Let the Photos Begin

Day 1: We stopped in and surprised my Grandma - can you believe she's almost 97? She was SO cute with Maddie and Jude - listening to every single word they said, and admiring all of their pictures they drew.  

My dad has had season tickets to the White Sox games since before I was born, so a night at a ball game was a perfect way to start the trip.

Glad that Rob is a Sox fan!

Me and my Papa

The next day we lounged on the beach of Lake Michigan

This is how we felt

We relaxed

We ate Cheetos

We smiled for the camera

We built sand castles

We danced

We skipped rocks (another one of Rob's hidden talents)

We ran away as this storm blew in

We found frogs on Papa's deck

Then returned them to Papa's lake

When Rob started throwing frogs, Jude bolted.

Papa helped Maddie practice going under water

That was all of our pre-camp fun. Tomorrow I will explain a bit about where we were, and get some more pictures up.  But for now, I need to switch clothes from the washer to the dryer.  And probably buy some food.  When did my kids start eating so much?!  

Home

What is it about traveling that kicks your butt? Is it all of the sitting? The hours of reading? Frankly, I ways assume it'd be like waking up after a nice long nap, but my body is falling apart. I'm sitting at home, on my couch, less than ten feet away from my computer, but instead I am going to stumble through iPhone blogging just to avoid those ten steps.

Yes, we are home. Tomorrow morning I will unveil the laundry mountain while trying to prepare Maddie for her first day of school on Tuesday. Maybe in between all of the folding and switching, I can start the long task of photo sharing. Don't hold your breath.

It is heaven kissing my chubby baby's cheeks, and having Ella rest her head on my shoulder in a long hug. I have missed them so much, and am looking forward to rolling around on the floor with them tomorrow instead of crossing things off my to-do list.

When I asked Rob what time an adult can go to bed without shame, he said 9:30, which is in a half hour. So I'd better get the bedtime ball rolling. I'm soooo ready!

Oh, and how many of you are reading/have read The Hunger Game series? What do you think?

How I Spent my Summer Vacation: Day 9

I'm back to a real computer, but am tired beyond belief.  This morning we packed up our cabins and headed back to my dad's house for naps, tractor rides and pizza.  Grandpa took the kids swimming in the hot tub, and then we vegged in front of the Sox game. 

My eyelids are heavy, and my body is sore - but it's all in the name of fun.  This has been one of the best weeks we have ever had - and we are so grateful to my wonderful dad for taking us all on such an amazing vacation.

Starting Monday I will start getting some of the six million pictures on the blog, but for right now I am looking forward to seeing my two little ladies tomorrow afternoon.  I hope they still love me after leaving them for ten days!

Goodnight, world. 

How I spent my summer vacation: day 8

I decided to blog from around the campfire rather than trying to do this with my eyes half open while lying in bed. This morning began with water skiing and wake boarding. Rob impressed us all with his tricks... I didn't know he was so good! After water skiing, we watched Uncle Greg help launch all the rockets people made over the week. (I started a rocket, but I then remembered that I hate making them. Mine is still sitting, half finished, in the arts and crafts building. Sorry, Uncle Greg!)

After lunch we did some swimming, and took the wave runner out on the lake. Maddie and Jude loved the bumps. Then Greg, Mandy, Rob and I went sailing. There was no wind, but we enjoyed bobbing up and down together, accumulating more bruises and getting sunburnt. We then had a nice family dinner in town, and then watched Maddie and her cousin, Sydney, rock the talent show. My sister Sarah brought down the house with an acapella version of Desperado. And now I sit, listening to my family laugh around a fire.

This week has been perfection at its best. We head back to my dad's house tomorrow, and even though I'm looking forward to soaking my injuries in the hot tub, I will definitely miss this.

Till tomorrow!

How I spent my summer vacation: day 7

As I lie in bed, I am realizing how stinky my pillow is. Everything is stinky, including me. We spend our days greased up in sunscreen and bugspray, then sweat all of that off just before jumping in the lake. I love feeling messy. This whole week without makeup, wearing a baseball hat most of the time feels like me. My dad brought his jeep down here, and its making me desperately miss my old wrangler. I think that will be the first purchase Rob and I make after we are done with car seats!

Today we woke up early and hit up our favorite breakfast cafe. After that we did a little bit of shopping then did some trap shooting. (Another bruise on my shoulder from the shotgun kick back!) After lunch my family participated in a drill down, which basically is a marching competition. (Im sure a lot of you are baffled by this...but I promise I'll explain this whole trip in detail when I get back!) Then, eight of us went over to the golf course and played a round of best-ball. (Have I ever mentioned that my dream job involves driving a golf cart?) Then after dinner we helped the kids tye dye shirts, and left them at the child care while the adults did a bit of night swimming. It was a beautiful way to end the day. Although I'm pretty sure it cancelled out the shower I had just taken! No biggie...I'll be in the lake first thing tomorrow morning. That's camping. Filthy, greasy, stinky fun.

