So this was June!

Now, the blog is caught up in just enough time that I should be doing my next entry! Eek! Will I EVER get my act together?

We had an awesome time in WI with my family, an adventurous drive there and back, and we are so glad (after seeing Daddy off more than a month ago) to have him back with us! The only thing that would have made it all even more perfect is if Daddy could have just gone on our vacation with us, except he wouldn't have come home looking so sharp, nor likely have gotten the greeting he did!

I have so much I could say about our trip, but I'm so tired I'd probably be rather incoherent and bore you all. It is once again the wee hours of the morning (4th in a row to get this updating done) and I am going to let the other posts speak for themselves. Thank you Mom, Dad, Amy, Naomi, Noah, Nathanael, and Naarah for seeing that we were well taken care of and fully occupied during our trip so that, though Daddy was missed, we didn't mope about! What an awesome vacation we had and we are so happy to have our military man back! We love you Daddy and are proud of you!!

Picking up Daddy!!!!

We arrived home the evening before we had to pick up Daddy at the airport. It was perfect timing because we were distracted most of the time Daddy was gone, BUT we didn't have too awful much time sitting around waiting for him to get back and hearing Jansen saying, "Daddy?" about everything in the house for too long!

We just told Jansen Daddy was coming and he grabbed on to Jonathan really tight and squeezed while the both grinned!

Daddy arrives!!

All my boys together again! Once again we are complete!

Just discussing WI cheese with Daddy, telling him we brought some back for him.

Speaking of cheese! These two hammed it up for the camera!

Jonathan checking out the snack his Dad brought for him.

Once we were all settled back in at home we made a cake for 1Lt. Daddy...

Jansen was right back to his old tricks...

and didn't care that I caught him. He just kept right on sampling!

We got to sit down for our first FAMILY meal in more than a month!!!

Had a cake that was somewhat disfigured after the Texas Tornado got through with it...

and Orchard Chicken Salad Stuffed Avacados!

It's so awesome to have Daddy back!

On the Road Again...

Well, we couldn't drive all the way up to WI without driving back. This time we discussed it and Jonathan said he'd rather try a different KOA than the one in Springfield, IL and then just drive a little longer with a fun stop on the second day of travel. Sooooo we left later into the afternoon the day we left WI and drove to Utica, IL where we stayed at one of the prettiest campgrounds I have ever been to. It is so painstakingly maintained and it shows. From the layout to the gardening, it is gorgeous. One problem though.... we chased a storm all the way there and though we missed it entirely it had made the creek next to our cabin rise by the time we got there. It was getting dark and so we unpacked, showered up, and tucked in to bed not too long after we got there.

In the morning I woke up to a rushing, flowing sound... among the birds chirping. I hooked up the dogs to their leashes and stepped outside to a flood all the way alongside our cabin and into the sites on the other side of the creek. Even the car was in 5 inches of flowing water! The pics speak for themselves here:

All the flooding past the creek side of us was tent camping sites. You have NO IDEA just how thankful I was that Richard talked me into cabins instead of tenting it this trip! That side of the creek was even lower ground that us so they were under at least a foot of flowing water. It was crazy! I'd LOVE to go back there sometime when it isn't rainy though because it was so pretty and we didn't get to spend much time there. Since the water was all over the place, we loaded and left that morning pretty quickly.

The fun stop that day was in Stanton, MO to Meramac Caverns. It is the hideout of Jesse James during one (or maybe more) of his raids. I love this kind of thing and thankfully so does Jonathan so we had a blast taking the tour! The camera didn't do so hot down in the caves, but I got a couple of pics anyway.

Joonathan at the decent to the cave's "theatre room". A natural stage area that they light to show the awesome brilliance of the stalagmites and stalagtites of the caverns. This area of the caverns is so old that the formations create an opera curtain like area with what look like platforms for performance! Gorgeous!

The three of us on the tour! Best I could get by myself!

The rest of the WI time

We got to spend pretty much the rest of our time at my parent's house. I got a good chunk of wedding planning and decision making done, lunch with an old friend, visits with Auntie Paula (who has been gone South, ironically, the last few times I've been North!), and the boys got MORE POOL TIME, among other things. It was sooooo great to spend real time with my family. I think the last time that I got to spend so much consecutive time with them was back in 1993 when I came home for my last full summer after my freshman year of college! It's been way overdue!

