West Coast visitors!

Well, Sam recovered from his amazing birthday weekend, just in time to get prepped for some fun visitors.  A trip to Walmart allowed him to spend some birthday money on a new shark!

Our friends the Desai-Gruenhagens were in town last week, and we really packed in the fun during their 5 days with us!  The first day we took it pretty easy, since their flight was so delayed they didn't make it to our house until 3am!  Friday night we had some friend over to visit.  Mini-ISU reunion!  

On Saturday, we walked by Legoland (scoping it out for a future trip!)

We also went to see the new Teen Titans Go movie, it was awesome!

And hit Portillo's for dinner!

Sunday morning, continuing with the gorging on special Chicago treats theme, I took the kids to Krispy Kreme Donuts!

On Sunday we also decided to actually go to Legoland for the morning, so much fun!

 Monday was our big "tourist" day; we headed into the city on the train!

 Saw the Flamingo sculpture while walking through downtown!

 First official stop was Buckingham fountain.

 We did a ton of walking, so we stopped by Lake Michigan to rest and enjoy the scenery!

We also tried out Maggie Daley park!

 And ended our big day at the Bean (aka Cloud Gate).  It was a great day in the city!

 So, after a fun time with our friends, we are back to usual summer activities, enjoying our last couple weeks until school starts up again.  Our garden has been great this year, yielding some big cucumbers!

Philie took the kids for the day on Friday, so I could help my mom out after surgery.  Seen here, she insanely took them all into Kohl's to go shoe shopping.  She is a saint!

 This weekend has been pretty relaxing, which is just what we needed.  Plenty of time for Legos and Nintendo Labo!

 Of course the HOTTEST day thus far was the day we had slated to go to Taste of Roselle.  Thank goodness they sell ice cream!

 Noah manned the karate booth for awhile and was especially hot in his uniform, but he survived!

So, off we go on to more summer fun!  Next up: the dunes and back to school prep!

Sam's birthday!

So, unbelievably, Sam turned 8 this week!  He opted for a Captain Underpants theme, so Mike got to work on his cake designs on Friday afternoon...

 He agreed, it was nice not to be working at 10pm at night, worth the half day he took off work!

 Philie's genius decorating idea, it was hilarious to see underwear all over the house.  Yes, they were clean and new underwear!

 Another Dr. Rodriguez masterpiece!

 Happy Birthday to our goofball and goodhearted Sam!

 During the party, discussion of "The Rock of Roselle" came up.  This is a rock in a parking lot that many people overlook and strand their cars on top of due to it's placement.  The Rock has it's own facebook page and it makes us chuckle.  Our friends the Townsends shared this phenomenon with us.  So, Mike had to get out the whiteboard to describe how this local site works to our family...

 On Sunday (his actual birthday) Sam awoke to some presents from us, including a Crate Creature, a disc swing, and a Pikachu blanket!

 Sunday we went also to Ravinia with my mom, my brother, and the Worst Family.  The CSO was playing Tchaikovsky and ended with the 1812 overture with cannons, so fun!

 Hattie and her lose teeth freak out Uncle josh!

 The excitement of my week was borrowing my dad's power washer.  I know these pics aren't exciting to anyone but me, but it was awesome!  I was able to do some cement, the whole deck, and part of our fence!

 You can really see the difference: right side is clean, left side is dirty!

 Sam has really been enjoying his gifts this week, loving the Legos!

So now we head into the end of summer with a 10 year old, an 8 year old and a 5 year old!  Looking forward to a visit from our CA friends this weekend!

Summer fun just keeps on rolling!

This week has been filled with pretty usual summer stuff!  We did swim lessons for Sam and Isaac.  Sam was a daredevil and did the high dive any chance he could get!

 Isaac still needs some more practice to feel comfortable in the deeper water.  Suffice it to say, we've signed him up for some indoor lessons in the fall.

 We did some backpack shopping in preparation of the school year and our new kindergartener!

 Bamma celebrated 7-11 with us!

 We tackled 6 Flags on a SUPER hot day!

 Sam was a bit traumatized by the "Battle for Metropolis" ride that featured a 4D joker that spooked him.  By the time we hit the teacups, he had recovered but you can still see the trepidation on his face!

 Sam found Sam!

 We met the Schwantzs and the Richmonds at the water park for some fun and ended the day with a funnel cake sundae!

 The next day, the Richmonds came our way and we did Bison's Bluff while Noah had karate.

 Then we went back to our house for more fun.  The moms reminisced about our trip to South Carolina way back in 2006 and even pulled out the old video for some laughs!

 The trampoline was a big hit, with even Mike and Bob making appearances!

 It was a late night of s'mores and firefly catching, so the crew was pretty sleepy the next day!

 Isaac was hit with a "party fever" the next day and had to sleep it off!

 Sammy has been working on his signature this summer.  Looking good, dude!

 Our garden has been blossoming beautifully and has been host to many butterflies.  There's a monarch in the middle there if you can see it!

 Barry the tortoise continues to eat and grow.  We finally decided to measure him so we can see how big he gets eventually!  He is 10 months old now and just about 3 inches in length (his shell).

 Mike got a new car this week, super nice!

 We hosted Mr. Xavier for a day this week, he was so much fun and loved watching swim lessons!

 My favorite 5 year old flower bringer!

 We got the copies of the professional pictures from the lake house/anniversary party and they are so awesome!

Here are the beautiful bride and groom!  Cheers to 50 years Lou and Mary Jo!

And now we prepare for Sammy's 8th birthday!