Just after dinner this evening we had some visitors to our back yard. The whole family stopped what we were doing to watch there beautiful birds. They look like some type of hawk but we’re not sure. I think these three birds are from the same brood and are staying together for the time being. We didn’t see any adults around and these birds looked young. At one point a squirrel really took a gamble with its life as is scurried along on the wire directly beneath the hawk!
Well if you can believe it I’ve uploaded our vacation photos. However, I have not yet had a chance to edit them other than to remove the blinks and duplicates. Here are a couple of the photos from our Disney World Vacation.
Michah’s First Haircut at the barber shop on Main Street at the Magic Kingdom
The Kids on the Magic Kingdom Train
Mathew Driving at the Race Track
The Castle decorated for the holidays
Swimming at our hotel, the Carribean Beach Resort
The rest of the photos can be viewed at http://family.mmpix.com/index.html
Halloween has arrived, we’ve trick or treated and been back home to eat the candy. The day was nice enough that we let Meghan go out and collect her candy. Michah still does not understand the day (great, now I can raid his candy). But Meghan and Mathew had a blast running around the block. Meghan and Mathew recycled their costumes from last year, a fairy princess and Thomas respectively. Meanwhile, Michah was a little lion!
Well after a delay of three weeks, Meghan’s toncils have finally been removed. Meghan, Sheryl and I went to the hospital (mommy’s work), first thing this morning. By the time Sheryl and I finished breakfast in the cafeteria, the toncils were out. Meghan was back home and in her own bed by 2:00 and trying to run around by 3:30. It is going to be a long 3 weeks trying to keep her quiet.
Since yesterday was such a nice day and we don’t think Meghan will be able to go trick or treating, we took the kids to Groebert’s farm last night. As you can see all three of them had a lot of fun.
Michah in the pumkin bin
Mathew, where else? but on the train!
Meghan, a top the train.
Mathew and I just got back from a train and hobby show at the Rosemont convention center. It was a lot of fun for both of us. There were many different hobbies on display but Mathew was most interested in the trains. There were trains of all sizes to keep him interested.
As we were walking through the parking lot, I noticed this old DeSoto!
Just one of the many train layouts on display.
Mathew riding on one of the trains.
Learning how to control a digital train!
At the end of the day, I’m not sure who had more fun, Mathew or me. From the way he napped in the car from all of the excitement, I think it might have been him by a bit.
As I mentioned earlier in my previous post, my dad, brother, Rick and nephews, Benjamin and Nicholas arrived Saturday morning for a quick visit. They returned to Syracuse Sunday evening. A few minutes before they arrived, the power came back on. The moment they arrived, Meghan ran upto Uncle Rick and asked him if he could save her “swinging tree” That is our apple tree that had been uprooted in the storm days earlier. Unfortunately, Rick took one look at the tree and gave Meghan the bad news.
We had a nice visit. Saturday, we caught up and visited. On Sunday we took the whole clan to the Brookfield Zoo. What can I say? It was a nice family visit.
Rick and Dad napping after the long trip.
The clan as we entered the zoo. From left to right: Nicholas, Benjamin, Michah, Mathew, and Meghan.
Meghan had a gymnatics party at Gymkhana. Meghan and 10 of her girl friends spent 2 fun filled hours at the gym. Earlier in the year, Meghan attended a girl scout overnight lock in at Gymkhana and has wanted to have her birthday party there ever since. Last year she missed out on having a party because Michah was born. So this year we decided to go the extra mile for Meghan. I think the girls had the most fun jumping into the “pit”
It has been one year since Michah was born. Hard to believe. So much has changed. It does not matter that I watched first Meghan and then Mathew grow through the first year. Michah’s growth has amazed me. I forgot to mention that he started taking his first steps about a week or so ago. Everyday he is a little steadier on his feet. Thankfully, Meghan has decided she is going to be a mini-mommy. It is funny to hear her praise the baby and try to take care of Michah. Sometimes, I think I’ve got to watch her to make sure she does not over mommy him! Other times, she is a big help and allows me to get things done around the house.
One Innocent Baby:
Plus One Cupcake:
Equals:
What a mess!
Monday I played hooky from everything and spent a day with the kids. For those of you who don’t know, around July 4th every year, Milwaukee plays host to Summerfest, the nation’s largest music festival. 11 years ago, it was one of my first dates with Sheryl.
The weather today was beautiful. Around 75 degrees, sunny with a slight breeze here in Chicago. So around 10:30 I (Sheryl was stuck working), loaded all three kids in the van and drove to Summerfest. Before we left I stopped at the bank for some cash. As we were pulling out of the bank’s parking lot, Meghan realized she never had breakfast and a Dunkin Doughnuts was in the area. $5.00 later we had 7 doughnuts (BTW, DD has free Doughnut Mondays in July!).
Off we were to Milwaukee. About 75 minutes later, we arrived at the park and ride lot where we met Charles and Harriet, my in-laws. The parking was free but he bus to Summerfest was $9.00. Eventually we arrived at the main gate. Much to our surprise as part of kid’s day at Summerfest, admission was free until 3:00!
My relief was short lived. Once we were in the door, there was plenty of ways to spend money.
$3 for 3 balloons for the kids
$20 3 subs and 3 sodas (1 in the souvenir cup) for lunch
$2 for the bounce house
$2 for the street act juggler
$9 to ride the skyway (1 way)
Total spent (without gas money) $50. At the end of the day, I had three tired kids, the photos and my $50 souvenir cup. But you know something? The kids had a great day and I’d do it all over again next year!
Did I mention, the Summerfest grounds were on the shores of Lake Michigan. Here are the kids at lunch time.
We let the baby loose for a couple of moments.
Here’s the juggler! Notice that very sharp knife.
A view at the Harley Motorcycle parking lot.
Four years ago today, my son was born. Suddenly, he’s four years old! Where did the time go. Yesterday he was a little baby. Today, he’s a big boy and fun to be around. Here are some photos from Tuesday’s celebration.
Cupcakes ready for his class at Kindercare. In the fall, he’s going to be moving into the 4 year old room.
After eating a blue cupcake. Blue is his favorite color because Thomas the Tank Engine is blue.
Here’s his cake. Same cake as last year. He knew it but was thrilled to have a Thomas cake anyway!
Baloo just doesn’t care!