We had the coolest birthday party to attend today! Grant is turning 5 and celebrated with a ride on the East Troy Railroad.
These three big guys were thick as thieves and even let me get a couple of pictures.
Teague’s first night in the boys’ new room.
Pop is here to read the bedtime story.
Teague arrived home today and we decided to go ahead and measure the boys (a few months late). Teague was so excited to be taller at age 5 than Alex was at age 6. It turns out we might have a tall one in our family…
No words…
(Except maybe we need some larger costumes.)
Headed home!
Pop comes up with the best games.
I think both these girls enjoy having another girl next door.
I love the Judy and Jerry kept so many of Wade and Emily’s old toys (and that they are in amazing shape)!
The kids love to go up in the attic and choose something new.
They love to play in the shop. Today Wade encouraged them to clean up after they were done.
Just hanging out in Kaitlyn’s new princess tent.
A very successful fishing trip.
Picnic with her babies.
Mischief Makers.
We went to our neighbor’s tonight for s’mores. Before long the kids were in the pool and Kaitlyn had discovered the slip ‘n slide. She was pretty quick to figure out how it worked!
Helping with the chores – and who wouldn’t if they got to play in the rain too?
Cut. Cut. Cut.
(Today I decided to see if all her cutting had taught her anything useful.)
Obviously this particularly activity is awesome because I have pictures of both boys (on separate trips) trying to fly the plane.
(see Alex here)
With a week free of anything scheduled, we headed to Milwaukee to see some old friends!
But I think Kaitlyn was there only for the snacks.
We took a trip to Milwaukee and spent the morning at the pool!
We had a great vacation, but we missed the beach! Alex, Kaitlyn, and I spent the morning there making sure nothing had changed in our absence.
(I can’t imagine where Kaitlyn got the idea to wear her sunglasses on top of her head!)
This kid is in heaven (even if his facial expression here isn’t showing it)!
This cracks me up because neither of them ever wears slippers, but today they both wanted them.
The growth chart has been sitting in the closest since we moved. It is finally on the wall – just in time for Kaitlyn’s 2 year mark!
Granny and Pop obviously aren’t keeping Teague well entertained. He looks so bored…
We finally finished the painting and got the new door hardware for the boys’ room. We moved all the furniture over today and tonight Alex sleeps in the new room!
Testing out the boys’ new room.
I want to document for Kaitlyn that her fashion sense began at an early age.
Tea party – but I’m not sure at who’s request.
It’s obvious from this picture that Teague is missing us terribly and wants to come home immediately.
(Teague is spending the next week in Collierville with Granny and Pop.)
I took this picture mostly for the railroad track. No one appreciates the time I spend to build the track on demand and then it is either played with for a few minutes and forgotten or immediately destroyed. The life of a mom is hard.
Accidents happen. It turns out all the adults make a little mistake in reading the fine print on our rental agreement. Wade found the house we are renting for our vacation week. Judy and Jerry make the actual reservations. They then sent a copy of the reservations to Emily, Wade, and myself. Of all five adults, no one realized that the reservations ended today (and not tomorrow as we had meant to reserve). Thankfully a man showed up to service the hot tub and was surprised to still find us in the house. He questioned that we were there enough that we called the owner and realized our mistake. You have never seen a group of people pack up so quickly. Within an hour, we were all packed and the house was cleaned – still a few hours past when we were supposed to have left. Nothing was organized and in the end we forgot two of the bowls Jerry had made for Kaitlyn (but we did eventually get them back). Instead of the birthday dinner out we had planned we headed out to a birthday lunch.
Birthday breakfast celebration for Granny!
(The only picture of the kids taken today. The full story on my blog – here)
Today we played! Mostly everyone else played games (while I worked on editing pictures) and stayed inside to beat the heat. We ventured out in the late afternoon to indoor putt putt. I have never heard of this idea, but was amazed it existed. The kids loved it and we all had fun!
All the boys (including Pop and Daddy) got up early to go fishing.
A little bonding time with Aunt Emmy.
Wade’s research landed us at a hidden stream behind some ballfields. It was fabulous. The water was cool. The kids could wade or swim and the adults could get their feet wet.
Other than the last walk across the rocks (the ones under the water are insanely slippery) where Wade slipped and got his phone wet it was an excellent morning.
It’s a water-kind of day.
It’s a water-kind of day.
It’s a water-kind of day.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say today’s morning activity was definitely Teague’s favorite. We went go kart driving!
The rest of the afternoon we were lazy and spent around the house or in the pool!
That night I made everyone pose for a group picture.
(Can’t you feel the excitement coming from my boys?)
Wade is a researcher – both by nature and job. He spent time before the trip and after we arrived researching all the local activities, reading reviews, calculating distances, and creating a schedule for us. On today’s agenda was the fish hatchery. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was actually pretty cool. There were huge tanks of fish and the kids loved feeding them. It was insanely hot! The fact that we went early in the morning didn’t provide much relief so we were all ready to go before too long, but it was a fun morning activity.
Most of the planned afternoon activities are all indoor – due to the predicted insane temperatures this week. Today a car museum was on the agenda. Initially just the guys were going to go, but Judy and Emily offered to stay with Kaitlyn. I decided getting out of the house sounded like fun and off we went!
The Burch Men.
Feeding fish.
The boys couldn’t what to see if Kaitlyn got anything they wanted to test out!
Kaitlyn gets one more Birthday celebration with Wade’s family.
(Note the tiny wooden bowls – made by Jerry for Kaitlyn’s new play kitchen.)
The plan was to find a place to meet Wade’s family halfway between us all. We finally settled on Branson, Missouri. We all arrived yesterday at various times and settled into the house we rented. The kids loved the amenities – a pool table, toys, Granny, Pop, and Aunt Emmy. Wade and I were just happy to finally unload and set everyone up into a semi-permanent location for a little while!
Alex really wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel. He waited over an hour in the hot sun.
I hope it lived up to every expectation.
(Teague decided at the last minute to join them in the line.)
Sliding.