June Pics

Other pics I took in June.

 Eva drew her first person!  This totally surprised me because Lena just drew her first person in November.

 She was very proud of herself.

 We have peony bushes in our backyard and they are beautiful!

 It gets so windy here that one of the girls' favorite games is "Hurricane", in which they hide under the picnic table to wait out the storm.

 There was a hawk on our fence one morning.

Father's Day 2013

Here are a few pics from our Father's Day weekend.

 The girls and I got Jim a fire pit for the backyard. He'd been wanting one for a few years.  Included was some firewood and a case of his favorite beer.

 Doing our favorite thing lately: hanging out in our awesome backyard.

 Just chillaxin'.

Eva had her shirt on backwards.

 Lena had fun kicking her blue ball around the yard. 

 Ready for church on Sunday morning.

 It was a beautiful day.

The girls always run to Daddy when they see him in the parking lot.

 A nice pic with Daddy after church.

 After lunch at home, Jim decided he would like to spend the afternoon at the beach.  We started out at the beach nearest our house which is a little rocky.

 Lena found a stick.

 Looking for neat rocks.

 Then we went for a walk along North Pier.

 Love this one.

 Then we climbed down onto the beach.  This beach is really nice with beautiful sand and no rocks.

 Did a little wading.

 The girls were getting tired by this point!  After this we went downtown and got some ice cream before heading home.

 For our Father's Day feast, I made Beer Grilled Ham, Slow Cooker Cheesy Potatoes, grilled Brussels sprouts, and rolls.

 A couple days later, we used the fire pit to roast hot dogs.  Lena is eager to cook her own dinner for the first time!

 Daddy showing them how to do it.

 They did a great job.  (I was the only one who accidentally lost a hot dog in the fire.  Oops!)

 

 Enjoying the fruits of their labor.  (Lena is holding her arms because it was getting quite chilly.  That was the day after we hit 89 in the afternoon, then dropped down to 60 by 8:00.)

 Got her jacket on; now it's time for dessert!

 Getting the marshmallows just right is tricky.

 Mmmm.

 Messy, but delicious!

Happy Father's Day!

Our Tenth Anniversary

Jim and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on June 7th.  Ten years!  Hard to believe we've been married for a whole decade.  

Jim planned a special evening to celebrate.  First, we went on a lantern-guided tour of some of the exhibits at the Civil War Museum here in Kenosha.  He thought this would be nice because we were both history majors in college when we met.  We hadn't been to the Civil War Museum yet, so that was really neat.  The museum was celebrating their 5th anniversary that weekend, so they had a bunch of special events going on.  

Jim made dinner reservations for us at House of Gerhard, a German restaurant in Kenosha.  This was special because we met in German class.  We had a very lovely dinner there.  

After dinner we went back to the Civil War Museum, where there was a special concert by the Kenosha Pops.  It was on the lawn outside the museum.  As it was part of the museum's anniversary celebration, the music consisted of patriotic pieces from the Civil War period.  The music was very nice, but it was unseasonably chilly that evening.  We brought a blanket for our legs, but still got quite cold.  We stuck it out for about an hour before we decided to go.  We warmed up by taking a walk along the North Pier out to the lighthouse.  

I forgot to bring my camera, but we snapped a few pics with my phone.

(click on the picture to see it a little closer up)

In honor of our tenth anniversary, we bought me a new wedding band.  The one I had been wearing was a hand-me-down, and while I certainly didn't mind wearing it, we had always planned to buy a new one at some point.  Even though it wasn't a great time, financially, I had "outgrown" that ring and so was in need of a new one.  I chose this one because it was very reasonably priced for the quality.  It's 10 karat white gold with seven tiny diamonds totaling a quarter of a karat.  It's just perfect.  The way it sparkles in the sunlight is just amazing. Between it and my new Mother's Ring, I am loving my new bling!

Happy 10th Anniversary, Jimmy!  I love you!  I can't wait to see what the next ten years has in store for us!

Trolley Ride and Kite Festival

The weekend that Grandma Sheryl,  Aunt Hil, Noah, and Kara came to visit us was really fun.  I already posted pics of Eva's birthday party that Friday.  Here are the pics of the fun things we did on Saturday.  We spent the day in downtown Kenosha.  We rode the trolley and then went to the annual kite festival.  Some of these pictures were taken by me; some by Grandma.

 Grandma and Kara.  Kara wasn't too keen on the sunglasses, but doesn't she have the cutest sad face you've ever seen?

 They didn't stay on long with Mommy either.

 Daddy and Eva waiting for the trolley.

Lena and Noah posing for Grandma's camera.

 We waiting patiently at the streetcar stop.

 Here it comes!

 So excited.

 Noah couldn't wait.

 Time to get on.

 Ready to ride.

So fun!

 Kara liked it too.

Noah checking out the sights of downtown Kenosha.

Having fun on the trolley.

 After we got off the trolley, we thought it was only fitting that we have lunch at Trolley Dogs.  It just so happened that they were celebrating their 10th anniversary that day, so they had a tent set up with live music and were giving out balloon animals to the kids.  Noah loves being a Cardinals fan! :)

 Kissing cousins.

Time to eat!  The kids got "octodogs" which are hot dogs cut to look like octopi.

Noah loved the french fries.

The kids got balloon animals and fun hats.  Unfortunately, it was a bit windy that day, so we had to chase them down the sidewalk more than once.

 Noah enjoying his lunch.  You'll have to ask Hilary what Noah did to a stranger as we were leaving and throwing our trash in that trash can by the wall. ;)

 Kara trying a french fry.

 After lunch we headed to the park where the kite festival was being held.  Isn't this a cute pic of the three oldest cousins?

 Our cute little Junebugs.

 Noah found a pinecone.

 Jim and his girls.  It was a total accident that they were all dressed alike.

Headed out to the festival.

 It was at a park right on the lake.

 Checking out the water.

Cute girls on rocks.

 My beauties.

Hilary and Noah looking at the kites.

 There were some really unique ones.

 Kara slept through most of it.

 Pretty.

 The biggest kite was this octopus.  It was 150 feet long, the length of three school busses.  It was really neat to watch.

It was quite a sight.

We watched several kite "routines" where kites were flown and choreographed in time to music.  There were teams of 2, 3, 4 and even 6 kites synchronized.  It was really amazing to watch.

 Aunt Hil busted out the bubbles.

 After a fun day out, we came home and Noah and Lena helped clean out the sandbox.  Then Aunt Hil  got us some new sand and the big kids had tons of fun playing with the new sandbox toys Eva got for her birthday.

What a fun weekend!  Thanks so much for coming to visit us!