No More Training Wheels

Matthew has joined the ranks of two-wheele bike riding! He is fun to go to the park with...much faster than waiting for him to catch up with those training wheels on.

Good Job Mac--you worked hard to learn to ride your bike so well.

Fairy Tale Land

This is a picture of the kids last night as we headed across the street to a birthday party. The theme was princess (for an 8 year old girl) so my boys of course had to think of something they could go as. So, we found some "Narnia" costumes and ordered them...they have been playing in them all week and seeing as how much they love dress-up they were a great purchase!

Matthew even got to be a "helper" in the magic show...he is still not quite sure how three different colored scarfs went into his bag and he pulled out only one multicolored one!!

Boys in Orange

At any given day you might enter our backyard and see a scene similar to this....a little bit scary don't you think? Just kidding...Natasha was getting the boys to pose for her and they got a bit carried away and took themselves very seriously!

Update On the GI Joe Fort

I know that everyone has been waiting with bated breath for the update of the GI Fort so ..ta-da here it is. The boys are loving their fancy fort in their bedroom. Brett designed it so well that it even holds all the vehicles and men as well as serving as a great "base" for all the fierce battles that are fought here.

Here is an overview looking at a helicopter perched on the elevator that brings men from the bottom two floors to the top. You also see the jail with the lock on the door and a peak into the "command station".

These are some guys busy at work at their computer while checking out some maps for reference.
This is my favorite part....the medic hospital. We even have Medic (yes a real GI Joe) busy at work..the X-Rays are on the wall and a wounded soldier is lying in bed. At the foot of every bed there is a patient chart with real little charts in them.

Lots and lots of hours have been and will be spent with the fort!

Camping at the Burrs

A few weeks ago Brett and the boys went over to the Burrs for a campout. They have a beautiful big backyard just perfect for setting up tents and roasting marshmallow's. I think they all had a great time...and even got a few hours of sleep. Notice all the kids sleeping in the big tent....poor dads!



Thank you Brian and Sara for letting us have a fun sleep over!

Forest Lawn Scavenger Hunt

A few weeks ago we took the kids on a scavenger hunt in a beautiful cemetery. We got a chance to talk about a lot of history and if you see the picture above they took took it all so very seriously as they snacked on some Twizzlers!!

They had to find things like a grave with their name on it...or a police man or firefighter like below...
They each got to choose their most favorite grave....this one was Joshua's, it was shaped as a tree.
Brett found the oldest grave of the day (not sure if it the oldest one therereally) but is was the oldest we found that day 1776..pretty good.
Here is Brenna "writing down" some of her finds of the day.
This is Mac's favorite grave... it is really quite impressive. It is a mother and father statue standing over the grave of a son that they lost all encased in glass.
Me and Brenna in the "tunnel grave".

Summer Road Trip

This past month we went on a road trip through Canada, to Michigan and then down through Indiana to visit aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents! There were lots of photo ops in this trip but here is a highlight of a few!

Brenna smiling as she practices her "cheese" smile.
Daddy getting some hugs from his boys.

Mommy and the kids
The boys playing putt-putt
When you plan a road trip while potty-training a 2 year old always a good idea to bring a long a potty chair...it got good use on this trip.
Hotel Monkeys!
The pool, what else is there to say, it is really all that is needed on a vacation.
Aunt JoAnn & Uncle Jerry 's Home
Making sandcastles at a beautiful lake in Michigan...I do miss those Michigan lakes...white sandy bottoms for yard sand yards out with crystal clear water and NO SHARKS - so Brett was happy about that!
Yep, those were the largest cones we had ever had...really too big to almost hold. Thanks Jimmy and Diane for taking us there and adding some major calories to our diet that day.

Josh and Mac sure loved playing with their older second cousins Austin and Evan. They had tons of cool legos and lots of farm animals and dinosaurs so they were throughly entertained. Plus older boys are just pretty "cool".

We were able to spend an evening with Grandma and Grandpa Cripe.

And we went to dinner at their favorite Amish restaurant and visited outside after dinner while Brett fished and the kids ran around and we went for a buggy ride. It was a nice evening.

One side trip was to a mill that we used to go to as little kids. We spent the morning learning how the mill works, exploring the grounds and buying some freshly ground cornmeal...that means that there will be some fried mush for breakfast.


We finally made it down to Indiana and visited with some more grandparents. That was such a nice afternoon in their home.That evening we went out to my aunt and uncles home and was able to see my cousin Jill and her family who I have not seen in far to many years. The kids had a great time playing and running and most of all catching hundreds of lightning bugs - we do not have them this far north and this is a memory of living in Indiana that I will never forget so it was fun to watch our kids get to enjoy it.