Photo Overload, Here We GO!

 These pics start at the beginning of August and go through Chelsea's first day of school on August 22nd. 

Abby turned 10 months old August 3rd.

 The girls love camping in their various indoor tents.

 We decided to take a family vacation. In conjunction with that we also attended a Heit family reunion. (Pics following!) 

Here is Brie and I on a roller coaster at the Mall of America.

 More MoA pics.

Brie loved gathering up all the Nemo dolls so much that we had to buy her one. She was cute calling them Meemos.

 Abby had a great time with all the big stuffed animals here in the Disney store and also at the Havican's house. She wrestled them and snuggled them and hugged them and "kissed" them. Adorable.

 It's sometimes tough to be this little on vacation. One must sleep at some point.

 We checked out several toy/game stores.

Continuing on to the next phase of vacation: The Wisconsin Dells!

McDonalds saves the day for hungry tummies coming into the Dells.

 A second life saver was this fun playground. The girls needed some physical exertion to release some energy. They were starting to fight and pester each other from being cooped up in the van.

 

 Brie loves her playgrounds.

 Now after filling our bellies and playing for a bit, we decided to head over to some attractions. We had to run away from dinosaurs tearing up this upside down building. Scary.

 Who can go by the White House that was dropped on it's roof in the middle of Wisconsin without going inside? Not us! We ain't afraid of no dinosaurs!

 The girls weren't overly impressed, but our tour guide was pretty blase.

 Dinosaurs weren't the only thing in that upside down White House! Ahhhh!

It was all dark except for his glowing eyes and a smidge of daylight from the corridor. Scary. I love Abby's face, hehe.

 Here we are hanging out in our resort. We stayed at the Mt. Olympus resort complete with theme parks and water parks.

Brie got this whole king size bed to herself.

 What's that on her arm, you ask? Oh, did I forget to mention that we spent a couple hours at Urgent Care before we checked into the resort? Well. While we were at the upside down White House, the first thing we actually DID in the Wisconsin Dells, Brie was holding my hand and tugging at my arm. I had a good hold on her so she wouldn't escape. Well she dropped her weight down (and must have twisted, too) and I felt a pop. She cried. And she didn't stop crying. I knew right away that she had popped her elbow out of socket. For the second time-on the same arm. 

Sigh.

So we took her to Urgent Care to get it popped back in. The Dr. popped it once, but half an hour later she wasn't able to bend her arm, so he had to pop it again. I don't like this doctor's method compared to our pediatrician. The first time Brie pulled her elbow out of joint, Dr. Holland actually pulled it out again, placed it in the proper position, and let it go back in.  Brie was back to normal in MINUTES. The Urgent care Dr. just moved her arm around until it popped, which *I* could have done. Well she was in a lot of pain and was still unwilling to try to move it so after awhile they finally took two x-rays to make sure it was in place and nothing was broken. It was all fine. She was just in pain. She favored it for a good DAY AND A HALF, and couldn't sleep well that night.

 Cool decor above the second bed. (We had a two room suite, which was really nice.)

 Brie liked the little sling they gave her. She wore it for a couple days, I think, even though, as you can see, it wasn't actually functioning in its full capacity as a sling. As long as it made her feel better, that's what mattered.

 We got to take advantage of even more rides than just the Mall of America rides!

 These are Abby rides. She loves it!

 Hey, something the little little ones can do!

 We also got to swim in some frigid water! Brie is especially prone to hypothermia (pretty much!) when swimming. She doesn't take long to turn blue and start shivering, but even the rest of us were chilled by the outdoor pools! The indoor ones weren't too bad, though Brie still shivered.

 Make way for the baby! She wants the duckie!

 The killer whales looked fancy but there was no water running down them, so they were hard to actually slide down.

 Brrrrr!!!!!

 Big eyed cutie. 

Sorry for the immodesty.

 Warm up with Daddy!

 Pirate ship!

 Aaarrrr!

 This was a very cool ball pit type area. You can put the balls in different apparatuses and shoot them, or bunches of them at once. The girls were pretty much in heaven.

 Abby was a big fan of this area.

 Abby preferred to stay with the balls while these two did some teacup rides. Mommy was happy to stay with the baby and avoid going in circles. *barf*

 This is our hotel outer decor. Very cool.

 Buffalo Phil delivers food on a train. Very cool.

 Chelsea was delighted to find that she had THREE fries all stuck together.

 And here begins documentation of the final phase of our vacation: The Heit Family Reunion. 

