Summer Excursions

I haven't written in almost two months?! Here's what we've been up to:

We went to visit Grandpa in Iowa for J's 5th Birthday - Aunt Karla was there too, and threw J a great party in the park with balloons, jumbo bubbles, cake, the whole nine yards. He loved it and even made a new friend (spontaneously) to invite to the party - it was a blast. See previous blog entry for the long version - great weekend.

The weekend after that, we went with Kris, Jamie, Blake, Cole, Eric, & Noah to Omaha to visit both sides of their families. We originally planned to go to the Big Lake camping site like we did last summer, but as the levee broke there and they were all flooded out, we headed up to NE. Highlights were swimming in "Mr. Truck" and Renae's pool, riding on a big 3-wheeler in the countryside with Jamie's family, and just generally getting a lot of good play and relaxation time in. We had a ball and it was great to get to know their families better.

The next weekend we were off the the Chicago area. We got to ride in a big airplane again - the love of J's existence. This was the reunion of Mommy and her best friends from graduate school - Rebecca, Kelli, & Sarah. We (and five of our seven collective children) convened at Kelli & Darron's new house in Valpraiso, IN. It was a big slumber party! We went to the shore of Lake Michigan to swim, hung out at the neighborhood pool, ate great food, and played all over the house and in the backyard while the Mommies talked non-stop. The Mommies even got to go out for a girls night at a local pub, courtesy of Darron. Sooooo good to reconnect with dear friends and catch up on our lives. The last time we had all been together was prior to J's arrival, so it was particularly special for this Mom!

We were home for one weekend, and then off to Colorado for the next 10 days. We got to stay with Cousin Shaunanana and Justin, Aunt Karla & Uncle Scott. We played with (and tortured) Cousins Ethan, Kiana & Malia, went to the great sprinkler/play park in Ft. Collins, rode bikes and swam, and helped Aunt Karla & Uncle Scott get ready for their "Celebration of Love." J got to help pick out which cupcakes to order for the party - chocolate and red velvet, thank you very much. He is always up for a party, Mr. Social. The day of the event was beautiful and J ran around enjoying every minute of it - dogs, people, kids, bubbles, throwing sticks in the stream with Ethan, etc. He is truly in his element when there are lots of people and chaos going on. He loves "cooking" with Karla and rough-housing it with Scott.

Quick story - Aunt Karla took us to see the new building where she'll work this year at CSU. It was kind of deserted, sterile, etc. as they are just finishing construction. She took us to the office to meet her staff and J assumed we were in a hospital, checking in for an appointment. "No doctors, no shots!" "Let's go, get out of here." He got really worried, poor little guy. It took us a minute to catch on to what he was going through. So we assured him, "no doctors, just teachers." Technically, all the "teachers" were actually doctors (Ph.D.'s) but we didn't go down that road with him!

J loves his peeps in Co - it's always hard to leave when we visit our family there. On the way home we hit a serious hail/wind/rain storm, and parked it (literally) on the side of the rode on I-70 with every other car. We huddled together on the front seat until the "stormer" was finished. The stormer was scary but we were brave.

So why did we plan all our vacations to fall consecutively over a five week period? Excellent question. We had a wonderful, wonderful summer. I know J and I will have many adventures together, as he is really a good traveler. When we drove to CO, it was the first time he was really clued in to watching DVD's, and I have to say it made travelling a breeze. He's a trooper, this little guy. His language really took off - complete sentences - during the trips too. I really noticed a growth spurt in CO. Yeah!

So that's the trip update. School update to follow.