More Vacation Fun

After my cousin Mandi's wedding, we headed to a Bennett family vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Bennett, Uncle Richard, and Uncle Michael. Aunt Barbara and Uncle Jack came along too. We went to Mohican State Park in Central Ohio. We had a chance to just relax and spend some time with the Bennetts. I'm very thankful for the time with my family, since we don't get a chance to all be together very often.

Boating

Laura the Snakehandler

After we got back, we had a weekend at home before John went back to work. We went to the diocese family picnic on Sunday, and Andrew got to spend some time with his friend Eric.

And finally, a picture of our "big girl" standing!

Catching up on the Summer: July

We celebrated the Fourth of July and Andrew's birthday party #1 at Grandma and Grandpa Drake's house. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but we all had a great time.

The kids have each been doing a couple of activities through the park district this summer. In the first half of the summer Andrew did t-ball, Laura did ballet, and both kids did swimming lessons.

We have been on vacation in Ohio for the last week. We came down for my cousin Mandi's wedding. It has been great getting a chance to see my Gerber relatives.

The kids have also gotten to spend some time with their second cousins that we don't get to see very often. There was a little baby boom for my generation over the last few years, so all of my kids have second cousins close in age to them. This time they got to visit with Isaiah, Jonah, and Harriet. Since Isaiah and Jonah were busy helping with wedding preparations, they spent a lot of time with Harriet. Andrew is already begging to take a vacation to Virginia so we can have a playdate with Harriet.

At the wedding:

Playing at Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Glenn's:

Swimming at the hotel:

On July 18th, Andrew turned 6! He is growing up too quickly for me. Here are a couple of pictures of the 6 year old on his birthday.

Bridget with Uncle Dan at Andrew's birthday party:

Catching up on the Summer: June

June started off with a trip to El Paso for VBS with the Drake cousins. Andrew and Laura both loved it and are still singing/signing the music. Thanks so much to Aunt Nico for volunteering at VBS and carting all of the kids back and forth!

After VBS was done, we headed on an Illinois tour, visiting with Andrew's Godmother Sister Theresa-Elizabeth in Effingham, the Moore family in Champaign, and the Schoen family near DeKalb. It was fun to reconnect with college friends. We hope to do it more often! :)

Sister reading to the kids:

At the Schoen's house:

We finished up June with a visit from the Yeagers, good friends of ours from Chatham. Andrew and Laura were so excited that Noah and Makenna got to stay overnight. The kids played at our house, and then we went downtown to the farmer's market.

One of our most exciting events of the summer was not captured on film (ok, memory card). Andrew got a concussion after the Yeagers left, and lost his short term memory for the day. Fortunately, he was fine the next morning, and we all had a reminder of what a blessing our health is.

Catching up on the Summer: May

I was going to post all of our summer happenings in one post, but it was taking way too long to upload pictures, so I'm just going to do one month at a time. :) I'll start with May.

Andrew and Laura finished their gymnastics classes. Both of them really enjoyed the experience, but we were all ready for a break.

We had a fun time at the Drake Campout. Andrew and Laura both slept out 2 nights at the campground with John. Bridget and I enjoyed the nice, cozy beds at Grandma's house.

The kids had fun swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was Bridget's first time in the pool!