Family Fun, Iowa Style

We just returned home from three fantastic weeks with family in northwest Iowa! Our first several days were spent in Blencoe with Kendall's family, followed by a week at Okoboji for Noah and Brittany's wedding and fun in the sun, wrapped up with a few days in Orange City at my parents, one last day at Kendall's parents, a quick visit to the Simmelinks, and a night with Nick, Allison, and Kaylee in Des Moines. It sounds a bit crazy, but it was really quite relaxing and fun!

Mady loves playing with Emily's old kitchen set. It keeps her entertained for five minutes at a time, at least;-)

Matt and Jamie were back and we were so glad our trips overlapped. It was great to see them, and Emily, even though our time together was brief!

I grew up hearing the phrase, "Knee high, 4th of July". I beg to differ.

Mady has a fascination with wearing other peoples' sunglasses, regular glasses, pretty much whatever she can get her hands on.

Dan got a new 4 wheeler type thing, and Mady loved riding around on it. More and again were the two most common words associated with it.

She and Papa Leo had a great time entertaining each other!

Mady got over her fear of dogs once she met Luna. Luna has since been the topic of many of our conversations.

Mady and Kaylee were flower girls in Noah and Britt's wedding. They did a fabulous job and looked absolutely adorable!

The happy couple. Congrats guys!

A quick post-wedding Daddy-Daughter dance.

Mady took 28 pictures of herself with my camera. She's very good at capturing a fraction of her face.

The wedding was at Gull Point, and the day turned out to be absolutely beautiful.

The entire Timmermans family was back for the wedding. It was great to see everyone!

Mady was pretty excited when Papa Danny and Grandma Lisa showed up for the wedding.

The girls have identical bikes. However, they had to switch and ride each other's half-way through our ride.

Kaylee loved Mady's bibs and they both loved their rainbow sherbet.

Since Allison was making the Just Married sign for the boat, the girls decided they needed to get in on the action too.

Uncle Noah's old bike was too big for Mady, but too little for Mommy.

Fun at the beach with Papa Russ and Daddy.

"Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil...smell no evil?"

Dad and Kendall caught a turtle. Mady was quite intrigued, and would touch it for about .2 seconds.

Outside Grandpa and Grandma's cabin. I love that place.

Grandma Pat and Grandpa Bob were back. It was great to see them and Mady had fun with them too.

I think Mady looks a bit like Davis in this picture.

We may be breaking some child labor laws here...

We went miniature golfing with my parents and Kendall's parents. Mady was more interested in the munchkins and other Wizard of Oz decorations.

Enjoying a burger, fries, and shake at Duke's.

Uncle Noah and Aunt Britt had cool tattoos. Mady decided she needed some too. I think she ended up with 4 or 5. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come!

Madison and Emily made swinging a lot of fun for Mady! She had fun with her new friends.

I wish I could capture how Mady says watermelon. Regardless, she downed it every chance she got!

Silly papa got stuck on the slide. Good thing Mady's super strength could push him down!

We had a great time seeing our family and we are grateful we had the freedom in our schedule to spend such an extended amount of time in IA this summer. Thanks for a great trip, everyone!