Elmhurst Cycling Classic Family Bike Ride

July 19, 2013

The kids were very excited to bike in their first "race."  As the professional men warmed up, the 1.25 mile loop was opened up to families.  We got to wear numbers on our backs and everything!!

Elsie said she was done after 1 lap, and Duncan asked for "more bike fast!"  The baby was kicking Mommy pretty hard, too, so we headed for the playground after our one lap!

Duncan's swim lessons

July 18, 2013

Duncan is taking 6 weeks of swim lessons this summer at the park district.  He gets to play in the water 4 days / week in the shallow end of our pool with an instructor and two other 2-year olds.  Typically they keep all of the water fountains turned off for the lessons, but on this day, they turned the "water fountain on!!!" and let the kids play and parents watch!

Duncan was so excited that the water fountains were on!  He even ran through the curtain of water gushing out of the mushroom all by himself.  Now, he just goes in and out of the mushroom like it is no big deal!

A day with the ponies!

July 14, 2013

We went to the Arlington Park Family Day again this year to watch the horses race.  Once again, they had pony rides available for the kids.  Elsie enjoyed riding the pony, but since she has done this before, it wasn't that big of a deal for her.

This was Duncan's first time on a pony, and he was so excited!!

Go Duncan on the "horsey!"

He did a great job keeping both hands on the saddle the whole time.  He also liked watching the big horseys race "fast" around the track!

Let's go Cubs!

June 8, 2013

We had a great day at Wrigley Field cheering for the Cubs.  The kids made it to the seventh inning stretch, and were really excited to sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame!"  Everytime the crowd cheered (which unfortunately, was not very often for this game), Elsie asked "Did the Cubs win?"  Duncan loved running up and down the long, steep ramps!

Pennsylvania Vacation - Pool time!

June 20, 2013

The water was still a bit cool, but that didn't stop us from spending a lot of time in the pool at J-Ma and Papa Pete's house!  Duncan got a lot more practice using the floaties in the pool.

He loved jumping off the edge, and then climbing back up the ladder to do it all over again!

Eddie and Elsie had a lot of fun playing together.  Eddie's turn with the water gun tube!

Time for Elsie to get her revenge!

After her lips turned completely blue, and she couldn't stop shivering, Elsie laid down on the deck to warm up in the sun!

Papa Pete still had some scaffolding up from his siding project, and both Elsie and Duncan thought this was a great place to climb!  Elsie made it all of the way up to the top of the scaffolding!

I think at one point, she was even climbing on the roof!  I guess Papa Pete will have a helper next time he needs to replace the roof!

Pennsylvania Vacation - Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom

June 19, 2013

After our 5 days in WV, we drove 5 hours northeast to J-Ma and Papa Pete's house.  After a day of relaxation and recuperation, we headed out to Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom!  We started our day at the little kid area, Planet Snoopy.

We stepped right onto the first ride.  Duncan snuggled up with Daddy...

...and Elsie and Eddie sat together.

Then we hit the kids swings.

Since this is a ride that spins in a circle, Aunt Becky had to accompany Duncan on this ride.  Mommy wasn't allowed to ride, since she was pregnant, and Daddy gets way too nauseous on the spinny rides!

Duncan is now 36," so he was able to ride some of the rides without an adult!

Whee!  Hot shots not holding on!

There was a great kids roller coaster that Elsie and Eddie enjoyed without an adult.  Papa Pete squeezed on with Duncan, holding his head the whole time to make sure it didn't slam into the car!  While Elsie and Eddie enjoyed a ride that was too big for Duncan, Mommy and Duncan checked out the waterfall.

  Another spinny ride, so Aunt Becky rode with Duncan.

Elsie and Eddie looking cool as the car spun around the curve!

Elsie and Duncan high up in the helicopter!

After the helicopter, we headed off to the parking lot to enjoy our picnic lunch, and then took ride around the carousel - just the right speed for J-Ma...and they finally let Mommy on a ride!!!

