! The girls played lots of get to know you games, since this was for 4 whole stakes, not just ours.

 This is Jeremy Harvey. He played the piano for us throughout camp and also spoke, using the piano during his talk. He suffers from cerebral palsy and VERY limited vision. He was told he would never be able to play the piano and lo and behold, he's mastered it. He's fabulous!

 We stayed at Jamestown college. They were very nice in allowing us to use their buildings and dorms and fields for out 400+ girls and leaders. These few are teaching the rest a line dance. 

 Here's one group (we had ALL the girls doing this in four different groups) doing, I'm not sure what you call this activity. But you stand really close, then sit down like you are going to sit on a chair, and everyone supports everyone else. They were also able to take steps and walk in a circle like this. It was pretty cool.

 Here's the ZUMBA leaders!

 The girls are signing Cherie's ice pack. 

 We're back in Minot now for the State Fair Parade! Here is our very own Josh Duhamel! Love this guy!

 Can you spot the Daddy-O?

 Here he is! He walked the whole thing AND took pictures all while suffering an injured ankle. What a trooper!

 Auntie Beth joined us girls to watch. They don't look overly impressed, but they were sufficiently entertained and happy to gather candy and other items like flags and sunglasses and such. Chelsea brought her toy camera and "took pictures" of her favorite floats.

 Little stinker Abby took her glasses OFF for the picture. They were all wearing them and being cute.

 And Abby WAS being cute here waving her arms and smiling, but of course she HAD to cough as I took the picture. Then she wouldn't do it anymore. Stinker.

 Brie is by far my most flexible child. She doesn't even put any effort into it. She just bends and folds and stretches like nothing!

 And here we are at the fair! A HUGE thanks to the Spain family for letting us borrow their double stroller. It made life SO much easier. The weather was perfect this year, too.

 We all voted for different color piggies to win the race. But none of us picked the winning pig, the green one. One of these years we're bound to pick the winning pig and have a chance at winning the drawing for a free Tubby Burger. :P

 Here's a new attraction this year. Sting rays! Chelsea was happy to look but would NOT touch them. Brie did touch a couple, and Abby tried, but couldn't reach far enough into the water with her short arms.

 We thought Abby would love the dog show. She was mildly impressed when a puppy came close to us. But overall she was upset that she wasn't allowed inside the fence to play on their equipment.

 I lucked out with the timing on this one. They've got volunteer "puppies" lined up that the real dog leaps over while catching the frisbee.

 We also caught a little bit of the tiger show, but apparently they started early. And ended early. Right after we got there. Oh well.

 But really, what was the most exciting part of the fair for the kids? Yep. The playground.

 This didn't work the way I pictured. I pictured all three lined up on the slide together, sliding down with happy smiles. And, no. This is what happened. Oh well. :)

Bedtime apples for all. Brie picked out her own pajamas, can you tell? Incidentally, we didn't line them up for a picture. One of them thought this would be a fun way to eat her snack, and of course the others had to sit there too.

Aren't they just cute?