Strawberry Pickin'

We revisited the "pick-your-own" farm last weekend and had a good time picking fresh strawberries. I thought it was a great experience for the kids to get to see a strawberry patch and pick their own produce. Greg . . . wasn't so thrilled, ten minutes into the picking frenzy and he was all for heading back to town. Benton did great until he and I tasted a strawberry and then all was a lost cause! From then on he was simply picking and eating-even the most ripe of strawberries. This just wasn't working with the two year old so Greg took him back to the car. Alea braved the elements the longest with me and we ended up with quite a lot of strawberries. Once we got the strawberries home and chilled, we tasted them again and they were sure tart. I ended up eating all the hand picked strawberries mashed up with a bit of sugar . . . mmm!

There are a lot of pick-your-own farms around, this one is called Berry Patch Farm and is in Nevada, Iowa. If any of you locals know of a fun produce pickin' place that's close to Des Moines, please share. For those of you interested, here's the website: http://www.berrypatchfarm.com/ We have enjoyed going to the farm and the prices are extremely affordable!

Father's Day 2009

Happy Father's Day all you father's out there! Alea decided-all by herself-that the best Father's Day gift for Greg would be to go to the Build a Bear workshop and let Greg make a build a bear all of his own for Father's Day! So, after church we loaded up and headed to the mall to make a build a bear. Greg acted surprised-I had to fore warn him so he wouldn't be too shocked. After picking out his "skin", Alea lead Greg through the whole process. It was incredibly sweet and she was beaming all morning. We now have another build a bear named Cowboy-welcome to the family! We had a wonderful day (I hope Greg did too!) and ended up going to some good friends for an extremely "manly" dinner. To my wonderful husband the father of my children:

I love you and hope you know how thankful I am for you everyday. You are the best father I could have picked for my little ones. You are so stable, encouraging, trustworthy and faithful. You are our encourager and support. You are so amazing at making our children laugh and that is important in a world where laughter is happening less and less. Because of you, our two babies are growing into stable, healthy young children. You show our children the truths in life, how to handle hurt and anger along with how to show love and compassion. From watching you, Benton will know how to be a wonderful Daddy and Alea will have a high standard for a husband. We all three love you and hope you had a great Father's Day-you are the BEST!

To my Daddy:

Your silent support has been a priceless gift all my life. I can still see you in the stands at any sporting event and clearly hear the word "ACE" after every volleyball serve. I can remember you showing me how to catch and throw a softball and encourage me to do my best in basketball. I remember watching you shave in the morning and sitting as close to you as possible while you'd read the newspaper and I'd drink the "coffee" you made me-mainly milk and sugar! In the years it was important I felt your protectiveness and cherished your words of encouragement. I could not have asked for a better father and want you to know how much I love you! Happy Father's Day.

To my father-in-law Cooprider:

Thank you for all the time you put into my wonderful husband. Your loving example as a husband and father has been extremely influential in his life I am so thankful for you. You are an amazing Poppies to my children and we love spending time with you. You have such an awesome gift for loving people and that is evident in your actions. We are so blessed to be a part of your family! Happy Father's Day!

To my father-in-law Meyers:

Though the miles separated you, your influence in Greg's life has been evident. The support and encrouagement you continually have for our family is always appreciated. We enjoyed the many months of working together and gleaned so much knowledge from you. You are a wise and respected man in our world. I thank you for all your phone calls and visits they are always warm reminders that you care deeply for our family. Happy Father's Day!

Johnston Green Days Parade

Greg and the kids getting ready to throw candy.

Our wonderful church band getting ready to go.
Alea and the Pillsbury Dough Boy-they walked right behind us.

We are already SOOOO HOT!

Alea and Benton before the parade.

