Map Additions!

Wow did we have a great weekend! Paul's cousin Casey got married in New Orleans, so we packed up the car and headed down on Thursday. This will take many posts, but I will start with our trip down, which provided an excellent opportunity to introduce the kids to new states and add to their maps. We decided, however, that in order for a state to count you had to stop there (as opposed to merely driving through) and you had to have a picture. We did our best to make every state count!

Here we are at the welcome center in Missouri! At the welcome center we learned all about the earthquake zones of Missouri, which concerned Ben a little that we would experience an earthquake while we were there. Luckily, we did not. After a picnic lunch, we took a picture by this huge "rocket ship" as Ben called it. This is also the stop where Ben declared, "Seriously, this has to be the hottest city ever!" Little did he know we were only going further south to more heat, but to his credit, it was extremely hot there.

Next stop...Byram, Mississippi where we spent the night. It is just south of Jackson, which is where Paul spent his early years so it was fun to drive through and have him point stuff out to us. Although we travel a lot, it is always to see family so the kids were very excited to stay in a hotel. After some much needed jumping on the bed (they were in the car all day after all), we settled down for a movie and bed time. Alas, here is our only picture from Mississippi, but given the fact that we spent the night there, it definitely counts!

Party Party Party!

Abbey had her third birthday party on Saturday, but first we had to prepare for the party! Abbey really wanted an Ariel cake (she decided this after Ben's birthday back in February) and Aunt Theresa promised to make her one...but then Aunt Theresa moved to Alaska!! So, it was up to me to deliver a chocolate Ariel cake for my little princess and I was up to the challenge. Luckily, I had Madgie around to help too! Madgie mixed all the colors perfectly and I decorated the cake.

I think it turned out well and Abbey loved it!

Then the kids helped prepare the goody bags!

Then it was off to the party! We had it at a spray and play park close to our house that Abbey loves and it was a very good, hot day for it so it worked out perfectly.

She got to run around with her friends and have fun.

Luckily, Caroline was around to take care of Juliette...

Abbey and her Ariel cake! We got compliments on the cake from other people at the park that we didn't even know, so that was nice!

Time to open presents!

Juliette found her own little water pipe to play in!

Then it was time for hugs and goodbyes!

Thanks to everyone who came to Abbey's party - she had a blast!

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY ABBEY!!!

Abbey's Birthday!

On July 7, 2008 at 2:21 pm our little princess Abigail was born! So, we had to spend the day celebrating of course! Madgie and I took the kids to Pirates Cove, which is a small amusement park perfect for kids their age. Ben has been asking to go all summer and it was a nice day so it made for a great time to go! Abbey wanted to go on the merry-go-round first! She went all by herself without anyone holding on to her...I guess all that experience at Disney really paid off!

Then they rode the little train. You can't really see it in this picture, but Ben and Abbey held hands as it started - it was cute!

Wave to Mommy!

Ben did the climbing wall for the first time and actually did pretty well. He got about half way up and then decided to let go and enjoy the ride down!

The big slide is lots of fun - Madgie and the girls doing it while Ben was on the climbing wall.

Then we all went. Note, Juju's face looks like she is not enjoying it, but she did ask to go again so I think she did like it.

The paddle boats were Ben's favorite. Juliette seemed to be ok in it on her own...

Until another boat bumped hers and she immediately started crying! The lady running it had to go pick her up and bring her to me. I asked her later if she wanted to go back in the boats and her immediate answer to a definitive No!

Abbey enjoyed it though. Like I said, it was Ben's favorite but I couldn't get a picture of him doing it because he spent most of the time going as fast as he could and usually ended up in the far corner of where I was standing to take pictures.

Then we did some arts and crafts before calling it and day and heading home for naps.

That night, we went to Chilis for dinner at Abbey's request (she likes their guacamole) and then to Ben's t-ball game. After t-ball, we went to DQ for ice cream and presents!

Someone really enjoyed her ice cream...do you see chocolate on her face???

Ben enjoying his vanilla with sprinkles (sometimes I wonder how he could be my child when he chooses vanilla over chocolate)...

Yum!

Then time for presents!! Happy Birthday singing bear - a big hit!

Ariel dolls!

We only opened a few family presents on her actual birthday because her party was still yet to come...stay tuned!

Strawberry Picking

Well we have had quite a week with Madgie and Patch visiting! On Tuesday everyone was pretty tired from all the fourth of July festivities, so we had a low key day. We did go to a children's concert in the park, which was perfect for our kids' ages, however, they were just a little too tired to really get into it and just watched most of the time. We had a nice picnic, but came home early to get to nap.

On Wednesday, we decided to venture out to a strawberry farm a friend recommended to me. It was at the very end of strawberry picking season, so the fields were pretty picked over, but we were able to still pick a ton and have fun doing it. Madgie shows Juliette what we are looking for...

Ben and Abbey took off with Patch and got really into finding the best strawberries and filling their baskets. Juliette stuck close to Madgie and helped her for a while.

Ben was an expert strawberry finder and quickly filled his basket.

Abbey did a great job too!

Juliette finally got into it on her own without Madgie's help, but her basket never got full...she just picked and ate! The only thing she put in her basket were half eaten strawberries! Needless to say, she was a mess by the time we were done, but she was quite happy too!

This was a great activity with the kids. It was nice because the plants were on the ground so they could pick what they wanted (as opposed to when we go apple picking and they need help to get the high ones). We may have to make this a new yearly tradition, but probably try to go a bit earlier in the season.

The farm also had sugar snap peas, so we picked a bunch of those too. Here is our final inventory! The kids actually really liked the sugar snap peas and have been eating them raw and the strawberries were a big hit too. Unfortunately, the strawberries started to go bad quickly, so Madgie washed and cut them all (not an easy task, so thanks for doing it Madgie) and we made strawberry jam after about two days. It turned out pretty good, but didn't gell quite as much as we wanted. Next time we will add pectin, but seeing as how this was a last minute idea to not waste the strawberries, we didn't have that on hand to add. Oh well, it is still good even if it did end up a bit soupy!

Happy July 4th!

We have had quite a weekend celebrating! Madgie and Patch flew in on Saturday evening and Sunday morning Patch and I got up to run the Arlington Heights Stampede 10K. Madgie, Paul and the kids all came out to cheer us on. Then it was time for Church and a great brunch at our favorite pancake place. After naps we headed over to the Kurby's to celebrate Joey turning 3! They had an awesome water slide set up and the kids had a blast. Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera, but Happy Birthday Joey!!

Then came the morning of July 4. The kids got all dressed in their most patriotic gear and we headed for the Arlington Heights parade (a yearly tradition now).

Abbey posing by our flag (with her candy catching bag ready for the parade).

Here are the cousins ready for the parade (Tim and Andrew came too, but they didn't sit on the curb or rush out to get candy).

Juliette sat with Patch to watch and wave at the people in the parade.

Then she got up to catch some candy...luckily Cousin Caroline was more than happy to hold her hand and help her learn this process.

Then the Weck's joined in the fun with us - here are Aiden, Ben and Abbey watching the band march by.

All the kids... Caroline, Juliette, Connor, Aiden, Ben and Abbey.

Juliette really enjoyed waving the flag.

Then it was back to our house for an all-American cook-out, including some summer backyard fun with the Slip N' Slide!

And the water table too!

A great day - Happy 4th of July America!!