Anna, the Daughter I've Always Wanted

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm all about having a daughter. Apparently God laughed at my plans when he gave me a son. I've known Anna since she was around 6, and have loved spending time with her. Now at the age of 13 we finally got her for a week all to ourselves. I hope we didn't screw her up too badly.

The first day Anna was here we went blueberry and black raspberry picking. 

Blueberries are perfect for B to pick.

When Anna stopped putting berries in his pail this is what happened...

Yum!!!

Anna berries are the best!

The black raspberries were a little more dangerous to pick.

But sure tasted good!!!

He ate more berries than we bought I'm afraid.

After a hot day in the field ice cream was needed to cool down.

On Wednesday night Anna and I had a girls night. Scott and B did boy things, while we headed to the nail salon.

After getting our feet beautifully made up, we headed to dinner at The Local.

The weather was warm so we headed to the water park. Anna was brave and hit many of the rides. B stayed safely in the toddler pool.

Friday is Gymboree Day. Anna took one for the team and played with Brayden and Gymbo.

"Brayden, jump, don't just fall off the top."

That evening Scott surprised us with Heat basketball tickets! We quickly got dinner and then headed to the game!

Well done Scott, well done!

Sadly Saturday was the day to say goodbye. We got one more pool time in before we had to ship Anna back up to Chicago.

We had a wonderful time investing in our niece. She is turning into such a beautiful young lady. I loved doing a Bible study with her and chatting on car rides. In just a few months we get her brother, Grant!!!

Kindlers Brief But Fun Visit

Recently we have been the party house. We have had 10 people come through our house to stay in 14 days. (Okay, one come from Portland just for dinner, but I'm counting Nancy anyways!)

B was thrilled to hear his cousins, the Kindlers, were rolling through for a few days.

Monday morning B went with Aunt Susan to art class. The crummy weather kept the rest of us inside. Anna and Rachael made a craft project for B.

Grant helped whip up some cookies, which then everyone helped shape and bake.

Once the cookies were in the oven we made play dough from scratch!

At noon B came home to find a new game, cookies, and play dough. Not a shabby morning!

Later that day the sun came out, which means one thing: pool time!!

Emmett had a great idea, passing the football. Scott had another idea, ice cream! So we combined them as we walked to get ice cream.

Brayden thought the game was about giving him the ball the whole time.

Before 3 of the 4 cousins left we had to get in some park and 'eball' time.

Seriously, B looks HUGE!

The sofa picture is a must after every visit!!

We enjoyed seeing them and loved the fact they left Anna for a week to live with us!!!

Mickey and Dan Save The Day

In the earlier post I got to highlight many of the activities we did with our friends the Larlees. Much of this couldn't have happened without Scott's parents driving up form St. Louis to watch B. We are so thankful that they could spend time with B, help us out, and then we could all spend time together.

Scott, Mike and Brayden met up with Mic and Dan at Carb Day, the Friday before the race. There they got to see the cars do some laps, see the junior league race, and spend time in the stands. B was thrilled and surprised to see Papa and Grandma there!

(This is Brayden's new smile, we don't know where it came from.)



Everyone was thrilled to hear the cars go by and see the how fast the cars are.

That is until Grandma brought out the spray bottle. It was ridiculously hot out, so the idea to bring a spray bottle was brilliant. Brayden loved it!!!

He loved it even more when he learned how to spray Grandma all by himself!

Let me take a moment to say that he's become such an expert sprayer that I've had to hide some of our cleaning supplies. He sprayed Windex on his face just the other night....

After all the racing was done we had a few days with the Grandparents by ourselves. Here are three generations for ice cream lovers.

We walked to Chappies, a local restaurant, to fill up on 'idee.' Brayden loves ice cream, which I believe is genetic in this family.

We loved seeing Mic and Dan and appreciated all their hard work with Brayden.

Larlee Visit

We finally got our first guests to come visit who aren't related to us!!! Chante and Micheal came for a few days to celebrate Micheal's birthday and get some sun! In the past we have gone camping and gone to Scottsdale AZ with them, so we knew their visit here would be a blast!

After a 2:30am pick up at the airport we decided brunch was a good idea verses breakfast!

Once Scott got home we let Micheal open his gift, court side tickets to game six of the Pacers round two playoffs. (Thank you ET.)

One highlight was seeing LaBron James play.

At half time we headed to the suite, the boys destroyed some chicken.

Sadly, our presence didn't ensure victory and the Pacers season was ended.

The next day we strolled the Carmel streets to our next dinner spot, Bubs.

When we went to Bub's Burgers for the first time we knew Micheal had to come here. There is a food eating challenge that if you eat a pound burger, (a pound after cooking) you get your picture on the wall. Micheal can pack food away, so we were excited to put his skills to the test.

To pass the time Mr. Napkin face made a guest appearance to Brayden's delight.

B decided to chow down on onion rings and a burger.

Here is the challenge.......

The boys looked ready.....

I think I can I think I can.....

Cheers......

Victory!!

Victory!!!

These two are now immortal on the hall of fame at Bub's Burgers.

There aren't any pictures of the boys passed out on benches, sofas, or the floor with the meat sweats after. It wasn't a nice sight.

The next morning was spent by the pool relaxing for the next evening, The Andretti party!!

This event is held so sponsors can come meet the drivers and be wined and dined at the garage the night before the race.

We hung out with our buddy Marco Adretti and gave him some tips to win the race.

Cheers to Marco!

The next morning came WAY TOO EARLY for the Indy 500. We rallied and were out the door by 8am.

Since there were 400,000 people heading to the same place we were, parking 1.3 miles away was a must. Then once getting to the stadium, that is 3 miles around, we walked a little under a mile to get to our seats.

Once we arrived we toured the area.

Yes, our seats were on the HOT bleachers, in the sun, on the nearly 100 degree day. At least we weren't on the track, that was 120 degrees.

Scott was excited to eat Indiana's famous breaded pork tenderloin.

From the top of the grand stand.

Unfortunately Micheal and Chante had to leave right after to catch a flight back to Portland. We walked to the furthest part of the track, 'closest' to our car to see the final minutes.

We had such an amazing weekend with our friends. Scott did a great job planning the trip and getting us into some pretty spectacular events.

Hopefully this post can lure some of you other Portland people out here! :)