Field Trips!

This fall has been full of fun for McKinley at preschool.  His class took two field trips over the last few weeks, one to a local apple orchard, the other to a local fire station.  I was lucky enough to have my Mom join us at the orchard and Cary at the fire station...I'm getting pretty big and my balance is thrown off, so having the extra hands are wonderful. 

We all enjoyed the fire station as much as last year.  This year the station had a brand new ambulance, state of the art, and McKinley and his buddies all got to take a tour.  It was pretty exciting!  Equally as exciting was the city bus ride to and from...especially when one rider decided she needed to exit the bus and would rather walk than to ride with one big happy preschool family!  Her loss! 

The apple orchard was great too.  It had gotten cooler, the perfect fall day.  We enjoyed hearing about the picking process of the employees and seeing the entire process of how the clean, separate, bag and sell the goods.  All the visitors got to take home a nice bag of apples, we added some gourds and butternut squash to our stash before we headed home.  So much fun, it's nice to have some really great opportunities in McKinley's preschool.

I've also included a photo below of the "About Me" poster project we completed together.  Homework!  No, really, it was so fun to gather all the stuff then build it with McKinley.  I LOVE how it turned out! 

Loving the fall!

Lynn

McKinley's First Nine

It's no secret that McKinley likes golf. He just does. No one pushed him into it, we just gave him one of his clubs a few years ago and "WHACK!" he was hooked. We've taken him to the driving range many times (and yes, he drives WAY better than I do) and Cary has taken him along for a few holes. But today was special...his first nine. Just McKinley and his Daddy (Mommy got some shopping time). When I came back to meet them at the course I was literally laughing out loud at what I saw. McKinley was standing up in the golf cart, foot on the pedal, Cary steering with a death grip on McKinley's back. My boys were smiling from ear to ear. Totally made me cry.

Snapped this photo and I absolutely adore it.

My boys!

Lynn

A Weekend Adventure

To continue our annual month-long celebration of McKinley's birthday, we headed to French Lick for the weekend. We all had a total blast at the city's water park and hotel Big Splash Adventure. Well, a blast except for the rash of flies that seemed to be at every eatery in the city. Yuck.

We swam, we slid (okay, well, I didn't...not a good idea to go peeling down a giant 3 story slide while pregnant...), we played in the outdoor pool and went around on the lazy river 3,413 times. Honest. It was awesome. We broke only to find fly-free food or to sleep, visit the historic resorts of West Baden and French Lick, or to hit the nearby train museum.

We had one little incident where some teens were literally making waves in the lazy river and got it going so hard that they knocked McKinley right off his raft. He was fine, but I was hot. When I was done with those little stinkers they left! I remember being "young" like that, but I would like to think I didn't act like that. Aside from that brief mishap the trip was super fun. And we even made a stop a "McKinley's Market" in Oaktown...which is where my Grandfather (Clarence McKinley Crecelius, McKinley's namesake) was born! A great little escape on a long weekend. I think the photos say it all!

Happy Summer!!!!!!!!!

Lynn

Fourth of July

In keeping with tradition, the Vernon fam, Douglas fam and Semmler fam all gathered at the roof of the parking garage for a cook out, some good times with good friends and a heckuva view of the city's fireworks. Except for one little thing...we couldn't GO to the roof! The new owners decided to close the roof off due to some seriously disgusting behavior. We quickly made do and made our own little tailgate area on the level below the roof. It worked well! We had yummy food, the kids had a blast playing together and the view was just as wonderful as always.

I brought along some glow necklaces for the kids and Robin brought some American flags, the kids loved their little goodies as they sat in the hatch of the Douglas' SUV or our truck bed.

When it came time for the fireworks I took a break and sat in the hatch myself, I needed a little break. I looked at my family and friends and realized just how much our lives have all grown since our first time on the roof. Every person in front of me had a child in their arms! Except me, which I pointed out, because it seemed so funny! Robin quietly reminded me that I DID have a child on my person, just as every one else...he or she just isn't here yet!

