Where does time go? Summer 2013

I am trying to figure out where all of the time disappears to!  It was May and we thought we had all of this time ahead of us, school was not beginning for almost 4 months.  It went by fast and furious but we made a lot of great memories and the Lord was very good to our family.

Here is a quick snapshot of our summer.  It began with a trip to Silver Dollar City...

We rode the new roller coaster...I am with Nicholas, it was not my favorite but Tim and Katherine loved it.

We were all exhausted after a fun first day of summer.

Then we took a trip to Minnesota to visit our sweet friends...

Incredible place!  We surprised the kids with a visit to the National Eagle Center, which we had visited when we lived in Minnesota.  However, we were all surprised to find a fantastic new facility and get to sit in on an educational talk about the eagles.  Nicholas has decided he wants to be an Ornithologist when he grows up!  For those of you who do not speak "raptor", it is the study of birds.

Nathan's first visit to the Mall of America

Our dear friends, the Carsons, the time was so quick but very sweet!

We picked fruit, climbed trees and put in our first garden...

We saw a few movies on the really hot days but were extremely blessed with a mild summer...

My little monsters!

Celebrated some special birthdays...

We went camping in Branson for Nathan's birthday and Fourth of July.

Nathan got to make a remote controlled car.

A party at the park with some friends to celebrate Nathan's 5th.

Nicholas chose to celebrate at home with a few family friends and...

we took a weekend trip to KC to celebrate Nicholas' 11th birthday.  At the KC zoo we found this sign, we actually visited this exact city on the equator while we were in Kenya.  It was fun to get to "visit" Africa again.

Nicholas did wrestling camp and loved it!

Nicholas entered a couple of drawings in the Benton County fair and won second place!

Throughout the summer we traveled to Little Rock for doctor's appointments for Nathan.  We are praising the Lord, He has answered our prayers...the doctors have discovered Nathan is severely lactose intolerant so we are no longer giving him dairy as of the first part of August.  Another praise is he has grown over the past month, height and weight.  It is so good to have some answers to his health problems.

And finally we are back to school.  The kids are LOVING their school and are so happy to be back to a schedule...so is Mom!

We hope this update finds your family well and healthy.  Happy Back-to-school!