Not sure where to start?

I have so many pictures that I've taken in the last week that I'm not sure where to start with posting them? I think what I'm going to do is post the current days' adventures and the same day last week. So, here goes nothing!

Last week at this time we were traveling to Fergus Falls, MN to stay the night with our friends, Jodie and Jerry Nuss. We had a great time seeing them, as it's nearly been a year since we saw them last. They are doing well and have a beautiful home. It was good to visit with them.

Ben, Gage, Emma and Emily. I should have gotten a picture of little William too, but I didn't get the camera out until after he was already in bed (darn it!). He is a cute little fart and looks just like Ben. Jodie says he's a perfect combination of Ben and Emily, and I would agree with that. The kids had a great time playing with each other.

Now we'll fast forward to today. Emma and Colton will be attending Safety Village from 10am-12pm all week this week and also next week. They had a good time today and learned about gun safety. If they see a gun they are supposed to STOP, DON'T TOUCH, LEAVE THE ROOM, AND GET AN ADULT. They will be learning ALOT of safety things within the next two weeks and I need to start practicing their addresses and phone numbers with them! I didn't get the papers until last night when we got back into town and it said to go over these with them. I asked Colton if he knew his address and he said he didn't, and he said he didn't know his phone number. Emma didn't know her address, but knew her phone number, so I best get to work!

After lunch we headed to the zoo. I wasn't sure if we were going to get rained on or not, as a few drops started falling on our way there. We hopped onto the train to take a ride and stay dry, but it ended up not doing much. Gage, Colton, Emma and Dustin aboard the Tribune Express. (Dustin thought he was dodging the picture, but no such luck!) :-)

After the train ride Emma insisted on cotton candy. Hmmm, big surprise!

You can't buy one without buying for the rest of the gang, so here they are with their afternoon snack. Really healthy, huh? I was stealing a few pieces of cotton candy when one would get near me and Emma got mad at me and asked me why I didn't just buy my own. I told her I figured that someone wouldn't eat the whole thing, so I was just waiting. Colton was the first to give in. He said he didn't like it. So, I had my own to eat. Dustin ate his and Gage gave his a whirl, but couldn't finish it all, so I ended up eating his as well. I just couldn't throw them in the garbage!! I was so full I thought I was going to puke! Then Emma said she couldn't finish hers and I couldn't even think of eating more, so I told her to throw it away. I won't buy 4 cotton candies again, I'll tell you that..................not when I end up eating half of them! It will be a long time before I eat another one!

Dustin, Gage and Colton milking Cassie the Cow.

Colton decided milking a cow isn't as easy as it looks! Gage figured since Dustin and Colton lived on the farm and have their own cows, that they'd be really good at it. I informed him that they didn't have milking cows! :-)

The "Finding Nemo" exhibit was back to having 2 clown fish. I think they've had troubles keeping the clown fish alive? They had a new "Gramma fish" in the tank as well! Gage thought Grandma Pipi would LOVE to see that fish!

The crazy kids at the Dakota zoo!

Colton and Gage in the prairie dog viewing tunnel.

Dustin feeding the goat.

After the zoo, we headed over to the Superslide. The bumper cars were first on the list. I love it when they have smiles plastered onto their faces!

Whoa! Dustin and Gage crash!

We have never had the chance to do the water balloon fight, so we gave it a try. The kids had fun with this! They launched their 5 balloons to the other guys' "fort".

Gage seemed to have the best shot. Dustin ended up the wetest of all!

Dustin launches another water balloon at Gage.

The climbing wall was next. Gage made it to the top to ring the buzzer.

Colton also made it to the top to ring the buzzer!

Believe it or not, Emma also made it to the top! Her first time ever! She wasn't able to get the button pushed in far enough to sound the alarm, however. Dustin decided he didn't want to climb the wall. I'm not sure why? I'm wondering if there was a cute girl around? :-) Or, maybe now that I think of it, it might have been a girl strapping them into the harnesses?

Emma takes off in her go cart.

Colton takes driving very seriously! :-)

We had a 3-car pile up after they had to pull into the parking area. Unfortunately Dustin was too tall to do this ride. :-(

After blowing $30 worth of tickets in less than half an hour on only 5 different rides, we finished our day of fun on the superslide! They had just enough tickets to ride down it twice each. I was lucky to catch them all on camera at the same time! The first time down they went by too fast and I missed them!

We had a really fun day. While Emma and Colton were at Safety Village, Gage, Dustin and I went to the grocery store since we were out of nearly everything. I always like to clear things out before we travel, so we need to stock up. Dustin said, "Boy my Mom is going to save a fortune in the next two weeks on groceries!" I told him, "Yeah, she's going to save a fortune and I was going to spend a fortune!" HA HA! He thought that was pretty funny. I'm starting to wonder how people with large families make it?

I broke down and turned the air conditioner on today. It was very muggy out this morning after it rained a little during the night, and I was sweating my butt off before we even left the house. It's nice and cool now and we should sleep a little better tonight!

Oh, and while it just popped into my brain, I thought I would let you all know that my purse was waiting for me at Z'kota in Brookings, S.D. Everything was still in it as far as I could tell. I didn't have any cash (I almost never do) and all of the credit and/or debit cards were accounted for. Whew! I was happy about that!

I'm anxious for tomorrow's adventure!

P.S. Kysa, I will get all of these pictures I've posted, and the ones I didn't post to you, so don't worry about that! You'll have plenty to scrapbook before the 2 weeks are over! This will be a great way for you to get to see what's happening each day the boys are away! We're having a great time so far.