That's right, next year we will each have our own child to hold in our arms. How fun will that be?!?!

What an awesome 4th of July!

Lynn

Zoo Trip

Another fun trip to the zoo! This time we briefly met up with my friend Kylie and her two boys. They had a blast in the splash park, which was perfect because it was a HOT, HOT day! When I pulled my camera from my bag I bumped the setting, didn't have time to check because I was trying to capture some real cuteness, so the photos of the boys ended up blue! Honestly, kind of a cool mistake!

Kylie and company left shortly after the splashing, but McKinley and I stayed to close the place down...surprise, surprise! We had so much fun together and even stopped off and had dinner in Plainfield at Panda Express, a favorite of ours. It was great to spend a little time with friends and even more fun to spend such a great day with my boy.

This was the first time since the new Tiger exhibit opened that we had a chance to visit and were we treated with a sight! Several tigers were up close and personal with us, much like the Cheetah exhibit. We even saw a Tiger stretch all the way up (and trust me, it was at least 8 feet worth of stretching...vertically) right beside the viewing glass. Another tiger took a drink from the stream, and another tiger paced back and forth checking out each person viewing. Very interesting, and a little freaky too...

And of course, no zoo trip is complete without at least one ride on the train!

Lynn

Spring Recap

Today is the first day of summer, so an appropriate time to recap our crazy spring! And crazy it was, between soccer, school, social engagements, gardening and a surprise, whew!!!!!!!

Soccer was a riot! McKinley's first crack at a team sport proved to be a real treat to watch and a lot of energy-releasing fun for the entire team of 3 and 4 year olds. We are blessed to know the coaches of McKinley's team, they live on Cary's mail route and their daughter is in McKinley's preschool class. We could not have asked for a better experience for our boy and his first go-round, he learned a lot, he played hard and most importantly --- he had a LOT of fun! Below are some of my favorite photos:

School was a really wonderful experience for our entire family. We've again been blessed to be introduced to such a wonderful group of people in the St. Patrick's community and McKinley isn't the only ones to reap the benefits. The Spring was easily the busiest time for school, it kept us on our toes! I think my favorite day was McKinley's 'pretend' Birthday (since he's a summer baby they all get to celebrate before the school year ends! Hello, JEALOUS! I never got to do that!), not only was it "his" day, it was also water day for the entire class. When we picked McKinley up he was soaking wet from all the water play, it was really a funny sight. We also discovered that the strawberry smoothie pops I made for his birthday snack were a big hit combined with water day and the heat. I was glad. I really enjoy making a healthy treat that makes the kids happy...

Another project we've embarked on is a bigger garden than we've ever made happen at home. And I've learned that apparently we are now called "URBAN FARMERS". I love the term. Makes us sounds WAY better at it than we are! So, my URBAN FARMER hubby and I set out to create a few small raised garden beds - another wonderful find from ana-white.com. They were pretty easy...and in my opinion they look fabulous! I'm SO proud of what we (mostly Cary) did. And yes, Cary may have done most of the 'putting together' of the awesome new beds, but I did my share as well, tending to the new little seedlings we were growing. McKinley is really enjoying watching a seed turn into a plant, turn into something we can pick from our little back yard garden and use in the kitchen for dinner!

We chose tomatoes, sweet peppers, summer squash, lettuce, carrots, chives, basil and cilantro. It sounds like a lot but it hasn't become more than we can keep up with thus far. I just CANNOT wait to see what happens! I'm seeing some pesto and some guacamole in our future and I cannot wait...those are two of my faves!

Here is some of the process, updates to come!

