Another quick weekend trip!

Troy's house- Kokomo

Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!!

Why are Amaya's hands behind her head? This is the signal that tells the ginormous dog that you do not want to play. Ely does the opposite. He tries to get Herc to play every chance he gets (and it works.)

We love to stay with Troy!! When the kids hear Troy's name they get so excited so Phil and I have to keep Troy's house a secret until the last minute or that's all we hear about! Let me tell you, I do not blame the kids one bit! Troy always plans something special. Friday night we got to his house around 10pm but that didn't stop him. We got in the car and drove a short distance to a hill. Most people sled down it in the winter however, we rolled down it at 10:30 at night. We got to see Stevie for a moment after waking him up with some shaving cream on his face. Hilarious! Don't worry it sounds mean but Stevie got the kids back. At 5ish on Saturday morning Phil and I woke up to the sound of the kids laughing hysterically in their bed. Steve had put shaving cream on both Amaya and Ely!!! Way to funny! Troy got up to go to the bathroom and Ely stole Troy's favorite place to sleep, "the couch." We got back to sleep to wake up a bit later to the incredible smell of breakfast cooking. Now that's what I call a slumber party! Thanks Troy, you are the best!
"We are planning our revenge... coming after you Stevie. Prepare yourself! Love, Amaya and Ely"

The Styrcker Open-New Lothorp, Michigan

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

John Strycker is one of Philly's best buds from Ball State College. He invited us up for a golf tournament, trophies and all! He has put a three hole golf course on his five acre property and we all had a ball! (as in a really great time though there were tons of golf balls, haha!)

The kids had a great time lounging in front of the TV! Ely's favorite part was wrestling with Larry, Ely's new found best friend. He is already wishing for next year to come so he can see Larry again.

This is the whole tournament crew. That is Stryker in the middle surrounded by a bunch of fun loving adults finding crazy ways to use a Saturday afternoon!

What is a tournament without a grand finale?
Well we did it right. Not that golfing is crazy for a Saturday afternoon but check out the pic. below.

Yes....that is a fire truck cruising through the front lawn! It was a parade...sirens, horns, lights, and all.
Styckers friends, the Burger's, purchased this awesome fire truck and we all got to enjoy some good laughs.

There goes Philly just waving  proud as can be. That's because out of four teams, Phil's team placed fourth!!! Don't worry, I am proud of you baby! I am your biggest fan! Yahoo!!!!

Strycker is driving, Amaya is in the middle though you can't see her and Ely is on the passenger side and some good friends on the back. You just had to be there to feel all of the excitement. Great times!

We went to breakfast Sunday morning before heading back to Bedford. Some how we got on the conversation about a hornets nest that we had outside our bedroom window a couple years ago. I went into full descriptions of Philly's outfit that he put together for the special event of taking out these hornets. Though I tried to get my point across, words just can't describe the laughter that has heard all through our neighborhood when Phil was finally prepared and ready.

Just look at his face... "Game On Hornets! Bring It!!"

Yes...those are my pantie hose with roses down the sides, some green fire retardant coveralls given to him by Tim Houk (thanks Tim, you never know how others will use the items that you give to them), socks up over the coveralls, and Ely's baseball helmet to hold the pantie hose anyway from his face... now in full gear for irradiating some fierce hornets that had stung a number of people. I told John that I would post these pics. so that he could see if my description was accurate.

I sure am glad that this conversation came up because everyone deserves a good laugh! Thanks Strycker!