The Nelson Family Reunion

This summer we had a great opportunity to get together with my Dad's family for the first time in a long time. It was fun to see all my cousins, as well as their spouses and children. We had such a great set up. We had 3 cabins that were all connected and shared a front porch. Each of my Dad's sisters and then us had our own cabin. We overlooked a grassy hill where the kids could run and play, a swing set, a sand volleyball pit, a horse shoe pit, and the river. We filled our three days with tubing, kayaking, bike riding, and much talking and laughing. What a fun time!

40 years ago there were 5...

Now we've expanded to 26!

Cinderella, Cinderella, Night and Day It's Cinderella

Olivia has just recently developed the attention span to sit and follow a full length movie. We had some movies passed down to us and the only one that Olivia really enjoyed and actually watched was Cinderella. So, imagine her excitement when she found out the YOOH in Spring Grove was going to be performing Cinderella. She talked about the performance for weeks before hand. She even wanted to wear her princess dress, and conveniently get a free popcorn for doing so. It came time for the big night and as we settled into our seats Olivia's face was filled with excitement. Let the show begin and it did! Olivia was captivated. She was in her own world, she was concentrating so hard on the show that she didn't even realize she was moving her arms similar to the actors. Very cute. FLASH! BOOM! And just like that 15 minutes into the show, the lightening, thunder, and down pouring rains put an end to the performance. We went up stage to meet Cinderella and Olivia was speechless. She really thought she was THE Cinderella, not an actor. I wanted a picture of her with Cinderella, but Olivia kept saying, "No pictures Mom." So, enjoy the picture of Olivia with the program instead.

Happy 4th of July!

We decided to head up to Spring Grove to celebrate the 4th of July with Grandpa and Grandma. After the kids' naps we went to Harmony to take in the 4th of July parade. Following the parade, Olivia wanted to try her hand at all the fun games at the kid's carnival. We went back to my parents house for supper and then got ready for the fireworks. Soren got too tuckered out and ended up falling asleep. We didn't have the heart to wake him up, so Erik offered to stay home with him while we went to the fireworks. Olivia was SOOOO excited about getting to stay up late to go and watch the "magic in the sky." We got to Eitzen and found a great parking spot and set up our lawn chairs and got the soda and popcorn ready, now all we needed was the show to begin. I think Olivia was more into the popcorn, soda, and idea of staying up late than she was of watching the fireworks. But she soon caught on the the idea of oohing and aahing at each one. I think we sang the Happy Birthday song about 3 times during the show...Happy Birthday America!

I'm not so sure about this thing on my head Mom.

Ummph! Ding, Ding, Ding!

One little excited girl on America's birthday!