Kappa Sigma Reunion

This past weekend was Doug's fraternity reunion in Bozeman. We left the kids with Erin in Whitefish and enjoyed visiting with friends. We drove down to Bozeman on Friday with friends Andy and Julie who were visiting from Wisconsin. It was so fun to spend time with them. They are hilarious, we wished they lived closer. We arrived in Bozeman around dinner time on Friday when the fraternity festivities began. A quick stop at the Crystal for a drink and then a slow march past where the R-Bar used to be (for those of you who don't know it blew up in a natural gas explosion) finally stopping at the Pour House for dinner and drinks. There was a large group that night, maybe 50 people?

Saturday included golfing, bike riding, sight-seeing, etc. during the day and a barbecue at the fraternity house that night. Here are a few pictures from them weekend.

The brothers in front of their house, Doug's in the very back in the green shirt.

Mike, Kennet, Jordan and Doug at the Crystal.Eric, Doug, Jordan, Scott, Mike, Kennet, Wilhelm and Andy

At the Crystal the ID's that are confiscated are put up on the wall and ceiling. We found Doug's!

We took a quick walk through the MSU campus. The buildings are in such great shape and everything looks so good! Here's Montana Hall.

And Romney Gym which is one of my favorite buildings.

Summer Activites

There is so much to do in the summer. As for activities we signed the boys up for a week long gymnastics camp and a few rounds of swim lessons. I'm so disappointed I didn't get any pictures of the boys in the gym. Not one picture of them on the balance beams, bouncing on the tramp, climbing the robe or swinging from the uneven bars. However, they did enjoy gymnastics and if we can fit it into our schedule this fall I may sign them up for another round of classes.
The other summer activity included swimming. I feel like swim lessons are always a must. Instead of taking them to the Wave like we have in the past I decided we should be outside enjoying the sun. Swim lessons were at Woodland Water Park in Kalispell. I loved this program and the instructors. I really felt the boys learned a lot. As you will notice Jack is not in any of the pictures. He strongly resisted swim lessons this year (we're still not completely sure why) but he did take two private lessons and Will took four weeks of lessons. Funny thing is their swimming abilities are still pretty even. We enjoyed the swim park so much that we bought a summer pass and spend any free time we have out there.

Will floating in the lazy river.

Will working on his kicks.

3rd Annual Peschel-Peppmeier Camping Trip

I apologize for the size of the pictures. I've had so much trouble downloading them that I decided to just deal with the size and move on. So...we had another wonderful camping trip with our friends Laura, John and Matthew Peschel. Apgar Village in Glacier National Park has always been a good spot for us so that's where we ended up again this summer. In addition to the usual campground activities this year we took the kids for a hike up to Avalanche Lake. Even though the hike was only a few miles the boys did pretty well, though I have to mention that they also went though Laura's entire stash of band-aids.

All of us at Avalanche Lake.

Doug and Annemarie. The little one enjoyed being packed around. The big one was a good sport about having to carry her.

Time for s'mores!

We tried out campfire marshmallows this trip. They were enormous!! I held Will's s'more for him because it was so messy.

Team Peppmeier, all smiles after a weekend of camping!

Wilcox Family Reunion

The last day of our trip to Oregon was the Wilcox (Chris' side of the family) family reunion. It was a great opportunity to visit with family we rarely see. Francie and Fred hosted us, the weather was beautiful and we had a great time visiting, eating and playing in the sun. I only took one picture but it's has three generations of Peppmeiers: Mick, Doug and Will.

Trip to the Oregon Zoo

After trying for at least 30 minutes to find a parking spot at the zoo on Tuesday you'd think we would have given up. Nope, today we tried again and had no problem finding parking probably because we were there when the zoo opened. We didn't go to the zoo during our trip to Oregon last summer so it was fun to see what was new. Matt, Caleb, Chris and my mom all joined us. We saw lots of animals, and a highlight was when a bird pooped on Doug in an exhibit. We were all thoroughly exhausted when we left around lunch time.

The boys ready with their maps.

The bear height chart. I think Caleb and the Black Bear are comparable in height.
Jack with his most favorite animal, the penguin.

Annemarie and I taking a quick break.

Jack and Matt brushing a goat. I love that that's an option now instead of only feeding the goats. Now they're not only full but have shiny coats as well.

The boys, Doug, Annemarie Mom and Chris.
The sweet elephant who kept trying to open it's gate.

Group shot of the cousins.

Kid Time with Hovdes & Knights

Hovdes, Knights and Peppmeiers (minus Annemarie) all met at Jamison Park this afternoon. We all had lunch together and the kids played in the fountain. We had such a nice time catching up!

