King's Island

On Sunday July 26 after the family reunion we stayed at the Kings Island Resort so that on Monday we could have a fun day at Kings Island. The kids LOVED this. The are roller coaster fanatics. Unfortunately Karsen is only 46 inches, about 2 inches too short to ride the big coasters. Austin, however, is 48 inches, and got to ride the Beast, Vortex, and Racers. Hopefully next year Karsen will be tall enough, because she was plenty jealous of the tales Austin told of the "big" rides when we met up with Austin and Josh after they got to ride them.

Karsen liked meeting Little Bill and all her favorite Nickelodeon characters. Austin on the other hand was all about the rides.

The kids and I riding Plankton's Plunge.Dora and Boots were popular with Karsen, but we had to remind Austin of the olden days when he loved Dora, too.

Bumper cars!

Karsen and Squidward from SpongeBob.


A swimming break at the hotel.
Josh and I decided it was pretty fun to see our kids enjoying the same rides we had when we were younger. We also noted how much more tired our feet were as adults, than as kids when we were running from ride to ride ahead of our parents!

Minneman Family Reunion

We went to our dad's side's family reunion on Sunday July 25. It was very nice to see all of my dad's brothers and sisters and many of our cousins and other relatives. There was a lot of good food, cornhole, a baseball game that Austin enjoyed taking part in, and bubble blowing and sidewalk chalk that Karsen had fun with.

Hayley and Grace - aren't they beautiful?

Singing old hymns.



A small part of the Harold Beneker family in attendance, which will be continued below...


And below...






Dad's branch of the family




Look out world - our boy Evan is learning to drive!

Luke is Chilling

We had a lot of fun with our cousin who got to spend the night last weekend. Isn't he the cutest?

Happy (Soccer) Campers

Last week Austin and Karsen attended a Challenger Sports soccer camp here in New Castle. They had coaches from a British soccer club that travel around the U.S. and put on clinics and coach the kids, and the campers are evaluated at the end on their new skills. Karsen was in the 4-5 year old group, which only had 4 kids, so she played against mostly 6-7 year olds. Austin played against the 8-10 year olds and really liked the competition. It was a mini day camp, so Karsen played from 10-12 in the morning and Austin played from 5-8 in the evening from Monday to Friday. Each team was a country so that the competition was a "World Cup." Karsen was from Italy and Austin was from Brazil.

Karsen's 4-5 year old group.



Karsen's coach Michael. Her evaluation said her dribbling was "impressive."


Austin's 8-10 year old group.


Austin's coach Ian. He liked how Austin always played hard and stayed with his opponents. He had mastered every skill on the evaluation except for heading. Austin really hates heading-so now he knows what to work on.

Q&A with Miss Karsen

I realize it has been a long time since I have posted. We have been busy enjoying the summer with swimming and friends. For today, though, we will pick Karsen's brain. Aside: shouldn't take long, and for those who think I am being mean, you also know that you understand because she is very distractable. Questions will be posed by me, her mom, and all answers will be answered by the one and only Karsen Morgan.
Q: What is your favorite thing to do in the summer?
A: Play soccer and play sky ball.
Q: What is a sky ball?
A: A sky thing that you bounce really high.
Q: What are you looking forward to when you start kindergarten?
A: To play kitchen with Dillon and Ellen.
Q: Who will be the cook?
A: Me.
Q: What will you cook?
A: Bacon and pancakes and sausage.
Q: What will you do if your friends get sick from the food you cook?
A: Help them and give them dish medicine.
Q: What is dish medicine?
A: It is a medicine with a dish in it. It is a white pill.
Q: It sounds hard to swallow a dish. What do you think?
A: Yeah.
Q: When Miss Beth tells you recess is over and you need to learn, what would you like to learn?
A: Reading.
Q: What books will you read?
A: Madeline. Shrek.
Q: I think Shrek is a movie.
A: Sometimes it's a book.
Q: What is your favorite part of Shrek?
A: The part where Puss claws Shrek. Then Shrek screams.
Q: When you see Austin at recess, what will you say to him?
A: I'll say, "What are you doing?" Then I'll wonder if he will want to play with me. He'll play kickball but I would rather play on the slide.