Lake Trip 2014

We managed to squeeze in our annual lake trip with Brett's side of the family again this year.  And as always, it was a ton of fun!

Brad & Darcy, Gene & Carla, Becca and all the kiddos joined us for lots of water fun.

Every year gets easier and easier as the kids get older.  Our kids don't get to see Teagan and Tate as much as they would like to.  So they always have quite a great time when they get together.

The weather was awesome this year.  We did a lot of boating and swimming.

And spent some time playing in the sand too.

And this year we found a little gas station/restaurant that had this huge trampoline for the kids (both big and little) to play on!

Will would have loved the trampoline.  However, he passed out on the boat ride over to it and never woke up.  I won't complain though as I don't get much snuggle time with this crazy kid anymore.

He eventually woke up and got out his cars to play.

And our little fish couldn't get enough of the water.  A broken toe wasn't going to stop her this year. 

The go-carts called our name again this year.  The kids rode the big carts with Brett and I and then drove their own cars on the kiddie track.

Will didn't quite get that this wasn't bumper cars.  Thankfully, the guy in charge didn't get too worked up about it  :)

On one of our last nights we walked the strip to window shop and have an ice cream and donut dessert.

The trip was super fun!  Everyone got along and had a great time together.  Next year, our family gathering will jump across the country to Washington D.C.  for Jillian and Steph's Wedding!!!!   We can't wait!!!

Kate's Summer Swim & Slow Down

Kate was so excited to make swim team this summer. She has been talking about trying out forever and was on top of the moon when she made the team.  Her 1st meet was in Marshalltown.  She had quite a few butterflies in her tummy going into it, and so did I!!

Grandma Schaefer took a step back in time and came to her 1st meet.  She talked about all the long Saturdays she spent in the hot pool area watching Brett swim in high school and how SHE LOVED IT ;)   Brett wrote all Kate's events on her arm to help her keep track of when she had to go line up. 

She did really well her first meet, actually placing 1st and 3rd place in 2 of her races. 

She sat so calmly waiting for her turn to race. She was so looking forward to her season...

Until this happened!   Kate and another little boy collided during a game at Sunday School the following Sunday.  The game was a form of tag and all the kids took their shoes and socks off to play.  Well, Kate and the other boy got their feet tangled and wah  lah!    The words "The parents of Kate Van Zee please report to the Children's Ministry Desk" appeared across the screen during the sermon.  Of course I was thinking she vomited or something.  Nope.  When the director saw me she said, "I don't think her toe looks quite right anymore."   So off to the Urgent Care we went.

As you can see, Kate completely displaced her 4th toe.  Because it was detached, the Dr. at Urgent Care sent us right to the ER thinking she would most likely need surgery to pin it in place.

Dr. B.  the awesome Podiatrist on call was actually paged to leave the same church service we were in to come to the hospital to assess Kate.  Dr. B. decided to numb her foot, move her toe back into place, bandage it really tight and put her in a cam boot.  Then  pray that it would hold and grow back together.

So the summer slow down began.  No more swimming,  no more summer day camp,  no more gymnastics!   Kate was a real trooper during the whole ordeal.  She was super tough in the ER and really never complained about being in a boot for 6 weeks.   She was very good about keeping the boot on all the time except for showers and it paid off.  After 6 weeks the toe grew back together without surgery!   And the best part was that she got cleared by podiatry just in time to make it to the final swim meet of the summer.  She wasn't aloud to push off the wall or blocks, but loved getting back into the pool to race again!