Family Time With the Smith's

We stayed with Dave's parents the whole time we were in Utah.  Yep, Jim and Carolyn had us as houseguests for one month!  That is seriously a lot of work and takes a lot of patience and generosity, two characteristics which they happen to have in abundance!

Dave's parents really are amazing people.  They are great parents and even better grandparents.  We truly appreciate their wisdom, support and love.  They have raised 5 wonderful kids and preside over a close-knit and loving family, that we are very blessed to be part of.  Dave and I only hope that we can be as fun-loving and stylish as they are when we are grandparents...okay, we hope we can be like that by the time we turn 40!

Of course, when we come to stay, the person who takes the brunt of it is Grandma.  She is the one who stays home with us all day entertaining, cooking, and cleaning.  (I have to say it is kind of nice to have a mom to take care of you!)  Just to show you how "cool" she is look at these humungous, bigger than you can imagine, out of this world snow cones she introduced us to:


That huge red thing Paige is holding is a SMALL snow cone----small as in the size of your head!



Grandma also makes the world's best cinnamon rolls and is my favorite shopping companion



Paige and Grandma are kindred spirits when it comes to desserts!

Grandpa is not too shabby either.  All the grandkids adore him and my girls are no exception.  He is also pretty "cool" giving Paige a guitar lesson:



Bouncing all the kids on the trampoline



Grandpa roasting marshmallows with the grandkids

We were very lucky to get the chance to also see all of Dave's siblings during this trip.  Two of his sisters, Kristin and Katie, live with their families in Ogden.  His brother Scott who lives in AZ also happened to be in Utah for part of the time we were, so it was great to catch up with him and his darling, wife Katie.  We also made a quick stop in Rexburg, ID to see Dave's sister Kelley.  For the girls this meant that they got lots of cousin time.  I don't think they knew what they had been missing.  They loved playing with their cousins so much that it was hard to go home when the time came.  Poor, sweet Ashley was very teary as we waved goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Smith on the day we left for home.

Of course, difficulty parting is just proof of how much fun the girls (and their parents) had spending time with family.

Making smores with the Holts and Megan



No one "pops" em better than Aunt Krissy



Making smores is a SERIOUS-ly messy business!



Swimming at the club pool, a favorite activity with cousins.
Paige jumping off the diving board.



I'm sure this either a deep discussion among siblings, or else Kristin is telling
one of her captivating stories!

 

Playing Rock Band with the Wahlquists

 



Group pedicure!



My first pedicure



Summer Road Trip 2011

1 month and 5000+ miles, I think that counts as a pretty decent-sized road trip!

This year Dave and I were going back and forth about a taking a summer trip to Utah.  After deciding we weren't going to go, we changed our minds and decided to just go for it.  Fortunately, Dave was able to arrange to work remotely during the time we would be gone, which meant that he would not have to take 1 month off from work.  There were many days that Dave worked during the day and then joined us in the evenings, which made it possible for him to strategically use his vacation days based on our plans. 

We planned to drive to Utah and stay about 3 weeks. This would officially be the first time our whole family had made the 22 hour drive together.  About 10 days before we were to leave, Dave suggested we leave sooner--as in two days and extend our stay to 1 month!  Talk about spontaneous!  It was a little crazy but we got every thing packed and in order for a month long vacation in just two days and in the early morning hours of June 10th we hopped in the mini-van and began the Smith Family Summer Road Trip 2011. 

The drive actually went really well.  The girls were great and got along.  In fact, the scene often looked like this:



Along with some good naps, playing travel games, watching movies and listening to music on their iPods were enough to keep them happy.  For the trip home, Dave made a mix CD of Beatles music.  We must have listened to the same 20 Beatles songs about 20 twenty times!  We all definitely have the lyrics memorized.  We took two days to go one-way, stopping in Nebraska at the half way point to spend the night in a hotel.  The girls were pretty happy to swim in the hotel pool after a long day in the car.  On the way to Utah we stopped in North Platte, on the way home we stopped in Grand Island, NE.

Although, both ways we were anxious to get to our destinations, we did do a tiny bit of sight-seeing.  In North Platte, there was a very nice Veterans Memorial Park.  I went over to walk through and enjoyed myself until I was chased away by hoardes of mosquitos as the sun started to set.

On the way home, our stop was at Winter Quarters, near Omaha Nebraska, but I'll tell more about that later.  In the meantime, get ready for lots of blog posts.  Not only did we travel thousands of miles but we also packed in a summer's worth of fun into one month, and best of all spent some precious time with our extended family! 



Let's Hear It For the South Side!

School's out!  It's summertime!  Let's have some fun!

One of the best ways to start out the summer is at the ballpark. 

This year, I enrolled the kids in the White Sox kids club, which happens to come with free tickets to a couple of games.  So on our first day of summer vacation, the girls and I picked up Dave from his office and headed to the South Side of Chicago for dinner and a baseball game.

For dinner, we chose Manny's Deli.  We hadn't been there for a few years and were craving their huge, delicious, magnificient corned beef sandwiches.  I tried to get Dave to share a sandwich with me, but he wanted his own, so I bravely tried to eat a whole one by myself.  I guess it's probably a good thing I failed and ended up throwing 1/2 away :)

 

After we finished eating, we headed over to US Cellular field.  I swear nothing is prettier than a well-groomed baseball field.  The only downside was the temperature.  I'm not sure you can see it on the picture below, but in the left hand corner of the board the temperature reads 90 degrees!  What it doesn't include is the humidity.  Needless to say, we were little sticky, but fortunately our seats were in the shade and as the sun went down the temperature dropped making it  more comfortable.  Even better the White Sox beat the Mariners!

