Spring Break

We wanted to get out of dodge for Spring Break, so we hopped in our minivan and drove ~16 hours to Denver!

We have lots of friends out there from our Air Force & LA days.  

We got together for brunch the day after we arrived.

Here's the crew...plus lots & lots of kiddos!!!

We then proceeded to get really sick and puke all over our friend's brand new house.  

Yep, for 4 days, we were infested with a stomach virus.  

I'll spare you the details, but we were in rough condition. 

It made our trip quite memorable, to say the least :).

We did manage to get healthy and have a little fun.  

We sledded, watched movies, went hot tubbing, played at the park, dyed Easter eggs, bounced around an indoor trampoline gym, drove 4-wheelers, zip lined, shopped a little and enjoyed the beautiful 60 degree weather.

The kids loved dying eggs out in the sunshine!

Dane couldn't stand the bright sun, so he wore my old sunglasses.  Lookin' good, buddy :)

Our egg dye kit came with little Iron Man masks for the eggs.  

Marketing at its best :).

Someone taught Erik do do this.

Erik also did this.

Yep, he went on the zip line!!

He asked to do it.  We thought for sure he would get in the harness and then ask to get down.  

But he LOVED it!!!!  He surprised us all!!!

We got the old crew together one more time before leaving.

We were hoping Lindsay would have her baby....no such luck :(

Here are all our kids (plus one friend).  Only 2 girls in the bunch!

Tripp loved playing with Josh and his Iron Men.  

And he loved wearing sunglasses.  He wouldn't take them off!

Here is Tripp flying his Iron Man.  He also makes flying noises with his mouth. 

 It's absolutely precious.

And here are a couple cute shots of the Rillos boys.  

I think I see modeling in their future :).

All in all, we had a great time!!  

But we could have done without the stomach bug :)

Illinois {Part 2}

Well, it's been a month since I posted Part 1 of our Illinois trip, so I thought it was about time to post Part 2!

This car passed us during our drive.  Please.  Like we would let a Prius pass the Odyssey.  

I mean, come on.  

Even if it did have a sweet Chinese phrase on its plate...it wasn't getting by the mini van :-).

We discovered the BEST place to stop and recharge was Starbucks.  This was a given for Matt and I, but it turned out our kids were bananas for "smoothies with whip cream."  

Now we know.  

(Thank you to Starbucks for accommodating our loud and stir-crazy crew.) 

We visited Papa at the Challenge Course.  The boys loved it.  They wanted to climb everything.  

(Patience boys, patience.  You'll get enough of this stuff your first year at USAFA.  Hee hee.) 

We visited Steak n Shake!  We've done this every year, and it's one of our favorites.  The food is greasy, and it's completely acceptable to order a milk shake as your drink.  

Matt and I were shocked at how well the boys did at the restaurant.  We kept looking at each other...wondering what had gotten into our kids.  

It was, hands down, the best dining out experience we've had.  

Popsicles with Papa!

Papa taught Dane to play War, and it was a huge hit.  However, Erik felt left out, so Nana taught him to play "Colors and Numbers."  It was the cutest!  

He loved it and had the best time playing with Nana!

Finally, here's a cheesy pic of Matt and I at the park.  Too cool for school.

We had a blast and can't wait to go back!!  Until next summer...

Illinois {Part 1}

We traveled to Decatur, IL last week to visit Papa & Nana (and Pepper too :-).  We normally do all sorts of lake activities...fishing, boating, jet skiing.  But this time, due to the severe droughts affecting the mid-west, Lake Decatur was too low for the boat and jet skis.  Check it out...my step-mom took this pic when boats were still allowed on the lake.   You can see the dock's wheels sitting on the bottom of the lake.  We normally step right off the dock onto the boat.  

We had never seen the lake so low.  It was nuts!  But because we couldn't do our normal activities, we got to do other things around the city.  

Our first stop was the Children's Museum!  

Erik enjoyed making giant bubbles.  

And playing at the post office.

Tripp liked climbing and sliding with Nana.

And gardening :-).

Dane was enamored with this thing.  He loved making faces and then pushing the pins back into place.

Having fun with Papa.

He also liked riding this bike and watching the skeleton move as he pedaled.

Papa showed Tripp how balls could float.  

He tried to do it himself  (aw, so cute  :-).

Erik loved the trains (no surprise there!).  

Tripp joined Erik at the train table.  With his ball and ice cream cone, of course.

Dane learned that science was cool.  

The boys had a lot of fun!  And so did the parents & grandparents :-).  Part 2 coming soon!

Quite a Lady

Hello from New Carlisle, IN! 

(The town is part of Michiana, if you're cool and like to throw around that term.  We do.)

 Last week, we hopped in the car for our annual visit to Papa & Nana's house in Illinois.  On the way there, we swung through Indiana to visit my Grandmother, Ethel.  

She was extremely hospitable to us and our let's-grab-everything-in-sight-and-fight-over-it boys (by the way, the boys fought over things like my Grandma's bingo chips, hair brush, and grabber thingy...really cool things that they had to have).  

But I digress...she is 89 years young and just a gem.  She has a wonderful, positive outlook on life and loves to talk about how blessed she has been.  For instance, she can't walk anymore, but instead of grumbling about it, she said "Well, I was lucky enough to walk for 88 years, so I really can't complain."  Wow.  And she's President of the Resident Association at her nursing home.  Instead of just sitting around, she figured she'd do something while there.  So she speaks up on the resident's behalf.  And she's made a few changes - mailboxes closer to the rooms, better bingo prizes and tastier cafeteria food.  

She's quite a lady.  

Ely {in pictures}

This will be my last post about our trip to Ely.  Our favorite memories include lots of trips to the sauna, early morning fishing, swimming in the rain, sailboating, bachelor-esque late night fireworks and one crazy storm!