Primary Party Hits

We had a FANTASTIC primary party celebrating the 24th of July where many of our "elderly or semi-elderly" members shared what they used to do as children...all people were interested...from parents to kids. It was amazing to me to see how far toys have come. From playing "Button, button, who's got the button" to peach basket basketball stands, to barbies, to wooden toys to our now newest plastic recalls. Isn't progress great?
One of the activites they did at the end was eat donuts as shown above...this was really fun for the kids to do and everyone to watch. Can you guess who won this group?
Apparently, Parker needed just a little help
No, Parker...not the string, the DONUT! Making friends with the donut....smell the donut, lick the donut, feel the donut, talk to the donut, BECOME the donut.

FRANKENSTEIN'S BRIDE ON THE ROLLER COASTER RIDE

And the winner is....can you imagine a ride that would do such a thing to a person's hair? And how often are you going to look like this and have a picture taken of you while in this pose? Well, I had to have it. At least Alyssa has the good sense to put her arms up in front of her face and her hair back...but my knuckes were glued to that orange plastic handle and they weren't going anywhere!

Here she is at hershey

Dont worry Mark is at home. He hasn't been transformed into a Reeses man!
Hats, hats and more hats!
Braden had to go alone as it made Julie ill....don't worry she was able to get her head out of the bathroom long enough to do another rollercoaster!
The boys wanted to spin FAST!
Here is everyone that dared to ride this one. The sign said, "You will be drenched" and that might have been the understatement of the year. But everyone...even Parker had a great time on this ride cold, wet, and all!

A BLURB ON THE BLOG

I just wanted to share a funny story because my kids are at an age where they say funny things and I won't remember it, but I want somebody to so here it is: We're at the doctor getting Parker's pre-k checkup and the doctor goes to take his blood pressure and says, "Now, it's going to feel tight." And Parker says, "You mean tight like Sunday clothes?" Well, I just thought it was cute and so did the nurse. I guess it's time to do some shopping for looser fitting Sunday clothes.

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

The Week in Pets

So this week has been rather interesting for our pets, and I suppose I should share their story. We are taking care of Boykie, our friend's pug while they are on a cruise in Alaska...guess who got the good end of THAT deal! Anyway, so this dog is sooo cute that it's hard to be angry with him, but he managed. We had been to McDonalds one busy day and came home and ate lunch and Parker (bless his heart) left his unfinished milkshake on the dining room table. Well, Boykie jumped up on the chair and ate the milkshake and some chicken nuggets that were left there as well. When we got home we couldn't figure out WHY his back was all sticky. I thought maybe he'd found the garbage can, but nothing sticky in there, until I walked into the dining room and saw two very clean milkshake glasses and lids. I have to give it to the dog...not a speck of milkshake anywhere to be found! As angry as I was with this, I can't believe how clean he can leave a place.

Okay, so then Braden in the last week has managed to singe off a few of our gerbil's (Hardy) whiskers..."but the lighter was way over here" he said. And then his toenail got caught on something and is missing, he had an unexpected "bath" yesterday and we had to blow him dry...have you ever seen a drowned rat?? And as of today Braden put poor Hardy in some kind of cup that had some green something in the bottom and has now colored poor Hardy (I think poor Hardy is going to be the new name) and he is now half green as you can see from the picture. Man, I hope that PETA doesn't read this blog!

So then this morning Braden and Parker were walking Boykie and came across a HUGE snake at the side of our house. It was just a black snake, so no need for alarm, but it is ugly. Don't worry, poor Hardy is nowhere near the snake, so he'll live another day. (Hopefully) But don't look for any pictures of the snake...that didn't happen.

So if you're thinking about having us watch your pets in the future, you might want to look into the local zoo and see if they have any openings...it might be safer for them.

IS THE PARTY OVER??

We had such a great time at the beach, we just want you all to live it with us! I found some more photos of our Florida trip that I wanted to share...not to rub it in, but to make you want to come with us next time! Oh, and the fish that Braden is holding in the next blog..yes, it's still alive. He caught it with his hands. Sit back, relax, and enjoy!

A FEW FLORIDA FOTOS

In June we went to Florida with Grandpa and boy did we have fun! Grandpa and Mark went parasailing for the first time ever...never too late for that, right Grandpa? And we spent a lot of time watching the birds and the fish. In fact, Braden became friends with one of the fish that let us take his picture. This was a great vacation and the Keys off the coast of Sarasota is a place we will definitely go sometime again soon!

WE MADE IT!!

Here is our Winkel Family: Mark (Dad), Julie (Mom), Braden (7 ys. old), Parker (5 ys. old). This is going to be a fun way to let you all know what's going on in our lives and how we are growing...for instance, this picutre was taken about a year ago, so you're going to have to imagine us older and more gray already...isn't this fun? I will try to be better about the up to date pictures in future postings. But here's your introduction and for those of you hoping for more, well, just imagine that too.