Beginning of the school year 2024

We finished out the summer with a couple fun outings.  We made it to Pequod's Pizza for a lunch, it was awesome! 

I had a lovely dinner with Philie and Kelly!

Noah was the first to return to school for his first day of Junior Year!

The cats adjusted to days alone and daily forced reunions when people get home from school.

Isaac headed back for his first day of 6th grade - our last year with a Nerge Knight!

Sam enjoyed a day of golf before he got started!

And then he was off for his first day of 8th grade!

We had a fun visit with Lauren, she demanded that they all swing!

Sam's 8th grade band performed at Schaumburg's Septemberfest over the Labor Day weekend.  The weather was beautiful!

And we hosted a Rodriguez Family pickleball tournament.  It was fun watching the original 4 siblings play, and no one got hurt!

Stayed up to watch the Septemberfest fireworks from the front yard.

And Sam had a very successful return to archery! On to all the fun of fall!

Maybe a new tradition of early morning coffee with cats - we will see!

Summer: Part Two!

So our trip to Canada was incredible!  We flew from Chicago to Calgary and then drove to Canmore, where our rental was.  We spent 5 days with our friends the Desai-Gruenhagens from California.  We were able to drive into Banff and take several scenic hikes!  Isaac was ready!

Sam celebrated his official 14th birthday while we were there!

The group was so fun and it's been great for all the teenagers to reconnect!  This year we had Meera's niece Elena join us too, she was so great!

My pictures are completely out of order, but we did one rainy trip on a bus to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake!

Sam joined the "higher hiker" club and went up to the top at Moraine Lake!

Lake Louise was beautiful too!

Many of of the local small lakes were also really beautiful.

We sampled many Canadian treats - but this one is Sam's own creation of a monster oreo.

We spotted some wildlife throughout our trip.

Awesome waterfall!

Lots of evening card games!

We found a local German place for dinner one night.

A great lake hike not far from our condo!

There was a wildfire north of us in Jasper that caused an evacuation and a lot of damage.  We were safe, thankfully, but you can certainly see how smoky the air was!

Gotta have Tim Horton's!

Evening puzzle action too!

We tried out some beaver tails - delish!

Downtown Canmore!

Just amazing views even walking to dinner!

We tried many Canada only chip varieties, including ketchup!

Isaac got his poutine fix!

These kids were so great and really enjoyed hanging out all together, it was an amazing trip.  We are already plotting summer 2025!

Now back at home we are trying to enjoy some last minute fun before all the business starts up.  We went to Raging Waves this week and Noah go his float on.

Sam and Isaac did a lot of slides, even some of the big big ones!

We also tried out a local boba place - excellent!  Sad that these impromptu outings will be ending soon, but we sure made the most of it!

So we stand ready for all the new challenges this 2024-2025 school year will bring our way!  Here we go!

Summer: Part one!

 So the beginning part of our summer has been phenomenal!  We have had plenty of time for small and big things.  The younger two have been so pleased that the local Costco has had some sushi recently!

We have had plenty of time for kitty snuggles!

Sam, Isaac and I did an early trip up to the lake for some indoor and outdoor fun.

This was Isaac's first go at tubing and he did great!  Thanks to CJ for being a good sport and going along.

We had more fun with Lauren back at home too.

Isaac has been my hard worker and is always up for a good cleaning project!

Sam and I work workshopped some recipes for the upcoming skewer cooking competition.  We did a cinnamon roll/bacon combo and ended up tying for 2nd!

Isaac wanted to try out some strawberry rhubarb pie.  New apron from Aunt Kim!

More forced kitten snuggles.

Isaac headed back up to the lake for a longer stay with Bamma.  He and Pops had projects!  Their main one was making a small c table for our couch.

It turned out awesome!

He also showed off his bartending skills making mocktails!

Noah, Sam and I arrived on the 4th to try out some of the work.  Noah looking exquisite in a tinkerbell towel turban.

Sam woke up at noon to test it out too!

Lauren arrived just in time for some puddle jumping!

Isaac helped out with the float construction too.  This years theme was Halloween, so he wore is hot dog costume.  Naturally!

Sam also looked the part!

Fog/bubble machine for the win - thanks to Aunt Philie!

That night we stayed up for the fireworks and some sparkler and glow stick shenanigans!

Back at home, we tackled some aggressive landscaping - including taking down a tall, dead pine tree.

Noah learning how to use a chainsaw.

Isaac tried his hand at peach cobbler!

Sam and Mike took a trip up to Michigan with the Rodriguez family and had a great time.

We celebrated 7/11 with the usual slurpee.

And just yesterday we did an early birthday party for Sam with game bus rental.  It was awesome!

Happy 14th (almost) to our family comedian!

Now we prep for our 2nd part of summer complete with Mike off work (switching jobs) for 3 weeks and a trip to Canada!  Can't wait!