Bend and the end (of summer)!

We had a great summer wrap up.  Noah was able to help out with another day of Karate Camp.

Then, we left on our last trip of the summer.  Off to Bend, Oregon!  We flew to Portland and then enjoyed the beautiful scenery as we drove to Bend.  We met up with our friend Jason, Meera, Kali, and Kirin at an awesome Air BnB!

The first morning we went to check out Tumalo Waterfall, it was gorgeous!

Hey, teenager, look like teenagers.... Yep, nailed it!

Then we headed down to the Lava River Cave, 1 mile trek into the cave.  It was 42 degrees in there, so we came prepared with hats and hoodies!  Sam LOVED it!

Sam must have run almost the entire mile in and out, he was beat afterwards!

Lots of fun had back at the rental too, these muscles made some homemade guacamole!

It was great to have evenings with other kids playing cards and watching the Olympics.  They are all a lot more fun to hang around with now that they are older!

Due to the dry conditions, we could not do a fire outside - but we modified our plans for s'mores!

The next day, we spent tubing on the Deschutes River.  It was a blast!

The following day, we bussed to a different section of the river for some rafting.  Everyone loved it!

We also spent lots of time with old man Dawkins.  He turns 16 this year!

Dinner out one night at a great place called "Bangers and Brews."

Noah claimed this chair from start to finish of this trip.

Sam did some massage work on the sore old people.

Even the backyard was a cool spot to hang out.

Noah begrudgingly allowed his hair to be done by Kali and Meera.

The last morning we had some fun recreating some poses from long ago.  Then we headed off, sad to leave our friends, but had a great trip and can't wait for more adventures next year!

On our trip driving back to the Portland Airport, we got a great view of Mount Hood.

Back at home, we had some last week of summer fun visiting the giraffes at Brookfield.

Sam was also able to use some birthday money to buy yet another stuffed animal.

And today marks the first day of 8th, 5th, and 3rd grade.  Can't wait to see what amazing things these guys do.  We are sad summer is over, but we thoroughly enjoyed every last bit.  Onward!

Sam is 11!

Our sweet Sam turned 11!  This year we surprised him a week early with a bounce house/water slide rental!

I think we managed to surprise him pretty well!  We also had a group of surprise guests that rolled in over the course of the afternoon/evening.

Aunt Philie came with a giant donut cake!

He was so thrilled that some of his friends from school came and some neighbor friends too!

Later in the day, the Bencola family showed up with their girls!

Birthday king!

In the evening, some of our family members came too, it was a great day!

Rocking his golf socks with his Arnold Palmer drink.

Lots of summer crafts.  He calls this one, "Captain America on a budget."

On his actual birthday, he wanted to spend the morning doing some fabric painting.  We had white hoodies and lots of paint.  It was so fun to see what they chose to design and how careful and thoughtful they were.  Craft projects are fun now, not just crazy disasters!

DQ ice cream cake, as requested!

They even kept adding pieces the next day, so fun.

On his last day of golf camp, they had a blast hitting water balloons instead of golf balls.

Just a cat being a cat.

Mike's buddy, Corey, drove out from Iowa for a visit.  There was much D&D playing and discussion.

Uncle Josh took Sam out to the driving range for fun this week too.

He really is the heart of our family.  Love you, sweet middle kid!

Michigan and more July fun!

We had a fantastic time in Michigan with Bamma, Josh, and Kjersten.  This year she rented a cool A frame house on sail bay and it was just perfect!

We enjoyed the bar set up in the kitchen quite a bit!

The bay area was gorgeous and we had a nice entry and pier set up.  Uncle Josh got a big pontoon boat for the whole week!

Kjersten got some boating tips (even if she really didn't need them).

Yep, I know how to slay while on vacation.  The sun shone right into the living room each morning, it was bright!

Lots of Emily snuggles!

Noah and CJ had a long kayak ride around the bay.

Double Rainbow!

Josh definitely smashed a toe and Pops sympathized by offering him a spare cane.

Having not seen most of these folks for 2 years meant catching up on growing children too.  Noah and CJ had some big growth spurts!

Maggie was a saint and kayaked around the island towing Sam and having Isaac as a passenger.

Lots of time down by the water with the rocks and the fish!

Noah and Sam both did some tubing too, here's Sam with CJ.

We celebrated some July/August bdays!

Love quality time on Diamond Lake!

We came home and Isaac had leveled up in swim lessons!

We did a trip to Brookfield Zoo.

We met up with our neighbor friends, the Bartels, too!

Sam has become a golfer!  Bampa and Uncle Josh gave him some clubs as an early birthday gift and he went out with Bampa to hit some balls!

This week, he has been doing a golf camp through the park district at Schaumburg Golf Club.

Looking good with our neighbor, Ben!

And the big news of the week was that after 22 months, Noah got his braces off!  Sticky candy and popcorn, here he comes!