All five kids in the same picture! Gilbert is behind Evelyne, then Jack, Luke, Will and I'm pretty sure that's Jonah in the bottom right corner.

It was only about 65-70 degrees out but the kids were soaked within 10 seconds.

The kids loving the water.

Doug, Dianne, Dina and Ryan relaxing and enjoying the sun.

Father's Day 2010

For Father's Day this year we were in Oregon. Will and I celebrated with my dad in the morning, we had a delicious breakfast together in Lake Oswego. In the afternoon we had a barbecue and celebrated with the Peppmeiers. Happy Father's Day to all the dads in our lives! Especially Doug, Dad, Mick, Steve and Jason. Thank you for being such great dads!

The dads, Doug, Steve, Jason and Mick.

Jason sporting his Father's Day tie from Tyler. Sara and Doug keeping tabs on Chris through the the kitchen/take out window.

Tyler doesn't look too sure about Uncle Doug. What a happy guy!

Tyler doing his Shrek impression.

The Peppmeiers. Back row: Chris, Mick and Steve. Front row: Annemarie, Doug, Kelly, Jack, Jason, Sara, Tyler and Will.

McAuliffe Get Together

We were in Oregon a couple of weeks ago and I'm just now posting pictures from our trip. I cannot believe we're almost halfway through the summer. We've been busy and are enjoying every minute of it!

We got together with the McAuliffe side of the family to visit, celebrate Matthew's birthday and Father's Day. We had a lot to celebrate! The kids had fun playing and the adults had fun catching up. Matthew and Ryan have gotten so big. Thank you Dennis and Marcie for hosting us!

All the boys. Will, Matthew, Doug, Jack and Ryan's behind the rocket.

Enjoying Matthew's birthday cupcakes! From the left Papa, Uncle Neill, Dad, Will, Mom and the back of Annemarie.

Testing out all of Matthew's birthday gifts with (Great) Uncle Neill.

Jack, Ryan, Annemarie, Matthew and Will. All the little ones. Believe it or not, this was the best picture I got out of 5 or 6.

Barbecue at the Larkin's

Last Sunday Scott and Stef had us over for a barbecue. The food was delicious and the company was even better! The weather was amazing, warm and sunny. Recently the Larkins fenced their backyard. It turned out great. The kids were contained and the yard looks huge!

Tyler following Will - it reminds me of that Beatles picture in the crosswalk, they just need two more people

Jack blowing bubbles, Tyler enjoying them

Doug and his boys

The girls (and Tyler of course)

The lovely Larkins

Pretty Annemarie

Here's a recent picture of our busy girl. She loves to explore and prefers to walk on her own instead of being held. And if she gets too crazy and you pick her up most likely she'll start thrashing around and screaming, such a fun thing! The talking continues....the other day in Target Annemarie pointed at me and told a lady, "that's my mom" which was funny because she calls me mommy and I've never heard her say something like that before. Also, there's a lot of "I see..." for example when we were at the store she said "I see the receipt". And my most favorite so far, a woman told Annemarie how cute she was and she said "I know". I couldn't believe she said that! We're working on saying "thank you" now.

Last Day of School

I cannot believe another school year has come and gone! My boys are getting so old! Today was a half day and Preschool and Kindergarten were supposed to have a field day outside. Unfortunately it rained (it's been feeling a lot like the Pacific Northwest out here) so they had games inside. Both Will and Jack really liked their teachers and did so well this year. This morning as we were rushing to get to school I remembered to take a picture of them, as you can see Jack could not muster a smile. Oh, well.

Last T-Ball Game

The boys last game was on the 27th. What a great season. Will and Jack really enjoyed playing t-ball and they loved have Doug as their coach.

Getting ready for the last cheer of the season. Way to go Rays!

Will Loses His First Tooth!

Will lost his first tooth the other night. It was the bottom left tooth and the next day he lost the other bottom tooth. Two teeth in two days! The tooth fairy was busy. The new teeth popped up a couple of weeks ago. I took Will to the dentist because I was worried. They referred to him as a shark and said this happens a lot with kids. However, the new teeth are completely at an angle and there is not enough space for them. I know his mouth will grow (along with the rest of him) but for right now he's pretty excited to show off his new teeth.

Annemarie Riding Her Bike

I forgot I had this video of Annemarie "riding" her bike. She needs to grow another inch or two and she'll be able to sit on the seat. She really enjoys being outside with the boys and loves doing what they do.