Beginning Summer Fun

 Our summer has gotten off to a great start! We celebrated our friend Daren's birthday with a rooftop Cubs experience!

Mike's friend Corey led a D&D campaign for all the boys one evening.

I got to have a great brunch with dear friends!

Sam did a semester of summer school and began driving!

I took the boys into the city for the CSO!

Then we headed to Michigan (small town on lake michigan between South Haven and Saugatuck) with the Rodriguez fam.

Just after the above picture, Sam lost his phone on the beach. No signal, so we couldn't ping it. But thankfully Uncle Danny found it as we retraced our steps. Relief!

The house was super cool with amazing outdoor space.

We had some fun evenings and then Sam and I had to return home for his driver's ed. Mike and Isaac stayed a few more days.

Then the boys and I headed back to Michigan for the 4th of July on Diamond Island. The first night there had some CRAZY storms with high winds. A huge tree blew down on Uncle Dave's, fortunately everyone was ok!

We had to get some fun shirts!

My cousin Apryl had some fun signs ready at each cabin. It was a full house everywhere!

The parade theme was America's 250th, and the float this year was Washington crossing the Delaware!

After the parade, we enjoyed cocktail hours in the lake!

I enjoyed being the big NCAA basketball bracket winner along with Pops and Brad!

Lauren enjoyed her first fireworks (that she was awake for) with us. Sofia slept thru it like a champ!

Noah and Sam went tubing!

And we managed to get a scrabble game in amongst all the World Cup soccer matches. It was a great weekend!

Now we are back at home, preparing for our next adventure - Buffalo, NY and Niagara Falls! Can't wait!

Noah's HS graduation

So, we are near the end (or at the end for some people in this house) of the school year. Back in April, Noah got his wisdom teeth out.

Before graduating, Noah racked up some awards at Conant High School. During Honors convocation night, he was recognized for many accolades, including a departmental award from the administration department.

Sam returned to archery and is really enjoying it!

Noah opted not to go to prom and instead had a fun night out with some friends.

Noah and Vince were awarded the "Community Builders" award at the club honors night.

Last day of school for Noah!

Graduation was so awesome, he wore a stole made by some of the preschoolers from his early childhood class.

It was cool to see his name crawl across the screen.

Class of 2026, Noah Joshua Rodriguez!

Sam came home with quite the pottery collection from his art class!

Noah got to spend a day at Walker School with me as his shadowed an OT and a social worker for the day. Fun to have lunch with him!

So now we just clean up this school year and on to summer fun, can't wait!

Birthday bonanza

So the late winter/early spring has been filled with some band concerts and celebrations. Isaac had a concert that we all attended.

Sam also had jazz band and concert band concerts!

We celebrated my mom's 75th birthday with a gathering at Maggiano's in Oakbrook with many family members there, it was a fun night!

In less fun news, the basement flooded (again). This time it was a singular blown fuse that caused all the drama. The usual routine of pulling out the flooring, removing baseboards and running commercial dehumidifiers has become all too familiar. Thankfully now we have strong young people to help us with all the labor.

We celebrated Isaac's 13th birthday with a trip to Benihana's!

Happy birthday newly minted teenager!

Mike got himself a pottery wheel and has started throwing some pots. Sam has also tried too!

Kittens continue being cute (and naughty)!

And, we celebrated this guy turning 18! Can't believe we made it here, but dang he's a good one! Happy birthday dude!