A Sunday Stroll

Last Sunday we drove to Morton Arboretum to have a picnic and experience the Cidadas. For those who are not familiar with these bugs--they bury themselves deep in the ground shortly after birth and don't come back up for seventeen years! This year is their year. They are quite ugly, make a ton of noise and completely harmless. Such an interesting phenomenon. We haven't had any around our neighborhood because it is mostly new development, but neighborhoods with old trees are abuzz.

Henry and Elsa love a good picnic. . .or at least the punch. I think that is all they ate.

I added this picture for you Kimberly. Plus--Ansel just doesn't get enough on screen time.

Henry's Birthday

Henry just celebrated his fifth birthday! Last Saturday he had a cowboy themed birthday party. He loved dressing up as a bandit and celebrating with twenty of his closest friends! Unfortunately the only pictures are on my friend's camera and Greg's video. I made him the vest and chaps and Nana sent him the fabulous cowboy hat and belt buckle. He felt cool.
On his birthday he opened presents from family and chose what he wanted to eat for the day: Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast and salmon for dinner. He's such a good boy and good example for his brother and sister. We can't believe he's five and will go to Kindergarten in the fall!

Road Trip

It has been seven months without flight benefits. Of course we miss them. We recently took our first road trip. Or as I like to refer to it: "Fulfilling the measure of our mini-van." We had a great experience.
Our first stop was in Asheville, NC. We stayed the night and the next day we visited the Biltmore estate-which was beautiful. That afternoon we drove about three hours to Columbia, SC. Elizabeth, Greg's youngest sister was graduating from the University of South Carolina with her Masters in Social Work. Way to go Elizabeth.
After the graduation we drove another two hours to Charleston where we stayed on the Isle of Palm with Greg's Mom, Haley's family and Elizabeth and Mark. We had so much fun playing with cousins, swimming and playing on the beach. It was a great time!
Greg, Ansel and I took a little excursion to Savannah, GA one day. We love that quirky little Southern town. While there we had to visit Paula Dean's restaurant, "The Lady and Sons." Greg ordered the pulled pork sandwich. It was so good it gave him chills. Seriously. Paula's son Jamie was at the restaurant while we were there. I couldn't resist--I made him hold Ansel so I could get a picture. He was very gracious to oblige.
We took a long way home so that we could visit Travis and his family in Fairfax, VA. Elsa and Henry had a great time playing with Natalie and Calvin. Henry took quite an interest in Calvin's cars. He spent most of his time there digging in their backyard with Calvin's trucks.
Travis wanted to see a baseball game for his birthday-and luckily we got to celebrate with him. We caught a game of the Nationals vs. the Orioles. Both kids loved it. Henry has been requesting to watch baseball games on TV since we've been home. Funny enough he was assigned to be on the Orioles for his first season of T-ball. He'll probably be the only one on the team who knows who the Orioles are and has actually seen them play!
Before leaving the DC area we visited our friends the Sorensons. It was fun to see Henry get reacquainted with his "old friend," Caleb. We sure miss that family!
the next day we drove home-about thirteen hours with stops. It was a great trip, The kids were fabulous in the car. We're already looking forward to our next road trip--SLC in two weeks!

Everyday's a costume party!

I was getting ready to post our recent trip to South Carolina and saw this picture. I had to include it. Greg leaves early Sunday mornings for meetings so I'm rushing to get the kids ready and out the door. It doesn't matter when church starts-it is always a rush! I haven't quite figured that out yet. Getting dressed is usually a compromise. This picture was taken before walking out the door. The spy glasses an purses were removed before entering the chapel.