Lake Webster 2013

Here are a few highlights of our week at Lake Webster, Indiana…

 

Uncle Kurt taking the kids for a ride before we headed for the lake

 

Luke taking Caleb for a ride

 

A whole boatload of kids!

 

Paul & Mike showing the kids how it’s done : )

 

 
Swimming in the lake – Jenna’s favorite!

 

Pool pals – Annie, Lydia, Kara, & Emma

 

Look who else likes to swim… Ryan Perry!

 

Heading to the ice cream shop with Grandpa

 

Playing “Ring Around the Rosie” on the way there… good thing there wasn’t much traffic!

 

Ice cream… yum! : )

 

Caleb & Uncle Paul going fishing

 

Suppertime!

 

Best friends & cousins… Brianna, Annie, Emma, & Kara

 

Levi & Ryan

 

   
Time to play ball!

 

Erin & Kara on an evening boat ride

 

Best buds Caleb & Luke just being silly

 

Beautiful evening on the lake

 

All the cousins:
Evan, Emma, Seth, Luke
Lydia, Kara, Annie, Brianna
Kaitlyn, Jenna, Caleb
Levi, Ryan, & Kaylee

 

Paul & Ryan riding on the Dixie, Indiana’s oldest sternwheel paddleboat, which has been giving tours of the lake for over 80 years

 

Kaitlyn & Jenna on the Dixie

 

Kara, Valen, Kurt & Levi
Gotta give a shout out here to Valen for the rest of the Dixie pictures & the shot of the whole family… you can check out more of her amazing work at http://www.valenphotodesign.com/ 

 

Jenna & Erin

 

Kara Brielle

 

Jenna & Valen

 

Erin & Luke

 

The whole Bill De Jong family in front of the Dixie

Wisconsin Dells

We recently spent a few days in Wisconsin Dells on our way to visit family in Illinois.
Paul has fond memories of the Dells from his childhood,
and now our family has enjoyed some memorable moments there as well.

 

Eating at Paul Bunyan’s Cook Shanty, our favorite restaurant in the Dells, where you can enjoy an amazing “lumberjack breakfast”, drink from a tin cup,
and wear horns in honor of Babe, the blue ox.

 

Ryan was ready to eat!

 

Family photo at the Wisconsin Ducks. What a fun ride!
Paul & I were a little relieved (and the kids were slightly disappointed)
that they did not hand out quackers here, as they did
when we were in Philadelphia! ; )

 

      
Enjoying the duck ride. We found it rather amusing that several of the “duck jokes”
were the same ones Paul heard here as a kid : )

 

The kids outside another great restaurant… Moosejaw Pizza.
They have the best delivery vehicles we’ve ever seen,
and their pizza was pretty good, too!

 

A rather large beaver outside the Tommy Bartlett waterski show.
Kara was trying to give it a hug. : )

 

Pirates Cove Mini-Golf
We may have lost a ball (or two… or three) in the water by the time we were done. Oops!

 

Poor Paul!

 

 

Luke & Evan taking their turn

 

Must not have been too bad, because Kara wanted to try it, too

 

We took a boat tour of the Upper Dells, which made several stops
along the way so we could do some hiking.

    
We saw God’s handiwork in the sandstone cliffs and the amazing beauty all around us.

Luke & Evan checking out the unique rock formations

 

 

My personal favorite from our trip, a Victorian-style vintage photo.
My parents had an old-time photo taken of the two of them many years ago,
and I’ve wanted one like it since I was a little girl.
It was every bit as fun as I always dreamed it would be. : )

A Day in De Smet

We recently revisited the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet with most of the Van Egdom family. The kids had a lot of fun with the animals & activities & all their cousins!

 

The cats were very pretty and surprisingly tolerant of being handled by all the little hands.

 

Ryan had his first pony ride. He enjoyed it,
although he kept his toes curled tightly around the
front edge of the saddle the entire time. : )

 

Luke & Evan & two kittens in the stagecoach

 

They each got to turn the crank to make a piece of rope in whatever colors they chose.  Here goes Luke.

 

Evan’s turn

 

Kara, too

 

Making the ropes required a strong hold on the opposite end. Luke couldn’t quite hang onto it, so Grandpa helped him out. : )

 

Jenna & Leah admiring the beautiful horses. Their names were Sam & David,
just like in the Little House books

 

We all enjoyed the covered wagon ride

 

Marie, Kara, Willem, Levi, Evan, Luke, Kate, & Lanae
Each of the kids got a turn sitting in the front seat and holding the reins.
It was definitely a highlight of the day for many of them! : )