Kate Movie Tuesday

Did you see that smile? I now have visions of her first boyfriend ringing our doorbell to pick her up for a date. On a skateboard. I can't wait. (insert sarcasm here)

Insta-favs

The Internet is full of ways to share your life online and my current favorite is Instagram. I've been posting photos from my phone for about ten months now and wanted to share my favorite shots.

The First Paddle Trip

We rounded out our adventure weekend with our first family paddle trip on Sunday. We rented a canoe and floated the Elkhorn river on Sunday morning. Kate was a champ when it came to wearing her life jacket, but when it came time to get in the boat? She wasn't really into that. All this kid wants to do is swim. Luckily, a handful of marshmallows later, we were on our way.

The Second Hike

Summer is really starting to settle in and the Hoybooks are starting to settle into summer. And finally, Nebraska. It has been hard to admit, but the first couple of months here were tough on us. We miss the Northwest terribly and we especially miss it during summer. Summer in the Northwest is unlike any other place. We suffer through eight months of rain and clouds, it's that good. So when we left right at the beginning of that glorious time, I was pretty blue. And very mopey. I moped around our house here for the first couple of weeks--"there's nowhere to hike", "I want to go see a waterfall", etc.  But, it seems that we have turned a corner and it all started last weekend with our second official Midwest hike.

We headed back to the Hitchcock Nature Preserve in Iowa on a beautiful Saturday morning.

Around here lately...

15 years

Fifteen years ago, I graduated from high school.  Can that be right? 15 years? When I look back on it, it has been amazing to me just how fast those years have gone. I don't know if every class does this, but my class has thrown reunion parties every five years since we graduated.  This past weekend was our 15 year soiree in Wayne during Chicken Days.

Let's pause for a moment here to explain "Chicken Days." Voted one of America's "Wackiest Summer Festivals", the Wayne Chicken Show celebrates all things chicken. Activities include: Henoween the night before complete with a cement chicken auction and fireworks, a parade the whole town comes to, the National Cluck-Off, a BBQ chicken feed, other random contests involving chickens, the egg drop and other fun stuff like a car show and a 5k run.  Since it is a standing tradition the second Saturday of July every year, it makes it easy for classes to schedule reunions that same weekend.

So, the Class of 1998 started off the festivities with a float in the parade and finished up our weekend with dinner at the Vet's Club downtown. It was really fun to see my old classmates and meet their spouses, we had such a good time! I always hear reunion horror stories, but it was great and (dare I say it) I'm actually looking forward to 20 years.

The view from our parade float back down Main Street.

Kate getting in on some Chicken Show action.

B and Kate watching the Egg Drop. 

 See these girls right here? Yeah, they haven't aged one bit.

 My classmates and their spouses. 1998!

Let's go to the zoo!

Sometimes, I get up in the morning and I think, "what am I going to do with Kate all day today?" We have been hitting the neighborhood parks and the swimming pool pretty hard lately and I needed a little change. Let's go to the zoo!

I think the morning is the best time to go because we got to see so many animals awake and out and about. The lion cubs, the giraffes and ostriches, even the meerkats were putting on a show for us. Like I've said before, the zoo is Omaha is pretty dang awesome.

Husker Summer #7

Since we all graduated and left Lincoln, my good Husker girlfriends and I have been spread far across the U.S. There have been times when two of us have lived close together, but most of the time, we have to wait until our annual summer reunion to see each other. Before we moved in May, we were spread between Oregon, California, Nebraska, Minnesota and New York.

Well, lucky me because we moved to Nebraska and I get to see Liz ALL THE TIME. It's pretty dang awesome. But, also lucky us because Gwen is only a short seven-hour drive away.  A short seven-hour drive that Liz and I tackled last weekend with our girls. Watch out Keller boys, the Omaha girls are coming!

Ice cream cake for Matt's birthday.

They're all sitting still and no one is crying? Mommy win! Never mind that they are all still wearing pajamas at 10:30am.

Hudson, the newest member of our gang.

 Wait, who's watching the kids???

 Rub-a-dub-dub, three girls in the tub.

For more great photos from our weekend, click here.