4th of July in the 'Brook, Part II

While we were in Bolingbrook, we made our way over to Grandpa Gary & Grandma Linda's house to hang out with them and Uncle Jesse, Aunt Abbie, Luca, and their newest addition, Cole, for a bit.  Cameron stayed behind with Grandma Lynn because we thought it might just be too much stress for him. 

Luca brought his 4-wheeler along and I, reluctantly, allowed Cody to take Owen for a (slow) spin on it.  As you can see, they both loved it!

He got that feather at a parade that he and Cody went to earlier in the day.  Again, we thought it was too much stress for Cameron so he didn't go.  I had planned to go but somehow got roped into making a 2-tiered princess castle birthday cake for Lynn's neighbor's daughter.  I won't go into how that transpired but it was quite an interesting experience, to say the least.  The only photo I have of said cake is on my phone so I can't show it to you.  I was pretty proud of my work, seeing as how I had very little tools to work with, as well as limited time. 

But back to 4-wheeling.  Not only did they convince me to let Owen ride it, they also somehow convinced me to ride it.

I enjoyed it, but I did go frighteningly slow.  It's amazing how much fear you acquire when you become a mother.  Or maybe not so much fear but caution. 

After a bit of riding, I headed inside to catch this:

There's just something about a man covered in tattoos and piercings giving a baby a bottle that is just too difficult to pass up photographing.  Of course, Grandma had to get in on the action and asked me to take a photo of her "looking matronly."

Before we left we went back outside to get a few photos of the Muhs men.  I was just bummed that our Cammer Jams wasn't there to be a part of it, but we did get some pretty good shots.

We topped the night off by heading to the Bolingbrook Golf Course to watch the most spectacular fireworks show I've ever seen.  We sat right on the golf course surrounded by great friends and we were right up front to see the whole show.  It was a great weekend!

4th of July in the 'Brook, Part I

You know how I love to stretch out the holidays for you!  I have so many great photos of so many things that we've done in the past few months but finding the time to get them posted here has been difficult for me!  Since I am one day hoping to print this blog out in book form to preserve these family memories, I've decided I'll just post them all no matter what!  Of course, this means you'll probably be looking at photos of us swimming when there's snow on the ground and getting a recap of Christmas in July, but such is life.  I keep making promises to myself that I'm going to get some sort of every-other-day schedule established here but I also keep promising myself that I'm going to lose 50 lbs.  When either of those things happens, I will let you know.  So, without further ado, check out what we did over the 4th this year!

We made our way to Bolingbrook this year for a mini-vacation.  Cody's mom's street has a huge block party every year.  Owen and Cody got to experience it last year and they had so much fun that they wanted to go back this year.  Lucky for us, they scheduled it in the same weekend as the 4th.

There was lots of food, a little train ride, a rock climbing wall, a bounce house (which is pretty much where Owen spent the majority of his day), and the Fire Department even showed up for a while!

He looks a little too happy to be holding an axe, don't you think?

Cameron and I spent the majority of the morning inside because all the people and the bright sun were just a little too much for him.  Then Daddy decided to throw our water boy's trunks on and see if he'd like to get in the little pool.  We had to drag him out of it!

Toward the end of the evening, they rigged up a huge pinata (it's the Stanley Cup, in case you're wondering) in the street and gave each kid a few chances to take a whack at it.

Proudly displaying his loot!

All in all, it was an awesome day.  Until, of course, we had to drag Owen out of the bounce house kicking and screaming at nearly 10pm.  Stay tuned to check out the fun we had when we headed over to Grandpa's house!

Trimming the Tree

What better way to celebrate New Year's Day than with photos of trimming your tree?  I really can't think of any, so without further ado!

We tried to get Cameron to nap while we were decorating the tree (thus, the pajama pants), but he had other ideas.

Not too shabby for a 4-year-old, don't you think?

"Here, little brother, let me share the Christmas Spirit with you by yanking your neck!"

Christmas kisses from my baby boy!

Stay tuned for more Christmas photos in January!  You know how I love to drag out the holidays!  And who knows?  Maybe you'll even get to see Cameron's birthday photos before Owen's birthday in March!

Carroll's Pumpkin Farm

A town about 20 minutes east of us has a great Pumpkin Farm so we thought that would be a great activity for us to do while Grandma was visiting.  We had a great day for it, save for a bit of wind and some mud leftover from all the rain.  There were a couple of times when we thought our wagon was going to get stuck in the mud on our tour of the patch!  Thankfully it was being pulled by a monster of a tractor and we made it through!  Here are a few highlights from the day...

The World Famous Pumpkin Tree

Owen loved this dog!

Owen and Daddy having fun on the wheelbarrow course.

This was the highlight of Cameron's day.  He laughed and giggled in this swing for the longest time.  He just loved it and it was so cute!

One of the barns has a TMX Trike course.  We soon discovered Owen wasn't quite ready for extreme triking when he fell over trying to get his trike through a tunnel.  No injuries though and he shook it off pretty well!