We are hanging out and/or playing Lego Creationary while waiting for the rest of the gang to show up.

 The Children's Museum in Madison was one of our stops.

 I think Brie would have stayed on this slide the whole time without someone encouraging her too look around and do other things.

 Abby looks cute in the canoe, but it wasn't really her thing. She climbed out immediately.

 On the big screen?

 Chelsea LOVED this kitchen area.

 Abby was really liking looking at this doll house and trying to push the buttons.

 We also discovered that this little gal has grown another tooth. Another is likely not far behind. I love this little kissy face she has started doing recently. So cute!

 Chelsea claimed Grandma for a good portion of the weekend. 

 Hula Hoop, anyone? Who do you think was the best hula hooper? The kids? Nope.

 Auntie Michelle? Nope.

 Randy? Nope.

 Daddy? Not even Daddy.

 It was Grandma! She was by far the superior hula hooper of the family.

 Auntie Michelle put together a fun scavenger hunt for the kids to do here at this park. Chelsea loved this place. She took off running as soon as she was let out of the van.

 Brie loves to swing.

 As does Abby.

 I was happy to see Chelsea trying new things, and making an effort to move from rung to rung on her own. Go girl!

 When the kids go down to sleep, the grown ups play! Us womenfolk went out for a sweet treat and then came back (To Chris and Amanda's house for those who were unaware) and had a craft night.

 I made this here wreath. It's a slightly odd shape because we cut a pool noodle in half in order to make two wreaths from it. It didn't work as well as anticipated, but it works well enough.

 Ah, blocks. The saying changed several times throughout the weekend.

 Our finished yarn projects.

 Cute downtime moments.

The kids love their aunties and uncles.

 Boys and weapons. 

This is part of Epic, the company that Chris works for. It's massive and cool. All the buildings/rooms/offices are decorated by theme. Amazing.

 This was in the building that Chris's office is in.

 Our family is famous and we didn't even know it!

 What kind of work place has a super cool tree house as part of it's establishment? Epic!

 On the tree house porch.

 In the tippy top of the tree house. I was surprised and pleased that Chelsea was brave enough to go up on her own.

 Abby walked around a bit, but she didn't go up in the upper regions of the loft.

 The kids had to work for their supper. They had to shuck their own corn. (That reminds me of a cute song that Chels learned in SCHOOL. Shuck the corn. Shuck, shuck, the corn....I'll have to have her sing it for you and post it sometime. It's cute.)

 What kind of Heit gathering is complete without X Kamposh?

 Even Abby got to participate in the pinata action.

 LOOT!!!

 I wonder what X will do/be next reunion?

 More cute down time moments.

 We went raspberry picking! The girls loved it. Chelsea didn't eat a single one until her dish was full. I didn't last. I popped them in my mouth right after I picked them, hehe. 

 One of the last events was a trip to Little Amerricka. More rides! Chelsea claimed Grandma for most if not all of this outing. We had a good ratio of adults to children, so all were able to have a fun time and get some rides in.

 Cute daddy daughter time.

 And Daddy daughters time.

 Most of the rest of the gang, but not everybody. We did take family group shots, but Rick is going to edit them and I don't have them on my computer yet. I'll post them later.

 Abby sat on the train for about two minutes. Since she was antsy, I kept her off with me and we waited happily on the bench.

 These were not only bumper boats, but squirting bumper boats! Poor Allen and Brie got a boat that didn't squirt, but Daddy and Chelsea's worked!

  I guess playing Don't Eat Pete is pretty nerve wracking for Chelsea. She couldn't bear to look!

 What a good way to end the family reunion! We had a fabulous time and everything went really well. We look forward to having another one in 2014!

 Chelsea is so big! She may be at the bottom of the food chain as far as school kids go, but she's IN SCHOOL NOW! Where did the last five and a half years go? 

 She's so beautiful!

 The poor girl looks pretty miserable here. She did shed a few nervous tears, but she was ok when we left. She gets to sit next to her new friend, Madisyn. They are the only two girls at their table. Madisyn has already come over to play once. I think they will be good friends very soon. 

Her first day of school had a little drama, when a boy put his hands around not only her neck, but also Madisyn's and maybe someone else's, and tried to choke them. But that's hopefully been nipped in the bud. He didn't do anything bad at all yesterday. I've got my fingers crossed that that good behavior (on everyone's part!) continues. 

Chelsea has come home singing new songs each day, and is getting acquainted with school life quickly. I really like her teacher, and I think Chelsea does too, though she talks more to the aide than to her. Oh well.

 Life is good!