One last Zoo visit ....

our membership expires tommorrow :D After the trip to the zoo we stopped in at the Fractured Prune Donut shop - Yummo! The kids had never been in the store before and i thought they would enjoy the visit!

The start of summer dance

today was alyssa's first day of dance. The dance team is required to attend a summer session. This is her first official dance team participation. She looked so pretty in her new leotard and skirt.

Auntie Monica's sweet little ray of sunshine! Isnt she a doll! Took some bribing to get these photos but they were soooo worth it!

We always have a great time with grandma and grandpa. This year Andrew and Grandpa got to play a round of golf together, which he is still talking about. While the boys were golfing the girls went to a Movie. While we were in the movie the fire alarm was pulled or went off. The evacuated the theater. The girls are still talking about this too :D

we sure miss grandma and grandpa and are glad we were able to spend some time with them!And Andrew is willing to bet that on the next visit he will be taller than both grandmas

A trip to the big city

Getting to downtown Chicago from Kevins parents is so easy. They live about a mile from the metra station. Hop on a train , no parking, no traffic, no stress..... can actually carry on a conversation with my kids or on this trip my cousin Debbie.

This adventure into the city included our favorite "usual stops" like American Girl and The Hershey Store and we added a few new things that might become some of our new favorites. Including Millineum Park, a water taxi ride down the Chicago River, and Ed Debevicks .

On a another note. Today is our anniversary, 13 years of wedded bliss. On this day in 1995 Kevin and I became Mr. and Mrs. This was the hottest day ever recorded in Chicago History. This is also the first time Kevin and I have been apart on our anniversary.

Happy Birthday to ...... everyone !

We decided to have a group birthday party for all of the summer birthdays. The June birthdays are my sister Nicole, her daughter rachel(3), Alyssa(9), and Aryn(7). July birthdays are my mom and Joshua ( both on July 12th) . Joshua turned 1. And Miss Jessie will turn 1 in August. We also celebrated Andrews birthday even though he doesnt turn 12 till September.

We went to Lake Menitonka near my mom and sisters house. The highlight of the day was the water snake that came up on the beach just a few feet away from me and all the kids ! Talk about an abrupt end to our fun! :D

cards for the Everybody Birthday party!

Good to have some time to be creative again! :D

We are back from the beach. No one got too sunburnt and no close encounters with sea life. The weather was great and the sun was hot! The kids had a great time playing in the water. We were lucky on Monday that the tide was low.... Andrew walked out a good 400 yards and was still only waist deep.

i of course enjoyed my soft shelled crab sandwich and Andrew discovered Nada Colada (silly boy had 3 )