Night Eyes - Halloween at the Zoo!

Our 5th and final Halloween event was held on Sunday, October 30th.  Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt and Adam, Jill, Bennett and Camron all came to Des Moines to spend the day with us.  Each year the Blank Park Zoo holds an event for kids called Night Eyes.  They decorate the zoo with different themes and allow the kids to make their way through. 

Most of the animals were put away for the season, but we were still able to check out the new Australian exhibit, sans the wallabies. 

And of course - the train ride! 

Is that Henry, Spiderman or a wallaby??!!

Hannah had to pose as well - because anything Henry does she does as well.

Feeding the goats.  Hannah isn't scared at all!!

Bennett giving the llama kisses. 

Hannah, Henry, Bennett and Camron

Watching the big tiger. 

Tractor ride time!  The boys absolutely loved this.  I think they would have continued to ride for hours if we let them.  And Henry's feet finally reach the pedals!!

Henry was on the tractor - so Hannah wanted on one too of course. 

All the grandkids.  Unfortunately the sun was shining right in their eyes. 

The Schweers.  Mayor Adam as of Tuesday!! 

I had to post two of our family pictures.  Check out Henry's mouth in this one.  Can't you just hear him screaming 'CHEESE'!!

Our little fam all bundled up. 

After the tractors they played in the exhibit barn where there were several inflatables blown up.  Then over to the corn pool. 

Once we got back to our place it was Beggar's Night in Des Moines.  Trick or Treating is always held the night before Halloween in Des Moines.  It got pretty cold out once the sun went down so the kids only visited a few houses.  It isn't like they needed any more candy after going to 5 Halloween events that all included candy!!

Instead of walking around to all the houses and getting more candy, Henry was more excited sitting on our front porch waiting for the kids to come to hand them candy.  He loved looking at all the different outfits and picking out a special piece of candy for each kid and placing it in their bag.  

Halloween was an exhausting week for us - but the kids had a blast. 

Salwey Family Vacation - Part 2

Here are pictures from the last few days in the Dells.  I didn't have them all on my camera yesterday. 

The kids loved playing in the inner tubes in and out of the water.

The weather was beautiful on Monday.  So we decided to spend time outside.  Grandma, Danielle, Brian, Brianna, Henry and I all went horse back riding.  It was so much fun!  Henry absolutely loved it!  He held on tight to the ropes and the saddle.  He kept telling our horse 'AJAX' so 'slow down'.  It was adorable. 

The kids took baths each night in the ginormous jacuzzi tub.  Look at how big it is!

Love to splash in the water.  You wouldn't have guessed that they spent hours at the water park, they never got sick of the water. 

We had lots of cuddling time.  Each kid got their own football.  Both footballs have small little bites out of them now too, which we all figured would happen...

Here is the big Timberland Playhouse.  We got lost in this thing!  If you look in the top middle of the picture you can see Hannah's pink pants running across the drawbridge. 

Even Grandma Deaner crawled up there with her. 

Peeking out the old mans mouth - kinda freaky...

Henry's turn!

Playing at the arcade is a tradition for us.  We get free credits from the timeshare - so each couple got a card to use.  Henry loved all of the games. 

Brian picked the right case on the Deal or no Deal game and won 200 credits! 

And of course basketball. 

Tuesday night we visited the Wave Pool one last time.  Every 10 minutes the waves start up.  The kids just loved it!  The best part is the temperature stays at 85 degrees year round!

Henry played Grandma's iPad.  It is amazing at how good he is at navigating the iPad.  Looks like we may break down and get one soon. 

We had a nice surprise on Wednesday morning when we woke up.  First snow of the season!!  It sure was a pretty sight, until we got in our cars to drive home a few hours later.  The drive was brutal the first 3 hours....cars in the ditch, slow moving traffic, my hands clinched to the door handle of the car.  So the nice 5.5 hour drive turned into a 7 hour drive.  And of course the kids ended up having to stop an additional 2 times.  Literally 10 minutes after our first stop Hannah pooped, then shortly after we got back on the road Henry screamed that he had to poop.  So that was pretty awesome.  I think we stopped 4 or 5 times in the first 3 hours.  Once we hit Dubuque, IA the snow stopped and the drive was perfect the rest of the way.