Jansen had to help his "PuPop" with everything, but in particular setting up and testing the new grill!

He also had to scoter around a little while Oscar was nearby.

There were a couple moments of chilling out, but generally these were few and far between when he can hear the other boys whooping it up in the pool, his adrenaline pumps too and he goes, goes, goes, until either he passes out from exhaustion or the big boys get out of the pool!

G-Pop had to go back to work and I had to take Noah back to his family (it was my sister and brother-in-law's anniversary) so I drove down to their house and babysat while they went out for dinner, BUT not before G-Pop got in a few extra snuggles!

Here he and Jansen are monkey-see, monkey-do. Can you tell which is which?

The second G-Pop shadow got his snuggles too!!

... and let's not forget that Noodle was also there to snuggle!

All the men! Mom and I were way out numbered the whole weekend!

Jansen passed out for a nap the day we left. He crashed right on the couch and when I looked over at them they were all making L's with their legs, even the dog!

Oscar got her squeezes in with the boys before we loaded the car up too. It was so great to see the boys relaxed and having such a good time while we were there. They are so loved and as you can see love in return!

Green Bay "New Zoo"

Oscar got the week off from work when we got back to her place. It was really special because she wasn't supposed to get the time off originally. When she called me about our travel plans for the summer so her boss could make out schedules, I told her that I was fairly sure we'd be coming in July but surely not June. Eek! Our plans changed as soon as Richard's orders came through and we ended up going up for the entire (nearly) month of JUNE after all! Holly (mom's boss) graciously shared her with us for the whole week! It was AWESOME!

Since she had the time we decided to head up to Green Bay to get a little more time with my Aunt Lisa, Cousin Alissa, and Alissa's little one, Harper. We went to eat a nice lunch and then headed to the zoo! Unfortunately Alissa had to leave for a family emergency (on her hubby's side) so she didn't get to stay at the zoo with us, but Harper and Lisa did! Alissa was exactly where she needed to be though and lost her father-in-law the next day. She needed to be with her husband and we got to see her when she came all the way down to my mom's to see us the weekend we first got in to WI, plus we got lunch with her and she let us steal her baby girl and her own mommy for the day!

Jansen rode the merry-go-round at the entrance to the zoo. He rode on the Giraffe which is Oscar's favorite (and it was also stationary so Mommy didn't have to try to hold on while he was going up and down too)!

He almost looked at the camera, but every time we got close he looked away. I think it was intentional!

Jonathan found the first statue to pose on/with. At all the zoos we go to he always finds the fun statues! Here he is on the turkey!! Oh and you can see the other turkey in the shot in the purple shirt in the background.... that's Auntie Lisa!!

Jansen must do everything Jonathan does so he too posed on the turkey with his brother's watchful eye there to assist if necessary!

"Oh My Gosh! Oscar did you see that?" - This is at the prairie dogs exhibit. Both Jansen and Harper had their grandmothers attention when they saw some of the little 'dogs" antics!

Just a cool natural shot of Oscar and Jan-Man when they didn't know I was snapping pics! Such a fun day and they were so happy to explore together!

Harper has and affection for the little zoo chairs that they have scattered around. She's so cute! She looks at the boys and says, "Whose sitting with me this time?" and then we are to take a picture! She's so funny and soooooo much like her mom at that age! What fun that we got to spend the day with her! Noah was the first taker for the pic.

Jansen got the next shot with Miss Harper, but he didn't seem to mind one bit! Isn't she such a little lady? Especially next to my 100% boy! ;oD

My 'lil penguins. It's funny to look closely at Jansen in this one. Noah was holding him up so he could have his face in a slot and be in the pic with Jonathan, but you can see Noah's feet are WAY too big for Jansen under the placard! This one makes me giggle every time!

Harper had those boys wrapped around her little finger. Here they were making sure she didn't fall off the giraffe in the picture, and then helped her down like a little princess when the pic was done.

The highlight of the Green Bay zoo is that they have a deck up at the level of the giraffes' heads and you can feed them from it! It was a really cool treat and the kids LOVED it. They each fed the giraffes a couple of times, but I was helping and only got a couple of shots.

WHere in the world are they?

