A little get away!

 Just a quick note before we get into our little night away... We had some deer visit!  I got a picture of this one who was NOT afraid of us!  We were on the pickle ball court at one point as it began to walk towards us.  I quickly held onto the girls, as they were soooo excited they were going to touch it, and whisked them back down towards the house.  You never know about these wild animals! 

 speaking of wild animals... they do have a tender hearted side ;-)  I may have suggested the little smooch, but in this moment, they were happy to comply with there little fudgesicle lips!

 And another sweet moment, dress ups, and sisters...!

 were really feeling like nature loves us these days!  Clara found a cricket and it quickly crawled all over her!

We are here!!!

Out at the lake to see one of these sweet little faces!!

 And here's the other one!!!

 And... It's a good thing you didn't see the faces after this celebratory shot to be hanging with our faves!

 Time to get wet...

 Happy little girl!

 And if you know Clara... She if FAR from daring! Did I mention FAR, super FAR?!?! So when she just pushed this little rocket ship into the water and jumped right onto it, we were shocked!  She even fell off of it a couple times and completely submerged herself!  There were tears, but very minimal for our Clara!  And then.... She just jumped right back on... What a break through for this overly cautious child of ours!

 As the other kids were playing... Troy decided to have a tough man contest of his own! 

 This rock was probably not far from his own weight!  And look at this determined, strained face...! Don't get a hernia Tough boy Troy!

 SPLASH!!!  He was prettty proud of that splash it made too!!

 So... Here is Clara.. once again, our overly cautious child, which I believe may be a thing of the past now! By the way, please note, the perfectly cylindrical can of beer ciocia is holding... didn't end up looking this way by the end of the ride :-)

 Cheese!

 Here we go... HOLD ON TIGHT!

 Not relizing it, I somehow bumped my camera onto a terrible setting!  This is the only blurry shot I could make out!  SO MUCH FUN!!!

 And now the little ones turn!  A nice slow putt for them...And a not so happy Natty when it was over with!

Yes... We had a potty break.... Look out Nate!

 Once again... our little daring Clara has come out of her shell!!!  She say's here, she's going to swim to Daddy... And that she did!

 and back to shore....

 And now... out past the dock and to the buoy!

 She actually said to me when she was all done... "Mom, I'm so proud of myself"!  We couldn't be more happy for her that she had the courage to try it all on her own!

 And this little one... Doesn't have enough fear! Monkey see....

 Monkey do!!!

 And a little relaxation time before bed... Too much fun, as always, with the Mankes!!!

 Crazy haired sisters! Now when we put Clara's hair on the top of her head, natty get a hair band and say's  "I need a pony too!"

 Natalie and I went and Stole Nate while Clara was at school... When we she got in the car she was in mid sentence, until she looked up and saw Nate sitting there... SURPRISE!  You should have heard the sweet little chuckles that lasted for a minute!

 I got to take Nate shopping for his Birthday present :-)  Can't believe our little guys is 5 already!  He's one spunky little boy!!!

 You might have to look closely, but Natalie has her little arm wrapped around Clara while she is showing her a game she's playing.  Of course I didn't get out my camera in time, but before this, she was rubbing her hair and telling Clara... "I love you, I just rub your hair"!  So SWEET!!!

 Natalie got her first little baking activity with Mama while Clara was busy having fun at school....!  We made zucchini bread!  She had LOTS of fun... I sure do wish she followed directions like Clara, but we know, that will NEVER happen!  This one takes alot of patience when baking... but she sure does have a lot of silly stuff to say that makes you laugh the entire time!

 "Moo-kini" as she called it!  She must have said " I make Moo-Kini bread" 20 times while we grated it ;-)

 And in the oven it went.... My little helper knows how to help herself to the light switch to check on her Moo-kini bread!

 

HaPpY BiRtHdAy NaTe!!!!!!!  And her is our little studs birthday present he picked out... A Russel Wilson Jersey!  I had text Hawk several times during this event to get his opinion... He said to let Nate pick it out.... He had several options to choose from and had no clue who was who... (and I really didn't either)  He gave a blank look for awhile and as soon as I said, Well.... Uncle Chad has this one... that's all it took... "I want that one too!!!!"  Now they will be twins on game day!

 Happy to be on the Mankes trampoline!!!

 And I have no pictures of Clara & Nate because they were too busy playing with his cousins, who Clara has not stopped talking about!

And after a fun little sleep over, Nate was sweet enough to share his gifts in the morning with the little ones!!! Clara... Still cathcing Zzz's after staying up late, cheering on the Hawks!!!

Lots of fun stuff!

 We had a wonderful visit from the Lederman ladies... But I didn't get my camera out often enough to take pictures... At least I ended up with this cute one!

 And a little slip-n-slide action ...!  Next time we'll have to convince Elle to get a face full of water too :-)

 Just a little wet!

 And just a little bit of water at a time for this one!

 It really was innocent, I think... trying to get her little Sis to go down the slide.... Mama saved the day, after a few loud screams!

 We discovered a beautiful beach on our way home from dinner with Jennifer and had to go back the next day!  First time they got to play with sand... Poor kids!

 And Gigi came along with us!  Fetching their pale of water for some sand castles.... I couldn't get a picture quick enough since Clara had much pleasure in kicking them down so quickly!

  All smiles for these kiddos. Even if your glasses aren't serving their purpose properly ;-)

 foot burials!

 tire swinging.....

 getting wet feet!

 and watching out for the waves!

 Since it was so much fun, we took Grammy there before we got to have a nice Birthday dinner with her! 

 More exploring!

 And a special night back at home... We got to keep Clara up late for some S'mores with Grams!!!

 Mmmmm...Mmmmm....Mmmmm.....

 Just the beginning of some good S'more nights :-)

 Whaling days weekend!  We got to hang out with Nana, Papa, and Aunt Louie!!!

 And now begins the wallet draining, non-sense games and rides.... Whatever makes them smile, right???

 Or cry, because they won the little toy instead of the big toy....

 Or... maybe because, this all of sudden looks different from the top of the slide instead of from the bottom!

 But... we are all smiles now!

 And ready to do it AGAIN!!!!!

 Stepping up to the dragon ride ;-) For as careful, and scared as this kiddo is, she sure had no fear to do this one! 

 Little Miss Serious!

 ohhh... I think we got a smile and maybe even a little screech!

 According to Nana... No fair is complete without a shaved ice!

 This morning we chased Daddy around the yard while he worked so hard... And he led them to the blackberry bushes... So here is our stained face and hands! I think we got our portion of fruit for the day taken care of ;-)

 And we even found a little frog!  There was ALOT of "don't squeeze, don't squish" going on, but I didn't have to say, "not in your mouth" surprisingly!

 I'm sure we all remember riding down the road in the back of your Dad's pick up... Since that will never happen, we will at least have fun playing in the back of it!