There you have it - our trip to the Dells.  Definitely recommend heading there for a nice getaway.  Not too far of a drive, and great activities for families.  Check it out!!  

Salwey Family Vacation - Wisconsin Dells

This past Saturday the Salwey family (minus Schenk) headed up north to the Wisconsin Dells.  We stayed at my parent's Timeshare at Wilderness Resort at Glacier Canyon (check out their website - you can see how awesome it is).  What a great place to bring kids and adults of all ages! 

We got there on Saturday in time to watch the Hawkeyes beat Michigan (YAY!).  We got checked into our 1st unit, which had a very friendly duck.  The kids loved it and called it Mr. Ducky.   

 

It was pretty obvious that this duck got fed a lot by the people staying here as it wasn't afraid of us at all.

Chasing Mr. Ducky.

After visiting the water park on Sunday afternoon we took the kids on a horse drawn carriage ride.  It was beautiful outside with the fall colors and scenery.  We even took Henry for an hour long horseback ride on Monday when the weather was 60 and beautiful - he loved it!! 

Hannah favorite animal sound is 'neigh'.

There were three large water parks at our resort.  All three had a mixture of fun for everyone.  There are small slides for infants, bigger slides for preschoolers, and huge slides for adults.  I tested out the black hole and hurricane, which made my stomach drop. 

Henry was so brave and went right down the water slides.  Unfortunately the first one I sent him down was a little too fast for him.  The water actually turned him over on his stomach and he got water down his nose.  Him and I were both a little scare after that.  I wasn't sure he was able to breathe the entire ride down not knowing how long his mouth and nose bwas under the water for.  So he was a little nervous trying this green slide the next day, but after I talked to him about staying on his bottom, and gave him a little push, he did great!!  I lost count of how many times he went down it after that - and all by himself!  We didn't even have to walk with him to get there. 

Such a big boy!!

He is able to catch himself at the bottom of the slides, his head doesn't even go under!

I even took Hannah down the big slide - she loved it. 

Checking out the rest of the water park with daddy.

Hannah loving the water - even though her body was so cold she was shaking.  She powered through! 

Sunday morning daylight savings was not our friend.  The kids woke up bright and early at 5:30am - yikes!!  There is a large play center that we snuck them into to keep them busy for an hour.  Even though it doesn't officially open until 9am the workers didn't seem to mind us crawling through everything.  My mom and dad even crawled through the tiny spaces to get to the big slides with them!

We also introduced the kids to the Wii.  They loved it!!  Hannah got hit in the head once with a remote, but other than that it was a huge hit!

Here is the trip summary:

Saturday - watched Hawkeyes, water park, watched football, water park. 

Sunday - horse drawn carriage ride, water park, shopping

Monday - wedding dress shopping, water park, horse back riding, bowling

Tuesday - arcade, play center, wave pool, shopping

Wednesday - long drive back in the first measurable snow of the season

Thank you mom and dad for a great family trip!

The Charlson's

We met Kelly and Lee seven years ago when we lived down in Atlanta.  They are originally from Iowa and graduated from the University of Iowa.  We watched pretty much every Iowa Hawkeye game together, and even shared a few holidays together when we couldn't make it back home to Iowa.  I was honestly heart broken when they broke the news they were moving to Nevada, a short year after we met.  Over the years we have kept in touch, and ironically enough had our first kids just 2 days apart and our second babes just under 2 months apart!! 

This weekend they had a wedding in Winterset, IA, so stayed with us on Saturday.  It was quite fun to get the kiddos together and watch a Hawkeye game together. 

After their five hour car ride from St. Louis, their kids definitely deserved some time running around.  So we took them to Pump it Up's open play.  The kids had a blast. 

The kids wouldn't stop moving, so I couldn't get a picture that wasn't blurry!

Kelly and Lee left Sylvie with us while they attended the wedding.  What a good baby!  I don't think she said a peep the entire night.  And she goes to sleep at 6:30pm!

Girls playing in their jams.

Trying to capture a picture of the kiddos Sunday morning.  Harper, Hannah, Sylvia (14 months), and Henry. 

Friends hanging out.  Harper born on October 4th, 2008.  Henry born on October 6th, 2008. 

Watching a little TV before hitting the road again.

Thanks for the visit!  Come again soon!