Our Friends Come to Visit

Here are Jaylyn, Adley, and Leighton with our children.  They are daughters to our wonderful friends Amy and T.J.  We had so much fun having them over to our home.  Amber, who happens to be Amy’s cousin and my friend since college, also came to visit us.  So we had a full house of laughter and fun.  Since they were coming I asked them to help me with the wonderful task of painting rooms, among other things : )  I know not very nice, but they are good to me and they happily helped me out.  We painted Abigail’s room since Josiah is moving in with her temporarily for a few years.  Once our baby is old enough to be out of a crib we will move Abigail or Josiah with them.  We do not know if the baby is a boy or girl, hence not knowing who will move in with them.

The girls desperately wanted to help.

It’s great to have children who get along so well.

We walked to our local custard shop one afternoon and it was an adventure.  Josiah scraped his knee on the way there. Thankfully, Amy had a bandade in her diaper bag or the world would have ended for Josiah.  He decided he could not walk the rest of the way so we took Leighton out of the stroller. Leighton weighs half of what Josiah does so it made it easier for Travis’ back!  I don’t think Leighton minded.  

 

The older girls just enjoyed being together.

While we were out we even saw what Olney is famous for, a white squirrel.

Go Fly A Kite

Last Sunday after church, our church had a family kite flying day.  We had a picnic first and then flew kites.  Thankfully it was windy enough and many were able to get the kites up, including our kids!  We also had the joy of having our out of town friends join us during this event.  I was glad too since Amy had her camera with her!

This is Adley above and Leighton below.

Travis had a Yoda kite.

Abigail and Jaylyn’s kites tangled together.

Josiah did really well flying his kite on his own.  Doesn’t he make it look easy?

Trip to Springfield IL

We went to Springfield in mid-April. Travis spoke for three evenings at FBC Rochester. The pastor there asked him to speak on three difficult questions that Christians face. Travis spoke on the problem of evil, if hell really exists, and is Jesus really the only way. He did a great job.

We were glad to get to take the whole family. We had a great stay at the Hampton, and ate great food. We also had wonderful field trips during the day. We went to New Salem Village which is north of Springfield. It was great timing since Abigail and Travis have been listening thru the Little House series. They are on the 4th book. We also talked about President Lincoln before we went so she understood some of what she saw.

Josiah got into learning about President Lincoln. Everytime we saw something he said that Abraham Lincoln used that or did that. Even the use of an outhouse! It was funny.

We also were able to enjoy time at the Illinois State Museum. Admission is free so we thought we should go check it out. It was a nice museum. In the basement they had a special area called the Play Museum where it was more hands on. The kids really enjoyed that.

Abigail and Josiah got to be archeologists and dig for bones. They also got to crawl in a small cave, look at bugs, and play with a miniature farm.

Here Josiah is walking on some water that looks wet but it really isn't.

Monkey Joe's for Josiah's 4th Birthday

Travis had to speak at a Disciple Now near St. Louis over Josiah's birthday weekend so we decided we would find a fun place to celebrate Josiah's 4th birthday. Thankfully we have friends who live there so they suggested Monkey Joe's. It was perfect. Then afterwards we ate out at one of his favorite restaurants. Red Robin Yummmmmm.

Our Florida Vacation

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day. Although I didn't have the easiest time getting a great picture. Josiah kept making faces and when I said please give me a nice smile, he said "this is all I've got mommy."

But I did get this picture.

Cardinal Baseball Game

We went to the game on April 30th. It was just the two of us. The kids got to stay with Ma Ma and Pa Pa. We had lots of fun even though it stormed at the game and the tornado sirens went off. At this game they were handing out "sluggies" instead of "snuggies". We got to the game at 5:30pm or so and there were long lines to get them. I'm glad we got there when we did. I'm not sure how many they handed out. We didn't get thru the gates till a little after 6pm. The game started at 7:15.

At the beginning of the game it was cloudy and very muggy. When the storm front rolled in the weather shifted and a cold breeze came thru. It was interesting to feel and watch the difference in the ballpark. The change began at the bottom of the 4th inning.

By the top of the 6th inning it was poring down and there was a pretty light show. The lightning was incredible. The thunder was very loud too. The tornado sirens were going too but it was hard to hear. We were under the tier so we didn't get wet. We did buy ponchos at Target before we got there since we didn't know if we were going to be covered or not. Once the rain calmed down and the sirens weren't still going we left. The game resumed sometime later but we didn't stick around to watch it. We honestly thought it wasn't going to happen.

We used Priceline for the first time and got a room at the Hyatt for a great price. It was nice to just walk a few blocks to end the night. We will definitely use Priceline again.