Just Do It

An idea popped into my head--why not take all 3 boys to Illinois to visit my parents? Derek has to work, but I found a 6 day window in our summer where the rest of us could get away. Derek supported this idea, while I remained undecided. Did I really want to make that drive? After talking it over with my parents and with Derek again, I decided to just do it! Oh, and to make things more interesting, I brought Ginger along too. :)

Friday
I brought along a few books on CD to help me pass the time on this looong drive. Silly me, I didn't listen to a single one of them. Instead, we all listened to countless hours of Adventures in Odyssey episodes. The boys also watched several movies. They are such good travelers, and I am very thankful. Even Ginger traveled well. We only stopped twice during the 11 hour trip!

On the west side of Iowa city, interstate traffic came to a screeching halt. As I braked hard, I kept an eye on the cars behind me. Were they going to stop? Yes, they all stopped in time. We began wondering what happened ahead of us, since there was no road construction on this stretch of road. (Probably the only part of our route without construction, actually!) I looked in my rear view mirror again and saw a huge cloud of dust, along with vehicles parked in the median and on the shoulder. I had a feeling there was now an accident in front of us and behind us. As it turns out, there was a car fire in front of us. We drove past the burned car as it was being loaded onto a flat bed. The next day I did an online search for these accidents and discovered the accident behind us had turned deadly. Someone didn't stop in time and plowed his truck into a semi. He didn't survive. The boys and I felt very protected in our bubble on the interstate, surrounded by accidents but untouched. We thanked God for our safety!

Saturday
The highlight of this day--attending a Schaumburg Boomers baseball game! Someday I hope to take my boys to a Cubs game. But this baseball game was a lot of fun! The weather was perfect, the game was entertaining, and the boys even ran the bases after the game ended. Oh, and the Boomers won--that's very important to Aaron, my most competitive son! It was also free hat night, so we all received these snazzy orange hats. :)

My parents and my boys before the game.
Dad looks tall, and Mom looks short!

Waiting in line to run the bases

They sure had fun!

Sunday
I never would have thought Aaron would hold a python snake at church, but he did. Not only is he competitive, but he's brave too! I love attending my parents' church. It's very different from when I grew up there, but it's still my home church. A friend of mine (Paul) from my youth group days attends church there with his family, and he's the one who keeps pythons in his office. The boys loved hearing stories about these snakes and even asked to see what they eat. Paul pulled a frozen rat from the freezer and that grossed me out. Aaron and Braylen thought it was cool. Can you guess what Kaleb thought? :) To his credit, he did touch one of the snakes. That is enough for him, and that's just fine by me!

Coming home is like stepping back in time for me. It's a weird feeling. In my mind, everything and everyone should still look like they do in my memory. But they don't. We live in Derek's hometown, with his past and his present all rolled into one. My past and present worlds are very different and going home feels a bit like stepping from one timeline into another. And as I step backwards in time, I bring my kids with me. So weird!!!

We made lots of memories during this trip, and I'll have more on that next time! :)

All About the Boys

Whoops--I almost forgot Father's Day! We drove home from our camping vacation on Father's Day. But before we did, the boys gave Derek a Top Ten list of reasons why they love having him as their dad. Braylen listed grown-up reasons such as, "He teaches me how to be a man." Kaleb's reasons included, "He lets me help him set up the camper." One of Aaron's reasons is, "He takes me fishing." I think Derek liked his "card" from our boys. :) He's such a great daddy.

We made a quick detour on our way home to show the boys a wacky display called Carhenge. Remember how I mentioned in an earlier post that it was 105 degrees?

These are real cars stuck in the ground and stacked to look like Stonehenge.

The car on top reminded the boys of Doc in the movie Cars.

Happy Father's Day Derek!

And a few more pictures of my guys during the month of June...

Rooftop Fellas

Kaleb's wild hair...or is it? :)

Speaking of hair, these two heads of hair look identical.
(Derek & Aaron)

15 Years

Our 15th wedding anniversary was sandwiched between our camping vacation and a trip to Illinois. You know, typical summer stuff. :) We celebrated by eating out at a new BBQ place in town...Derek knows how much I love BBQ. He ended up enjoying it as much as I did! After dinner we went for a walk at a favorite state park of ours. As we approached the trail, we saw a large doe standing just 20 feet from us. I've never been so close to a deer before! She stood there and stared at us, flicked her white tail, and disappeared. As we walked and talked, I thanked God for my husband.

June 21st, 2012

Standing on the bridge overlooking a river, we spotted more deer in the distance. We had Ginger with us, and I think she wanted to jump off the bridge and play with the deer. This was the most beautiful summer night, a perfect anniversary night. I can hardly believe we've been married for 15 years. 3 apartments, 2 houses, 2 states, and 3 kids later....here we are, hand-in-hand through the ups and downs of our lives, committed to each other for life. A happy anniversary indeed. :)

Thank you Pam and Brandon for keeping our boys on this evening. Their eyes always light up when we tell them they're going to your house. :)

Fort Robinson Part 2

Happy 4th of July! I'm still stuck in June, and believe I will forever be playing catch-up...

Camp site #95
One of the boys said it's just like Lightning McQueen, #95!

Fort Robinson is a horse-lovers paradise. Obviously we don't have any horses, and all I know about horses comes from books I read. Still, the stables looked nice and there are many trails to explore. There was a rodeo on our first night, but since we were setting up camp we didn't attend it. Derek offered to take us on a carriage ride around the park, but when we let the boys decide between horses and swimming, they chose swimming!

We visited a couple museums where we saw mammoths and various wildlife displays. We took funny photos in the photo room, and let the boys paint ceramic figurines. Aaron chose to paint a fawn, while Kaleb painted a wolf.

Tough guy

There's so much I could say here...

Painters!

In keeping with our relaxation theme, we let the boys watch a DVD one night while I made supper. Then after the boys were in bed, Derek and I watched Mission Impossible 3. It was the first time we watched movies while camping. I liked it. :) Getting ready to go camping, and coming home after camping--both of those times involve a LOT of work. But being at the campsite? Play time!

We watched a hot air balloon fail to launch. Still neat to see!

Driving home in 105 degree heat, we thanked God for a reliable truck with a/c. What a fun getaway for our family. This camper is such a blessing. It's definitely the only way for this girl to camp! :) Thank you Derek for taking us on this vacation!!!!!!!