Our small town of Johnston has an annual carnival and summer celebration every year called Green Days. This happened at the end of last week and over the weekend. On Saturday, they had a big city-wide parade. Our church got a slot in the parade and we were all really excited to join the fun, pass out information about our church and throw candy. Alea and Benton got a lot of looks sitting in their stroller throwing candy at everyone. Benton mainly hit the side of the road with the candy. Alea also had a blast throwing candy and beaned so many people with various tootsie rolls, junior mints, gum, etc. We had a fun time trying to keep up with our church-they were driving so fast-and enjoyed being in a parade!

Vinsnikersberts Branson Trip

Lance-need I say more?

About a year ago, the Perkins family got together and talked about planning a "family vacation". We decided on Branson, MO-the first full week of June 2009. That date has been on most of our countdowns so long, I can't believe it's already here and gone!

We are the family you see wearing matching shirts. We are the family that pitches in and stays in one, large condo and splits up the meal preparation/supply/cleanup by family. We are the family that laughs at the "talent" night and the swimming feats of the guys until we can't breathe. We come from four states and represent four living generations. There are twenty-two of us right now and we know how to have good, clean FUN!

On our family vacation, we did the typical touristy stuff: Silver Dollar City, Showboat Branson Belle and White Water. The condo had a pool right outside the front door so many of the kids spend a large potion of every day splashing and swimming. The paddle boats were a great time and every trip back from "the island" I swore was going to be my last until the next day when, for some strange reason, I'd do it again. Alea has had the hardest time coming back to Iowa and would have just stayed in Branson for the rest of her life-with the family ALL there of course. What a great way to start our summer-with family!

ONLY FOR THE REALLY INTERESTED!

Ok, ok what is Vinsnikersberts? This is a made up name (no way!) that is an accumulation of all the last names represented by the offspring of Russ and Sheri Perkins (who had 3 girls and 1 boy). Vin-Lance, Lori, August, Ashlyn VINson; kins (backward)-Russ, Sheri, Matt, April, Mason, Asher, McKenna PerKINS; ers-Greg, Erin, Alea, Benton MeyERS; berts-Jon, Callie, Samara, Josiah, Gideon, Miriam RoBERTS. Callie created this family name and I hope it sticks. It was on the back of our matching and sure made for some great conversation starters. The numbers on the front of our shirts represent where-in birth order-the individual wearing the shirt fits into the bigger picture. So there you go!

Lori, Callie, Erin warming up for the "talent" night

Alea and August-only 7 months apart-they love each other

"The Feat"

Can these 6ft 4in PLUS guys squeeze in to the baby floatie rings?

Yes-unbelieveable (see first picture)

Getting out-even funnier-SQUEEZE, POP!

Greg, Benton and Alea-how sweet!

More Branson Pictures

Alea and Benton at Silver Dollar City

Gideon and Benton riding the "bus"Samara, Miriam, August and Alea riding the "bus"

McKenna and Benton hanging out at the condo

Oh, those glorious lunches!

Even More Branson Pictures

Alea and Benton leaving the Branson Belle.

Mom and Dad

Matt, April, Mason, Asher, McKenna Perkins-notice the matching shirts!

Jon, Callie, Samara, Josiah, Gideon, Miriam Roberts

Dad, Asher, Nannie, Mom at the front of Silver Dollar City

Trip to Saint Louis

Greg got invited (and then uninvited??) to play in a Nationwide golf tournament in St Louis. We have some dear friends in St Louis and were overjoyed to plan an early escape to spend a few days with them before heading to Branson. We had such a great time! Our St Louis friends Todd, Emily, Amy and Jonah Velnosky moved from Johnston to St Louis over a year ago and we have missed them terribly. Alea and Amy spurred this friendship when we met at the Johnston library time and we hit it off instantly. While we visited them, we went to the Magic House-a children's museum-and had so much fun watching the kids play. The men went golfing, since it was originally on the agenda, letting Josiah caddy for them. We just had an over all great visit and first leg to our summer vacation. Thanks for everything Velnosky family-we love and miss you!