Elkow Olympics

As you all know,we have a very fun neighborhood. We've had white trash parties,prom parties, we have our own 501 Club because it's always 5:00 somewhere and this summer we added an Olympics to the mix. It was Ben's birthday dream come true.

Each couple picked their own country name and many dressed accordingly. We had several different games and of course medals. Ben made a chariot out of his tractor which carried the keg. Good times!

Ben's 35th bday cake. He ate Beiber's head and made all the little girls cry. 

Summer Concerts

We've had the opportunity to go to some fun concerts this summer. I had a girls' night at Rascal Flats. I don't know their music well but it was a great concert. Then we went to Jimmy Buffet with some of our neighbors. It was a wild and crazy time, MSU tailgate similarities for sure. Finally, Ben and I went to see Coldplay for our birthdays. Hands down, best concert ever!

Oh NO!

Audrey broke her wrist while roller skating about 2 weeks ago.  I was holding her hand and she rolled over my foot.  I let go and down she went.  Thankfully, the break isn't bad and she will be in the hard cast for 4 weeks.  They will then re-xray and see if she needs a soft one for 2.  I'm hoping she won't need anything.  She started cheer/pom this week and a cast doesn't make things easy.

The crazy thing was that she didn't cry during the whole thing.  The doctors at the urgent care said they'd never done X-rays on a kid with a broken bone who hasn't cried. She was very brave and honestly I don't think I've heard her complain about the cast even once.  It is water proof so she can swim, thank goodness!  Otherwise I'm sure I'd be hearing lots of complaints.

The women in the our family have had a little bit of bad luck when it comes to broken bones.  I broke my foot in October.  Sue broke her wrist in June at my brother's wedding and my mom had a frozen shoulder and had to have surgery last fall as well.  Watch out Aunt Emily! You better not be next!

Surfside Beach Vacation

Due to my parents generosity we were able to have a second beach vacation this year! They rented a great beach house big enough to hold all of us.  Ryan and Justin got to come this year as well.  We had a great week relaxing on the beach, eating, drinking and playing games.  If you need a good game for a big group I highly recommend Telestrations.  You will get tons of laughs out of that one. 

Ben fulfilled his life long dream of catching a shark.  Yes, it was a baby, but it's still a shark.  He's standing on the pier that was just down a ways from our house.  If you went in the evening you could see 6-8 foot black tips swimming beneath the pier.  Kind of freaky considering we swam all week in that water just about a quarter mile down the beach.

Isn't she pretty?

 On my birthday we had a great dinner at Murrel's Inlet.  We walked along the boardwalk afterwards and then played putt-putt.

Family photo shoot

These are the fun beach time photos. Also featured is Uncle Ryan and Audrey making their clam documentary.  They would dig up clams and place them along the surf and watch them dig into the sand. It took Ryan and I over 30 years to realize clams could do this.  The kids are learning young.

 We had our own pool at our house.  The kids really enjoyed it.  Audrey even learned to walk on water while we were there.

 Fourth of July fireworks on the beach.  It was crazy.  I've never seen so many fireworks in my life. It also was a little scary because they were just going off everywhere.  They don't have strict firework regulations in the south.  Take a bunch of half drunk vacationers and some red necks and it makes for a very interesting fire work display.

Another exciting evening at the house....Miller, Bud and Yuengling taste test.  Ryan and Justin won getting all 3 correct. Much to our brother in law Rodney's disappointment, Ben and I mixed up Miller and Bud.  Rodney is a Miller sales rep.  

June II - Rest of june...nowhere near as exciting as the wedding but still blog worthy

Howell has a fun BalloonFest in June.  They launch hot air balloons and have a carnival and fireworks.  Audrey made me a little nervous on this bungee apparatus thing.  The kids loved the Swamp Gator roller coaster.  While they were riding it a big screw came flying off the track.  Nice.

 Another main high light of June was our neighborhood's 80s Prom.  Most of us went to prom in the mid to late 90s so we had tons of fun getting to do the 80s look.  Ben took it to a whole other level with snake skin pants, cowboy boots, Save Ferris t-shirt and a nasty mullet.  Below are some of my neighborhood friends. The second photo is most of our fun neighborhood group.

