Tanking Trips

Our family taking in Calamus

Brittney caught a large frog Chelsey enjoying the river
Dylan climbing on the trees
Courtney rode in another tank

2nd tanking trip down Cedar River with friends

On August 16 we had a clinic party, tanking down the Calamus River. We had 4 tanks of people and had a fun time throwing water balloons and playing in the river. Then on August 31, Labor day we went to Fullerton, NE and tanked down the Cedar river. The river was much lower there and we spent quite a bit of time trying to get out of the sand and the tanks were metal and so we relaxed in our chairs in the tank. We went with the Tweeten family and had a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday Brandon!

Eating Casey's pizza
Brandon with Dairy Queen "candy" cake

Our oldest son, Brandon, just turned 14 this year. I can't believe it has been that many years already. We celebrated with a family water balloon fight, Casey's pizza and cake from Dairy Queen.

Guess who has braces?

Before
After

Brandon went to the orthodontist yesterday to get his braces on. By the evening he was feeling the pain and was not happy to have them at all!! As a matter of fact he wanted them back off. I told him it would be better (from experience). He said that this morning they were feeling a little better but still hurt. Tylenol and Ibuprofen will be his friends for awhile I am afraid.

First Day of School

Dylan Brandon
Brittney
Courtney
The kids ready for the first day of school

Chelsey putting together puzzles

The first day of school was today August 20. Brandon is in 8th grade, Dylan in 7th grade, Courtney in 5th Mrs. Nisley is her teacher, and Brittney is in 2nd Mrs. Rathjen is her teacher. I think the first day went well for each of them. They did not get to be in their new school yet as the sprinkler system is not ready yet. They are projecting it to be ready sometime in October but, we'll see. The girls are back at the old grade school and the boys are in the high school with 6-12 grades all in that building. It will be a little cramped for awhile. Chelsey spent much of the morning doing what she loves best--putting puzzles together, and she is getting really good at it. Hopefully she won't miss them too much while they are gone during the week.

Baptism

Pastor Duane & Dylan
Duane praying for Dylan
Dylan being baptized
Diane, Dylan & Bryan after the baptism

What a joy to see that your kids want to follow the Lord the rest of their lives. Brandon was baptized last year and now Dylan wanted to be Baptized this year. We went out to Timberlake Ranch Camp and Dylan was baptized in the lake along with his friend Travis and another adult from our church. Bryan's brother Chuck and his family were able to attend which made it more special. After the baptism the kids were able to swim, canoe, paddleboat, etc and then we had supper out there. After supper the boys all went to the paintball course and had an airsoft war which they all really loved!! What a wonderful day!!!

A Fun Day

Brandon & Brittney on Go-cart
Courtney & Brandon
Brandon, Dylan & Chelsey
Brittney & Chelsey swinging
Our 3 year old daugher, Chelsey, mowing the lawn (gotta start them young)


On Saturday we started out early in the morning to Burwell, NE to go to the Calamus River and go tanking. The boys had done this before but we weren't sure what we were getting ourselves into. It was a clinic party and so about 17 of us all got into cow tanks (about 6 to a tank) and floated down the Calamus river. You might think this kind of relaxing, but no, they brought a bunch of water balloons and water guns. It was really fun and our kids spent a lot of time finding the unbroked balloons floating down the river. After that we ate at pizza hut and came home. (I will post pictures later of tanking as I used a disposable camera) Bryan was able to get our Go-cart going and so the kids had a fun time riding that. Bryan also was able to get Chelsey out to mow the lawn, well alright it was already mowed but it was funny seeing a 3 year old cruising around in circles with the mower going.

Harvesting in North Dakota

My dad and his new combine
The combine and his semi
Chelsey, Courtney, & Kailee Dylan & Chelsey
Brittney, Courtney, & Chelsey playing with cats

Brittney & Jace after a hike up the hill to find Grandpa combining

Jace & Brandon were good buddies this year

On July 25th I traveled to meet my parents half way so that they could have the girls come up and stay with them by themselves. We then traveled on August 4th up to North Dakota to spend a while to help with harvest. Despite many breakdowns and some rain delays we helped a little but left them with quite a bit left to do. We had a good time up there as we celebrated our sister in laws (Angie) birthday with a nice dinner out. Angie and I took the kids to the pool for the afternoon one day. The kids spent the majority of their days driving the four wheelers around the farm. I think everyone had fun at Grandpa & Grandma's!

Brandon at Camp

Brandon with camp counselors
Outside of his cabin

Brandon went to camp on July 27 at Timberlake Ranch Camp. He went with 3 other friends from our church. He had a great time playing games, swimming, and going to chapel time. He of course was very happy with his air conditioned cabin as it was 95 degrees with high humidity most of the time he was there. We are very thankful for a christian camp only 25 miles away from our house.