Black Hills Adventure

We love our Black Hills adventures and knew we wanted to show Lor the beauty of West River so booked a cabin when we knew he was officially coming. We did all of our usual things... hiking at Cathedral Spires and Roughlock Falls, a drive through Spearfish Canyon, dinner in Hills City, a Candyland stop, canoeing at Sylvan Lake, a Mount Rushmore visit, the Mickelson Trail on e-bikes (a first for us and SO fun, we will definitely do it again) bon fires, hot tubs, and finally a Badlands stop. We jammed in so much and loved being together as a family. The Black Hills is truly a gem, and we loved showing it off to Lor, we are already looking forward to our return. 

Mastered it! 

They both lost teeth upon our arrival. 

Sisters 

Mt. Rushmore 

Sylvan Lake 

Me 

Cathedral Spires hike

Fam Photo 

Pip warmed up to Lor in a hurry. :)

Dave admiring his epic bonfire. 

Roughlock Falls hike. 

;)

Mickelson Trail on E-Bikes, so fun! 

Trying to keep them engaged in photos. 
Badlands! 

That's a wrap. 

The First Day of School

We're back in action, after some nerves and a lot of excitement, all three (four ;)) were off on their first days. The biggest change this year is for Piper who started kinder. She was excited and so brave, I am incredibly proud of her. Sully and Greta were so excited to walk her to her classroom. My biggest changes is ONE drop-off and all three in one place all day. Whoop!! I did have a moment after drop off to reflect and shed a few tears before I celebrated :). 

Sully has Sra. Gutierrez, Greta's teacher last year, Greta has Sra. Nievas, Sully's teacher from last year, Piper has Sr. Naranjo, Greta's kindergarten teacher, and Lor is at Edison, they are all in familiar and good hands. 

The best part for me is meeting them at the bus stop at the end of the day, seeing them all rush off to greet me with bursting smiles and positive reports from the day. Its going to be a great year! 

Everyone loves Sr. Naranjo! 

Sra. Nievas, a fam fave. 

We love Sra. Guiterrez! 

Piper was done. 

Sonia Swag

The ice cream tradition continues. 

Lor joins the fun! 

There they go :).

One last selfie. 

Lor makes empinadas. 

Amazing! 

Welcome Lor!

We are thrilled to welcome Lorwis to our family! Lor comes from Caragena, Colombia and will be an intern at Edison this school year. We had hoped for Lor to come last year, but because of Covid, those plans were rearranged. We met him virtually in early August and he arrived after a long journey due to flight delays and cancellations on August 17th. Let the fun begin! He is full of energy, engaging, interesting, and fun to have around. We are all adjusting, but are excited for the great year ahead. 

Welcoming committee. 

He is here! 

First family photo. :)

Ruttgers Connelly Family

There is something so easy about Connelly family vacation up north; no strict schedules to adhere to, the kids manage themselves (for the most part), family meals in, beach days, boat days, golf days, pretty carefree. Two of my favorite things include the birthday celebration for my dad, he turned 81 this year and we each find a way to make the day special outside of gift giving. This year we each captured icons from the past and told stories of how they shaped the present and will shape the future. My dad loved it. The other favorite is the late night bonfires. I feel like this has been a great way to learn about my siblings and their families as adults. We share stories, laughs, sometimes cries, but overall, we just share the time together. The kids were so excited to arrive and devastated to leave...until next year! 

Solo drive to Ruttgers, we rocked it! 

Cousin crew, getting so grown up. 

Cousin crew with my parents. 

Fishing fun. 

My aunt Patty came for some of the fun.

Greta lands a fish! 

Beach day, best day. 

Tie Dye crafting, fun for all. 

By dad and brothers managing the grill. 

Family float, it might not be as pleasant as this appears ;).

Anything goes on family vaca. 

Cousin love. 

Jackie Robinson Fun Fact Crew #42. 

My parents on my dad's 81st birthday. 

Oh, and this sweet sis got her own fish, too! 

Okoboji Overnight.

What a summer its been! We have been booked solid, but were able to find one open weekend that coordinated with Maggie and Jeff (unfortunately Dave was on call) to get to Okoboji, and boy did we make the most of it. 

The kids and I got an early start on Saturday morning and made it over in time for lunch and then a day on the water. The kids swam, went on the 'little boat' (jet ski), the new fancy water trampoline, and the big boat. We landed at a local restaurant for dinner before a swing through Arnold's Park for their amazing ice cream. The perk for me is that the kids are so content with Isaac and Anna that it actually feels sort of like a vacation for me. 

Jeff took the kids tubing on Sunday morning and they all had so much fun. Sully is an absolute dare devil and loves the speed and waves. After what felt like hours, Jeff finally flipped Isaac and Sully, Sully thought that was the the most amazing thing. The girls were happy to maintain a nice peacefully speed around the lake. We all had permagrin watching them on the tube. We came back and Grandpa Johnny brought out his convertible Corvette and took each of the kids for a ride. Sully has a new interest in fancy cars lately, so this was a dream come true. 

We finished the weekend by helping them haul in the water trampoline, this was the one item I could have done without ;). All in all, it was a great weekend and we are so lucky to have been invited. It's alway such a treat and so nice to visit with Jeff's parents, we are looking forward to the next invite, hopefully Dave can join.

Living the dream. 

Sunset cruise with my crew.

Cousin-siblings. 

Sweetest trio. 

Corvette rides. 

Exhausted.