Games

My family loves playing games.  I remember playing a ton of games when I was little.  The funny thing is I don't really like playing games.  I know, I'm weird.  Not only am I the only one in my family that doesn't always enjoy a good game, I also married a guy who loves games.  I'm outnumbered in many ways.

 John loves knocking people off of the board but he doesn't like it when it is done to him.

 This game took FOREVER!

 Hans and Mark were getting ready for the big trivia game that night.  And by getting ready I mean cheating by reading all of the questions and answers.  (Editor's Note: The questions we read never came up.  Katie is just a sore loser.)

 I love this picture.  I wish John's face wasn't so blurry.

Fun with Family

It was so nice to have a large portion of my family together.  Most of the family in New York hadn't seen my brother in 5 years.  Everyone enjoyed talking, playing and relaxing.

 This is Hans' idea of a fantastic vacation.

 The boys convinced Grandpa to explore the field behind the house.  Later that day we saw a bear come from this field.  Thankfully we were all inside at the time.

 The boys had a great time reading to Great Grandpa.

 This is my uncle Mark with Gus.  My parents really didn't think about the confusion it would cause their grandchildren when they named my brother Mark.  To help the boys we referred to my Uncle Mark as Uncle Whitey.

 Anders is always up for some one on one attention.

 Anders likes to tickle.

 Poor Jimmy didn't get tickled.  He got tackled and kicked.

When Gus saw this picture later he said he wanted to be strong like Jimmy someday.

Putt-Putt

At Peak 'n Peek we decided to take part in the Putt-Putt golf course.  The boys were very exited to go and then Gus and Anders found out they had to take turns.  It got a little hairy after that.

 

Everyone started with a smile.

 Gus and Anders didn't even attempt to play.  They just stuck their balls right next to the hole and tapped it in.

Then John discovered he could use his putter as a boom mic.  He interviewed every player after their turn.

 Of course Gus had to do whatever John does.

 Interviewing each other.

 You can see from the following pictures that Anders is a true 3rd child.

 Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm sure Gus sat there to annoy him. 

 After this Anders got in trouble.

 I'm thinking this was Gus's plan all along.

Anders manages to have this face about 60% of the time.

Some of us actually did golf.  In fact my mom and Hans had a good game with some healthy competition going. 

Summer Travels: New York

We had one busy summer!  When the pictures keep piling up I keep finding reasons not to go through them all.  Before I knew it, I had 1,322 pictures to go through and that does not include the disc from Disney that came last month.  With all of those pictures there must be one or two good pictures, right?  Let's hope.

This summer we headed to New York to spend time with the family and celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday.  We drove to my Aunt's house in Fredonia, NY to stay the night before meeting the whole family the next day.

 Gus felt that 8 hours in the car right next to Fritz just wasn't close enough.  These two had to have a little snuggle time before running and playing.

 Gus was in dog heaven with Maddy and Fritz.  Maddy and Fritz got along very well.  Which was good because they were going to be boarded together for the next 3 1/2 days.

The next morning my Aunt Diane (or "Diant," as Anders called her) had fun showing Anders pictures of the place we would be staying.

This is where we stayed.  This sits on top of the sky slope at the Peek 'n Peak Resort.  It was great because we had access to all of the amenities, but were away from all of the commotion.  Because let's face it, with 18 people staying here we had enough commotion all on our own.

Within an hour of our arrival we hit the pool.

John always looks a little worried when he is going down slides.

 Ericka is always a big help.  Anders likes having undivided attention.  He takes full advantage.

 This place had a large indoor and outdoor playground.  After swimming for a bit we let the kids play.

 Anders has no fear and will climb absolutely anything.

 I figured I should help him out on this one before he decided to do flips.  I'd like to save some stitch inducing activities for when this kid turns 3.

After the pool and the park the adults were all ready for a nap!