Vacation--Part 1

*Warning* Lots & LOTS of pictures on this post!

For our vacation this year, we did some traveling! We started with a weekend in St. Louis, then to Burlington for some fun at Grandpa & Grandma's house, next a day in Grinnell, IA to visit two Great-Grandmas, and finally a few days in Cedar Rapids with Andy & Lindsey. We logged lots of miles and had lots of fun!
St. Louis:
We met up with Nathan & Cori in St. Louis on Friday afternoon. We all went out for dinner then the guys walked over to Busch for a Cardinals game. (Yes, Kinnick's first game was a Cardinals game--no they didn't win).

Us girls walked down to the arch. Sadie & Emmy had fun running around on the grass. They also loved seeing a "princess" horse & carriage.

We went back to Nathan & Cori's hotel to swim and hang out while we waited for the guys. Sadie & Emmy enjoyed playing Barbie Girl on the iPad.

We stayed at "Hotel Casey" during our St. Louis time. It was great to finally meet baby Cameron. Sadie loved helping take care of him!

Saturday we were off to the zoo:

ALL the kids! Macey, Kinnick, Emmy, Jaren, Sadie, Cam, & Hannah

Jaren & Kinnick always have so much fun together--it's fun to listen to them interact.

Macey was such a tired girl--she enjoyed some snuggle time in Cam's sling.

Snuggle time with Cam!

Burlington:

We're almost there! (Notice the marker all over Kinnick's face & legs!)

Presents for our new cousin--Baby Camden! (Nathan & Cori are in the process of adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia. We've been talking about and praying for our new cousin. Each of the kids picked one of there toys to share with baby Cam.)

Presents from Grandma--Grandma Janet made these adorable crayon aprons for the 3 girls. Jaren & Kinnick got marshmallow guns (which were a huge hit!)

Andy & Lindsey came for a day so they could see Nathan & Cori and so the guys could golf. Sadie loved meeting baby Liam!

Aunt Nee Nee challenged the kids to the annual Gorsch water fight (she was drenched & covered in silly string!)

We took a trip to Fun City Water Park:

Kinnick checking out Grandpa's bike--he insisted on the helmet just sitting in the driveway!

The day before visiting the Great-Grandma's we had an all day bake/craft-a-thon! Cori helped the kids paint sun catchers. We also made a cake for Great-Grandma DePauw's birthday and decorated cookies for her.

Emmy picked out the cookie cutter and colors...

I'm so glad she did b/c they turned out adorable!

Grinnell:

We met at a restaurant to visit and celebrate! We had a hard time with the fondant for Grandma DePauw's cake, but it turned out cute.

Great-Grandma Gorsch

"Best Friends" Emmy picked out these best friend necklaces for her & Sadie in Iowa City. I love it when they are together!

Cedar Rapids:

We visited two different parks with Knopps. One had a splash pad. The kids loved it and it was so fun to just relax and watch them play.

Love this pic!

The kids loved spending time on the porch swing.

One last fun part of our trip--a little shopping date with Sadie. She had been asking me to go shopping to pick a new outfit. We didn't have too much time, but Marc dropped us off at Children's Place Outlet--our goal was 10 minutes and $10... we did pretty good! Sadie found this hat (the same one her cousin Emmy had!) and this pillow for $3 each! She spent much longer deciding on a dress to purchase. We exceeded our total by $2. We had lots of fun--I'm looking forward to many more shopping trips in the future!