Family reunion

Yesterday was the annual Leader family reunion. This reunion has been happening for as long as I can remember, it is always on a Sunday afternoon in June at Ben Butterworth Parkway in Moline. It has been a few years since I had gone, so we decided we would load up the car and go for the afternoon. When we left after church it was just starting to rain, it poured pretty much the whole way to Moline, stopping about 10 minutes before we got to the park. By the time we got unloaded at the park the sun was out and it was a perfect day for a picnic. All of my dad's siblings were there, and several cousins, as well as other relatives. It was a great afternoon of catching up and playing with the girls. And what post is not complete without pictures--

Payton preventing papa from eating his lunch.

Emily catching bugs. When we pulled up in the parking lot, Em saw the playground and said "Wow, that is the coolest playground I have ever seen in the whole world!" She was super excited, until we discovered that it was covered with mayflies. So we didn't get much play time, but she still had fun!

The mayflies seemed to like the slide the best. Gross!!

Emily loved looking out at the river. Papa taught her all sorts of interesting things--the difference between a dock and a pier, different types of boats and all sorts of interesting things about the Campbell's island. He apparently lived in a renovated garage on the island when he was younger.

Feeding bread to the ducks.

Just being cute :)

Both girls looked like this before we got to the interstate on the way home. I'd say that's the sign of a great day!

Great Family Day!

Today was a fabulously fun day for the Hilman's. We had several people strongly encourage us to check out Heritage Day's today...so we did. I'm not entirely sure what we are celebrating, but it was a great time. We started with the parade this morning...Em kept saying she didn't want to go to the parade, but once we got there she was excited. She was even more excited when we found a friend from school to sit with.

Emily's parade wave....she apparently thinks she is a princess already!

Next up was the carnival. They blocked off the street by the park and had about 8 inflatables, for $8 you got a bracelet for unlimited play for the day. We spent about an hour playing, came home for naps and then went back for more! Emily's favorite was the giant slide. She went down it probably 50 times over the course of our time there.





This was another one of the inflatables. It was kind of an obstacle course. You were supposed to go down the slide and then end up in the ball pit. Em found this method much more enjoyable.  The launch......

And the landing......

Payton didn't get to partake in the intflatables, but had fun watching. Chuck also snuck her her first bite of funnel cake. She enjoyed it immensly and had several more bites after the first!

After the inflatables we ordered pizza, while waiting we stopped at the park to fill time.

Playing Peekaboo!

Emily as a mountain goat...

More peekaboo!

Father's Day

This is a little late, mainly because we were at camp the week before Father's Day and then came home and had sick kids all week, but better late than never!
Emily's thoughts on Chuck-

My daddy's name is -Chuck
How old is daddy -14
My daddy is great at -watching me on the bouncers
When my daddy was my age she liked to - play
My favorite thing to do with daddy is -play
I love my daddy because -because I liked him
When daddy is bored she likes to -be a baby (???)
Daddy's favorite color is -green
My favorite food daddy makes is -pizza

And sadly, cause I am a bad mommy, Chuck didn't get a present from Emily (his "big" present was his new ipad last month) but Payton's teachers were on the ball, so he got a hand print plate and some fabulous pictures from Payton before we left from camp. He did however get not 1 but 2 ice cream cakes at camp....cause they are his favorite :)