Father's Day 2010

Happy Father's Day! It was so much fun to have my Dad here to celebrate Father's Day. We went to Stake Conference in Vicksburg's about 1 hour and 15 minutes away. We are in the Kalamazoo Stake. Then we came home and had french toast. This afternoon while Eliza napped Eric, and Pops took Gretta the Kids Museam, and then blew bubbles in the back yard and played Pops new golf game. 

Then when Eliza woke up we went to the beach and tried to fly their kites. We got both of them up and had a great time. 

I am so grateful for a good dad and a wonderful husband!

The Kite in the sky.

LA Temple

Fun with Pops in St. Joe's

Papa Jack arrived late last night. Luckily he was able to get on an earlier flight and make it without any problem. The Midway airport was closed for a while due to the big thunderstorms we had last night. The girls were so excited to see him this morning. Eliza calls him, "Ba Pa". 

After a nice morning walk around downtown and the beach we headed out to pick cherries. 

The cherry trees were FULL and the picking was really easy.

Pops hanging out with the girls in the back of the minivan. 

Then we headed to the beach. My dad rented a paddle board. He and Eric had a great time trying it out, but it was sure hard work. 

Pops was able to stand up on the board. 

Then Eric gave Gretta a ride on the board. She thought that was pretty cool.

After a fun morning at the beach we went to Silver Beach Pizza for lunch and then walked over to the Carousel. Eliza calls it, "The up-down". 

Then we headed to the Kids Museum at the beach for a little while.

Can you see Gretta & Eric?

After all of the activity we went home to relax for a while. Then we headed off to the Elder's Quorum BBQ.

Followed by a nice sunset walk along the bluff. It was a beautiful end to a really fun day. 

Robo dog is Eliza's favorite dog of the "Hot Diggity Dogs" this summer.

There was a wedding reception going on at the Whitcomb. Eliza loved dancing to the music. She wanted to dance with Papa. Then they switched.

What a great day!

Hostest Gretta

It was park day at the splash pad with the girls in the ward. We had a great time at the splash pad and then headed to the beach for a little while.

Gretta had a great idea to use this tray from the bathroom as a tray to help her serve dinner. She calls it "Playing airplane". She likes to serve everyone dinner. 

Eliza had to get in on the action.

While dinner this MASSIVE thunder storm rolled in. All of a sudden it was DARK. These big thunder storm clouds were moving really fast, about 50+ miles an hour. It was pretty impressive with the rain, wind, and lighting. 

Gretta helping clean up dinner.

Photo by Gretta

Chicago Shedd Aquarium at Solider Field

Today we were super adventurous. I found out it was free week at the Aquarium in Chicago and decided to go. One of the girls from church came with me. She was excited to go and I was excited for a little bit of help. Hailey is 12 and really helpful. We got to Chicago in about 1 hour and 45 minutes. We only missed one turn. Pulled into the parking and walked to the Aquarium. Solider Field is pretty impressive. We got right into the Aquarium. It was free day, but that only got you into a small part of the aquarium and none of the good part, so we upgraded. It still was cheaper than regular prince, but I did feel a little bit like the web site was miss leading. Oh well. the price of admission was well worth it for the Animal show. We headed right over and got front row seats. I haven't been to Sea World in years, but from what I remember the Beluga Whale, Dolphin, Sea Lion and Penguin show was better than Sea World. It was awesome! Really well done and the girls loved it!

They wouldn't let you flash photos, but my photos are a little bit fuzzy.

Photo of Eliza by herself while we were waiting.

Beluga Whale

The penguins walked right in front of us. They actually stood right in front of us for about 1 minute. They were less than 3 feet away.

Dolphin

Playing in the sub after.

The penguin exhibit

Gretta as a penguin. Isn't she cute!

Riding on the Sea turtle. Good thing he was fake. 

We sure had a good time. We were home by 4pm We were really lucky that we got right in. When we left there was a line of at least 250 people waiting to get in. So I am glad we got there early.  The girls both napped on the way home. I made one wrong turn, but luckily it only took about 20 mins to get back on track and we didn't end up in South Bend before I realized it. 

We had such a fun time I might be willing to brave Chicago again.

 (Even if they made me pay $19 for parking. I think that's worse than LA!)

Summer Days...

 

We joined the summer reading program. The girls have loved getting new books every week. 

Yesterday we went to a magician show at the library. The girls had to practice their magic tricks.

It was pretty cute.

Abracadabra

Today we went strawberry picking. It took us a while to find some good ones. In the end our whole find only cost $1. The girls sure had fun and I now appreciate how much work it is to pick strawberries.