Another Spring project (yes, totally bit off way more than I could chew, but worth it) was a Lenten project called 40 bags/40 days. I found the idea on a blog I follow, the author experiences something much like me...she just doesn't get much out of giving the typical item away during lent, so she does this: makes a list of 40 areas in life that need physically cleaned out. Gather 40 bags, do one projects each day and reflect on how releasing that space of its clutter, physical or psychological makes you feel and how it connects with lent, Easter and God's love. I did it, thought truth be told I did not complete all 40 of my areas by Easter but I've continued to work on the ones that were not yet finished and I'm pleased and a bit overwhelmed with how I feel. I loved having the opportunity to better organize our keepsakes, newspaper articles and photos and other things of McKinley's. I'm so proud of how beautifully everything fit into two small archival boxes. The most awesome thing for me was the reorganization and cleaning out of my shoes. I like shoes. A lot. Almost as much as bags. And no, bags were NOT on my 40 days list. Nope, not budging on those babies! The shoes were not well organized and I could not stand it. I knew what needed to be done and I knew what I wanted it to look like upon completion. So, I chose to do it while McKinley napped...and when he awoke several pairs hit the growing donation pile, a few hit the trash can and a few friends were reunited...and they are so lovely together on their beautiful new shoe tree. Anyway, it was quite liberating and I think I truly GOT more from this lent project than anything I've ever done for lent. It was awesome! Below, photos of some of the beauties who got to stay for the party:

Finally, the social engagements nearly knocked us right off our agendas this Spring, but so fun! We enjoyed everything from zoo trips and egg hunts to weddings and impromptu gatherings with old friends.

Hooray for Spring and the good times and beautiful weather it brought, and hooray for Summer and all it has to bring!

Lynn

We pick, do U Pick???

I've been craving a way to really break into summer...some recent events have kept me inside and in bed and sick, so when I thought "U Pick! Strawberries!" I knew that would put me even more in the spirit and McKinley would love it.

I was right! We even convinced Mom to tag along, so I planned a quick trip to the grocery, packed a picnic lunch and we began our little road trip to a nearby U Pick farm.

We laid our little feast out on the picnic table and enjoyed the cool (okay, a little TOO cool) breeze while we ate salad, pita and hummus, yogurt, pop chips and dip, watermelon and cantaloupe...and a long-time fave of mine and McKinley's - Blood Orange Italian Sodas! Oh it was perfect. And delicious. And Mom even bought a little piece of cake that she and McKinley shared.

Once we were finished, we packed back up an hopped on the farm's golf cart for the worker to drive us to the patch. Honestly, I think the golf cart was McKinley's very favorite part of the entire trip. He was giddy as he rode in the front like a big boy. It was so cute!

We were assigned our rows and set out to work. We made quick picking out of it, Mom chose two small baskets and I chose the medium basket (which was about 5 pounds of berries). It didn't take long to fill them up, the three of us were plucking away! The berries were the most beautiful color...and the taste, OH MY GOODNESS I have never ever tasted a sweeter berry. We didn't add any sugar to them at all, they were perfect as is!

And if it tells you anything, McKinley was previously NOT a strawberry fan. So, why would I take him to pick them? Because I intended to use them in his smoothies and in ice cream, no actual berry to bite into, which is what is doesn't care for. However, he is a changed man! One taste of these suckers and he was hooked!

During the picking, a moment of perfect comedic timing happened when "Precious" the farm dog left her perch beside the employee and ran to befriend McKinley, just seconds after I pulled out my camera and started clicking. The dog KNEW I had a camera. Matter of fact she began posing in various ways: rolling on her back while laying on my foot and turning her head JUST SO. Lying with McKinley and looking back at the camera. And my favorite - her little sneaky way of capturing her good side in the shot with Mom and McKinley. What a diva! I turned off the camera and replaced the lens cap and poof! Precious was gone. Imagine that!

Once our baskets were full we headed back to the golf cart and to the stand to have our berries weighed. We tucked them safely in the hatch and headed home.

On the way there we made a stop at Cary's office where he had just arrived. The four of us stood, hatch up, eating those strawberries right there in the parking lot! Holy Moly those things are so good!!!!!!!!!

Today was awesome. The perfect way to put me back in the summer spirit! Here's hoping we'll be back soon for more strawberries and then blueberries!

YUM!!!

Lynn