Quick Chicago Trip

We made a last minute decision to go to Chicago last weekend.  Our first stop was the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier.  We spent several hours there and had a great time.  Ryan's favorite things were the zoom room (cars on tracks) and kids town.  Drew loved skyline (building buildings with wood) and the zoom room.  Kayley loved the dinosaur expedition, water ways (large water tables) and the climbing area.

After the Children's Museum, we walked to the train station and headed out to U.S. Cellular Field.  We ate an early dinner in the ChiSox restaurant next to the field and then Andy and Drew headed into the game and Kayley, Ryan and I headed back to downtown Chicago on the train.  We walked back to the hotel and were about 3 blocks away when the rain hit.  We got soaked.  Ryan and Kayley loved it!  We spent the rest of the evening at the hotel pool while the Andy and Drew enjoyed the game.  Everyone was happy!  And the White Sox won - first time Drew saw them win in person!  He has been to quite a few games too...

First Day of School

Drew, Kayley and Ryan started school last week.  4th grade.  3rd grade.  Pre-K.  How is that possible?!

Ryan had his first day of Pre-K on Monday.  I forgot to get a picture so I got this one of him in bed on the night of his first day!  Poor Ryan.  It is hard being the third child!

I did get a happy one of him on his second day though!

Drew and Kayley started on Wednesday.  Drew is in 4th grade and Kayley is in 3rd grade.  Time is absolutely flying by.  They are both very excited about the teachers they got and for the school year in general.  Kayley has Drew's teacher from last year, which will be really nice when it comes to homework!

 

Florida

Drew, Kayley and I took a quick trip to Florida to visit friends before the school year starts.  Our friends moved to Florida in June so we flew to Orlando the first week of August to see them.  We left Ryan home with Andy.  I didn't think he would really even notice we were leaving, but I was so wrong.  He was devastated we didn't take him.  Andy said he recovered quickly, but he was so upset when we left.  I felt terrible!

Waiting at the airport

Waiting to take off!

Jamie, Sam and Maia greeted us at the airport.  We had lunch and then went to their house and the kids immediately jumped in the pool.  When Chuck got off work, we headed out on their boat for some tubing and swimming.

Kayley enjoying the boat ride

Drew and Kayley playing near the island

Kayley on the tube

Drew's turn

Here is a quick video of Drew on the tube:

We drove out to New Smyrna Beach the next day for some beach time.  It rained on and off so that was a bummer, but the kids still got plenty of time in the water.  We stayed at a hotel in New Smyrna that night and headed back to the beach the next morning so the Kayley could look for seashells.

Kayley

Kayley and Drew

Drew, Sam and Kayley

View from the car during the
downpour at the beach!

Moving the luggage boys

Drew and Sam on Flagler Avenue

Drew and Kayley

Back to the beach

Drew and Kayley

Kayley with her seashells 

Drew, Sam, Maia and Kayley at JB's Fish Camp

The kids swam more that afternoon when we got back to the house.  That night we drove to downtown Winter Park.  It is such a cute little downtown with lots of little shops and restaurants.

We went to Sam and Maia's swim meet the last morning and then flew home in the afternoon.  We had a great time and our time in Florida flew by.  We can't wait to go back!

Waiting to go home

Fun with Family

Once baseball and softball were over, we had a lot of family time the month of July.  The kids went to the farm with my mom and dad for 9 days right after the 4th of July.  They LOVE going to the farm, which is so nice to see.  I didn't exactly always appreciate growing up on the farm and didn't really appreciate it until I got older, but the kids absolutely love going to stay with their grandparents.  I'm sure the fun will wear off as they get older, but no sign of that yet.

Drew and Uncle Matt playing catch

Ryan and Kayley on some antique equipment!

Playing basketball in the machine shed

They boys and Grandpa at Adventureland

Yearly visit to Adventureland

Playing in the sandbox Grandpa built them

Doing a few chores!

Ryan got some batting practice in at the farm:

Ryan when I told him it was time to go home

Happy to be going home!

The weekend after they got back from Iowa, we headed to Omaha to see Andy's family.  It was just a weekend visit, but we had a lot of fun as always.  I didn't realize until we got home that I only took one picture that weekend, but it was a good one of the kids with their grandpa!

The next weekend we went to Cedar Falls to see Matt and Kim and their family.  They were in town on a college visit for Madison so we drove up to our old college stomping grounds to spend some time with them.  The kids didn't fully appreciate our quick tour around campus, but they were troopers.  They couldn't believe the house and apartments we used to live in!  Being back there made me realize how OLD we are now!  Yikes!  

Ryan, Kayley, JD and Drew

My apartment senior year!

The Hill - the bar we frequented as freshmen :-)