Travels to IL & KY (2017)

We enjoyed our visits with Tim's brothers and their families and were able to see all of our nieces. There was lots of playing with and snuggling of babies on this trip. :-) 

First night -- stayed at a hotel where we all went swimming before crashing for the night.

Cousins!

 Being silly with Papa

Trying to make B laugh -- they were successful.

Playing with B.

Kentucky! First time for Michelle & the kids

And finally at our KY destination.... and lots of pics with Baby A

Apparently he didn't want his photo taken... lol

Where we had dinner (frog legs were on the menu -- Welcome to southern cousine!)

Tim and Baby A

Watching Phineas & Ferb ... the Star Wars episode

Guess who loves holding babies?

So sweet.

Even though he tried to play it cool, you can tell he liked his newest cousin.

Cousins!

Seriously, she adores babies.

She looks so little here..

Silly faces!

They're glowing!

Brothers!

Selfies w/ the baby

Feeding her cousin like a pro!

Such a good mommy :-)

Thinking hard... "What will my next move be?"

 Daddy & his little girl

Baby A was not too sure about this...

The kids with their Aunt C and cousin, Baby A (aka Jedi in training)

On our way back to IL and eventually WI

Holy Hill (2017)

It was a beautiful fall day yesterday. The weather was not sweltering hot like last weekend and not quite freezing where we'd need jackets. Sweatshirt weather is our favorite for taking hikes and enjoying the outdoors.

The colors on the trees hadn't turned yet, but we were determined to return to Holy Hill and finally climb the tower. The past two times we were there, the weather did not cooperate so the tower was closed. Since the sun was shining, there was no rain, and the wind was minimal, it was the perfect day to go to Holy Hill. The kids invited some friends to come along with us.

We discussed each of the 12 stations of the cross statues that we walked past and talked and mentioned that some of the details listed at the stations weren't anywhere in Scripture. It wasn't that those things never happened (we don't know), but there is no evidence listed in our reliable source of truth, the Bible. So it was cool to see what the kids knew and how interested they were.

The sky was absolutely gorgeous and really accented the beautiful architecture of the basilica.

Lots of smiles!

And a few weird faces...

More stations

A view from the foot of the building

Slowly making our way up the stairs of the tower....

We waited in line for a while before making it to the top.

The view as we finally reached the top of the tower

(You could see all the way to Milwaukee!)

A few of my favorite photos....

Heading back down the stairs again

Nature's see-saw...

The kids (and Tim) were having fun making the dead tree go up and down.

The ride back home was quite entertaining. The boys were singing "Bazooka Bubblegum," a slightly different variation of "Bawoomba Bubblegum" that I learned when I was younger. There was a bit of silliness with the girls asking the boys if they wanted some ABC gum and the boys asking the girls about BFO gum. There was some off-key singing along to Christian songs playing on the radio. All of the conversations and antics made me laugh. For a second or so, I had a glimpse of what it'd be like to have 5 kids and then was glad we only had 2.

After all of the friends were returned to their parents, we went to Pizza Hut for dinner. We played a family game of "Would You Rather?" by taking turns asking questions. It was so much fun to laugh and be silly together. Some of the options were ridiculous, while others prompting slightly more serious answers. My heart is full!