After getting a late start due to Blake's tooth we left for Wisconsin at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, July 29th.  We got in right before 1:00 p.m.  As usual, the kids were troopers but this one was a bit harder for them in the dark and I was scared to death of hitting a deer. That alone kept me awake for the long drive.

We had a fantastic week at our 2nd Annual Cousin Camp.  Aunt Jenney was able to bring up the cousins on Tuesday so we were able to spend lot of time together.

BeBe and Papa had something planned for the kids every day but there was plenty of time to play around on the farm as well.  Papa had gotten baby turkeys the week before so my kids loved spending time out there as well.

Wednesday BeBe had arranged for the kids to take an Amish buggy ride. The kids enjoyed the buggy ride.  Thursday we went to a farmer's market as well as picnicing and going to a water ski show.  The only bad thing was that Blake got stung by a bee while watching the water ski show.

Friday we went to Fawn-de-Rosa again where the kids would feed the deer, goats, llama's etc.  We had a great time again this year.

Sabbath was a restful day and we ended up taking the kids to the park in the afternoon.

Sunday my Aunt Jan came up to visit and Paul and Jenney needed to head back home.  BeBe and Papa had an anniversary party they had to attend so in the afternoon the kids and I ran to a nearby cheese house so we could bring back fresh cheese for a few friends.

Many wonderful memories were made during our trip and we can't wait until next year to do it again.

We had a noodle fight with all of the noodles BeBe and Papa had.

BeBe had bought bikes for all of the kids.  They had gotten tired from riding up the hill so Papa helped them out by taking them to the top of the hill on the fourwheeler.

Time was spent playing on the hay bales.

And there were fourwheeler rides...

Samanth and Ellie even opened up a nail salon in the camper.

There were lots of funny shows performed by the kids

I think we canned 55 quarts of peaches while we were there.  Everyone helped out a bit.

Feeding the fawns was fun!

A rare pictures of my mom and I.

Another rare picture...my dad and I.

Each of the kids got to have a pony ride

Samantha loved feeding the bunny by hand.

Uncle Paul and Abby checking out a baby animal.

My favorite cousin picture from the week.  They are beautiful aren't they?

Decked out in their new cousin camp t-shirts.

Sunday morning they all made their own recipe of Gak to take home.

The Amish buggy ride.

Everyone got involved in doing peaches.

Aunt Jenney celebrated her birthday while we were there.

Blake after his bee sting.

An impressive ski show.

August 20th I celebrated my 40th Birthday!  I thought it was going to be hard but it wasn't at all!  My parents came down the weekend before and helped put on a small, wonderful birthday party.  Admittedly, I wanted one because it was a great excuse to get together and 40 is something special.

We had a come and go party with cake, fruit salsa and chips and Chex Mix with some yummy drink.  I had a blast visiting and then opening my gifts.

Thanks everyone for coming and wishing me a wonderful 40th birthday.

The week after returning from Cousin Camp we tried to have a bit of fun because school was right around the corner.  We were able to take in the puppet show "Go Dog Go" at the Paul Mesner puppet theatre.  Because we went during the middle of the week we nearly had a private showing!

Monday, the 12th of August Samantha started 2nd grade.  Of course, she was a bit nervous but was excited as well.  She has Mrs. Prosser again which she loves!  The first two weeks have gone so well and she's loved being in second grade!

We went to visit the dentist in July.  It was their semi-annual cleaning time once again.  It was Blake's first time for x-ray and the dentist indicated that the front tooth he had hit last year was looking a bit inflamed around the root and we needed to watch it for an abscess.   Other than that, all looked well.

It was the Sunday after VBS and we were ready to leave for Wisconsin the next day when I noticed that Blake's tooth had indeed abscessed.  I called the dentist the next day and they were able to get us in at 3:00.  It was two weeks exactly from when we had been in there for a cleaning.

Dr. Prater gave us three options...One, we could put Blake on antibiotics and hope the infection cleared up.  Two, we could do a root canal and drain all of the infection and hope it cleared up or three we could go ahead and pull it.  With options 1 and 2 there was a chance it wouldn't work and we'd have to pull it anyways so we decided to go ahead and pull it.

Blake was so excited to "loose" a tooth and was prepared.  Dr. Prater did such a good job with it, Blake didn't have a lick of pain and sailed through the entire thing.

We live quite close to this little creek.  It separates our subdivision from the local middle school.  I've always wanted to grab a few pictures there so one afternoon we went down to play in the creek. Granted, the lighting was the best but we had a great time.