We know that in Chicago loyalties are divided between the North Side Cubs and the South Side Sox.  We don't mind the Cubs, but we're Sox fans.  I actually prefer to take my kids to Sox games--I think it is a much better environment that has lots of entertaining activities for kids.  Go SOX!

A Visit from Elizabeth!

Last weekend we got a surprise visit from my cousin Elizabeth.  She lives in Dallas and the last time we saw her Paige was a baby, so we were very excited when she called and said she would be stopping by.  She just came up for the weekend.  She and a friend had tickets to see the live Glee! show.  Elizabeth flew in a day early and stayed with us.

She happened to come on the last day of school, which also coincided with 90 degree temperatures and my promise to take the girls swimming.  Elizabeth was a good sport and hung out with me poolside while the girls were swimming.  She also played a little Just Dance2 with the girls.  This is becoming a requirement of our visitors!

Later that evening, at her request, we had deep-dish pizza for dinner--Giordano's of course.  We went to downtown Naperville to eat, strolled the riverwalk, and got some frozen yogurt for dessert.

Elizabeth left the next morning for her concert and a night in the city.  It was short but sweet and we were so glad to have her!!

Peak

Last month, a friend in the book club recommended we read the YA book, Peak by Roland Smith.  It's about a 14 year old boy who tries to summit Mt. Everest.  Of course, I was all for it because I'm a little obsessed with Mt. Everest and am always willing to read another book about it.  (For the record, I like to read about Mt. Everest, I've studied enough to know I don't want to climb it!)

Anyways, of course, I enjoyed the book, so much so that I recommended it to Ashley.  As part of a year-end English assignment every sixth grader had to pick a book to read and then give a book talk encouraging other students to read it.  It was called "Survivor".  After the book talks, each class would vote for the "survivor" book from their class, that would then go to compete against winning books from other classes.  In the end, there would be one remaining book or ultimate survivor.

So, Ashley decided to read Peak and loved it!  This was her first Mt. Everest book so she was really amazed by it.  She worked hard and prepared a convincing book talk and ended up getting the most votes for her class.  As a winner she got to go to a pizza party lunch and won a $5 gift card to Baskin-Robbins!  Way to go Ashley!

The final winner was selected by random drawing because there was a snafu with the final, grade-wide vote.  Ashley didn't win the drawing but we will never really know which book was the "real" survivor.

Memorial Day Weekend

What a wonderful weekend we had full of fun and family activities.  It really was an all-American celebration, made possible by the continuing sacrifice of the men and women who serve in our armed-forces.

Of course, we were so busy that we didn't get any pictures...not one!

On Friday, we had a sleepover.  Some friends of ours celebrated their 10 year anniversary and so we agreed to babysit their kids overnight.  Paige was thrilled because one of the kids is a good friend of hers.  We ate grilled hamburgers, the kids played outside, then watched a movie and after that bedtime.  It went without a hitch!

On Saturday, we all kind of went our separate ways to run some errands and go to activities, then in the evening Dave and I went on a date and tried out a new Thai restaurant nearby.  Yum, Yum gets a thumbs up from us!

Sunday, I was just thankful to get home from church before the sky turned black and a torrential rainstorm blew in! 

Who could have guessed that very next day, Memorial Day, would be a hot and dry scorcher!  90 degrees and very humid.   Ashley went to a friends house so Dave, Paige and I went to see Kung Fu Panda 2--loved it.  After the movie, I made good on my promise to take Paige to the pool while Dave mowed the lawn and almost got sunstroke it was so hot and humid. 

Fortunately, we all survived and enjoyed a bbq with another family who lives in our neighborhood.  Their daughter is very good friends with Ashley.  They are moving to California and so we invited them over as a little farewell.  Good times, too bad we waited until they were moving to have them over.

Garden Girl

Garden time!  I love to vegetable garden, so much so that even the heavy work of getting it ready doesn't bother me too much.  By the far, the hardest part is putting up the rabbit fence.  It is a real pain to have to bury the fence a few inches into the soil.  This chore sure reminds me how pesty those rabbits are---they are not cute!!! 

In the veggie garden this year, I'm trying three new items---broccoli, green onions and spinach.  I started most from seed and was a little worried after some torrential rain, but so far everything is up, so we have a good start!

Our family spent a couple weekends getting everything ready to go.  I mean "most" of our family.  Somehow, Ashley always seemed to have some other plan or activity to go, so she literally missed all the work.  Thank goodness we had Paige around to help. 

First, she helped me plant a few flowers in pots. 

Then she helped Dave sand and sweep the paver patio as well as fill the bird feeder.  We have had an old bird feeder hanging from a tree by our patio since we first moved in, but we have never bothered to fill it.  Dave thought it would be a fun activity for Paige to work on, but when he touched the bird feeder it just cracked up and broke.  So he and Paige went and bought another feeder and some bird seed.  And it has been so fun.  Paige loves to just sit and watch the birds.  We have attracted all sorts of song birds, finches, cardinals, blue jays, etc.  Our only problem is popularity---those birds can empty that feeder in less than two days.  I told Paige we are going to have to ration our bird seed.



Paige sitting at the backdoor watching the birds

Paige also helped me finish up our 2nd garden---what we are calling the sunflower and pumpkin patch.  As her reward, the three of us (Paige, Mom and Dad) went to Cold Stone Creamery for dinner.  We even let her get a waffle bowl.  She deserved it!