Last week of Summer

With Dillon starting real school--KINDERGARTEN--this year, we tried to take advantage of our last week of freedom. On Wednesday we hit the Indiana Dunes with friends from church. It was a gorgeous day---sunny enough to get a little burned :( I love being with my boys!

Dillon was in the water THE WHOLE TIME. He loves swimming!

Wesley, on the other hand, really liked sitting in the shade, eating grapes!A couple of the girls that often babysit the boys were there as well. Dillon loved hanging with the big girls!

The second outing of the week was to the Children's Museum. After completing the summer reading program with the library, we got free passes, so we decided to check it out. Dillon went straight to the water area and had a blast!

Despite the cute little aprons, he got soaked!

So I sent him into the wind tunnel, but that just made him really cold. Poor guy.

Wesley loved the little wind pipes...

...and the colorful shapes.

And we all got nice and sticky in the bubble area.

A children's museum wouldn't be complete without cars just their size.

Great day. Glad to go with good friends. I'll miss the flexible schedule that allowed for fun trips like these. Then again, my house will probably start looking a little cleaner when I spend a little more time there!

Summer Fun

With summer coming to a close, I thought I'd post a few random pics of some fun summer activities I haven't yet documented.

Second cousin bonding

Rainy Parades

Pre-K Club

Swimming...

swimming... and more swimming

Soccer

Kite Flying

Swimming lessons

Splash park

And some of the best summer hours were spent coloring on the driveway with neighborhood friends.

It's been a fantastic summer. I think we're all going to go through withdrawals. Just tonight the air felt a little cooler in the evening and I felt my anxiety rise, knowing what is ahead...

Weekend in Wisconsin

This last weekend, we took a little trip to stay at a cute little farm house in the Middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin. The best part was meeting up with our dear friends from Virginia who now live in Minneapolis. Dillon and Lorelei picked up right where they left off. The moment they saw each other they were giggling and having a blast doing something as simple, and helpful, as carrying things into the house.

It was so awesome to just be outside (minus the bugs). No TV, no computers, just together time.

The farm was beautiful.

We had fun biking...

swinging...

eating fresh donuts from an Amish bakery...

picking blueberries...

swimming in the lake...

(sorry these are so small. I guess that's what happens when you steal them from Picasa!)

And just being with friends.

We attempted a little photo shoot while we were still in our church clothes on Sunday. It was obviously a little too bright for me and Dill.

My handsome boys

An attempt at a group shot

And another little one. I'll try to fix these later.

We had a great time. It was truly relaxing. Halfway through the trip I realized I hadn't looked at my watch once. We just ate when we were hungry, slept when we were tired and played as much as possible. The kids were adorable together. Wesley was very careful to keep the rest of us quiet when Violet was sleeping. "Shhhh, Bilet seeping!" And Dillon and Lorelei played perfectly---no arguing, just a lot of fun. Thanks for coming, guys. We miss you already. Let's do it again soon.

Pirates' Cove

This last weekend was awesome. Aaron came home at 6:00 on Friday!! We walked down to the station to meet him and then just walked across the street to a great little taco place for dinner. Then we walked home and played in the yard for a bit before heading in. Such a simple night, but awesome to have some time together before bed. I miss that.

Saturday morning we went to Pirates' Cove. It is a tiny little children's theme park about 1/2 hr away. Our kids are the perfect ages for it. They LOVED it!

We started at the dragon slide.

Bet you can't guess their favorite part...... THE TRAINS! Dillon was strong enough to get himself around the whole track. Wesley could barely reach the handles, but he still loved it! Wesley is so funny in the bounce house. He can't stay on his feet for more than 5 seconds but he's laughing the whole time. The boats were super fun too. Once again, Wes couldn't really paddle himself, but he still liked floating around. Dillon, on the other hand, really got the hang of it, turning, reversing, and loving every minute.

Who doesn't love slide races?!

Wesley really loved it.

He likes his dad a lot -- so do I!

Dillon even tried out the climbing wall. Despite the sweaty hands he inherited from his mother, he got up a good 8 feet before asking to come down.

Wesley was proud of his brother.

And you can't have a children's theme park without a carousel.

Wesley heard some other child say "Yee Haw" and he was yelling it the rest of the ride.

Best part of the day -- having daddy with us!

It was an awesome family weekend. I love being with my boys. We potentially have another fun weekend ahead so stayed tuned . . .