When the Saints come marching in....

Mom and Dad have been on a epic Midwest tour during their summer vacation time and I was thrilled they selected Sioux Falls as one of their stops. Of course, the lure of spending time with their favorite daughter coupled with the fact that Dad promised Lily months ago that he would take her to the zoo and she was relentless in her pursuit of getting him to make good on his promise made the stop virtually inevitable.

They, along with my niece and nephew~Emma and Austin~rolled into town Friday morning and we immediately hopped into the big rig, anxious to "enjoy the monkeys". We could not have ordered more perfect weather and the morning was a success~Lily got her trip to the zoo with Papa and Grandma that she has been so desperately wanting, I got to tag along (initially Lily said I had to stay home), the children enjoyed themselves and they didn't keep Dad.

Dad is so enamored with his job that even while on vacation, he just can't resist a ride on the rails...

I think Mom thought she was starring in a commercial for this zoo.....

Lily wasn't about to let some pesky "Out of Order" sign ruin her fun.....

After all of the exhibits had been explored, we departed the zoo for the next stop on the itinerary~a Hamburger Inn sponsored picnic at the Falls. Again, I just couldn't stop loving how awesome the weather was and we tried our best to wear the kids out. However, as you can probably guess, they wore us out but it was well worth the sore feet.

On the observation deck of the lookout tower. You may notice someone other than myself is conspicuously absent from the picture.....

Mom is a total wienie and refused to go up with us. If you look closely, you will see her under the tree enjoying some peace and quiet.

This is the view she passed up.....

Here are Dad and Grace. Obviously I wasn't privy to their conversation but I have to imagine it was some total and complete untruth fabricated by my father.

The remainder of Friday was spent making pizza burgers and then remaking them after I burned the first batch, sitting in our driveway continuing our enjoyment of the weather, and watching the kids ride bikes, scooters and just having an all around good time.

Saturday was declared Science Center Saturday. Following lunch we loaded up, this time with Jason along for the fun. Immediately, the kids posed themselves as the Ingalls family even though I am guessing they probably wouldn't have thought life without Gameboys, iCarly (or is it Carly and Me, Mom?) and 3D movies was too fabulous.

Dad tried out the space man suit. I think Mom had to give him a boost so that he could see out the top.

Mom wasn't about to let Dad have all the fun and had to get in on the astronomical act.

Ella slipped on a sweet pair of goggles and tried her hand at a semi~realistic archaeological dig.

Mom and Dad re-enacted the most famous scene from the movie, Big. I do believe they may have had more fun during this excursion than the rest of us and maybe all of the other science center enthusiasts combined. I'll let you make your own assumptions about this picture.......

Jason and I had to drag Mom and Dad out of the Pavillion kicking and screaming but we had a party to get to and couldn't play on ginormous pianos all day long. Leaving the kids in Grandma and Papa's capable hands, we attended a wonderful soiree thrown by Bill and Cliff (two of Jason's brothers). Chili, beer and lots and lots of stories~a perfect Saturday night!

Sunday morning came awfully early for me but such is the life of a rockstar. I pulled myself out of bed and soon our visitors were headed back to the land of 10,000 lakes. To cap off another awesome weekend, we celebrated the Kolb family patriarch's birthday with a cookout at John and Connie's.

Some of the many little people in attendance.....

And some of the many lovely ladies in attendance.....

Happy Birthday John! Here's to many more!!!

We feasted on burgers and hot dogs, had lots of laughs, the kids almost got arrested for picking mulberries and before I knew it, it was dark and I still had a trip to HyVee in my immediate future. For the record, I would not advise frequenting HyVee at 10PM on a Sunday. Almost no bread to be found, deli counter closed and a check out line that snaked into the freezer section. Not my most stellar trip to HyVee ever.

Today was an extremely busy day filled with cleaning, checkbook balancing, laundry and various other necessary household chores. Contrary to popular belief, my life is not a constant party. However, I must admit, a portion of my day was spent packing for our next Kolb Family Adventure~the Annual Carter/Paa Get Away. Batten down the hatches Brainerd, Minnesota....Hurricane Carter is bearing down and is expected to make landfall on Thursday!