The Muench Bunch

During our stay, we went on a boat tour of the Wisconsin Dells. Our tour had a couple stops where we got to walk through the Dells. It was fun to see and explore. We even saw a dog jump over a giant cliff. We saw lots of the land and water “Ducks” you ride. One morning Jayden asked if we were going to ride the “Chickens”. I had to laugh. We also saw the Tommy Bartlett water show, went on some go-kart rides,did laser tag at a theme park, and ate at a lot of restaurants. Buffalo Phills restaranut was a big hit. It had a small train that circled the dining area and brought your foor to your table. Luke acquired a buffalo hat that he wore for the next 3 days in a row everywhere we went. Paul Bunyan had an all you can eat breakfast that we stuffed ourselves at. We also had old time photos taken of our family for fun. The boys were so darn cute in their cowboy outfits, I almost got a picture before getting caught. We stayed a total of 4 nights and we were ready for home. Mom started the driv

July 28-Aug 1 Our family took a trip to the Wisconsin Dells. We stayed at the Polynesian resort, the same place we stayed 8 years ago. It is a nice size resort and very kid friendly. It has indoor and outdoor waterslide waterparks. The kids had a great time and played everyday in the water. Jake was running, splashing, and swimming the whole time. He went down the tube slides a few times without any fear. Jayden enjoyed the tube slides also. She would go down them by herself over and over. Luke just liked to explore the different water areas and didn’t mind getting splashed. He never went down the baby slides, but liked to splash and play. He rode the lazy river a few times with mom too. Our hotel stay was rough, we didn’t get much sleep and got an upgrade for our last night. At our hotel we were the minority as most people were Hispanics and other ethnics.

Wow what a fair. The horse project was just plain exhausting coming from a mom. Jayden was required to attend meetings through the year and had to bring her horse to several. For the fair, her horse was stalled for 4 days and the horse show was Saturday and Sunday in extreme heat. A cattle, sheep, or hog show lasts around 3 to 4 hours at the county fair. The horse show was 17 hours of horse showing. Jayden was only in 5 classes. From the very start, Jadyen’s pony was not happy and had an attitude. We put her in her stall where she pawed at the ground and banged on the door. She was tossing her head into you and not very pleasant. Right when we arrived at the fair, cousins Jaynie and Maggie were right there anxious to help Jayden in any way they could, even if it meant scooping poop. Saturday the temperature was 95 and the indoor arena was beyond hot! Jayden’s first class was halter. It was a disaster from the start. Her cowgirl hat fell off more than once as she tried leading her. Jayd

Water Fight!! A hot summer night, a big backyard, 3 kids armed with squirt guns. Fun times!!

Luke is officially 2 ½ and so happy he is about 90% potty trained. He has been sleeping in his own bed for a couple months and stays dry even in the night. I am sad that my baby is growing up and hate to see the baby phase over. No more crib, changing table, stroller, baby toys, high chair, gone once and for all. It is going to be so different not having all the baby items in our home and knowing we are done having children. Luke has such a big smile for everyone, he is a lover and a social bug. He also likes to get into stuff, especially sisters make-up and nail polish.

July 17 Thunderstormed in the night, high winds, wind damage in some areas, an inch of rain. July 19 We have had 3 nights in a row of storms. The kids haven't been sleeping through them, last night we had all 3 kids in our bed. 5 in one bed gets pretty crowded! It rained all morning.

Today was the beginning of the 2010 county fair. Jayden started her judging bright and early at 8:30AM. She had ten projects, of which 7 were held back for outstanding awards, purple ribbons for first year 4-Hers. She did awesome! That is very impressive to even have one project get held back. She ended up with all blues and 6 purple ribbons.It was an exciting time and Jayden was feeling pretty good.

Sunday, Jayden attended the Hamilton County Saddle Club youth show. When I was a little kid, that was our local saddle club where I rode horses for years. It was kind of neat to be back. This was a practice show before the fair for Jayden. She did halter, walk trot, western pleasure, barrels, and poles. Her pony was being difficult in the beginning, making Jayden frustrated. By the time it was barrel racing, Dakota really did her thing. She took first place and was running most of the pattern with a time of 23 seconds. Jake was with us and Grandma and Grandpa Wahlert. He played in the mud and found some giant mushrooms to play by. He was as happy as can be.

Saturday A spur of the moment decision and Mark and I decided to go to a Ranch Rodeo. Mark has been in one over 12 years ago. Myself I have never been to one or seen one, however I have done some team penning in the past. We took our new horses and gathered up a few people and made a team. We had Mark on Missy, she is the black and white paint and she is doing great for Mark. He is very excited about how well she is and he even team roped on her the night before and caught. Myself, I rode Hemi (Cherokee), he is 4 and about 60% broke. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy and he was so love sick for Missy, all he could do was whinnie for her. Next we had Jayden’s best friend Makenna, age 10 on our team. Her mom and dad said she needed a team to be on. Then we had Sue, who has recently had knee surgery, so could not get off her horse for any running. Last we had a young gal named Kendra. She looked to be in her 20’s, very pretty, but she was super tough, tough enough she could probably wre

The kids attended a summer Vacation Bible school at Cornerstone church. It was an arts and worship camp. They did mostly singing and crafts. they did a paint projevt that was turned into a giant collage that is on the wall in the kids area of the church. The kids see it each time we take Luke to the kids room and they point out what part they did. Very cool.

A friend of Mark's, Warren, brought his grandkids to visit our farm. The kids rode our horses and went for combine and tractor rides. There were a whole lot of boys here.

This week I took the big kids to Cornerstone in Ames for Bible school. It was a lot on my part, 45 minute drive, 2 1/2 hours to kill while entertaining Luke. The kids sang a lot of songs and did craft projects. There wasn't a lesson time, so it was a little disappointing. The corn is not looking to good. All this rain is starting to take its toll. The corn is so uneven and some yellowing. We need the rain to stop, but it just keeps coming. The mosquitoes are horrible this year. We put so much bug spray on our skin, I feel like we take a bath in it every day. One day I let the kids be outside for awhile, didn't put repellent on Luke's face and he ended up with 10 bites. He looked like a kid with chicken pox. Lately we haven't let the kids outside at all to play, for over a week. It just isn't worth it. I can never remember getting so many bites. I sure hope we don't discover later in life that bug repellent is bad for you or we are in trouble!

July 4th on the 5th Like we do every year, we went to Williams for the parade and town celebration. The kids sit at the parade route with Wade, Carina, and Alivia and the DeDecker family. The most memorable part of the parade this year was Luke. Once he discoverd the candy throwing, he got his bag out, sat on the curb, opened it up and held it out for people to throw the candy into. Made me laugh! After the parade we ate lunch at the crowded park, saw old friends, and rode the two rides. Luke loved the train ride, Jacob the moon ride and Jayden liked roaming around with Santanna and Megan. The kids have the most fun, I enjoy seeing old friends, and Mark just tolerates the day. The weather this year was overcast and warm. If that sun would have popped out it would have been unbearable. Later in the afternoon we rested up at mom and Dads while Jayden was hard at work at the park. We heard she began walking the park taking popcorn orders and delivering it to people all afternoon. She is