cousins

love these kids.

the event of the year

I would say that laser tag played at Helmuthfest is my kids FAVORITE thing we do all year.  They look forward to the 6 straight hours of running around gunning down their opponent.  The homestead is set on large piece of property and they take full advantage.   At the end of the day Reagan has a big bruise on her hip bone from the gun banging into her side.  She claims it as a battle scar.

Until next year.....
 

 pure joy

 sometimes the kids let the adults play....

helmuthfest

This past week we celebrated the 6th annual Helmuthfest.   It's basically 3 days of celebrating family.  Dale's mom has 3 siblings who all (but one) live in the same town (the 4 sibs are: Anna, Milt -who lives in GA, Sarah and Fred).  They are very close.  I think they see each other every day.   Anna (Dale's mom) and Levi have 4 kids and 11 grandkids, Milt and Mary have 2 kids and 2 grandkids, Sarah and Floyd have 4 kids and 12 grandkids, Fred and Carolyn have 2 kids and 6 grandkids.  So basically there are 61 of us in the "immediate family".  SO for 3 days we hang out and play at Anna and Levi's homestead.

Thursday we spend the day hanging out.  There are all manner of outside and inside toys plus a large bounce house.  That evening Dale and his crew make a crab boil and we feast.

Friday is our pool day.  We hang out at Sarah's pool for most of the day.  Then back to the homestead for more play.  The guys usually go golfing.  That night we have ribs and chicken- catered by the butcher shop (which they own).

Saturday is the big day.  Darrell (Dale's brother) hosts a "shooting day" at his house.  He lives out in the country and has an outdoor range in his backyard.  Before anyone gets all worked up...  it's a very safe and well run day.  There are 4 stations set up- hand gun, rifle, clay pigeons and one that required you to switch from rifle to hand gun (FUN!)  Each range had a "range master" to assist with any and everything.  We have an on-sight EMT and protocols set up for emergency situations.  When everyone arrives (mostly the guys) we have a safety briefing.  The rules are strictly enforced:
-Treat all weapons as loaded.
-Never cross the muzzle of the gun over something you are not willing to kill or destroy.
-Keep your finger off the trigger until you id the target and are ready to fire.
-Identify your target AND what is behind it.

Each person loaded any and all magazines at the table and carried the unloaded gun to the range.  After firing a buddy check ensured that the gun was safe to return to the set-up station.  Everyone did a great job following all the rules.  We have 5 members of the family who have extensive training which makes everything run smoothly.  It is a favorite part of the weekend!

This year Darrell picked up a few cans of tannerite.  Upon impact it explodes.  It was super fun to shoot the rifle at that target!  Overall it is a fantastic day of shooting.

In the afternoon we play laser tag.  It's my kids favorite thing so I'll dedicate a whole post to that.  Saturday evening we have pizza and then we end the 3 days of festivities with a big fireworks display.  This family knows how to throw a great party!

Shooting Day...  

 safety briefing #1

 getting a lesson

 rifle/tannerite (I missed photographing the explosion!)

 the 3 brothers...

expanding by one

We have added another Beachy to the family.  Meet Berkeley.  She is an 8 week old blue Weimaraner.  The kids are enamored with her.....

17

This weekend we celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary.  It's amazing how time flies by.  I remember when my parents celebrated their 17th anniversary and thinking wow, they seem so young but they've been married FOREVER!  

With the kids away at cousin camp we have been doing all sorts of fun stuff.  We went to the movies- during the day1), out to dinner, to the opening of the art museum's new east wing and we biked 8 miles on the Katy Trail.  We have 2 more days (more photos to come).

I also have been tearing apart the house purging.  From top to bottom, all nooks and crannies!  There is SO MUCH stuff that we are having a garage sale on Friday.  I hate doing garage sales but it seems ridiculously hard to pack up all this stuff and take it to goodwill.  But, it feels great to thin out the hoard.