Ozarks Mini Vacation

On a whim we took a weekend get away to the Ozarks in June.  It was 4 families from our neighborhood.  The math looked like this:  8 adults + 10 kids= pure fun!  We thought it would be a disaster as we had 10 kids between the ages of 1 month and 6 years old.  But everyone did really well.  We went boating on the Lake and ended up at a couple of fun restaurants/beaches.  The kids had a blast. 

Boat ride:

Beach fun

Best behaved kids there!

Getting ready to get back on the boat.  It was like a military camp, they all lined up and got to get on the boat one by one. (baby Maggie missing from the pic)

Sadly the kids probably enjoyed the pool the most.

All aboard!!

There were some NFL players at our hotel, and they loved the kids.  They spent a ton of time playing with them and launching them into the pool!

Practicing their future bartending skills

And washing off at the end of the day was much more fun in the Ozarks than at home... mom never lets us have these messy bubble baths!

Tball

With Easton having such a late birthday this was his first year playing tball.  He was begging to play last year and even though he had the skills he wasn't 4 when the season started.  Jake also coached this team along with Ben and Jeff (our neighbors).  Again we had neighbor kids on the team which made it more enjoyable.

Tball is fun to watch because there is such great improvement by the end of the year.  It's also entertaining to see how many kids play in the dirt instead of paying attention.  Since Jake was the coach he let Sutton play in the last game, he was so pumped.  He begged all year to be able to play but like Easton last year just wasn't old enough.  He did great, and actually has some interest and talent so next year should be fun!

A pitch from daddy

Running to first base after a hit

Playing catcher and tagging someone out.

Sutton playing with the big boys!

Easton batting and Sutton on first.

The Jaguars team!

Baseball

It was quite the crazy spring because not only did we have soccer 2 nights a week we had baseball and tball 2 nights a week as well... throw in softball for Jake 1 night a week and the Kollers are NEVER home...

Mason turned 6 in February, so we had the choice to sign him up for 1 more year of tball or to move him up to rookie baseball.  We decided that he would be very bored with tball and moved him up.  Moving him up was a great choice as he was definitely not bored, but he was by far the smallest and youngest kid on the team.  Most of the kids were 7 or 8.  He did very well and learned a lot.  Jake was his coach and that was definitely a challenge at times, but in the end I think they both had a lot of fun.  It was neat to see Mason improve so much.  He got really into baseball by the end of the season and I think he truly enjoys the sport (at least I hope so because I am crossing my fingers for just one of them to play college baseball!)

Mason Batting:

It's a hit!  Running to first.

Playing catcher.  He thought this was fun!

The team!

Soccer Stars

Spring time brings soccer!  All 3 boys were able to play this year.  We had a wet spring and got rained out several times so the season became very spread out.  That made it hard for them to be into it since sometimes 2 weeks would go by with no game.  Overall it was a fun season and Easton rose up as quite the soccer star this season.  

Mason

  Mason was on his own team with many of the same kids from last year, including his friend and neighbor John.  He's a bit timid on the field and sometimes hangs back and doesn't go after the ball.  We tried to pump him up before each game and get him to be a bit more aggressive.  It usually worked for a bit and then would wear off.  I did get him hustling a few times on camera and he did score a goal this year!

Sutton and Easton

What a difference a year makes.  Last year Easton was scared and didn't really participate.  He mostly followed me around the field hiding behind my back ( I was the coach).  This year he was totally into it.  He was always trying to get the ball and made more goals than we could count.  In fact several times we needed to sit him down so the other kids could have a chance.  He has some true talent at the game and was so fun to watch.  He wasn't scared to get in the middle of the pack and take the ball out. This team was especially fun because all of our neighborhood kids were on it.  Easton, Sutton, Henry, Chase, Mike, and Matt.

Here you can see Sutton... walking away from the ball (number 3).  The first game of the year he came out and played awesome.  He was aggressive and after the ball.  He was by far the smallest kid on the team since he just turned 3 but he didn't let that stop him.  Then he got bulldozed toward the end of the first game and it changed the whole season.  He became timid and just hung back and didn't want to play much.  Hopefully next season he will be a bit more into it! 

Papa is OLD!

Happy Birthday to Papa! 

We got to celebrate a big one this year as he turned 60!  The boys LOVE to take cake to people for their birthday so we had to get one for Papa. 

Here he is with the boys.  The boys think Papa walks on water and can do no wrong.  In fact one day Mason told me that Papa knows EVERYTHING.  When I told him no one knows everything he argued with me for a very long time until I finally gave up and said, ok whatever.  I'm not sure what their obsession is... I mean I lived with the man for a good part of my life and I am pretty sure he knew nothing and was mean... but they don't seem to think so.

A trip to Papa's is never complete without playing.  ( no wonder they love it there, he plays with them and buys them cool toys, unlike when I lived there and did nothing but scrub toilets and vaccuum.)

 

And the riding toys which are always the FAVE!

Mason on his fourwheeler (he's become a dare devil)

Easton on the good ole Gator

And somehow the little one is now big enough for the small four wheeler.

Neighborhood fun!

When we moved into our house 3 years ago we intended it to be our forever home (well forever until the kids leave home and then I am moving to Hawaii), we were one of the first houses on the street and we had no idea what sort of neighbors we would end up with.  We hit the jackpot when it comes to neighborhoods.  Hands down I think you'd be hard pressed to find a neighborhood as great as ours.  In fact there are so many good friends now that any informal get together turns into a gigantic party!  There are tons of kids all the same age (13 kids between 1 month and 6 years old just on our cul de sac)... and mostly boys.  They all get along really well and they never cease to find things to do. 

Behind the houses on our cul de sac there is a creek that gets pretty big when it rains.  One day the kids came running in the house for their swim trunks.  Now this was early May, not real warm and I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to play in the water.  But if it enterains them... fine.  Pretty soon when I went to check on them I noticed they weren't in the yard as I expected.  I found them in the creek.  After a small heart attack I got the camera to capture them "being boys"

Sometimes we load them all up and drive them around for a wagon ride!

The Slip N Slide has become a fave

And we play the bean bag toss.

And at the end of the night there is usually a firepit.  Notice Easton's helmet... the kid never leaves home without it.  Probably good because I truly think it's saved his life several times when he wasn't even on his  bike (he's a bit clumsy).

Hawkeye Spring Game

We keep hoping each year that the boys will get interested enough to want to go to a Hawkeye game... so far not much luck.  But we figured taking them to the spring game where it was pretty informal might be a good compromise. 

We headed there with some of our neighbors.  Here are the boys along with neighbor Henry, of course they had to dress the part.  Notice they got police badge stickers... this may have been the highlight of their day.

As expected their interest didn't last long, so we headed home.  I shot this pic on our way out and it has become one of my faves.  I framed it with the saying, "young and old... black and gold." 

When we got home that afternoon, Easton wanted to play catch!  Success.  We have interest.  Go Future Hawkstar!