Sawyer went to Safety Town in June, where they learn everything safety and create slightly paranoid 4 and 5 year olds.  It was right up his ally because each day they had a different emergency vehicle come to the class - firetrucks, ambulances, police cars, and police motorcycles - everything he loves.  They also went for a bus ride.  Too bad he has to wait another year to ride the bus to school.

Also in June were all of the end of the year festivities for Audrey at school.  It was SO busy but fun.  She had such a great year in first grade.  All of the first and second graders in her class were such nice kids.  They had the best classroom community.  I couldn't have asked for a better and more knowledgable teacher, of course a MSU grad.  She really knew how to push the kids and always had Audrey reading books at her level.  I was so worried first grade would be too easy, like Kindergarten, and she would learn to be lazy in school.  That definitely wasn't the case.  She was pushed to work at her level all year.  I couldn't have been happier with how things turned out.  Let's hope next year goes as well.  She should enter the 2/3 split class and I hope her teacher will be as good as last year.  

Audrey's class on Field Day

Audrey and her AWESOME teacher, Mrs. Zylka.

Audrey before the last day of school....

Audrey after getting off the bus on the last day of school.  Seriously, who cries on the last day?

June I - Wedding deserves it's own post...

June was a VERY exciting month for our family.  Ryan and Justin got married at the Omni Parker House in Boston on June 2nd.  The wedding was so beautiful.  They had about 150 family and friends who traveled from all over the country to help them celebrate.  Some people are curious about what a gay wedding is like.  The response is simple.  It is EXACTLY the same as a "normal" wedding.  My Uncle Gary, who is a Lutheran pastor, officiated the service, just as he did for his own sons and for myself and Ben.  Same ceremony. They then had an awesome reception (some of which is a little hazy in my memory).  All the traditional wedding stuff; cake cutting, first dances, mother/groom dances, great food, great bar and some late night shenanigans.  

It is hard to put into words how upsetting it is to me when people don't support gay marriage.  Part of me blames their ignorance or unaccepting nature.  Part of me blames their upbringing that they were either to sheltered by their parents or very uneducated. Part of me blames human nature and being scared to accept new things. Part of me blames their religion, which makes me the most mad.  I thought Christians were supposed to be accepting people (WWJD and all)? Part of me just gets plain old annoyed and wants to scream, "Why the fuck do you care and how the fuck is this making your life any worse". I'd probably get arrested or into a fist fight so I restrain myself.

Instead I just say to them that it is only bettering the lives of two wonderful people who deserve to enjoy the same joys of marriage that all the rest of us do.  Oppressing a group of people is just so wrong in so many ways.

OK, I don't usually get political or preachy on here but sometimes I have to rant (might happen again come November election time). Now back to the wonderful day and the celebration.

My pictures really aren't very good because I was a bridesmaid and Audrey was a flower girl so we were busy.  Then we got down to the partying so I forgot about taking pictures.  Check out the pictures below and you'll see it is just like any other wedding celebration you've been to. I'll try to post some good ones once I get them from Ryan's photographer.

Sawyer trying on his wedding get-up before we left.  I was worried he wouldn't want to wear it because he hates "button shirts".  He actually loved it.  I think he knew he looked handsome. 

Duck Tour the day before the wedding.  We took up the whole duck boat with all the wedding guests.  It's a great way to see the city of Boston, from land and water.

Rehearsal.  They were nervous!

Audrey at the rehearsal dinner.  She was excited about her jewels.

The ceremony.  It was wonderful!

Ok, there was one non-traditional part.  Dancing down the aisle after the ceremony to Dancing Queen.  It was fun though.  I highly recommend it.  

First Dance

Speeches.  They were all great.  My dad's was awesome!

Audrey and Justin's sister Lindsey.

Mother/Son dances

Sawyer dancing with Grandma Rapp before she broke her wrist =(  He loved dancing with his grandmas.  After the wedding I asked which part he liked best and he said, "Dancing with my Gwandma's". 

Audrey dancing to Dynamite, her fav song.  

My dad and some of his best friends.  I love this picture.