Family Camp - Hidden Acres

Every summer our church does a family camp retreat at Hidden Acres in Dayton, IA. If you've never spent time at Hidden Acres, I would highly recommend it, there is a ton to do and fun for the whole family!

We started with a little paddle boating on one of their 4 ponds!

 After that, we headed down to the lake for some swimming. I didn't snap any pictures of the lake, but they got a few of the old water slides from White Water University, a water park that used to be in Des Moines.
After the lake, G and I tried a little rock climbing!

 Ready to go!

 Up goes G!

 One hold at a time and up he goes!

 Garrett did awesome and made it pretty high up the wall!

 Heather, Trigg and Blythe went over to the giant swing while Garrett and I were rock climbing

 2 thumbs up for this gal!

 Helmets on and ready to roll!

 They climbed up the platform...

 The scaffolding slides back and they are hanging in the air...

 The swing then gets pulled back and pull the rip cord and they are swinging!

We had such a great time at family camp, it was a good chance to meet some other families in our church and a great chance to spend some time playing outside!

Adventureland

I work for a great company, Foster Group, and last Friday, they closed down the office and got tickets for all the employees and their family to go to Adventureland for a day of thrills and spills!

We started off our day with a ride on the A-Train! All smiles from this crew!

 Then to the carousel

 and then they talked me into riding the Gallion, it was fun and we laughed but made me a little dizzy...

 ...followed by the Tea Cups

 We spun around and around

 Laughing and spinning...Dad is getting older and the 1,2 combo of the Gallion and the Tea Cups was enough for me

 We hit the airplanes!

 Big thumbs up!

 Luckily for me, it was then time for lunch and a little break from the rides!

 After lunch, it was back to the rides!

 Infant Ocean, this is the ride that the kids still remind me that I lost my nice pair of sunglasses. It happened 5 years ago, I had tucked them in the neck of my shirt and bent over to help toddler Trigg out of the boat and my sunglasses slipped off and into the water...never to be seen again. Since that day every pair of my sunglasses has the "eyewear retainer", I really like the Croakies.

 The dragon (Trigg is having fun, despite his look...)

 Trigg and Garrett really wanted to ride a roller coaster this year, so Heather took them over to the Outlaw! Meanwhile, Blythe and I took a spin on the Chuck Wagon! The boys loved the Outlaw but said they needed a little break before they rode another roller coaster.

 The ladybugs were wonderful!

 Heather and G headed over to the Falling Star while Trigg...

 Blythe and I rode the Balloons

 ...twice!

 Our day was coming to an end, so we finished it with a ride on the Ferris Wheel!

 Still smiling as we finished our day!

 We ended with big high fives from the tiger!

 Oh yeah!

What a fun day at the park! Thanks Foster Group for taking care of your employees and their families, it was the perfect way to spend a summer Friday!

Balloons

As July turns into August, we head down to Indianola for the annual National Balloon Classic. This is always a fun night to watch the balloons fly! We went with my parents this year and while we waited for the balloons, we took a ride on the train!

 Pretty soon, we heard the sound of a burner..."Dad, LOOK!!!!"

 And here comes the balloons, most of the field went out to the country and flew into the balloon field to try and hit the "X" target with a bean bag with a long ribbon tail!

 G keeping his eyes on the horizon!

 Watching them soar through the air!

 B and Grandpa are all smiles as the balloons come in!

 Here come some more...

 The checkered balloon is piloted by Ron Nollen, the balloon is named Last Lap, I helped crew for Ron for many years and always enjoy catching up with them each year during the classic!

 Ron flew really well this night and got close to the "X"!

 Watching for more balloons

 Here they come!

 "Mom, did you see that balloon!"

 Blythe and I watching the sky!

 Grandpa and Garrett enjoying the night

 Two thumbs up for this guy!

 More balloons!

 "Look up there!!!"

 and one silly picture (per Blythe's request!!!)

We always have fun watching the balloons, the weather was perfect this year for the balloons! If you have the chance, definitely mark the classic on your calendar and head to Indianola!