OK Laurie....I'm Updating!

These are all pictures from our recent trip to Chicago. This is a picture of G with her cousin J and Lake Michigan in the background. H at Buckingham fountain. And dinner at Bubba Gump's. We have eaten at every Bubba Gump's we come across. I don't think it's because of the food, I think it is because we like the trivia they ask you during dinner, OH, and to get a t-shirt from that location to add to the collection. There was also a Lego store near our hotel, so of course we had to go. H had never been in a Lego store (yes, we know he is a porr deprived child!) and he loved every minute of it.

The other big adventure was taking G to American Girl. What a day that was. I have never seen anything like. G had a great time, but I think I may have liked it even more. We had lunch in there and the dessert was a little flower pot and heart shapped cookie, so I had to take a picture! Here is G with her doll Mia having lunch. And the other picture is from when she was trying on clothes showing them off to her audience. She did get the pink heart dress and wore it to see Mary Poppins the next night.

This picture is of me, G, Mom, and Aunt Brenda. We now call her Annio. She wanted a nickname from the kids, so that is what they came up with for her.

I loved this picture. I told H to pretend the bear was right behind him sniffing him to see if he was tasty. In reality we were at the Field Museum. Chicago is a very fun town, but there was no way we could come even close to seeing everything there. I am glad we went on that vacation, because our trip to New York has been cancelled. P was picked up to go to RFO school at Cape D so off he goes, and we are all left behind with no plans! While he is there he is going to see all his friends nad make a trip to visit his Mom. Her surgery went well (she fell and broke her arm really badly) and meet his brother's new girlfriend! Swim team is finally finished. H came in first in his age group for backstroke in the state championships, so he is pretty pumped up for swim to start again. G did really well and took third in her age group, swimming a 25m backstroke in 30.18 seconds, which is very fast! I hope you are all enjoying your summer. We have had perfect weather all summer. Coast Guard Festival is going on right now and we have 250,000 people visiting our fine city to celebrate. I keep saying if they really want to honor our boys they should give them a pay raise. Take care everyone...see you all here next week!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

Happy 4th everyone! This morning G and I spent our time making ath of July garland for the front porch. I think it came out great and thought you would all like to see it as well. We painted all the paper, cut it into star shapes and strung it. G loved doing the 'Jackson Pollack' thing with the paper and I think she is now going to want to do this with every holiday. It truely inspired P, because he wanted to decorate the porch with all kinds of stuff. Melissa, you would be so proud of me. I hauled everything up from the basement and decorated the porch for less than one day of enjoyment!

A shout out to Michelle and her gang...Happy Birthday Kiddies! I hope you all have fun at Disneyland.

Bunnies

Here in the great state of Michigan we have all kinds of wildlife around. In our yard so far we have seen our Turkey's and their babies (they are back again this year), a coyote, squirrels (black and gray), possums, deer, crows, a weasel and three bunnies. Tongith I am going to tell you all a story about the bunnies...

Paul, His MoRose, Hayden and I were all sitting around the breakfast room table (next to the big picture window) playing Catch Phrase, when I happened to look out the window and saw our three bunny friends (Grace has named the Todd, Lily, and Snuggles). I commented to everyone "hey, look! there are the bunnies playing ring-around-the-stump"(tree stump in the yard) and made everyone look. Unfortunatly they were not playing ring-around-the-stump, Todd and Lily were playing "let's make more snuggles" I immediatly told the kids to sit down, but it was too late...they got a quick lesson in "oh, how cute...they are playing leap frog". We are not going to be pointing out the antics nature get up to in our yard anymore!

So, Paul's mom is here for a visit. It has been lots of fun. She doesn't like squirrel, so we are best friends! We have been shopping, sightseeing, eating, and going to yard sales. She is here until Monday and than she leaves and the kids and I go to Chicago for a week. Mark (my brother) is taking H to a cubs game and G and I are going to lunch at American Girl with my Mom. Yippee!!! G wants to get the Rachel doll because she is a "New Yorkie" and we are going there this summer.

I hope everyone has a happy 4th and enjoy's whatever fireworks you get to see!