School Picture Day

We got the boys' first set of school pictures. Now companies are starting to sell you a cd of the pictures instead of being locked into a package. That's what I did and now I can go do anything I want with them. It's so much better to just go out and print what you really want. Anyway, I think Jack did a great job for his first go at it. It seems like he's grown 2 years since he's started school.

Here's Logan. Brad harrassed me about the color shirts I chose. Oh well, he can dress them next time :) Logan and Luke don't have the nice smile down yet, but they still turned out cute.

Luke was the first kid to go in his classroom. Apparently that's what usually happens. He's the gutsy one who'll just say 'Ill do it!' That's nice for now, but we'll have to break him of that by the time he gets to high school. I don't want any late night calls from the cops.

The boys are looking way too forward to Halloween. That'll be my next post with pictures of their costumes.

First Real Camping Trip

This past weekend we packed up and drove north of Chicago to the Sugar River Preserve campground, almost on the Illinois/Wisconsin border. We met Brad's cousins and Aunt and Uncle there for a fun weekend. We had intended to start camping with the boys next summer, but decided to get a head start by meeting everyone last weekend. This was our first true camping trip. We have camped at Wilderness State Park in their rustic cabins before, but never in a tent roughing it. Brad ran out and bought a tent. I guess 'tent' is an understatement. It's bigger than a hotel room. It turned out great because we could fit the boys on a queen blow up mattress on one end and we had ours on the other end. We'll be all set for rainy days camping next summer. If you know my family history, rainy days are a given.

We chose a campsite away from a large group of partiers celebrating Halloween early. We were right on the river. During the day it was beautiful. The sun was out and it reached the low 60's. The problem was when the sun went down. It got down to the very low 40's. This made for a very cold, very long, night. The boys weathered it like troopers. We piled on plenty of layers of sleeping bags. We all enjoyed a roaring campfire, and especially the smores.

For breakfast Sunday morning, Luke decided he would check and see if the camping stove was hot enough to start cooking pancakes....it was!

The whole crew at breakfast. Mike makes great pancakes! You can see how close the river was to us.

After breakfast we took a hike through the woods. Logan wanted to lead the way.

Logan thought this pose up himself. He called me over to take his picture. Luke jumped in too, and luckily Logan agreed. Logan's on the left and Luke on the right. No, I don't always dress them alike, but they love their sweatshirts from Grandma and Grandpa.

Jack liked the pose too, so he jumped up to have his picture taken too.

We did family photos at a scenic spot. Here are Mike, Cindy, Todd, and Jodi.

Here are Jim, Karen, Max, and Maggie.

...and finally, our crew. We put 13 hours into driving for this trip and it was worth every minute. We enjoyed spending time with family we only get to see a couple times a year. We soaked up the beautiful weather, before long we'll be buried in snow. To the rest of you...we now own a tent and will be coming your way soon!

Pony Rides

I'm catching up the last couple weeks... We met Uncle Chad and Aunt Emily at the local orchard. We ate dinner and grabbed some fresh cinnamon doughnuts. They had pony rides, so we had have one. At least this was more humane than chaining them to a bar that just goes mindlessly in a circle. A person actually walks the kids around. Here's Luke on the first pony.

Here's Logan on the second one. As you can see, Luke and Logan love to mess pictures up with goofy faces.

Jack came next...on the smallest pony.

We were about the only people left because they were about to close, so we had time to get a group shot. As the boys would say, "We were Towboys!"

Babysitting

I'm a little out of order here, but Mom and I went and babysat for my new newphew Calum. Don and Sarah were at the U of M football game. It killed us, but we put his Michigan bib on while his team was playing.

We only lasted a few minutes reading books...maybe it was my singing :)

This made me think of having a 4th one for about 30 minutes. Then he woke up and I remembered why I like how old Jack, Luke and Logan are. Mom and I are available to babysit again as soon as they need us!

A Visit to Sean and Lindsey

This weekend we went down to Fort Wayne to see Sean and Lindsey's new house. It's beautiful! We spent the night and then took the kids to the Fort Wayne Zoo. We were really impressed with the zoo.

The first ride we rode on was the SkyRide. Here is Kathy and Luke. The zoo is in the process of building an open African savannah. This ride goes out over top of the enclosure. Unfortunately the animals aren't there yet because it's not done. We are looking forward to another trip next summer when it's done.

We saw a lot more animals and then had lunch. The boys wouldn't let us go any further without riding on the boats. Here is Sean, Lindsey and Jack. This was a very relaxing cruise around the Australian exhibit, no hills! While the ride was nice, they need to put a few more animals that we can see from the boat in. We got small peeks at kangaroos and dingos.

This video is hilarious of Sean trying to feed the goats. Apparently, they don't get much to eat. Watch where poor Sean takes the biggest beating :) Also, their hooves weren't the cleanest. You can imagine what Sean had all over him after this. Luckily, this was our last stop before heading back to the house. All in all the Fort Wayne Zoo is one I would recommend if you're in the area.

Here are the boys in their pj's at the house. Pants the cat loved all the attention. We had a great weekend visit! Thanks Sean and Lindsey!

First Day of School

Well, it's been awhile since posting my first entry. We had our computer crash...with 2 years of pictures on it. Thankfully Brad took it into work to their computer guy and he was able to get all our information out of it. Yes, an external hard drive is important!

I wanted to start from the beginning of the school year. Here are the boys with their backpacks anxiously waiting for the first day to come. They all picked out what they wanted their backpacks to have on them. I love the internet. I found exactly what they asked for. As Brad would say...'Whatever little Timmy wants.."

The first day of school finally arrived and they were so excited. Jack was in the preschool room and Luke and Logan were just down the hall in the 3 year old room. This was the first time they would be separated and I was nervous about it. There was so much going on in the parking lot that I couldn't get them all to cooperate and look at me. As you can see the day before Logan decided to make it easier for the teachers to tell he and Luke apart. He fell off the swing at the park and took a nice chunk of skin off his forehead.

Their first day was great and they have been doing great since.