Chicago

Larry and Cindy took our family and Brant and Amie's family to Chicago for the weekend. (Dale, Nancy, and Avery couldn't make it.) We left after running the Bix on Saturday. The first thing we did was go to one of Brant and Amie's favorite restaurants, P.F. Changs, for a yummy dinner (the lettuce wraps were soooo good). Then we headed to Navy Pier. We had fun seeing the boats, the city views, and interesting people. Jadon loved walking the city and seeing all the different vehicles. The next morning we played at the beach for a little while. Jadon was supposed to just get his feet wet, but bringing a child to water and saying "don't get wet" doesn't work. We ended up stripping him down to his diaper and letting him splash in the lake.

Chicago-2

On Sunday we went to the Children's Museum at Navy Pier. It had many different play centers for kids. Jadon and Kylie loved scooping ice cream and making pizzas. They rode an ambulance and bus, dug for dinosaur bones, and bowled.

Chicago-3

We really enjoyed Millenium Park, especially the fountain for kids to play in and this reflecting sculpture. On the last day, we took a bus ride to Lincoln Park Zoo. The bus ride might have been Jadon's favorite part of the whole trip. The zoo was fun. The highlight was watching the polar bears swim. They would swim right by the glass, look at the people, and blow bubbles. Our nephew Dylan got the biggest kick out of that. We ate lunch on the 95th floor of the Hancock and the last picture shows Jadon enjoying the view. This was a very kid-oriented trip and we enjoyed watching them delight in all the new experiences.

Dubuque

This past weekend the kids and I went back to Dubuque for a hometown visit. We spent a lot of time with my Grandma and also with my parents who were in town. Jadon liked running through the halls of Grandma's apartment and pushing all the buttons to open doors and operate the elevator. We went to some of my favorite local restaurants, Bishops and Happy Joe's. I saw my Aunt Janet and her husband John, as well as my Uncle Bob and his wife Mary from Colorado. Aunt Sue and Uncle Les had us over for a cookout and we had a lot of fun. My cousins Brett and Greg were there too; they were in town for some brother bonding. I enjoyed catching up with all of them. One of the trip highlights was taking Jadon and Leah to my favorite childhood spot, Eagle Point Park. All in all it was a good weekend for reconnecting with family and enjoying the kids.

Meet the Babies

This first picture of us Augie girls was taken back in January. Today we reunited to meet each others' babies and talk motherhood. At almost 5 months, Leah was the oldest kid in the room. Wendy's daughter Emily is almost 4 months, Kim's daughter Carly is 6 weeks, and Libby's son Joaquin is 6 weeks, too. Our friend Amy is due Oct. 31st and couldn't make it today. I guess 2008 is a good year for babies!

Lowden State Park

Two groups of our friends merged when Charity and Jeff's friend Greg started dating our friend Sarah. Now we get together with the Rouse's, Greg, Sarah, and Julie about once every month or two. Not only do we have fun together, but we spur one another on in our relationships with Christ. This weekend we spent a short time at Lowden State Park in Oregon, IL. We did a little bit of hiking and Jadon loved it! He was running on the trails and he would stop to study things that caught his eye along the way. Brian and I definately want to do more hiking with our kids.

Playdate with the Pauls

Today Wendy brought her 3 delightful daughters over for a playdate. I've been struggling a bit with having 2 kids and starting to question if I wanted to have anymore, but she restored my hope. And as Brian says, "What's a little more chaos?" It was fun to have some little girls over for a change. There was no fighting over cars and trucks. Also, Leah and Emily had a little baby playtime. Wendy and I were roommates freshman year of college and now here we are, 5 kids later, hanging out in my backyard. Living back in the midwest and having children has brought us Augie girls closer together and I'm enjoying those friendships as much as I did back in college, just in a different way.

4th of July

The 4th was actually pretty low-key for us since Brian had to work and we didn't want to subject Leah to fireworks. On Saturday, though, Jeff and Charity came to town. We always love hanging out with them. The fellowship and laughter are great! We all went to a cookout at Larry and Cindy's house that afternoon. On Sunday we went to church and the Petunia Fest. From here on out summer is going to be really busy, but fun. We have a lot of travel and visits coming up that we are looking forward to.

Petunia Fest

Every 4th of July weekend, Dixon hosts the Petunia Festival. This year we went to the Kid's Day at Washington School on Saturday and the parade and carnival on Sunday with Jeff and Charity. It was a lot of fun.