The things they say . . .

We saw an interesting sight yesterday when two firefighters, dressed in fire gear, carrying tanks on their backs went running down the sidewalk. I believe they were training for something because they were maintaining a leisurely jog and not a frantic rescue pace.

Carra turned to us and remarked, "Hey, look! Those fire hydrants are running!"

Hmmm. We didn't notice any frustrated dogs following close behind . . .

Cooper and Brice....

Check out Grandma's new pet!!

Grandpa found this in the barn. Kitty or Fraidie caught him mid air!!

The trip

The kids and I ventured out to Michigan a few weeks ago to attend a small family reunion. I didn't include those pictures here because they are mostly my kids with people you've never met. Of course, I didn't know some of them either. If you want to go and see those pictures, you can go here.

The reunion only took up about 5 hours of the entire weekend.

Here is a look at some of the other fun moments we had on the trip. . .

Here is the task to be conquered.

Castle Rock.
164 steps to the top.

Fresh and ready to go . . .

Halfway up - and still smiling . . .

At the top. Owen is hyper. Carra is out of sorts.
A fun time to be sure . . .

Everyone at the top.
Notice how Owen still isn't just standing with the kids for a picture.
He is finding something else to climb.

Halfway down. That was the easy part . . .
(Oh, and Owen sat . . . for 2 seconds, but he sat.)

When I was a kid, I swore it was longer to the top. I also don't remember everything fenced in . . .it is funny how your perspective changes when you are taller.

Ahh, memory lane.

The trip continued . . .

And here are a few more pictures . . .

These are from our 20 minutes at the lake. (That's not an exaggeration)

Friends or cousins? The pressing debate continues . . .

Practicing for Baywatch ???

Ryan teaching Elaine how to fly.

Note that we were just getting our feet wet . . .

The cold walk back to Grandma's house.

Rest stop.
Happy to be free from the vehicles!

Long Draw Bull Moose

Long Draw Fishin' Trip

The fish weren't bitin' at all, the lake was already covered with dead bugs.

Dad and I were the only ones to catch a fish.

Cooper had an absolute blast!

Imaginations . . . .

She found a picture and created an outfit to "match."

Any ideas of who she is supposed to be? (The yellow shirt is supposed to give her a blond ponytail.)

Vacation

We are back from our yearly trek to Galena. This year we actually came home wishing we could have stayed longer! A rare finish for us. I guess that means it was a productive vacation.

Here are a few of our weekly highlights:
1. Our previous tours of the Galena hospital were over-rated. This year, we decided to keep it quiet, leave the ambulance at home and actually relax this vacation. We are happy to report NO broken bones and NO stitches. Lots of band-aids - but no emergencies!

2. "Slug [snail] shells smell like cow poop." That little piece of trivia is courtesy of Carra.

3. Sunfish prefer the pretzels over the corn and rice squares in Chex Mix. Finally! Someone to eat the pretzels left on the bottom of the bag!

4. Galena is small town, country folk so everyone "waves" to you as you drive by raising their pointing finger. Carra wanted to know why daddy was giving everyone the #1 finger when we drive . . . . at least it was better than another finger . . . .

5. Carra has perfected the belly-flop!






6. I know all our pictures are of the kids in the water - but then, that is all we did!

7. The kids discovered that I have a remote for my camera. They aren't allowed to touch the camera - so they had fun with the remote instead!

8. The frogging stance is important to the success of the hunt. Only having a kitchen strainer to capture the frogs is somewhat a letdown though. It didn't work well. . . but he kept trying!

9. While Carra perfected the belly-flop, Brice perfected the flip.









10. Buff floats.







11. The fishing lesson. Lasted about 10 minutes. The lines tangled and fishing was over . . . .

12. If Owen is given the right tools, he can conquer anything. Give him a life jacket - and he has no fear of the water (eventually). He became known as Owen "I'm doing it" Powers because he was so excited to be swimming in the deep end with the big kids.

We also went for a walk one evening. Armed with 2 ball point pens and a flyswatter he joined us as we went "hunting". Apparently we were looking for lions, giraffes and elephants. Fortunately, we didn't see any in northern Illinois. Probably just the wrong time of the year.