Jellystone

I will need to do our Jellystone vacation post in several different posts. These are the pictures from our camera. I didn't always have it with us because of the pool or because I was carrying Charlie in the baby carrier on my back. Cher however, had her camera with her almost the entire time, so I'll do an updated post once I steal her pictures! I think she got some great water shots!

Here's Jellystone from the view of my camera:

This is our little cabin. It says it sleeps 8, but I think that would be a tight squeeze. It was just right with 4 of us!  We stayed here from Monday until Friday morning. The perfect amount of time there!

I came up with some fun campfire meals for our evening meals. We bought a lot of wood, but unfortunately, found out it was quite wet. Here you see Tony and Cher trying to dry it out! It worked, and we had lots of delicious food over the fire.

There are little mini playground around the park. This is Charlie on the one near our cabin. It was just his size! One of the evenings we were playing here, and a little girl around 8 or so decided that she wanted to help Charlie.

The park near us had a swing too. Charlie was in heaven! 

This is the bigger playground that's near the water park. The sand is so fine! It was a great sensory experience as well as fun to play with! 

By the end of our stay, Charlie was going down the big slide all by himself. He'd get up there as fast as he could, and then push himself off! He giggled the entire way down! I'm pretty sure Cher got some good pictures of him doing that, so I can share them later! 

Grandma Cher and Charlie snuggling at the park. 

Every night at 7, the bears came out for either a visit or to read a book. Charlie wasn't scared of them at all. In fact, he was quite impatient for his turn to go give Yogi a high five! 

During morning nap one day, Cher told us to get lost and go rent a surrey. I cannot disobey my mother in law, so here we are! It was so fun! We went all around the park together. 

On our last morning there, Charlie decided to wake up at 5am. This got us up and packing a lot earlier than we expected! We were on the road by 9am, but before we left, we stopped for some pictures. 

4th of July!

 Every year, my uncle Mark and aunt Christa kick off the festivities with a party on July 3rd. Tony, Charlie and I were in attendance this year. Tony took Charlie home for bedtime, and I stayed for some quality family time.

Here I am with my mom, godmother/aunt Diane and cousin Jacque! I stayed out WAY later than I'm used to, so I was pretty tired the next morning.

4th of July has always been a big deal in my Smidt family. My grandma Jeannette absolutely loved the 4th! Since my Grandma has passed away, it has been a little bittersweet. This 4th was filled with TONS of cousin time, and it was the happiest one since Grandma left us.

Tony somehow snagged an EA (excused absence) from work yesterday, so he could join us! After morning nap, we headed to Florence Park to check out the fun Arts in the Park, kiddie carnival and fair food! Uncle Will came down early and went to the park with us too. While we were there, we ran into even more family! My mom walked down with my cousin Jacque. Jacque snapped this cute picture of us at the park. Charlie LOVED the petting zoo and he so badly wanted to ride the rides. Maybe next year!

After we were at the park, we headed to my Oma Kathe's for a picnic. Charlie ate like a champ! I don't think I've ever seen him eat this much before! He actually ate more than I did! After a big lunch, Tony took him home for a nap. It was nice that Tony offered to do that, so I could spend some quality time with my cousins. He's such a good hubby :)

While Tony and Charlie were napping, I headed back to the park with my female cousins. We had to do a little picture taking...

The boy scouts made some fun cutouts for pictures!

 The girls!

We all gathered at Grandpa's for a bit of a snacky supper before heading over to watch the parade together. Just like last year, Jon, Mindy, Natalie and Harvey were able to join us. Poor Harvey was guarding his candy from me the whole time so I wouldn't steal his Tootsie Rolls! The parade started at 6:30pm, but we sit way at the end of the parade route. I think it was after 7 before the parade actually reached us. Charlie usually is in bed at that time, but he did such a great job! He stayed until the end and was such a good boy! I wish I would've gotten a picture of the kids together, but I did snag a few other pictures at the parade.

Looking pretty tired here!

But he perked right up when freeze pops were thrown our way! 

All smiles after the parade. 

Tony again was such a loving husband and took Charlie home to bed so I could stay at Grandpa's and watch the fireworks with my cousins like I always do. Here are the female cousins doing our infamous elbow train. We went in order of youngest to oldest. You may be wondering who the brown haired girl on the end is, and that's my cousin Matt's girlfriend. She's absolutely wonderful, so we just had to include her in our shot!

The cousins in attendance minus Matt. He went MIA right before pictures.  Tyler and Nathan left after lunch, so they are also not pictured.

Just to let you know how dedicated we cousins are to our mini donuts and cheese curds, we waited in line for over 45 minutes to get some! Here's our selfie! It was some excellent cousin bonding! 

We ended our big 4th by renting the Stewartville pool today from 12-1. Since I was single momming it while Tony worked, I didn't capture any pictures. Charlie had a blast swimming with Grandma Becky and Grandpa Buck! He dove under twice and wasn't so sure about that, but no tears!

Phone Follow Up

As I've posted countless times, I take a ton of pictures of Charlie and our every day life on my phone. No, they're not the highest quality pictures, but it's quick and easy to snap a shot! Sorry, but this is a long post with lots of Charlie pics! I hope you enjoy!

Ok this first one does not have Charlie in it, but it's the only picture I took at the Cheese Fest parade. YUCK A CLOWN! Luckily my niece and nephew saved me from him.

Uncle Will was showing Charlie how to use a hammock. 

 

This kid sure does love his sleep. I refused to turn the air conditioner on for a very long time, so he got to sleep like Daddy. 

Charlie is pointing at a mother goose and her little goslings at Quarry Hill. 

 Walking the trails at Quarry Hill.

Great Grandpa Bob showing Charlie how the lamp works. 

Family walk at Bear Cave Park. 

 When I came home after Bible School one day, I found Charlie in his cool fort constructed by his Daddy!

Someone found my headband and has seen me wear it enough to know how it works! 

Picnic in Kasson one night. 

New used shopping cart! 

Swimming at the pool! 

New used wagon! Love that eyebrow action! 

 Blowing kisses one morning to grandpa on my phone

 Water table fun! This is a favorite outside activity

 Fun big wheel!

We were leaving Shorewood to  go to Cherry Berry and Charlie had a bit of a plumber crack going on.

Someone is really enjoying coloring now. He got this neat crayon holder at Meagan and Peter's wedding. 

Today inbetween naps was a rough teething time. So, we hung out in the baby carrier for a while so I could make lunch. 

EMMA!

Becky and Emma came to visit for the day yesterday and half of today. It was fun to have those two around!

Charlie really enjoyed getting the baby toys back out!

Emma was enjoying (well not so much) some tummy time. 

Someone had a bit of a blowout and needed a sink bath! 

After the bath, our game of Farkle could continue! 

Just a goofy shot of Tony while we were all playing Farkle. Gotta love him. 

This morning I was reading to Emma, and Charlie felt like he needed to come join!

I'm bummed we don't live closer, but I hope we can see them again soon!