Family Portraits and Favorite Pictures - 2011

We started the new year with a birthday party for Andy (yet again), this time at Skate City.

We had a family celebration at Texas Roadhouse the next day.

Both kids continue to enjoy scouting.  Alexa had a whole lot of fun at a Girl Scout event called Splish Splash.  Andy was thrilled to place third in the pinewood derby within his Cub Scout den.  He also had a lot of fun at the Webelos Weekend at Camp Eagle.

Steve took Andy and Dylan to the Strategic Air and Space Museum for a robotic event.  He justified it as preparation for Andy's HAL project, but we know he just was looking for an excuse.

Here are some pictures from Lexi's class Valentine's Day party.

Alexa continued to make progress on her HAL project, completing the decoration of her sarcophagus and encasing her mummified frog in it.

Andy also started to make great progress, as he and Steve figured out how to program the Lego Mindstorm NXT robot.

Here is Alexa at an ArtVentures program through Girl Scouts on glass fusion at Rainbow Artistic Glass with artist Dick Baines

Here is Andy at his Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet.

We had a ball on our ski trip to Steamboat with the Keysers in mid-March.

The next weekend we headed to Chicago for Laura Schad's wedding.

The cats were glad to see us when we finally got home, as were Alexa's friends.

With some help from dad (mostly to get the computer to connect and allow them to update the program), Andy finally finished collecting data for his HAL project.

Here are some pictures from Andy's soccer game with the BSC Pilgrims.

Here are the kids with their rewards after they presented their annual HAL projects.

Andy and Steve went to a Harlem Globetrotter's game in mid-April.

Here is Lexi getting ready to go to Missouri

The kids had a lot of fun in Missouri, especially when grandpa let them ride the tractor.

Clearly one of the cutest and funniest things we've seen was discovering Lexi giving Andy a footbath.

Lexi was "sew" good.  She had a ball making bunny rabbit figures with grandma and then showed her second cousin Caroline how.

Outdoor soccer season was soon in full swing as the weather warmed up.

Here are the kids school portraits from the spring.

We had a lot of fun at the base lake

Lexi had a ball at a Girl Scout campout in early May.

Here the kids are at Fontenelle Nature Center

Lexi's Girl Scout troop received their Bronze Award this year.

Time for yet another of Andy's soccer games.

Steve got to join Alexa's class of a field trip to Fontenelle Nature Center (that they won after Nancy and Alexa nominated Mr. Evans for Teacher of the Week at a local radio station)

Here are a couple pictures of Andy's class from the school year.

We really enjoyed a night out at a Stormchasers game with a number of families from school.

Here are some team pictures from Andy's soccer team, the Bellevue Sharks

Grandma Staats came for Memorial Day weekend and we took her to the  Wildlife Safari.

We are sure having fun kayaking in the lake behind our house.

Alexa got her hair cut to donate to lock of love.  A couple days later she convinced mom to braid her hair for crazy hair day at Camp Invention.  As this took over an hour, mom was really glad it wasn't longer.  She had cut her hair a couple days earlier to donate ten inches to Locks of Love.

Andy sure had a lot of fun at Challenger Soccer Camp.  We really enjoyed hosting two of the coaches from England, Callum and Danny.

We enjoyed a hike and trip to the pool at Mahoney State Park for Fathers Day.

We headed up to South Dakota and the Black Hills at the end of June.  We really enjoyed going to Mount Rushmore.

Here are the kids climbing rocks while on a hike

After Mount Rushmore and the hike on Centennial Trail, we headed a couple mile northeast to the town of Keystone.  Our first stop was at the Alpine Slide.  This was a small sled with a brake that runs in a cement "bobsled" track.  It was amazingly fun and really fast.

There was a small, but very nice garden at the top, along with a small restaurant where we shared an icecream.

We took a Discover Climbing class through Sylvan Rocks Climbing School (http://sylvanrocks.com/).  We simply couldn't say enough about this class.  We had an amazing time.  We met our guide, "Spud," at eight in the morning and got fitted out with climbing shoes, helmet, and harness.  The class was supposed to be a larger group, but we were the only people.  Note to self: they said most Mondays were like that.  Boy did we luck out.  Here is Andy all decked out and ready to go.

