Museum Fun

All of Ashford's headed to the MN Science Museum.

While some of us adults waited plenty of fun happened.

 Here are some photos of our scientists in training.  

They had the area to themselves and got to do some fun experiments.

 Jenna and Christopher were examining their own cheek cells.

 Kelsey and Tanner looking very scientific.

Spencer and Michael's experiment took the longest.

We also enjoyed several live demonstrations and since it wasn't too busy our red crew was a large part of the action.  I will have to see if any of those photos turned out.  Even Uncle Mike got asked to join.  This is where the little girls hung out a lot but somehow I missed out on some of those photos.

One of my favorite memories: Mike and Jeri's family were all dressed in their Thing 1 - Thing 8 t-shirts (think Dr. Suess.)  Someone came up to Michale after seeing a couple of them in their shirts and asked "How many of  you are there?" He replied "8" and they were off to try and find the rest of the crew.  I think Michael's thoughts on being part of their entertainment at the museum that day was rather mixed.

Another fun memory was the sneezing cabinet.  I showed Danielle and Paige and then they had fun "showing" other family members.  (There is a whole section about germs and there is a door that when you open it you hear the sound of someone sneezing and you are sprayed with water.  It is a fun way to be a little grossed out.)

4th of July - The party

It is a little unbelievable how many people we can fit on our yards and still have plenty of room for activities.

Kelsey, Paige and Danielle tried out the bean bag toss that Spencer and Grandpa made last year.

 And now croquet.

We also set up our ladder golf set.

We set up two volleyball nets this year so that the younger kids could play on one 

and the older kids (of any age) could play on another.  Both got some action this year.

Although Zoe wasn't too pleased for "Zoe's pool" to be at our house 

the pool of bubble mixture was very popular.

(With the exception of the toddler who wanted to swim and got bubbles in his eyes. Sorry Carson!)

And of course, the4th of July celebration at our house wouldn't be complete without the
"Fireworks".

100 ft of 1" bubble wrap

+ 

50 or more kids, teens and adults

= 

100% fun for everyone
(except the dogs)

Next year we may need more bubble wrap.

WATER FIGHT!

We didn't even have to provide the water balloons this year-

the balloons didn't last long and I let the hoses be used temporarily- 

until they started stepping on my plants.

The food...

This shirt of Nate's just about says it all about our 4th of July BBQ

But with a little help from our friends

we manage to fill in a few more options

You know it has been a good week...

You know it has been a fun week when your 9 1/2 yr old chooses to take a nap that ends up lasting a whopping five and a half hours! YIKES!!!!

We had a great week hanging out with lots of Texas family who made the trip to visit. Nate's parents and his brother Mike's family of 8 all came it was so fun to see and play with everyone!

Our yearly 4th of July BBQ reached a new high of 210 (at least that is our best guess). It is amazing because it didn't seem like that many people were there except that all 6 briskets were gone within about an hour and a half. We probably could have done 2 more and still have them all disappear.

We try and warn people that if you want the best selection of meat you need to come at 1pm and if you want the most side dish and dessert options you come later. Or you just make two trips (or more) through the line - which is the preferred method, I think.

I will be sharing lots of photos of our fun throughout this week.