Owen and Daddy shooting corn through the cannon.

This is what they called a Pumpkin Pillow.  Owen wanted to jump on it but Cody and I were a little leary because it just didn't seem too safe to us.  All we saw when we looked at it were a bunch of broken necks!  I told Owen he could only go on if Daddy went with him and Cody relunctantly agreed.  There are no pictures of them actually on it because I was busy wheeling Cameron around in the stroller!  But they enjoyed it and Owen walked away unscathed.

These next two photos are really for my Mom.  First up, the characters from "Arthur":

And we can't forget Curious George and The Man in the Yellow Hat!

We all really enjoyed ourselves and can't wait to go back again next where we hope Cameron will get to enjoy it and experience it even more!

A Visit From Grandma

Grandma Lynn came to see us a couple of weekends ago.  Cody and I had a wedding reception to attend on October 24th so she was nice enough to make the drive out here and watch the boys for us while we went on a date!  Of course, we still managed to pack a lot of fun activities into the weekend!  First up, Daddy, Grandma, and Owen went to Mariposa (a State Park close to our town) for a Hallooween Hike on Friday night.  It was cold and muddy so we thought it was best that Cameron and I skip out on this one.  But Owen had a ball!!!  They had a bonfire, roasted marshmallows, drew on little pumpkins, and went on a hike where they followed animal tracks! 

Notice Owen is sporting Grandma's glove.  Apparently his mitten was full of sticky marshmallow and Grandma was kind enough to give up her glove.

Cody didn't get a lot of pictures at the hike because it was so dark out there!  Next up, we headed to Owen's soccer game on Saturday morning.  Grandma was so excited to get to see Owen play.  He did pretty well but we're still not sure that soccer is really going to be his "thing."

Cameron sat on my lap for most of the game.  He was content to do so as long as the Cheerios were plentiful and Mommy kept singing, "Thomas Roll Call." 

The fun didn't end here!  After the game we headed over to Grinnell to Carroll's Pumpkin Farm.  There were just too many good pictures from that visit so you'll have to wait for another post!  I promise the wait won't be nearly as long as it has been!  And don't worry, Auntie Gaye, Halloween photos are coming too!

Lazy Summer Days

One evening a few weeks ago, I took one look at the loads of unfinished laundry, the pile of dirty dishes, and the millions toys strewn about the living room and said, "Let's go to the pool!" We have a great community pool here in town and it stays open until 9:30pm a couple of nights a week. So as soon as Daddy got home from work, we suited up and headed out!

I tried a couple of times to get Cameron in a pool last summer but he was never a fan. I was so reluctant this summer that it took me until July to finally give it a try. Like most things with Cam, he was a little slow to warm up but by the end of the night he was screaming when we made him go home!

Judging by the smile on this face, a good time was had by all!

Creating a Monster

One of Matt and Susie's favorite family activities is Geocaching. What is geocaching, you ask? Well, basically, you log on to geocaching.com, set up a username, search for caches hidden in your area (or any area you please), and you go out and find them using clues and latitude/longitude coordinates given to you by the person who hid the cache. What's the cache, you ask? Sometimes they are just logs, where you sign your name and the date you found it. Others have fun little toys inside that you can take, as well as leave something behind. We asked them if they would show us the ropes and take us on a few cache hunts with them. So, armed with their trusty new hand-held GPS, lots of sunblock, a little water, a few snacks, and a load of kids, we set out to see what this was all about!

Our first cache took us out to a State Park close to Newton, where we had to navigate through some woods to find it. Well, ok, the kids and the Dads did the navigating, while Susie and I hung back and did the Mom thing--took pictures.

You can see Gianna carrying this one, which was an ammo box full of goodies. Some are as small as a large screw and have tiny pieces of paper rolled up inside them to log your name. The smaller ones are usually magnetic.

Once they got out of the woods, Susie and I once again did the Mom thing and made them all pose for a picture. Four kids excited about seeing what's in the box and this is the best you get:

The kids couldn't wait to open it and see what was inside...


And what did Cameron do while all this madness ensued? He stayed close to his phone, just in case he got any important calls.

Owen was the first to actually spot the box in the woods so Matt and Susie said that, being his first find, he should get to choose the goodie to take. He chose a star watch that came out of a Happy Meal.

I'm still holding out for the cache that holds diamonds in it but I'm told not to lose any sleep over it.

We had a great time and discovered a great family activity that's free and easily accessible. Well, if you don't count the cost of a GPS. However, Matt and Susie graciously left us their old one until we can find the funds for a new one with a Geocaching feature.

Cody is now obsessed with this and has spent nights on the computer trying to decide which is the best system to buy. He sometimes finds caches in the morning before he goes into work, on his lunch hour, and he and Owen go out a lot together. Cam is still kind of little for it so he and I don't go as much. Although we all went out last weekend for a bit and I found my first one. Ok, so it was in plain sight and I saw it before I even got out of the car but I'm still counting it.

Thanks to Matt and Susie for showing us a great time!