Jacob.

The benefit to having a son who inherited your Type A-ness.



Done on a Sunday morning with zero prompting. Poor kid doesn't stand a chance.

Champions!

Tonight we wrapped up tournament play, and Jacob's team won first place! This was such a fun season to watch. The boys did a phenomenal job hitting, catching, and making amazing plays in the field. It's no wonder that they went undefeated giving up only 21 runs while scoring more than 140 over the course of the entire season. These boys all improved incredibly throughout the season and all had excellent sportsmanship. I'm actually sad to see the season end--though very happy to gain back several weekend hours!
Way to go, Jacob!

Last Week in Pictures

After our weekend in Iowa, the kids stayed for the week with Grandma and Papa. I never hear all of the details, but the pictures are worth a thousand words!

{Water Gun fights in 90 degree weather sound like the only way to go!}

{And then off to the city pool to cool off!}

{Some fishing to pass away the time.}

 {And then off to the farm to get a hold of all the animals.}

{And ride all the horses.} 

{And pet all of the goats.}

{These cousins love the time they spend together!}

Such a special week filled with tons of special memories! Thanks to Grandma and Papa for hosting!

Weekend Recap

Because we don't like to just be busy during the week...
We headed to Iowa on Saturday morning, and we stayed at a hotel with an indoor/outdoor pool where the kids and the cousins swam until the sun went down!



{A quick break from the water to fill up on snacks and slushes that "taste like blue" in the words of Jacob. These kids swam until they could literally swim no more, and then my three snuggled in the one king-size hotel bed with me where they used my body as a pillow. All of them. I'm sure it was just as awful for them as it was for me.}

This morning we drove past the inspiration for Jacob's middle name. Hudson Avenue. The location of the first place that Caleb and I shared as a couple. The house was still standing. And it was just as dumpy as we remembered it. But it holds a special place in our hearts, and we were happy to take a walk down this street with this kid.





{I think the history of it was almost as special to Jacob as it was to us. Something I have wanted share with him for the past few years. Now we need to go to St. Thomas Virgin Islands to introduce Mason to his middle name inspiration. Two thumbs up for that idea!}

And then on to the boat. We are lucky to have family with fun toys! This was the kids' first time in a lake on a boat. And it was a hit for all!


{We made our children understand the importance of not ingesting lake water. Our germaphobe, Mason, took the task very seriously. Lips under lock and key whenever he was within splashing distance of the water!}


{This girl surprised us all when she climbed off the boat onto this "lily pad" to splash around with the girl cousins.}



{And then surprised us even more when she begged for a ride on the inflatable couch. The kids had an absolute blast being pulled behind the boat on this contraption. Begged Captain Scott to go faster and drive zigzags to ride the wakes! And now they will need treatment for whiplash...}



{A clingy Camryn before she realized how much fun lake water can be.}


{This smile never left this kid's face today! }


{A shot of Camryn as we cruised under the bridge that Jacob named "The Lazy T Bridge." My arms would get tired too if I had to hold up a bridge...}


{Mason said he loved everything about today. And the thumbs up by Jacob sealed his approval!}

Our Week

On Monday we saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid and were thiiiiiis close to having the entire theater to ourselves.


On Tuesday we hit up our town's Cruise Night where Mason met and fell in love with this beauty.


After Cruise Night Caleb and I picked up a couple of our own cruisers and went for our first family bike ride. It's been a solid 25 years since I last pedaled my own bike. Almost enough time passed for me to debunk the saying "it's like riding a bike..."


On Wednesday the kids signed up for the summer reading program at the library with the sole intention of getting an snow cone on the way out. Mission accomplished.


The kids found this bird nest under our deck and decided that it needed to be relocated. Casualties may have occurred during the move. Oops.


On Thursday we went to the fancy theater with friends to see Captain Underpants. If you like poop humor, you will love this movie. Needless to say it was a hit with these kids!


And then we went to Jacob's last regular season game where we watched him get a couple of hits and throw the strikes. Great game. And great team. They went undefeated!


On Friday the kids crafted away the morning while I mowed the lawn. They were making fire to glue to the logs they found. I love technology-free creativity!


Then on to the new car wash. These kids have been dying to go through it, so who am I to tell them no?!


Our day ended with an afternoon swim in my parents' very cold and green pool. Mason preferred to cartwheel off the diving board, while Jacob shot threes for the win. Not pictured: Camryn. Girl lasted 5 minutes before her body went numb from the cold water.





Not pictured: A morning swim at the Y water park with all the friends. An afternoon spent in a neighbor's blow up pool. And an end-of-the-night barf by Jacob. We do it all around here!

Of course.

Said Camryn with attitude--as always--tonight at dinner:
Mom! Why did you use this plate? Now my princesses are dirty and they are supposed to be getting ready for the ball.



I think as long as I wake up every morning knowing that I can never win, then I will be ahead of the game. Geesh.

The First Swim of the Season

And we owe Jacob $2 for jumping off the diving board and swimming to the shallow end without first feeling the water. He's much braver than I am! And it was a deceptively cold 77 degrees. Brrrr!!!!!



One of many jumps off the board for Jacob. He lasted a solid 45 minutes in the water!


And this girl surprised us all by giving the water a try. She loved it!


This kid is more my style. Warming up on the deck after a quick dip in the pool.

Looking forward to a fun summer ahead!

This is how we did summer vacation today.

My neighbor and I packed up our kids for a city adventure today! Our goal: to hit up The Maggie Daly Park before the Chicago school district let out. Glad we did. It was a blast and we were able to avoid all of the people traffic that comes when school is out for summer!



It was mind blowing to be at such a quiet and huge playground amid the hustle and bustle of the big city. Most times we were unaware of the skyscrapers surrounding us!


This was one of a dozen or so playgrounds. It was a nautical theme with a hurricane spinning in the center of the climb up to the the top of the slide.


Here the kids are swinging in a "nest" as it was called. I think I might like one for my family room!


We walked through an enchanted forest with a mirror maze. Mason was not loving this and was wondering what the point was of a mirror maze. I told him it was so we could take selfies more easily...


We balanced our way across timbers that meandered over creeks.



Jacob made his way to the tip top of this ship.


And the kids loved having free range over the rope ladders, climbing walls, and bridges that would ultimately dump them down these awesome slides!


If I weren't so worried about peeing my pants on the bouncing bridge, I may have given this a try!

With time to spare, we took a quick walk down the lakefront before grabbing some ice cream in front of Buckingham Fountain.






Such a fun and exhausting day. And not a single cloud in that perfectly blue sky. Couldn't have asked for better weather to knock this trip off the list!

Side note: Of all the awesome things the kids did today, the most memorable for Mason was "when we saw that guy get put in handcuffs on the side of the highway." True story. And it stuck with him long enough to pretend play that same situation several times with Camryn this evening. Ah, memories.