Goodnight, world. Here's hoping we survive tomorrow!

How I spent my summer vacation: day 6

I decided to count my bruises today. Sixteen on my legs, and nine on my arms. One of them is about the size of two golf balls put together. That one's gonna hurt in the morning. The funny thing is that I have no idea where most of them came from. The one on the arm? I know exactly where that one came from.

This morning started off with water skiing and wake boarding. It had been a while since we had gone, and surprisingly, we were all pretty successful. We all walked away from the boat proud and uninjured. After water skiing, we has lunch, then went back to the lake to do some more sailing. I was really excited to teach Rob how to sail - and he was a natural. He did so, so so well. I loved being able to share one if my favorite things with him, and seeing him enjoy it as much as I do.

After sailing we met up with Greg and Mandy (really, autofill? You're going to let me call him Freg?) Anyway, we all did some kayaking then hit up the archery field. The kids spent the afternoon with Aunt Jessica doing horseback riding and then some arts and crafts. After dinner there was a camp carnival where we enjoyed lots of bounce houses, games, a dunk tank, trampolines with bungee cords, and live music. We then played catch. Have I ever mentioned that my family loves catch? We do. Play it all the time when we are together.

When the carnival was over, we got the old fire started and everyone sat around to laugh and tell stories. At the end of every day we find ourselves saying, "today was the best day, yet. " And every day has been. We are happy, healthy, having an unbelievably good time, AND going out for my favorite breakfast in the world tomorrow. Can't wait.

Goodnight world!

Another day, another exhausted night. This morning we went back to the high ropes course and did what's called the pamper pole. And the word pamper is used as in: you may need pampers while doing this. I pulled something in my right quad yesterday, so I had to sit this one out, but Rob took this on full force. You climb to the top of a thirty foot pole, then using no hands or ropes (obviously you are harnessed in, but it's not very reassuring) you step both feet on top, straighten our your body and jump off to hit a ball in the air. I can't even begin to explain all the different emotions I saw as people tried to accomplish this. I have some video that I'll post when I come home. Then there was more climbing and zip lining.
We then drove over to the shooting course and shot clay pigeons. I'm a decent shot with a pistol, so I figured I'd be okay with the shotguns, but truthfully, I still have a lot to learn. I'll head back over on Thursday and see if I can improve my numbers.

After shooting, we ate lunch at one of my favorite local spots, The Rootbeer Stand - then came back to camp to do a little bit of sailing. The wind was slow, but it was still nice to be on the water. I'm signed up for a sailing race on Friday, so I'm hoping the wind will pick up for the remainder of the week. We then swam in the lake, and laughed as little kids were launched by adults off the end of the blob. (One person sits on the end of a huge water floaty, while another person jumps onto it from the high dive - sending the person on the end into the lake).

We then had a family dinner in town, returned for a rooftop party on top of the naval building (where I used to work) and came back for s'mores and a bonfire.

Tomorrow morning will come sooner than my body would like, so off to sleep I go. As much fun as I am having, I can say that I am looking forward to blogging from something other than my phone. I can't even begin to imagine all of the mistakes I am leaving up because of my slow Internet connection. Once I press publish post, it takes a good ten minutes before I can read the blog ... And by then I've already dozed off. So, once again, forgive all the typos.

Goodnight world.

How I Spent my Summer Vacation: Day 4

It's possible that I am more tired today than I ever have been before. Every muscle in my body is begging me to go to sleep, and it's just barely after 10pm. I have no idea how I did this every day, for seven weeks, before! Today was nothing but full speed ahead with a high ropes course/climbing in the morning, archery, kayaking and biking in the afternoon, and sailing around the lake on a three masted rigger this evening. We only stopped to eat our meals and get clean. There was also the occasional game of bags. It has been a very long, but very amazing day.

Can't wait till tomorrow!

How I Spent my Summer Vacation: Day 3

Well, it's starting to look like I may not get to a computer to download pictures at all. I think I will just use this as a daily journal, and then add pictures whenever I can. Right now I am listening to the sound of crickets and other insects while taking in the smell of wet earth and wood cabins. It is a smell that immediately takes me back to my childhood. I spent many a night falling asleep to the same sounds and smells, so it's nostalgia at it's best. We packed up from my dad's house and drove to camp this afternoon. The campus is gorgeous as ever, and I'm utterly enjoying introducing one of the biggest parts of my pre-married life to my husband and children. Thus far they seem to be enjoying it. We signed up for our activities for the week, then enjoyed dinner as a family. It's great to be with all my siblings and their families - something that doesn't happen often enough. And even though I am sleeping in a twin bunkbed, with my husband on the top bunk and me on the bottom, it feels like home. It's even more like home when I kick his mattress from below. He'll learn to love that by the end of the week.