Hopefully you didn't peek ahead too closely....

Where are these boys? ...

LAMBEAU FIELD!!!!! We got to swing by and check things out on our Green Bay trip!

We do love our Packers in WI. I'm so glad a tiny bit of that team spirit rubbed off on Jonathan. If it hasn't he at least indulges me and lets me think it has!

Inside we got to walk around and see some cool pictures. The boys got to run from the 50 yard line to the end zone too! OK, it was tiled on the floor of the atrium, but it was to scale and since we didn't get to actually see the field it was a pretty fun substitute!

We went to the pro-shop and they each got to pick out something small. Jansen's choice was a little plush football that yells things when you smash it. Here he's going back for the pass and even calling it! I do believe he may aspire to be an athlete.... this natural talent he definitely didn't get from me. That's ALL Daddy!

Vince and the boys.

Back to Oscar and G-Pop's

We went back to my parent's house for pretty much the rest of our visit after we left my sister's. We also stole one of her kids for the week! Noah came back to hang out with Jonathan! It was great! They spent as much time as they possibly could in the pool. Oscar had to keep checking their feet to be sure that they hadn't grown flippers or webbed toes!

Friends

I hadn't seen my childhood friend since we graduated from high school in 1992. It was sooooo awesome to get to see her and her children this trip! We went to her house and had every intention of heading out for some activity together, but ended up staying in and catching up while the kids all played! Another of our friends was able to make it out to visit for a little while too, and she has her first little one on the way! I was so excited to see them! It was a perfect day!! We definitely can not wait another *cough, cough* 18 years to see each other!

Me and Jen. We were the best of friends in grade school. Two peas in a pod!

State Capitol

While in Wisconsin we were blessed to get to tour the capitol with the best EVER tour guide! Tour Guide Trish went to school with my sister and I. She is now working for one of the legislators and took time out of her day to act as our guide. It was awesome to see her again and to get the preferential treatment on our tour!!

Jonathan playing politician. This is the room (and podium) that they do press conferences from when in session.

Tater enjoyed the spotlight too!

Noodle hammed it up a bit!

Now Mooner looks quite comfortable behind that podium doesn't she?

In the legislature room the kids got to sit in the seats. Here's the big kids trying it on for size.

... and not to be left out, the tots also got to play politics a bit. Something tells me that Nibbles is going to be sure her vote is heard, whatever it may be, since she already gets the extended height and lean in pose down!

In the Assembly Room the kids heard some pretty cool stories about the ghost of the soldier in the painting that heads the room, and also about Old Abe. It was the place that they had TONS of questions for Trish and she so patiently answered them all!

They got to test the seats in here too!

Nibbles and Jansen had a little side conversation going. I guess they had to confer a little about the information presented them!

The Assembly has one chair that they leave vacant during sessions. It is called "the ghost chair" and it is said to be left for the ghost of the Assembly to remind them of their purpose in sessions. Here Jonathan and Jansen borrow the ghost chair for a moment. He didn't seem to mind sharing as he only really uses it during session we were told!

Once again Mooner seems right at home in this environment. She just may be our future President!!

Amy and Nibbles on tour.

Jansen and I on tour.

All of us together by the Bell! Oh, BTW - my sister really does only have 4 kids! She babysits another during the week and so we were blessed to get to take him with us on our adventure that day! That's who is in some of our pics with us if you are wondering!!

Big kids on the skywalk at the upper levels of the Capitol Building.

After our tour we spent a little time outside on the capitol grounds. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and the kids needed a little 'run around' time after having to stay in check in the building.

My little bug squisher and his accomplice. Jonathan was pointing out all the ants and Jansen was stomping them!

Oscar wanted a pic of all the grandkids together at some point in our trip. Yeah right! I'm not sure about anyone else, but we found it impossible to get all 6 looking at the camera and smiling at once, so we had to take what we could get. They are all there at least! We did TRY several times through out the trip anyway! This one was good except the little ones just wouldn't look at the camera!

This is what a day of having to help herd younger kids in the capitol will do to my dear niece. Seems she went a little haywire and couldn't even tell up from down anymore!

Then of course her little shadow had to see things from her perspective too! :oD

Jonathan had his share of being the super sibling too. He is ever patient with Jansen and ALWAYS looking out for him when we we travel!