Blueberry Picking

Last Wednesday, we drove with a group of friends nearly an hour out to Tammen Treeberry Farm to pick some delicious blueberries. We have been twice before and knew what to expect. I always get really excited to do this. My kids...not so much. I absolutely LOVE blueberries and look forward to the opportunity to pick my own so that they are at their absolute freshest. I also LOVE the price $1.85/lb. In the past, it's been miserably hot, the bushes picked-over, the branches prickly, and my kids whiney. :) This year proved a bit better. The weather was perfect. I didn't have to nurse or change a diaper while in the rows of bushes (a first), and I thought I had 4 kids old enough to help. Well, Braxton was a champ. When asked to help me, he often responds with, "I was made to work, Mom." Wow! Can I clone him? Evan hates blueberries and was not very motivated to pick. Carter tried his hardest. Emma found some friends and played while she snacked. Lizzie found it fun and easy to eat the freshly picked berries out of our buckets. Near the end I was having to push by saying, "Pick 50 more and you can quit." In the end, we picked our record--11.2 lbs! A quarter of them are nearly gone already. Fortunately, the farm has a fun swing, sandbox, and slide. We also got to listen to a fun book on CD while riding in the car (Room One by Andrew Clements), which made that time go by quickly. I hope to do it again next year and hope as my children age, they'll enjoy this tasty tradition.

Eat our Bubbles!

"Eat Our Bubbles!" This is the phrase that was painted on my rear window for the last 3 weeks. Swim Team has finished for the summer. Yea! All three boys participated this year, which was fun. I was amazed to see the progress that they were able to make over 2 months. Braxton dropped his time on the IM by over 15 seconds. Carter can swim 25 yds freestyle in 18.08 seconds. Evan dropped over 4 seconds in the 50 FLY and 50 FREE. I'm so proud of their hard work and improvement. Evan and Carter were able to qualify for the City Meet (Carter actually qualified in every race he swam--he's really quite impressive). Some races were good, some not their best; however, both of them beat a personal record at that meet. I do have to admit, we're all ready to have a few weeks without 8:00am practice.

Evan and Carter at the City Meet

Braxton on the block preparing for a race

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Six Flags

More Flags! More Fun! Six Flags!

Dad's mapping out our adventures.

We finally made it to Six Flags! Last Tuesday, Steve surprised us by taking half a day off and driving us up to Gurnee for some family fun! The boys had earned free tickets through the school's reading program and Lizzie was free, so we only had to buy 3 tickets. PERFECT! The weather could not have been better--overcast and a high of 72 degrees, which made standing in lines a much more pleasant experience. After a few dizzying experiences, we split up into girls and boys and went our separate ways for a few hours. The boys spent most of their time in lines, while we enjoyed 3 separate kiddie park areas. Emma and Lizzie loved all of the Wiggles-themed rides, Scooby-Doo, Flinstones, and Looney Toons rides. I am so proud of my brave girls. They went on EVERYTHING they could and never fretted a bit! Emma even did many by herself!!! She was a perfect height: tall enough to do some of the big roller coasters, yet small enough to ride every kiddie ride. She amazed me by going on the Demon a second time--and that's after knowing it had 2 loops and 2 corkscrews! What a gal! Carter was too small to go on Superman and Batman, so they couldn't leave him and found that as a good excuse to hide their fear. Their favorites were Iron Wolf (a roller coaster you ride standing up) and the Whizzer (a classic roller coaster). We pushed the kids hard and finally exited the park after 9:00 with dinner yet to be eaten. The girls lost it as we were eating and slept until 9:00 in the morning. They were wiped out! The kids had wished for us to try out the water park...and we were even prepared; however, the weather wasn't warm enough for me and there was plenty to keep us busy. We hope to go back again someday!

Here we are with Wonder Woman--one of my childhood heroes. I even had her underroos!

Kids being silly! Actually making fun of me, who can't stomach this ride.:)

The girls on a hot air balloon!

Lizzie loved these boats, especially ringing the bell!

Evan is using his imagination to make the carousel a little more exciting.

This video is of Emma riding by herself on a ride that I get sick just watching it. She's all alone sitting in the middle aisle by herself. Look for a little blonde head near the center pole. I can't believe she did it--and neither could the other parents around me. She actually went on it again with her brothers!