Tomorrow is another big day, so I'm off to sleep. Wish me luck!

How I Spent my Summer Vacation: Day 2

Today was basically the calm before the storm. We spent the day relaxing, eating good food and enjoying eachother's company. We got plenty of sun, coveted ourselves in sand, and swam in the lake. Mid afternoon a huge storm rolled in, and we lost internet connection, so I haven't been able to get much out there visually. We ate monster sized burgers and hot-rubbed in the rain to end the evening. My connection is still really slow, so I'll leave it at that, and see if I can posh from somewhere other than my phone tomorrow.

Good night, and good luck!

How I Spent my Summer Vacation

I like summer. It is fun. We do lots of fun things in summer. I like to be with my family.

So, I probably can't do an entire post in third-grade styling, but that will be the basis for my end-of-summer extravaganza. This summer has been amazing for our little family, and this week will be no exception. Today started with an early plane ride across the country. The kids were amazing...and so was that blueberry scone. (Rob disagrees. If he wanted cardboard with a blueberry here and there, that's what he would have ordered.) Upon landing in one of my favorite cities, we accidentally loaded up the wrong rental car. The sweet lady at the rental car exit was kind, acknowledged the fact that we had already loaded up the kids, and said, "Enjoy your free upgrade!" Thank you, sweet stranger!

We immediately headed to our always-first-stop for the world's best hotdogs. Heaven. After a long period of gluttony, we went to vistit my almost 97 year old grandma. She's amazing. I hope I'm half as witty as her when I'm in my forties.

We left her house, and spent the evening root-root-rooting for my favorite team around: The Chicago White Sox. It was free tee shirt night, AND fireworks night.

It seems like everything is going our way. And THAT makes for an amazing summer vacation in itself.

A special shout out to my dad for the delicious lunch, and for sharing his tickets with us. Another shout out to Dan and Marissa for taking Maddie and Jude while we watched my all time favorite sport. And last but definitely not least, a big thanks to the sweet family taking care of my other darlings. I miss them, and hope they are behaving.

I'm typing from my phone, so no pictures today - I'll try to get some up tomorrow. It's also waaay past my bedtime - so forgive any autofill accidents. It's too late to be coherent, anyway.

Goodnight, my dear friends!

Another Segment

Starting tomorrow I'll be starting another little chapter on the blog.  It'll last about a week or so - but due to possible internet interruptions, I'm not sure I'll be able to blog every day.  I will give it my darndest, though.  Not because you expect it - or necessarily even want it - just because now I feel like I've started something, and the Virgo in me can't seem to drop it.   You might say I'm a little obsessed.  (If you didn't use the word might in your thinking - keep it to yourself.)


So yes - another adventure tomorrow...hopefully my little aching Momma heart can get past leaving these little faces:

I'll let you know how that goes.  {sniffle, sniffle}

This was my favorite moment from yesterday.  I turned the corner and saw Claire head banging and rolling all over to Jude's iPod.  At first I panicked - picturing her going deaf to something terrible like Taylor Swift (Just kidding everyone - remember, I have a six year old...we love Taylor Swift), but then I realized the music wasn't very loud - and she was actually rocking out to Queen.  She ended up head-banging the headphones right off her head, and then went completely hysterical.  Sweet Jude placed them back on her ears, and all was right with the world.

Man, I love these kids.  And boy, oh boy do I love their obsession with {good} music.  Makes me feel like I'm at least doing something right!

Something New

Last week I decided to break away from the same old five meals, and include something new and exciting at dinner.  I bought sweet potatoes, and researched sweet potato fries.  I have had them at a few different restaurants, and loved them - so it was high time I took the next step.

I found a recipe on one of my favorite sites, and went to town:

I sliced and seasoned  

I took the over-done close up shot

I baked them in the oven 

I set them on the table next to the burgers and condiments (thinking that the color contrast was fabulous)

Then I took one bite and learned that homemade sweet-potato fries are disgusting.

You win this round, Rob.

Live and learn, right?

Move Over "Whipstick"

Usually Ella goes for the "whipstick" or "cheeks" when I'm not looking - but I have to say, I didn't see this one coming.  

(Maddie: Um, mom?  Why does Ella look like a boy right now?)