Kalahari 2011

We have been so blessed to have the opportunity to meet, as a Brey family, at the Wisconsin Dells for 5 years. Our first two years we stayed at Treasure Island, it is now some Greek or Roman name. The last three years we have stayed at the Kalahari Resort. This year we stayed in the Kondos. They were fabulous. We had 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, family room, pool table, and home theater with 6 recliners. It was pretty much perfect! Here are a few pictures...


Each time we get together we have some sort of family night. We play games (Do you love your neighbor? is a favorite), share testimonies, sing songs, and share talents. This year we were blessed to have a Skype visit with our Mitchell at BYU. It was so wonderful to be together and feel of the love and support that our family offers one another.

"Talents" shared: H, E, and C interpretive dance to Voice Male's Once There Was a Snowman; Josh juggled with glow in the dark balls; C wrestled me to the floor; Mindy shared poetry; Spencer and his amazing tongue!

H brought music for a sing along, including her own pre-recorded accompaniment. We sang "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need", a song from EFY, In Christ Alone. Also, on a musical note there were a few moments when we had to break out with praise and worship just to get the blood flowing. God is good and it is a blast to lift Him up in song.

We also shared testimony and scriptures that have been written on our hearts. Later, in the pool we girls had a minute to discuss more scriptures we are memorizing. It is a miracle for all of us to be memorizing God's word together. We are really tapping in to the Spirit in a new way. Hallelujah! I feel so blessed to have a family that began with two people committed enough to work things out on a day to day basis.

As we were walking to the waterpark we saw this little sign, "A Kalahari Moment". We had to take a picture.

I just can't believe that we have been able to figure out ways for all of us to be together. When we first start trying to figure it out it can seem difficult, expensive, and overwhelming, but when we all are together it is magical. There is no other way to describe it...wait, yes there is - ETERNAL. After the festivities are over and everyone is settled back into their day to day lives I think back on the memories of our time and seems like a perfect dream. I guess that is what we have to look forward to in heaven - every day is a perfect dream. Won't that be a blast!

#11 Our First Summer of Baseball

We had our first experience with summer baseball. C was on a Kindergarten T-ball team called the Steel Birds. He was #11 and really enjoyed playing his games. Two days a week we would head to a park where the team would practice for a half hour and then they would play a one hour game. It was so much fun to cheer for the boys. They didn't really keep score and everybody felt like they were winners.

We were really pleased with his coach, Jim. We focused on fundamentals and FUN. C had a few of his kindergarten classmates on his team and then he was able to make new friends as well. I must admit the first couple of games were comical in their entirety, but then they started playing baseball. This venture into baseball also got C excited about collecting cards. Each week his coach would give the boys a baseball card. He has now branched out to basketball, as well as Pokemon and YuGiOh. As fun as baseball was, C has notified us that his "real talents" are in basketball. We'll see about that.

My most grateful moment of the baseball season came at the after season party at the coach's house. C and a couple of his teammates were playing baseball with the parents. Two of his teammates began fighting over who was next "at bat". It ended up with punching and rolling around on the ground. C just sat down at first base and looked bored. I asked him about it later and he said, that the fighting was so dumb and it ruined the game. I was pleased that he didn't get involved and saw the fighting as a waste of time.

Halloween 2010

Halloween fell on a Sunday in 2010. We participated in a church trunk or treat on the freezing Saturday before the holiday. The kids made the rounds and were ready to head home. On Sunday, we went to the Charter House to visit our adopted Oma and Opa. I don't have a picture of them here which is weird, but we have attended their Halloween celebration for the last few years. They are a marvelous couple who have become part of our family and we love them dearly. At the Charter House the kids parade past the residents and line up to get their picture taken with the Queen of the Pumpkin Patch. After the picture, they are given a bag of treats, donuts, popcorn, punch and it is a lot of fun to see all the smiles from the residents. After the Charter House we came home and the kids answered the door for trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood. I think we played Pinochle with Mom and Dad. That is getting to be a tradition too.M was thrilled to participate this year. She was very ill last year so she is grinning from ear to ear for good reason. She is a princess/wizardess/something pretty and not scary. The day before at the trunk or treat she was a Twister game, but she picked her costume from last year for the visit to Oma and Opa's.C is a ninja and this is the scariest costume I have tolerated thus far. I don't love the creepy, scary, elements of Halloween. He knew the names of his different swords and knives. He eventually got sick of the mask, but he was still pretty tough looking.

B was Dorothy this year. When I bought the costume (last year) her hair was long and I thought it would look so cute in braids. We cut it in shorter layers during the summer so we settle on these cute piggy tails. I think she is darling, but she must be eating her candy already based on that look on her face.

Corn Maze 2010

Fall is my favorite season. I love the sounds, the smells, the cooling temperatures after a hot and sticky summer. I love to attend the local apple orchards, ride hay wagons, pick pumpkins and gourds and maneuver a corn maze. I didn't have this experience growing up. I did pick apples but that was either at the neighbor's house or at a welfare farm as a service project.

For some reason I was really eager to do a corn maze this year. Maybe it was because all the kids are old enough and big enough that we could ALL enjoy the experience. So we set aside a day for our trip to the apple orchard and maze. Unfortunately, it was 85 degrees! Are you kidding me? I think is was the 3rd weekend of October and we were melting! Ugh! Many people will not understand my frustration, but we don't like being hot.We completed the maze in record time for us because it was so HOT, and we were able to spread out to find the checkpoints. It was an awesome example of how awesome we can be when we work together. We would reach a crossroad and everyone would run a different direction for a distance. We would listen for one of us to call out that they had found a marker or we would meet back at the point of our divergence.

Everyone was able to find markers and we made a great team. By the time we finished we were all sweaty and in desperate need of air conditioning. Did I mention it was too hot to be considered an Autumn day? Hot, people!

Once we conquered the maze we bypassed the wagon ride, apples, pumpkins and gourds because we were HOT. We went directly to A&W for ice cream. We had a great day together, but it was not a typical trip to the apple orchard. The funny thing about the weather in MN is that it is unique in the extremes. One of the fall weekends before or after our day trip would have numbed our hands and been a miserable day at the orchard as well. In MN if you don't like the weather, wait a minute and it will change.

Boys on Skates

Normally when I drop the girls at their Activity Days group, C and I have a "date" on our own. Well, today I asked D if he wanted to steal my date time with C to use their new skates. They both have purchased skates in the last few months. D thought it was a great idea and so the boys strapped their skates on and had some fun.
I took a couple pictures and some video, but it was FREEZING cold outside and I didn't want to be out there much. This is C's second time on his new skates and without the "skating walker" you can see he isn't quite upright yet. (Couldn't get the video to upload. Imagine bent over boy.) He is chasing a ball back and forth that D is throwing. We will need to see about getting a puck and stick or something to play with on the ice. Winter Fun!