Purple Raspberries

After 2 years of intending to go to our local berry patch but never getting around to it, we finally scheduled a family date, and went raspberry picking at Bellevue Berry Farm.  It was great, delicious fun, and a perfect activity for big families. I wish I had taken advantage of this gem of a place sooner. Bellevue Berry Farm offers strawberries in the Spring, raspberries in the Summer, and pumpkins in the Fall. We will most certainly be spending some time there this October when the pumpkins are ready.

Ivy was super excited to get out to the berry patch.

We did stop along the way for some silly photos.

Here they are! Beautiful purple raspberries.

Once we hit the patch, the girls and boys split off into two groups. Bree and Elle wanted to get picking right away, but the boys, being typical boys, decided to go off and find the "ultimate" picking spot in the patch.

Elle really picked a lot of berries!

When we finally caught up to the boys, they had harvested a good sized bucket of their own.

Sadly, my Lightroom skills are not advanced enough to make Grant appear as if he's smiling.

Here's proof that he had a good time.

Nona didn't pick any berries due to her finger injury(blog post on that later.) She didn't miss out, though. The kids were all very concerned about her, and with all five of them force-feeding her raspberries she had her fill about ten minutes in, and refused to eat any more. She found this lovely ceramic duck to play with, instead of picking berries. Highlight of her day. 

Nona was comfy and happy in her stroller when I pulled her out to try and get a quick pic of all six kiddos. She was not amused.

Bree likes to take pictures too!

Here are just a portion of the berries we picked. Amazingly, a  few of these cartons even made it home without being consumed! 

Couldn't have had more fun at Fun Plex!

 Our Police Welfare and Benefit Association throws an awesome summer picnic every year at Fun Plex, for Omaha Police families. We took Rylan, Bree, and Elle with us this year, and it was such a blessing to spend a whole day enjoying the one-on-one time with just our oldest kiddos. We ate so many hot dogs, hamburgers, and little bags of chips, we thought we would be sick. You know those little waxy plastic bottles of colored sugar water "juice" with foil on the top? Yeah, they had an endless supply of those...the kids were in heaven.

We spent much of the day hanging out in the lazy river and the wave pool. Didn't feel like risking dropping my phone in the water to get pics of that, but we got a few of the kids enjoying the amusement park part. I think this was the first time they had been somewhere where they could do carnival rides for as long as they wanted.

We spend a lot of nights missing Daddy. God's calling for him requires the kids and I to give up a lot of time with our husband/daddy that other families typically have with theirs. That's okay. We are incredibly proud of how insanely hard Aaron works for us, how he loves us, and who God has called him to be. We believe, as a family, that God created us for this lifestyle, and do our best to walk through it with joy. Obviously, there are hard days. There are tears at night when Daddy is not home.

It brought so much joy to my heart to watch Rylan, Bree, and Elle be free to just have fun - a whole day where we could love on them, and enjoy them. It was nice to be able to tell them that the whole day was to celebrate daddy's hard work, and to say thanks to them for all the things that they give up too. It's good to be able to tell your children that other people also appreciate what their dad does. I'm super grateful for all the hard work that goes into making this special day happen for us and other police  families.

June evening at Glenwood Lake Park

 Aaron didn't have to go to work at QT until 9pm, so we decided to spend the evening at the park. Well, first we had a yummy mexican dinner at El Portal in Glenwood, our favorite place to eat(they give you unlimited chips and salsa.) Nona enjoyed eating the salsa with her hands - funny girl! We wanted to catch a free Summer concert at the park amphitheater, so we got to the park an hour early so that the kids would have time to play.

Ivy loves the slides!

We checked out the nature trails for the first time, and they were beautiful! 

Nona tried to pick every bloom of clover on the path. She was so pleased with her little bouquet.

It's wildflower season!

 It was perfect June weather. High 70's and just a bit breezy - a gorgeous night for a walk!

The prairie grasses were lovely.

Our nature trail ended up right at the amphitheater. We arrived with just enough time to pick up some popcorn before the show started.

The Offut USAF Vortex band was playing. They did a lot of jazz numbers, and some "oldies" from the 70's and 80's. We were really impressed with how great the band was.

We stayed for about half an hour before leaving so Aaron could get to work, and it was just the right amount of time for the kiddos to enjoy the music. 

 I feel so especially blessed on nights like these.

Star Wars Movie Night!

After a year or more of begging from Rylan, we decided to finally have a Star Wars family movie night. Watching Star Wars for the first time is a momentous occasion, so I made sure to take a few pics to document this important night. :)

We had popcorn!

We had Paleo Chocolate Banana Zucchini Cake! 

The boys were enthralled and amazed!

 The girls ended up watching My Little Pony on the laptop halfway through. In their defense, Star Wars is a long movie!

Country Roads

Aaron finally had a day off from the College World Series this Sunday. We went on a date to the Old Market in the afternoon, and then took the kids on a walk in the evening. 

Rylan and Bree always bring their bikes along on walks now.

Ivy tried rolling down the ditch. :)

Rylan is loving the new bike he got for his birthday. Thanks Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Jeff, and Grandma & Grandpa!

Pleased as punch that I let him take his shirt off!

Aaron, demonstrating to the boys how the bike pegs work.

Nona stayed in the stoller for most of the walk, but ran around with us for the last 10 minutes.

Elle found a beautiful birds nest!

Happy memories on our country road.

Trains and Taco Bell

Well, it wasn't insanely hot(95 degrees,) but this pregnant lady was still pleasantly relieved when Aaron suggested taking the kids to the Union Pacific Museum in Council Bluffs. We hadn't been there for probably 5 years, so we were due a visit. They added a lot more exhibits since we were there last, and it is more kid-friendly now. My photos are REALLY poor quality because there is no flash photography allowed, and it is a seriously dark museum. Indoor photography is not my forte' to begin with, so I was really struggling to get my camera figured out while hanging out with the kids, and after a while I decided that I'd rather have fun with them instead of worrying about great shots. Luckily, we still got a couple of cute, albeit blurry, pics out of the day!

A fun old-fashioned dynamite box. They had a cool rock wall that lit up and made a huge boom when you pushed the lever down. Rylan really got a kick out of it.

Nona was NOT feeling friendly towards the Old West cowboys.

Party line!

Relaxing in a 50's era train car.

I love that Union Pacific bought the old Council Bluffs Library and turned it into a museum. What a beautiful building, and it's fun to tell the kids that Grandma Sargent used to come here to get books when she was their age!

History makes us hungry. We stopped for a not-so-healthy lunch at Taco Bell, for a special treat.

 This may or may not be a "please-stop-taking-pictures-at-Taco Bell" look.