Downtown "Chi- town"

We had a fun weekend! We went downtown after church on Sunday. We ate lunch at the old Rock and Roll McDonald's in the heart of downtown.


I took this picture while we were stopped in traffic on Lake Shore Drive. I just love the old architecture of these buildings!



It was a beautiful day! We love Chicago!

Ty on Two!

Tyson learned to ride his bike today without his training wheels! This was a big celebration at our house! Trevor was so proud of him! Dad and mom got tears in their eyes! Way to go, Ty!

Our camera isn't working, so Adam took this picture and the video from his phone. (We need to give a big shout out to Amy C. for helping us figure out how to post it!)

Fun Stuff

Here we are after 14 years of wedded bliss. We celebrated our anniversary on Aug. 5th. This was taken by our babysitter before we went out for dinner.


As a team building exercise for work, Adam's group played "Wally Ball". At least it was better than making sock puppets...


We took the kids to Six Flags last week before they had to return to school! We went with our cousins, Griffin and Brenden. We had a blast at the amusement park and the water park! Trevor loved the roller coasters! The bigger, the better, according to him! He had no fear! His favorite ride was the Iron Wolf, a roller coaster where you stand up to ride and do several loops! Tyson was mad that he was not tall enough! Luckily, Adam and Uncle Nick were willing to ride with Trev as the rest of us were chickens!


We went to the White Sox game on Sat. It was US Cellular day and Adam had gotten tickets from work. I think the boys liked the peanuts and the popcorn the best!

Day 1 of Grade 2

Trevor started 2nd grade today! He is in Mrs. Noble's class along with all of his friends from last year. His class is smaller, so there is only one 2nd grade class.


He was not nervous at all! He was excited to see his friends and play at recess!


Tyson and I couldn't wait to pick him up from school. Trevor was waiting with his buddies Sam and Luke. Tyson missed him so much!


Here are several of the 2nd graders from St. Peter! Trev says it is going to be great year and that he is going to love 2nd grade!

I cried this morning saying good bye to him! "Bye, Mom!" he yelled as he ran out of the van and headed toward the building. I was so proud of him for not hesitating or being worried. I just can't believe this is that little baby boy we so gingerly brought home from the hospital. I used to spend countless hours just rocking him and staring at him in amazement. I still think of him as that little toddler that crawled around in his Batman jammies, wearing his "goo-goo goggles" and playing with his "weedy weeder". He is growing up so fast.

Oh, the days seem so long, but the years are short!

Wet N Wild

The boys loved to play in the pool at the hotel while we were on vacation!


The 100 foot water slide was their favorite! It took Tyson a few days before he would go on it, but after that he loved it!


It was fun to play in the rushing current of the water. Ty had to grab on tightly to the handle and work his way back to ladder. If he missed the ladder, he had to float all the way down to the shallow end to get out.


We had a great time! After a long day of fun excursions, it was nice to relax and play in the pool together.

Badlands

The Badlands were beautiful, but it was SUPER windy that day!


Trevor was "blown away" with how awesome it was! He called them "lasagna rocks" because you could see the different layers.


We didn't see any rattlesnakes, but we did see a lot of snakes slithering through the grass!


They loved climbing on the huge, steep rocks in the canyon!

Deadwood

Get your guns up! Deadwood was a cool, old, wild west town!


They did a reenactment of a shoot out in the street. All the children are getting sworn in my the sheriff.


Sturgis, the motorcycle rally, is coming to town! Can't ya tell? I have say though, we all became biker fans on this trip! It was fascinating to see all the different bikes from all over the country! I think they have around 60, 000 come a year!


This bike was in front of our hotel. They boys thought the bones and the dragons on it were super cool!

Diggin' for Gold

We visited the Broken Boot Gold Mine in Deadwood, SD. (That is the town where Wild Bill is legendary and buried.)


The boys got to pan for gold...and they both actually found some! (About $3.00 worth...)


We are having a lot of fun with Pop and Mamie!

Faces and Creatures

We visited Mt. Rushmore. The day started out so bright and sunny, but then it began to storm pretty badly! It was weird to see the faces on Rushmore look like they were crying.


They boys thought Reptile Gardens was wonderful! They got to pet snakes, watch an alligator show, and see all types of reptiles!


Tyson loved the giant tortoises!


We went to a really cool museum that displayed many of the dinosaurs that were found in South Dakota, including Sue, the giant T-Rex at the Field Museum in Chicago!