Then we were ready too cool off in Wildwater Kingdom.  We relaxed in a lazy river and Duncan and Mommy splashed around on a splash pad while Elsie and Eddie hit a water slide!  Then it was time for the big kid rides!!  While Duncan napped peacefully in the stroller, Elsie and Eddie rode on some of the bigger kid rides.  At 42," Elsie wasn't tall enough to ride the roller coasters yet, but could ride all of the adult spinny rides.  Daddy even took Elsie and Duncan on a spinny ride while Papa Pete and Becky rode the roller coasters!

Our last ride of the day - the log plume ride!  Daddy, Elsie and Duncan all took the great big plunge!


Wet kids climbing out!

"Mom, I am soooo wet!!"

 It was a great day - we were there for 9 hours!!!  The kids had so much fun, there were no lines, and the weather was perfect.  We'll definitely be back again in a few years!

West Virginia Vacation - Ski Lift!

June 16, 2013

Our rental house was on the ski slopes, and you could actually ski to and from the trails from the house!  Since it was a bit too warm for snow in June, we drove to the bottom of the slopes, and took a ski lift high into the mountain!  Daddy held Duncan VERY tight on his lap!

And Mommy squeezed Elsie pretty tightly, too!

 J-Ma and Papa Pete walked from the rental house over to the lift, and caught this video of us high above their heads!


Once we reached the top, we went for a hike through the woods.  The moss that covered the forest floor was SO SOFT!  And Duncan loved the bridges.  Elsie and Eddie ran ahead with Aunt Becky...until I reminded Big Eddie about Aunt Becky's terrible sense of direction, and he quickly caught up with that group.  Daddy, Mommy, and Duncan took a bit of a slower route through the woods.

Once we were done with the hike, we came back down the ski lift.

Aunt Becky and the Eddies.

West Virginia Vacation - Alex and Rachel's Wedding!

June 15, 2013

We were so excited to celebrate the "real" reason for the vacation - Alex and Rachel's big day!  They had a beautiful outdoor ceremony on a beautiful day.  After a few hours, we met up at the reception for some dancing!

Elsie was thrilled to kick off the dancing, and drug Eddie right to the dance floor as soon as the music started.  She showed off her beautiful wedding dancing skills, while Eddie politely held her hands.  Once the fast music started, Elsie was at a bit of a loss, but then Eddie showed her what to do!

Another toddler at the wedding quickly took Duncan's hands and led him in a series of adorable toddler slow dances!

West Virginia Vacation - Farewell to Hair!

July 15, 2013

J-Ma, Becky, and Candice all decided to cut their hair at the same time to donate to "Locks of Love."  And the only time they would all be together this year?  West Virginia!  Before the big cut:

Candice chopped off all of her died brown hair from her wedding a year ago and went all natural gray (with a few brown hairs sprinkled in!)!

J-Ma's gorgeous long gray hair is gone!  This was J-Ma's first time chopping off and donating her hair!!

Becky said goodbye to her long hair!

Gorgeous short hair dos!  These are some of the longest short hair cuts I have seen!  All model-ready for the wedding!

West Virginia Vacation - Hot Tub and Campfire!!

June 14, 2013

The rental house had a great hot tub, so we turned down the temperature to make it a "warm tub" and went swimming!

We had a beautiful view of the West Virginia mountains from our hot tub!

The boys set to work building a great big campfire out of scrap wood from a construction site next door.

Elsie hanging out with Uncle Josh and Aunt Kate!

Cheese!

Yummy!  Roasting marshmallows!

Enjoying some s'mores!  Duncan thought it was funny that his finger was all sticky.  Luckily for Mommy, he didn't want the s'more... he just wanted the chocolate!

Duncan and Elsie had a lot of fun running around - especially up the big, muddy hill to the landing at the side door, where they could peek down on all of us at the campfire.

Elsie had a lot of fun playing with Little Eddie!  And we were so excited to finally meet him face to face (and not on Skype).

The Bullards!  Well, at least most of us, since Aunt Viki's family was all getting ready for the wedding the next day.  This picture includes Uncle David and Dianne's family and our family.