Rodeo and more classic September!

 Boy, September sure went by fast!  We went to the annual Labor Day Parade that is very close to our house, it was fun!

 Sam and I did a Taco Bell date!

 One of the highlights of the rodeo this year was meeting the Schwantz's new puppy, Lucy.  She's a tiny cutie that all the boys adored!

 Hats ready, it's Fort Madison Rodeo time!  First up, the parade!

 Never ceases to amaze me how many kids we all have now!

 Becky was a very brave grandma and did tie dye with everyone!

Rodeo time!  It was a perfect night for the traditional flag fly in!

 Sam's usual highlight, the cotton candy!

 Noah found the funnel cakes and was super pleased!

 Isaac enjoyed seeing all the animals.  It was by far the muddiest year yet!

 Bear Down!

 Gotta line them all up by age again!  Can't wait till next year!

 Isaac's fall activity of choice is indoor swim lessons.  He's still a little fearful, so we thought this would be a good pick.  His teacher, Lexi, is very sweet with him!

 Recent mom gathering, the picture of the moms is funnier than the picture of the kids!

 Mike and I upgraded to new phones, portrait mode FTW!

 Picture day ready!

I was fortunate enough to go to the annual Closing the Gap conference in Minnesota with some awesome coworkers!

 This year was especially neat because we did 2 presentations!  It was a lot of work and practice and nerves, but I think they turned out great!

 It was a long 4 days to be away, but it was fun too!  When I got home we celebrated (my return and the end of a LONG consequence Sam was serving) with a special trip out to the arcade and for ice cream!

 Life is sweet with these guys!

Looking forward to all that October has to offer with Halloween and more!

A good start!

We had a nice last week of summer vacation with a trip to the Dunes with the Worsts!

 Sam's little body does great work in tight plumbing spaces!

 A few last trips to the pool, Sam was his usual daredevil self!

 Our garden has been pretty successful this year, the broccoli grew nicely!

 I took the boys to visit the Highland Queen, a restaurant in my old hood.

 Sam is also an expert basil harvester!

Sam enjoyed a sushi dinner with Bampa!

 Our very last fun thing was a trip to Rockin Jump, the trampoline park.

 Sam and Noah loved the dodgeball area!

 And then, they were off!  Noah and Sam started 5th and 2nd grade.  Nerge School starts the older kids first for a week and then starts the kindergarteners a week later.

 Off on the bus!

 Isaac enjoyed his own last week of vacation with Bamma, Bampa, and Mrs. Laura!

 Then, this week, it was finally his turn.  He was thrilled to go off to all day kindergarten!

 No more preschoolers in this house, all big guys!

 He's been waiting a year to ride the bus with his brothers!

 Here's his picture from his first day, equal parts adorable and terrifying!  By all accounts it was a good start to the 2018-2019 school year!

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!