First Day of School for Sarah and Lindsay

August 17, 2009. It barely felt like summer began and it was time for school to start again! At least it is still nice and the kids can wear summer clothes for awhile.

Sarah and Lindsay were excited for their 1st day of 4th and 2nd grade.







Sarah's teacher - Mrs. Bunce. Apparently she smiles ALL THE TIME, even when she has to disciple students. Wow.

Sarah picked a desk and started the process of unloading her backpack.

Here is Lindsay ready to learn! She has a teacher that Allie also had in 2nd grade - Mrs. Perl - who also goes to our church.

And some friends of ours - Kindrid and Christy - getting ready to begin kindergarten!!



The new principal led the parents and kids in a FCA chant right before letting them in the front door.

Happy 12th Birthday Allie

WHAT!?! My baby is 12??? Just doesn't seem possible.

Allie celebrated her birthday at the ice skating rink. She had originally planned on a swimming party, but the weather forecast caused us to change plans.

This was the first open week since being closed most of the summer which made for very nice, smooth ice surface.




Allie thought she'd try a spin.....



Allie and Maddie

Aly looking like she's ready to go into a jump!

Madison, Aly, Allie, Katelyn, Sarah, and Maddie

Back at the house we had chips, salsa and snacks.

Cheesecake for dessert!

A happy bunch!

Next they all made friendship bracelets and anklets.

Happy 12th Birthday Allie. It doesn't seem possible that you are this old already. We can't wait to see what the next 12 years bring our way!!

Da Bears!

Grandma Sandy is visiting her mom, Grandma Zaucha, in Bradley, IL. While there, the Chicago Bears (Phil's favorite team) held their training camp in the adjoining township of Bourbonnais.

The local newspaper featured full page color spreads on various players. Sandy cut them out and sent Timothy a surprise package in the mail. To say he was excited would be an understatement.

The 7 players are hanging in his bedroom above his bed. He can barely wait to go to the Bears - Broncos game in Denver on August 30. Go Bears!

He insisted on putting his Urlacher jersey on before his nap.

Hiking the Bridle Trail

Brenda and I gathered 7 kids between us and hiked the Bridle Trail. I am happy to say that we all made it and no one got lost for more than 10 minutes.......





Taking a snack break.



Aly, Allie and Sarah




Jessi and Lindsay

They climbed down the hill to check out a car that had wrecked off the road above -- many, many years ago.

Jessi liked to go off-trail exploring.

Split rock cave.

Lindsay left her signature in the rock.

Hanging out with friends

The Kuhnel kids came over to play one afternoon while their mom was recuperating from surgery. The kids had a blast playing Apples to Apples, so much so we had to go out and buy a game for our own family.




Avry and Timothy worked together on puzzles.


And to cool off -- swimming, of course!

I think we definitely had a louder noise decibel than the rock band practice going on in the garage next door.

Watch and listen below!

The Blakemores dropped by one evening, and Gary indulged Tim and Savannah in the This is how the ladies/gentlemen/cowboys ride song. As you can see, they were all smiles!

Our last summer vacation "HOORAH"

We always say we are going to do this earlier in the summer, and then the next thing we know.....the summer is almost over.

So, before it was too late, several families from our church drove to Douglas (about 45 minutes) and enjoyed their water park.

Here is the gang of kiddos:

Joel, Cole, Daylen, Brennen, Sarah, Logan, Kylee, Allie, Savannah, Lindsay, Kindrid, Timothy, Jaci, Katelyn and Maddie



Savannah and Kate talking about the serious things in life.

Savannah and I enjoying the action from the shallow end.

Timothy thinks this park is swell!!

Allie was super glad that Maddie was able to join us on this road trip.

Kylee and Sarah

"Is this a cute smile, Mom??" DEFINITELY!

The cover-the-water-with-whatever-extremities-you-can-game.

SUCCESS!

Timothy had fun controlling the water sprayer.

Daylen and Cole were happy to indulge him in his operation of the controls.

Savannah has grown accostomed to being quite portable. I found a shady spot, and she napped quite peacefully considering all the noise.

Ladies, ladies -- part of going to a water park is to get some SUN! At least Deb joined me in the sunshine.

So generous!

Maddie, Allie and Katelyn

Here is proof that I didn't just lay in the sun the whole time. (Deb either!) Lindsay also got brave and went down the fast slide.

Sorry - the last couple of videos are sideways. I always forget that I can't rotate my videos.

Here is Sarah going down for the second (and last) time because I didn't get the video the first time. OOPS!




And here's Allie:

Allie's mini-vacation with the Melka's

Allie spent a couple of days in Cheyenne (and Denver) with Grandma Jeannine and Grandpa Larry. They packed more into one day than I thought possible.

After driving from Casper to Cheyenne and spending the night, they were up bright and early on Thursday for a fun day of activities.

First stop: Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys

For lunch, they dined on the patio at the Cheesecake Factory (boy am I jealous!). Allie couldn't finish her lunch portion of pasta or her gigantic piece of White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Cheesecake.

Jeannine and Larry then took Allie to the Molly Brown House (remember The Unsinkable Molly Brown)?

Next stop: Museum of Art. Allie is testing out the alligator costume.

They finished the evening at the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse near Longmont, CO. They enjoyed a great dinner and a performance of Wizard of Oz.

Here is Allie and Grandpa Larry....

....and with Grandma Jeannine.

Yikes!

They returned to Cheyenne that evening and spent part of Friday making beading with all the beads Grandma bought for Allie at Hobby Lobby.

I think everyone had a fun trip!