the tintle family blog: June Memories

Levi's Birthday Wish List
X box, Fit Bit, iPod, Humongous Skittles, LEGO Ghost Set, Money for a pet
It was just too cute not to take a picture of!

Basketball Camp
Dorian and Levi both went to a Dordt basketball camp! There was only one boy from Levi's class there and I was super proud to hear that he was a good friend to him. His mom texted me to tell me how thankful she was for Levi helping her son feel better since he was nervous.

I was super proud of Dorian for coming home on the last day with a Hustle Award! There were 2 handed out each of the 4 days and he told me that he was working really hard, hoping that he would get one! So thankful that his hard work was noticed! He put it on his bookshelf in his room next to his Defenders Bible Verse card and his Participant ribbon from his first track meet.

Celebration Days
Saturday, June 4, was a busy day!
Sioux Center was celebrating 125 years and the boys enjoyed the rides and inflatables at the park!

In the afternoon, Levi had some friends over for a birthday party! Jax, Isaac, Adler and Owen came to our house to play some games and eat some cake!

Levi requested a leopard cake (chocolate cake and mini oreos)!

Then at 5:00 we watched the parade! Well, I watched the parade and Dorian and Levi mostly just snatched up as much candy as they threw out.

They not only came home with candy, but also a new shirt, sunglasses, whistles, Frisbees, balloons... plenty of things to entertain them!

Scavenger Hunt
Grandma Tintle wasn't able to come out for Levi's birthday this year so she made a scavenger hunt instead! Levi found the hidden clues which led to his birthday presents all while being on FaceTime with Grandpa and Grandma. What a fun idea!

We had never seen or heard of a Gigiball before, but it's safe to say that he loves it!

June 6
Good morning and Happy 8th Birthday Levi Wayne!!! We were so excited to celebrate you!

You weren't certain that your new game called Gas Out was going to be fun...but as predicted it turned out to be very silly.

You liked the Minecraft Legos!

Mason helped pick out balloons for Levi and Dorian made a card, picked out and wrapped presents for him.

Nathan made hash browns the way Levi likes them for breakfast!

For supper we had a birthday party with Grandpa and Grandma Bolkema, Great Grandma, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Heidi, Aniah, Eden and Adria!

When Aunt Heidi found out that "humongous skittles" was on Levi's wish list, she set out to find the biggest bag she could find!

Having fun playing the games from Grandpa and Grandma!

Canada Bound
Our fist vacation of the summer was to visit Brian, Katherine, Mikayla and Caden!!! On Wednesday night we stayed at a hotel with a pool in Fargo, ND.

Mason thought it was SO fun to sit in the back seat!!!

Nathan wasn't so fond of all of my picture taking so it took quite a while for him to look and smile! :)

3 adorable sleeping boys!!!

We made it to Winnipeg! Heading up to our hotel room.

I loved the animals tucked into Levi's backpack!

Dorian and Levi slept on the pull out couch, and we had our own bed for a short while until Mason decided that it was more comfortable there than on his bed made from couch cushions!

On Thursday night we got to see Brian and Katherine's house and have supper with them! I also went along to Katherine's exercise class!

On Friday Brian worked and Nathan had his presentation so Katherine and I took the kids swimming!

What a perfect spot to spend on that warm, sunny day!

Brian and Katherine had a delicious supper planned and the cousins enjoyed a full day to play together!

On Saturday, we picked up Mikayla and Caden since Brian was officiating a wedding and Katherine was attending. We spent many hours at our hotel pool and went down the fun water slide countless times!

On Saturday night we enjoyed eating out at Montana's!

Our last drive through Winnipeg was on Sunday morning on the way to church. The boys had fun spotting some differences between the United States and Canada on our trip!

We were blessed to worship at their church! What a blessing to spend time with this wonderful family! Our travels home went very smoothly.

Smile
Mason wasn't expecting the reaction that he got from Nathan after he wrote a smile on his face with markers! Parenting is like that sometimes...you react before you know their innocent intentions.

Loving summer
Yeah, warm enough to take out the pool and the sprinkler for the trampoline!

I find it precious to see the boys reading even if it's Garfield (which I really don't like) and even if it's been required. Happy to see the smile on his face!

Dorian and Levi were both in the British Soccer Camp this year. June 13-17 from 5:30 to 8:30 in the evening. Those quiet nights went by quickly!

As I was sitting in the grass watching the end of their game one night I accidentally took a picture of the grass and then noticed its beauty! Sometimes God has a way of surprising us with little blessings.

Mason loves to ride with Dad in his truck!

Father's Day weekend
Nathan and Dorian left on Saturday afternoon to spend some time together and so that Nathan could meet up with some research collaborators at Mayo Clinic on Monday. I took Levi and Mason to a Splash Park on Saturday.

On Sunday we went to church with Grandpa and Grandma and enjoyed spending time at their house in the afternoon. Mason learned how to ride the Gator!

They both fell asleep on the way home!

I enjoyed the quiet ride home, but at the same time was hoping that they would still go to sleep at a decent hour! :)

Levi and I decided to have a sleepover each night! We ate snacks in bed and watched TV which was the highlight of our weekend! I loved spending some one-on-one time with him after Mason went to bed!

Dorian and Nathan went to a Twins vs Yankees game on Father's Day! AND Dorian got signatures from 2 players and got to run the bases! It doesn't get any better than that for a 9 year old boy (or for the dad of a 9 year old boy!)!!!

After Nathan worked on Monday, they drove to a place on the Mississippi River where there was a Balk Eagle Nature Preserve and a boat ride over to fishing docks!

It's hard to believe that an Eagles nest is really that big!

This brave fisherman baited his own hook and took the fish off that he caught!

They caught a total of 4 fish!

Adventure Camp
Levi went with 4 friends to a 2 day Adventure Camp at Oak Grove. It was great to carpool together, which meant that I only had to drive once! So glad that Levi loved his time there. He did many fun things including kayaking!

Getting's Garden
We went as a family one night to pick strawberries at Getting's Garden! The petting zoo there was a hit with all 3 boys! We ended up spending a lot more time there than actually picking strawberries. :)

The ride on the gator to the strawberry fields was fun for the boys!

Yum! Fresh picked strawberries! All 3 boys love them!

Getting dessert was part of the fun too.

Levi loves animals so much! I just love his expression with these baby goats.

How fun to feed baby sheep!

Yum! Ready for the freezer.

Friends
How fun to have a visit from some friends from Michigan! Eric, Charrie, Lauren and Ethan were in our neighborhood and stopped over for supper! The weather was perfect so we enjoyed sitting on the deck chatting and catching up again. The kids enjoyed the trampoline and the ice cream treats!

Lake Okoboji
We spent the afternoon/evening at Cutty's on the 25th to help Mom and Dad celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary! Congrats Mom and Dad!
It was a very windy day so the waves on the lake were fun to jump in!

We had 2 teams for miniature golf. This team was playing a very serious, competitive game.

In my opinion, the most impressive thing about this team was that Mason concentrated and played! I recall last year just chasing him around while everyone else golfed. It was so fun to watch him!

We ate supper and had s'mores for dessert at the campsite!

Mason loves dogs so much!

Movie time
I took Dorian and Levi to the movie Finding Dory at the Sioux Center theater!

Sunshine
Soaking in the sunshine outside and being silly with Mason.

Lego Family Night
I took Dorian and Levi to a Lego night at the library. We had fun, but I was most hoping that it would inspire them to use their own Lego's at home to make more creations. And that was the case! Legos are currently all over the sun room. :)