September 2014

September brought us cross country season, which I obviously happen to love. Megan had a good season. She was really close to breaking 7:00 for her mile. She'll get there next year. Jake played flag football at school and was a stand out athlete. He scored a touchdown in every game that he played. (He is the fastest boy in second grade, after all). He also played in a fall baseball league in Niles with many of his school mates. And, last but not least, we had a nice visit from Jimmy, Michele, Dane and Wrigley. The visit was short but super nice.

Aug 2014

August is Megan's month! We were at the cottage on her actual birthday. Damien and Ada were with us that weekend as well. Then, she had a slumber party with a few of her besties. I took them out to Moretti's in Edison Park for a fun dinner before heading home to stay up super late. Cheers! Darin took the kids to a Bears pre-season game (I still haven't been to a Bears Game). We had a country/covered wagon them at the lighted boat parade this year. Kids went back to school at the end of August. Megan in 5th grade and Jake in 2nd. And of course we ended the month with a visit to the Walworth County Fair over Labor Day weekend.

July 2014

Megan went away to Girl Scout Camp - it was a 3 day Scout Sampler. She had a really good time, but could have done without all of the bugs! Both she and Julia came back with tons of mosquito bites. She was at Camp Juniper Knoll which is right on Pleasant Lake, so we were able to pick her up and be back at the cottage in 5 minutes! Here's the "JK" photo: Jake got to play in the All-Star game again. It's always a fun one. Here's a random shot of some family yoga: We also spent some time at the Niles Park District pool. Here's Jake and his BFF practicing some kicks.

June 2014

Haha - I have to get a post in to keep myself less than one year behind! Eek! As my computer memory fills up with photos that I haven't archived yet, I really must get a few quick posts here so that I can free up some space. As we all know, Jake REALLY loves his birthday, so June is pretty much Jake's month. His baseball league started "kid pitch" baseball and he got his chance to pitch (they all love to pitch). On June 7, Megan and I ran in the Energizer Light the Night 5k downtown. This girl loves the city. It was especially fun because we stuck around and watched a band until almost 10:00. Our intern at Chicago Athlete Magazine snapped this photo: And then I took this one on our way back to the car: Jake's big day also happened to be the last day of school. We started the day with chocolate chip pancakes. He had a small party where I organized a scavenger hunt and then Jack and Michael stayed overnight. Damien and Ada came over on June 22 and we went to Foster Beach. It was a bit cool and foggy, so we didn't stay super long. But the kids seemed to have fun! Jake had this thing last year where he would try not to smile for photos, so this was the best I could do on this day.

May 2014

May was filled with track practice and meets, baseball and lazy days in Wisconsin!

April 2014

I'm going to attempt a quick catch up here! Last April, during spring break, we went to St. Louis. The kids are perfectly happy to swim in a hotel pool. We could be anywhere, really. They went into the Arch with Darin (I stayed behind on that one). And we went to the St. Louis Zoo. Always a hit.

March 2014

It was still cold in Chicago in March. We celebrated Mimi's birthday at our house with the whole crew. Here's one of Megan and Mimi: Megan got her expander from her orthodontist in mid-March. Here's a pic of her on the first day with it. Jake and Darin made sure to keep fit over the winter with plenty of workouts in our basement. How cute is this one: In late March, we made a trip to the Shedd Aquarium. Jake had been asking to go, as he was really interested in seeing Sharks. We saw lots of interesting exhibits. Here's a little seahorse.... And we saw the dolphin show. Unfortunately, Jake was disappointed with the shark exhibit. He said he was expecting it to be much better. On the bright side, it was a pretty nice day outside, so we took our time getting back to the car and the kids played around the museum campus for a bit.