Our trip to DC!

We had such a great trip to DC!  The kids are at such fun ages now, they can hang and explore without napping or diapers or strollers; yet they still like us and want to spend time together!  So, we headed out super early on Thursday morning and we were able to make the drive from home to our hotel in DC in one (long!) day!  We arrived, excited to be on vacation!

 Friday was our big monument day!  We strolled down Pennsylvania Avenue, and happen to pass the Mexican Embassy!

 We arrived at the White House!

 One of my brighter ideas of the trip was to reserve some pedicabs to take us around the monuments.  I really want to see a lot, but I knew little legs could only do so much!  So we met our two guides and headed off around the Tidal Basin!

 Jefferson did not disappoint!

 MLK was very inspiring!

 And Lincoln was one of our favorites!

 It was a great, sunny day, and not TOO hot (which is a sheer miracle for June in DC)!

 The boys were all pretty excited about the Washington Monument and pointed it out from several spots along our route!

 After our pedicab tour, we hit the Air & Space Museum!

 We also walked across the mall, and eventually made it to the Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights!  The kids were all troopers, we did about 6 miles of walking even with the pedicabs.  After all that walking, it felt good to go to the pool and get a shake at Shake Shack!

 The next day we went to the National Zoo.  The elephants were out and about and pretty close up!

 The pandas were a bit more coy and farther away, but we did see them!

 You can't see him, but one of the pandas is up in the tree above Sam!

 Isaac found his beloved meerkat (one of his faves!).

 The boys became expert Uber riders!  After the zoo, we went to the pool again and then got ready for Jeremy's party!

 Mike's buddy Jeremy (from Augustana College days) was married in January, but hosted a nice gathering to celebrate in DC.  Hence the reason for our trip.  Amber & Jeremy hosted us at Lincoln's Summer Cottage, just outside of DC near Fort Totten.  Really neat historic displays!

 Congrats Jeremy & Amber!

 Nick, Jeremy, and Mike - old roomies reunited!

 On Sunday, we were able to go by their home and spend time with Melly, the most adorable pooch!

 Noah and I took one more walk to the White House for a last glimpse and some shopping!

 Our last evening there was Father's Day, so we hit a nicer restaurant for dinner that even had cookie decorating for the kids!

 It was a very memorable trip, and we made it back home on Monday after another day-long drive.  Can't wait to plan our next adventure.  For now, we have returned to our calmer summer life at home.  This week the boys and I tried out a paddle boat at Volkening Lake, here in Schaumburg.

 Noah keeps progressing in karate and now has the blue "masters" uniform which signifies that he will continue on even after he earns his black belt.  This weekend, he tests for his brown with black stripe belt!

 This week has been very rainy around here.  Our vegetable garden loves it, as do the local frogs!

 Inside creative time results in all sorts of projects.  Sam has been experimenting with google drawings and created a pretty cute robot today!

So, there you have it!  DC was amazing and we are loving summer!

Yay! It's summer!

We are all officially on summer break now, woohoo!  We had a great May, and ended with some fun activities.  Isaac enjoyed his "home alone" time while he was out of school but everyone else was still in school (obviously still with babysitters around).  Most days were jammie days and saying goodbye at the front door required some additional gear!

Mike and I were able to go see U2 at the United Center.  It was a great show (even if it started late on a school night!).

Isaac enjoyed some last errands as my "helper guy."  I will miss having these fun days with a preschooler next school year when he is in all day kindergarten.

Sam took a BAD spill at school during recess.  The school nurse called me to let me know he bounced his face on a step, fortunately no major damage just a bad bruise!

The boys took advantage of the nice weather to try their hand at a lemonade stand.

Uncle Josh is taking a month long vacation from work and started by shaving off all his hair!

We were able to put Ellie's ashes in our backyard and place a memorial marker in a special spot for our favorite pup.  It's nice to have her spirit here at the new house!

We have gotten back to landscaping, which requires the trusty clippers to help clear out some overgrown bushes!

Memorial Day was HOT, which was great for swimming with cousins at Papa's pool!

Sam wrapped up his school year on a high note.  Yep, you can do ANYTHING!

Isaac was pretty happy to be playing back in the yard with some water.

We took advantage of one of the first days off to hit the zoo (along with thousands of other folks who had the same idea and 85 million some field trip groups).  It was a fun day with Josh and Bamma and the Worst crew!

The garden has really filled in nicely; the peonies in particular have been gorgeous!

The Roselle Rose Parade was super fun, we liked the Jesse White tumblers and all the candy!

The boys have a daily list of tasks to complete each weekday before screen time, now that summer is in effect.  One of the tasks is gardening, and Noah has been a pro trimmer, helping out with some tall viburnum.

We took our annual first trip of the season to Oberweis.  It was a tad chilly for the fountains, but the ice cream was delicious as usual!

One of our new craft activities that Sam has really taken off with is friendship bracelets.  He has really stuck with it and made some cool pieces!

After much delay, our roofing materials have arrived.  Now if we could just get the actual roofers to get here and do the dang job, we'd be in good shape!

Sammy had his special solo Bamma sleepover and it did not disappoint.  He talked about how much he "missed" the cheese balls I had specially purchased for the summer at our house.  So, of course, Bamma bought him an additional container just for her house!

There was lots of 1 on 1 snuggling time!

And special Juicy-O donuts for breakfast!  He is so lucky to have a Grandma that spends time with him all on his own!

Uncle Josh is off on a trip to South Africa and sent us a picture from his adventures!

After 5 amazing years with our wonderful nanny, we wanted to have a special dinner for her to recognize all her hard work and to thank her for kindness and patience.  So, each boy wrote a thank you letter for our beloved Mrs. Laura.

Mrs. Laura will still be available and willing to come by for occasional babysitting jobs, but not nearly as much as in the past with Isaac heading off to school.  It's a bittersweet moment, she has been such a blessing to our family.  But, we know she will always be part of our village!

The boys had such a great time having Mrs. Laura and her family over for dinner!  I'm glad I was able to get a few photos of them with this special person!

So on to the heart of summer and some more adventures!  Cannot wait!