For 2010, we sat down & thought long & hard about our nieces & nephews birthdays, we only live a whopping 1.5 hours away from them but with school activities, sports, work, church functions, & general life we don't see them frequently & typically when we do its on holiday's. Not that it's a bad thing but those occasions are usually short lived & hard to squeeze in quality time with everyone. So starting this year, gifts are going to be phased out & TIME with each & everyone of them will be the blessing. We started in May with Seth & Jenna & had such an amazing time. This weekend it was Ayden & Aubrey's turn & we couldn't have picked a more perfect weekend!
Off to Baker Park on Lake Independence here we go! It was a steamy weekend, perfect for playground fun, beach time, fishing, bike rides, & of course a camp fire! We started the weekend at the awesome playground this park has, the kids were great riding their bikes & watching out for traffic on the trails. The big hill was super fun to go down but not so much on the way back up so on a second trip to the beach Ayden requested we walk. The kids had fun picking all kinds of wild flowers & even saw two beautiful red cardinals zipping through the trees!
Our own little field trip, it's quite the trek on foot so we weren't surprised when on the way everyone was in agreement that bikes are the preferred mode of transportation.
Brie showing off all the flora she gathered on the walk.
Finally, the playground, first stop that zip line! It was so funny watching Brie on the one end helping Aubrey reach the handles, this shot makes me giggle because they were having so much fun! I think Boo was born to zip, she loves the speed, look out!
You should have heard those giggles, infectious!
Conner teaching Boo all the things you shouldn't do on play ground equipment, luckily I was able to deter him! These two are thrill seekers at heart, scares us yet makes us smile all at the same time....
All four jaguars up in their cage!
Ayden's turn to zip!!!!!
Couldn't get these three high enough or going fast enough on that tire swing!
Yep, Conner at it yet again, maybe we need to reiterate an earlier conversation about how Spider Man isn't real & people can't stick to things like in the movies. Maybe he's set on proving us wrong! Love you so much Conner, you never cease to amaze us & bring such spice to life!
Aubrey stuck in the Jaguar cage Ayden found!
"Come on Auntie Klair & Uncle Steve!" We did join these munchkins in the water & had a blast tossing them around, boy did it feel good to cool off.....
Aubrey pushing Conner round & round in circles....
Brie, life jacket AND floaty, really? You are too funny my dear! 
More and more giggles.....
These four fish played pretty hard, believe it or not they did finally come in out of the water!
Snack time, "parental warning" when you're camping with the Reese's & it's specifically for the purpose of pampering & lovin' on our nieces & nephews, beware there WILL be LOTS of candy. Snack time included sour patch kids & pop rocks - oh yeah!!!!!
Might as well come clean completely, there are no rules either! Unless of course it would have lead to a serious injury of course :)!
Look at this gaggle on the dock! Casting was definitely a challenge but happy to report no one snagged anything but lots of fish!
Ayden & fish #1 of the day! He was SO excited! Not enough to touch it of course, me neither Ayden I'm with you on that one!
Boo's first fish of the day & no fear of the slime for her! Who's shocked by that right?
Ayden & fish #2
Conner's first catch & not to be outdone by his cousin, he wanted to hold it and let it go by himself too! 
Boo is a pro at this point! She went on to catch a total of 6 fish that day!
Adyen on his 4th or 5th fish, lost track he was catching so many!
Uncle Steve loving every minute with his crew of fishers, he was more than happy to reload bait all afternoon! Everyone had such an amazing time, we must have spent at least 4 hours tossing our lines in!
Brie brought in quite a few too, she takes after her Mommy & will seek out her Daddy for the removal & release though :)!
Uncle Steve at his best joking around with the kids....
GO AYDEN!!!! He proudly released this one into the lake - after catching over 11 fish he is now a natural!
Conner & Daddy fishing and in total I think Conner pulled in 7. I can't tell you enough how much fun was had! Brienna's soccer coach & his family was camping here the same weekend, they had a pail they were keeping fish in for a fish fry, so as the kids caught one, they loved walking it over & dumping it in the bucket. Can't say we envy you Trevor for you had quite the pail full of sunnies to clean! Reports later came in that their fish fry was a success! We were invited to the party but chose to treat the kids to pizza instead!
A steamy 90+ degree day with high 70 something percent humidity = ice cream treats! Conner of course chose a cool Spiderman with gumball eyes! Clearly the ice cream truck folks have quite a different selection to offer than they did when we were kids!
Ayden with my favorite the chocolate bar, Boo & Brie with the traditional but amazing push ups, & Conner's Spidey which promptly lost his gumballs in the heat. The boys apparently weren't as adept at keeping up with the melting as the girls because just after this shot Spidey took a dive from his stick & hit the ground, must have been out of his sticky web string. We salvaged enough to finish in a bowl, Ayden's didn't' suffer that demise, we caught his in a bowl before it hit the ground :)!
This looks like an Uncle Steve kicking back enjoying a nice roaring fire & roasting a marshmallow doesn't it? Well look really closely & what do you see? It's what you don't see actually, the rest of the crew is about 15 feet away from that roaring hot fire because it was just too blasted hot outside to enjoy it! We sat back & enjoyed it's glow from afar!
Ayden lovin his s'more! Even with the heat, they still taste awesome!
Our last day together, Sunday, was one for the record books. It took 10-15 minutes for my camera to de-fog with all the humidity in the air. So that explains this smoky looking shot, but I couldn't miss Ayden's debut in the kayak!
Boo getting a ride with Brienna!
I love this next sequence, Ayden & Aubrey wanted to go out together so here's there tippy start, notice Ayden trying valiantly to keep from tossing them both in....
He expertly rights the kayak but notice Boo is not too keen on continuing with this journey, don't worry Boo, Ayden is a good paddler!
Proof! They made it without swamping it!Thank you Ayden & Boo for a very fun weekend, we treasured every second & feel extremely blessed to spend this time with you! We hope you both had an equally amazing time. We'll definitely carry on the tradition & already look forward to next year's adventure! Em & Mitch, you have some incredible kids & thank you for letting us love on them for a whole weekend, it was the best!!!!!