Wilderness Falls

Every year my children participate in the library's reading program. They are rewarded fantastic prizes! Monday we used our passes for a free round of miniature golf at Wilderness Falls. It was a perfect day for family fun. Emma was excited to use her pink ball and surprised us with some of her strokes. She even let Lizzie use her club to pretend to putt her purple ball.

Carter was victorious with a hole-in-one and as the winner of the game.

Evan never missed a pitch!

Carter did a great job hitting!

Braxton is Mr. consistent.

Emma loves "her boys."



Lizzie was so cute singing to herself and walking all over the course. She makes herself at home wherever she is!Lizzie knows she's being silly.

These two girls are so cute! I love how they love each other! I hope it lasts a long time!

S'mores

This past weekend, Julene (Steve's sister) and her husband, Ryan, and baby Lorilyn came to visit. Ryan has been offered a job and they needed to find housing. After some successful searching and huge sighs of relief, we wanted to celebrate this fun time with a delicious grilled dinner and s'mores. I hadn't had a s'more YET this summer. Isn't that a requirement that needs to be fulfilled? A "moral imperative"? Plus, it's been unseasonably temperate the last few weeks (70s), so we capitalized on the gorgeous night. Steve MacGyvere'ed a fire for us and we all had a great time eating these gooey sweet indulgences. We even got to have a few ghost stories told, which scared the milk out of Emma's cup all over the "boo"-er, Dad. He deserved it. It was so fun, we are planning on it again in the next few days.
p.s. My camera is struggling with its exposure time and I am a little clueless on what to do to fix it, so the black and white made the images look tons better, so that's why we're in black and white.

Evan's Got Talent

Two solved just minutes apart! Unbelievable!

Posing with Carter who finished 1 side himself!

While in Elko, our children got to hang out with some friends of ours. Well, Cody McCarrey had quite the impressive talent. He can solve the Rubik's Cube in just over a minute. Evan was intrigued. Call it happenstance, but I had packed one in my carry-on bag. So... I printed out the instructions on the Rubik's Cube website and he has been working on it ever since. Yesterday, he finished it, but messed it up again as he was going onto try to do the "checkerboard." He and I made a deal, if he solved it again, I'd post a blog entry about it.:) So, today he solved it again and found another cube in the house and solved it in under 10 minutes. I think it's downhill from here! I'm so proud of him! What a smart cookie!

His first cube solved!

Trip to the West Cont.

After having a marvelous time with the Birds, we met up with my grandparents in Springville, where my kids were exposed to the artistic talents of my grandma, vast knowledge of cool things like cannons and wars of my grandpa, and the sweet attention of both of them. My wonderful Uncle Von allowed us to have a little reunion with a few of my cousins and aunts and uncles. What a great time we had catching up! I have some wonderful cousins who took my kids under their wings and kept them entertained for hours! Thanks! The next day was a visit to Raging Waters, a waterpark I used to go to when I was a kid. Everyone had a great time, except that my Dad threw his back out on a ride. BUMMER! They were great babysitters (Lizzie had a slight fever and slept most of the day) so that I could enjoy the rides with my kids. That night took us to Elko, NV.

It was sure fun to be back. My dad checked all of our eyes (Braxton, Steve, and I all had to get new glasses), I got my hair cut, and then the boys got to go shooting guns. It was unanimous that they all liked the 22 rifle better than the bb-gun and the shotgun. Shocker. We had a little park playdate with the McCarreys and Nisbets. We miss them! We sure love these people! The next few days brought rides on the ATV, a lunch date for a steak sandwich at a Basque restaurant (Mmmmm), Ice Age 3, Wingers, Matt & Becca (you're AWESOME), hiking up to Island Lake where the boys camped overnight and the girls hiked down for a chick flick and hot fudge cake, ice-blocking, fireworks, and more visits with friends & neighbors.

Sunday night was full of tears and they kept flowing through the morning as we were all saying our good-byes. Carter said we needed to visit more often because Grandpa needs a buddy to do boy-things. Four years is definitely too long. I appreciate the work my parents put in to having my large family come visit.