Fourth of July

I love the laughter of Luke and Eva playing with daddy.

 The Forth of July is one of my favorite holidays.  We had a wonderful concert at church, went to Big Cedar Lake, and spend the day with friends at the Brookfield parade and used their great new pool.

 Here is Lily and Eva at a play date at our house.  They are collecting things to attract butterflies.

 Luke and Casey.

 Daddy treating them to special gifts from their Home Depot trip.

 My childhood friend Lori and her Luke.

 We also saw Dave's family with special guests Aunt Diana and Uncle Ken.

Vacay Sway

I know quality time is my most prominent love language, but I am still surprised every time how much I like being with my family for the week.  I love seeing Dave every day and getting to play with the kids together.  We started off our trip at Devil's Lake.  It was so windy we needed chemistry goggles to see where we were going.  I had to re-do Eva's pony tail about every ten minutes.

Next we went to the Dells.  I wasn't expecting to swim the entire time we were there - but we did.  I don't know what I was thinking with the Dells being the water-park capital of the world.  Luke really does not like water parks - he was surprised that people were having fun at the water parks and he couldn't understand how many there were.  He prefers the more quiet ones (like pictured below).

We loved the place that we stayed - Wilderness On The Lake.  It had this beautiful pool below that was nice and quiet.  We had a two bedroom condo.  We also had a jacuzzi out on the balcony which the whole family enjoyed.  The kids went in without suits so I did not include the photos.

 The kids loved the Moose Jaw pizza.

 Eva talking to Grandpa saying how much fun we had.

 Story time by the fire at 7:00pm.

 I hope the kids have this much fun bringing the luggage in and out when they are 16-18 years old.

 Last dip in the pool after we checked out.

 Good bye Dells.  Thanks for the fun.

Madison Zoo

We had our annual trip to the zoo over the Memorial Day weekend.  We heard the lions roar, watched the giraffes eat special leaves, saw a porcupine with all his quills out and got scared by the goats.  I loved that Eva needed to be by me when she was scared by some of the animals.  It is nice to know I can help someone just by holding them and loving them.

 Pictured below is Eva with the bow and the tiger walking by.

While in Madison, we also went to see the new Union South my brother built.  It is a beautiful building and I wish it was there when we went to school.  I was starting to feel really old, like it had been way more than 11 years that I graduated, and then I saw two of my old room mates and as we talked I was reminded somethings never change.  It was so good to see them again.

We also went out to eat to celebrate our 9th anniversary.  So much has happened in nine years and I am so happy to have a home and family with Dave.  

Tangled Measuring Tapes

Luke has enjoyed some time with his daddy and papa to do the things he loves to do.  Here Luke and daddy counted all the money in his piggy bank.

 Here Luke couldn't believe papa had a 100 foot tape measure and they measured everything in Papa's back bard.  My dad made a data sheet for Luke to record his distances.

Firsts

I cried as I helped my little girl slip into her tights and pink leotard.  All the joy I got from dancing 18 years of my life could not compare to this moment of taking my little girl to her first dance class.  She was so excited. She swaggered past the step aerobics class to the beat.  She did not hesitate to go into her class.  She followed every move the dance teacher made and smiled the entire time. 

 I love you Eva.

The next first was Luke riding his bike all on his own.  We have waited a long winter to get out and use his bike.  Daddy ran over his training wheels with his car so he could not use them anymore.  Luke didn't want to try and then after a little convincing he was off.  He was giggling and pedaling as fast as his bike could take him.  I was laughing and running right by his side.  He was so proud to tell Daddy.  He was then concerned if Uncle Riley knew how to pedal without training wheels.

Easter 2011

Easter is my favorite spiritual holiday.  I am so thankful for the new life associated with Easter.  Luke says he liked the candy in the Easter eggs and Eva liked finding her own basket this year.  Here is the line up for the hunt.

 We finished Easter by having a sleep over at our house for my nephews while their parents were out of town.

 Here we are getting full use of the Suburban.

 There is something precious about kids in their Easter clothes.  Eva acted like a little lady in her dress and kept spinning around and around.  She was also careful not to get her dress dirty.  (Thanks mom for the dress and Dad for the delivery.)