Playing with Great-Grandpa Don

The last couple of days, we've had my Grandpa in town! The last time we were all together was when Emily was 18 months old! My Aunt Kris and her oldest daughter, Ingrid, are also here for a visit. The last time I saw Ingrid was 7 years ago! (Granted, they live in France so that it's not like we can just jump in a car and visit, but still, time just goes too fast.)

We had a nice dinner over at my Mom's house Wednesday night and the we were able to slow the kids down enough for a picture with their Great-Gpa.

Today, we went out to the SAC Museum and had an interesting experience! We had seen the airplanes and were getting ready to leave when the museum director came on the intercom and told us that everyone had to move down to the lower level because the sirens had gone off and some nasty weather was upon us. Thankfully, we were only there for an extra 1/2 hour and it was only a thunderstorm outside. Boy-oh-boy though, the rain came down and we were glad that the floods did not come up! We eventually were able to leave and went and had dinner at my Grandma's house before heading home. Just a bit of excitement to our day...grateful that that everything turned out okay in the end.

Can We Take A Normal Family Picture???

These are our failed attempts at a family picture. So much for a Christmas card picture from this batch!

Working 9 to 5....(If only those were my hours!)

This morning we went and visited Harvey at work! The kids had a fun time exploring the cubicle maze at his office and seeing him working hard....or was it hardly working??? Hehehehe....As you can see, Christian did a little bit of work while we were there and Emily had a tough time leaving because, she told me, "I'm trying to work here, Mommy!"

Finishing up our week...Thursday, Friday and the trip home on Saturday

Thursday showers brought a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house! The kids had a great time exploring the stone basement for hidden treasures and clues. After lunch, Gretchen and I took Carson and Christian home for naps while Cubby, Grandma and Grandpa played with the three older kids all afternoon! They went for a walk in the rain and had a great time spending time with each other.

On Friday, we packed up and left Syracuse and headed toward Buffalo again. On the way, we stopped in Rochester at the Strong Museum (a really big children's museum). It broke up the trip nicely and everyone had a fun time "on Sesame Street", riding the train, and going on another carousel!

Friday afternoon and evening found us back at Sara and Kirk's house where the kids played with bubbles, sidewalk chalk and various outdoor toys while we BBQ'd and ate some delicious food! That evening, we debated going to the fireworks show, but in the end, reason won over and we put our extremely tired children to bed (since we were leaving the next morning) and Cubby and I had a relaxing evening collapsed on the couch while everyone else went out! Yes, we're such party-poopers, but Emily HATES fireworks and Christian was just exhausted. Maybe we'll brave them next year!

As you can tell from the picture, the trip home was one of sleeping. Emily even fell asleep the last 15 min of the last flight! We were so tired and it was great to be home....even though now we're totally missing all of the family fun timers! We hope all of our family in New York will consider making the trip to Omaha sometime soon! Thank you to Gretchen and Chris, Sara and Kirk, Grandma and Grandpa, and of course, all of the cousins, for showing us such a fun time!! We love you guys!

More Fun in New York! (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday)

Last Monday was spent "in recovery" and we pretty much just let the kids play and rest in the morning and afternoon. After dinner though, we drove over to the Carousel Mall and took the kids on the carousel (naturally)! Emily loved it. Christian didn't like the horses that moved up and down, but enjoyed the ride once he moved to a more stationary seat!

On Tuesday, we went swimming in Aunt Gretchen's pool! It was a "toasty" 71 degrees and Cubby and I were the only adults brave enough (well, maybe stupid enough) to get in! As you can see from the pictures, Emily was quite the water baby but Christian thought we were nuts and was not a fan of the cold water.

Wednesday brought yet another beautiful day (sunny, mid 70s, no humidity!!!) and we went over to Onondaga Lake Park. The area there is very nice--it has both a big playground area and a huge recreational area and trail for joggers, bikes, picnics, etc. We played and had lunch there. The kids liked going down to the water and Emily and Cubby pretended to go fishing...the lake itself is extremely polluted and so no one really fishes there. That afternoon, it was back into the water and Emily and Cubby swam until their lips were blue! This time, Uncles Peter and Chris got in the water with some of the other kiddos and they made a decent whirl pool (mostly to keep warm, I think!).

Looking back, it was really neat to see how Emily related to both Ethan and William differently. She and William played well together with toys, reading books, and imagination-type stuff. With Ethan, Emily identified with his adventurous side and the physical stuff like swimming in the pool climbing everywhere at the playground. It was fun to see various parts of her personality come out with each cousin. Christian just loved being around all of the "big kids" and trying to do all that they did.

We hope you enjoy the slide show!

Last Saturday and Sunday

Whatta' week we had! It was such a fun trip and it was great to spend time with the Lindseths! The kids had so much fun with their cousins--Emily has told me that she wants to have them all come and play here "soon".

I'll give the break-down of last week throughout this week with lots' of pictures and whitty commentary (okay, well, maybe not-so-whitty commentary). Enjoy! (I know we sure did!)

We arrived in Buffalo on Saturday night and were welcomed by Cubby's sister, Sara, and our newest little niece, Kaylee. The minute, no, the second, we arrived at Sara's house, Emily and William (who just turned 4) took off and busied themselves playing. (Mind you, this is after a full day of travelling and the kids are TIRED. However, Emily knew she couldn't waste any of this precious playtime and got down to business asap!

The next morning, we went to church and little Kaylee got her name and blessing. After brief afternoon naps, we went to Kirk's (Sara's husband) family's house and had lunch/dinner and played outside with all of the kids. It was a beautiful afternoon and the highlight was watching Cubby go "bowling"--see pictures below. Emily, William and Ethan all loved it just as much as we did!

(The last picture is after Cubby had knocked Ethan and William over--the ball had bounced away--he picked up the "spare" (Emily) on the next try!

Emily and Ethan finding snails in the backyard.
Christian, enjoying himself in a little playhouse.

Emily and Reagan, getting a ride in the wheelbarrow.

One of the biggest and fattest cats EVER. (This picture does not do it justice.)

After dinner we drove to Syracuse where another one of Cubby's sisters, Gretchen, and her family live. The drive was probably the toughest part of the entire trip--Emily did great (thank you portable DVD players) but Christian, who was just exhausted, and not used to being in the car for more than 40 mins, did not enjoy the 2 1/2 hour drive. However, we all made it and the kids collapsed shortly thereafter!

I'll post more throughout the week--it's just too much to do in one sitting for me! And besides, I think all we'll be doing this week is recovering and getting back into the old swing of things!

We're here!

Well, we made it to New York! (Actually, we made it here Saturday night, but this is the first chance I've had to post!) Both Emily and Christian travelled really well and, aside from a small delay getting out of Omaha, we didn't run into any problems.


Emily and Christian are having so much fun playing with their cousins. They've all played until their tired little bodies literally collapse at night (and Christian has been taking such good naps...do we really have to leave on Saturday???)

Anyhow, I will be sure to post some pictures once we get home...or if I can figure out a way to post from here! We hope all is going well at home amidst the 4th of July warzone that is Omaha!