We headed around the lake to a small ravine where Spud headed up a trail around the back of a granite face to set the top ropes.  Before going, he warned us to stay off the rock wall and boulders lying around.  Andy quickly realized that he hadn't said anything about tree stumps, so up he jumped soon to be followed (imitated) by Lexi.

After our rock climbing class, we grabbed our lunch and headed for some rocks on the other side of Sylvan Lake to have a picnic.  This was where they filmed part of National Treasure 2.  There it was the back side of Mount Rushmore, in reality it is about 15 miles west.  We found a great spot for a picnic on the rocks next to and above the lake.

After lunch, we headed west to Jewel Cave National Monument.  We had signed up for a lantern tour, where the adults carried a gas lantern while the kids had an LED lantern.

On Wednesday, we set out early to climb Harney Peak.  At 7,244 feet (2,208 m), it is the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Pyrenees in Spain.  At the top is an abandoned fire lookout tower that was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1939-1940.

After climbing Harney Peak, we stopped for ice cream at the store near the parking lot.  Then we headed farther into Custer State Park and drove around the wildlife loop.

On our last day in South Dakota we headed to Badlands National Park.  This is such an amazing place with incredible geography and topology.

The Rubens came to visit us from Colorado for the Fourth of July weekend.  Their kids (Jenny, Mitch, and Aaron) were going to 4H camp with our kids the next week.  We took them to Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo.

All five kids really had a ball at Summer Fun Camp at the Eastern 4H Camp.

Nancy and the kids enjoyed a quick trip to Missouri in mid-July.

Lexi and Jenny had a great time at Girl Scout camp in Colorado.

When she got home, she had a chance to go to the zoo with Olivia.

Steve got to meet the new Secretary of Defense.

Before heading to the Cottage, Nancy and the kids stopped at Adventure Land in Iowa.

Steve and the kids had a lot of fun at the cottage with his mom, Uncle Denny and Aunt Cindy.

After a fun summer, it was time to start school.

With fall, also comes the start of the soccer season.  As you can see, Andy hates being on the bench.

Steve got to play with a Lincoln team in the National Kayak Polo Tournament which was held in Omaha.

Lexi's sixth grade class got to go on an overnight trip to the local 4H center for Outdoor Education.

... and an overnight at Girl Scout Camp Maha

... and more soccer.

We took a trip to Arbor Day Farm and enjoyed their corn maze, apple picking, and other activities.

Andy's soccer season ended with them in second place in their division with a 5-1-1 record.

Both Andy and Lexi are playing basketball through Gross Catholic.

We really enjoyed the Fishes held their annual campfire at Vala's Pumpkin Patch.

We also ran in the Susan Komen Race For The Cure in early October.  Here we are before the race.

Andy and the BSC sharks won the U11 Classic Division in the Halloween Havoc soccer tournament.

Time for Halloween.

... which is shortly followed by Alexa's birthday.  Here she is with her friends at Rainbow Glass.

... and later at Texas Roadhouse.

Here is Andy playing basketball.

Here are Andy and Gabe at a HAL Seminar on "Cities In Action"

Here are  Steve and John Dawson after the Platte River Team Triathlon and the Brrr Adventure Race

With our tree up in early December, we got the kids together to take some pictures.

Here are the kids' portraits from the fall.

Here are Lexi's pictures from Impact Volleyball.

Here is a picture from Steve's office holiday party.

Have we mentioned how much Lexi loves her cats?

Here are Bill and Dee in Branson, MO.

Here are Lexi and Rita giving a band concert at Runza

The kids had a lot of fun at Mahoney State Park with the OAFB Youth Center.

Steve was promoted to Colonel on December 21st.

Here is a collage the photographer put together.

We enjoyed a trip to Lauritzen Gardens just before Christmas.

As always, Christmas was special.