Apple Pickin'

We spent a beautiful Labor Day Saturday at the apple orchard with wonderful friends! Seven adults and eight kids 3 & under trekked to Kuiper's Orchard about an hour away. Although the wind was a bit brisk, it was a great day to be out in the sunshine, and a good preview of fall weather to come.

There were 3 varieties that were ripe for picking this weekend- Jonamac (good for eating!), Macintosh (good for baking), and a variety of Golden Delicious. We had two bags for picking, and could buy more at their store.

Mike, Lara, Bode, & Mees

We got to sample apples as we picked. I think Madeline ate around 3 whole apples.

Avery & Rori enjoying their picks.

Adam, Maureen, Nora, & Erin

We took a short hayride out to the orchards to do our picking, and back to the main farm again.

And I didn't take any pictures, but another highlight was stopping at the bakery inside for some fresh apple donuts. YUM! We bought a dozen there, snacked on quite a few, then brought home another half dozen to share. As one friend said, "It's a good thing these are low-fat!". ;)

Now, on to the baking. So far we've had Apple Betty, Apple Pancake, and of course apples for snacking. It's a good thing apples have a pretty long shelf life!

Meeting Cousin Andrew

Cousin Andrew was born to Uncle John and Aunt Maggie at the end of June, so it was exciting to get to meet him at a family gathering.

Aunt Marie, Aunt Maggie & Andrew, Uncle John, Dad & Madeline

Uncle Will & Aunt Jenny even came in for a quick visit.

Evelyn & Grandpa

Auto Mart and Aunt Laura

August Vacation

Every other year we take a vacation with my girlfriends from highschool. For the past two trips we went up to Michigan's Upper Penninsula, but this year we decided to stay closer to home. Instead of driving 8 hours, we drove 1 hour to Utica, IL to the Grand Bear Resort, right next to Starved Rock State Park.

We rented a 3 bedroom condo and had a wonderful time with the 4 other families. There was plenty to do... and kids just liked being together.

A waterpark was part of the lodge, so we went swimming once. Although she is becoming more comfortable in the water, Madeline still does not like getting her face wet. (I don't have high hopes that she'll be on the swim team).

Evelyn does seem to enjoy the water though.

On Tuesday we took a hike at Starved Rock State Park. It was a good walk, but was VERY hot and humid, and mosquitoes were out with a vengeance. Dan stayed home with Evelyn, but Madeline and I hiked for a while.

The resort had a little trolley that came by every 10 minutes or so and would drive around the whole place, so we could easily catch a ride to the pool or amusement park. It was also fun to just ride around!

Picnic lunch at a park on the premises

Kids-
(clockwise from top left) Matthew, Marcelite, Jon, Lu, Madeline, Ben, Evelyn, Hannah, Nic



Jen & Robert (who traveled from North Carolina!)

Buffy & Marcelite

On Tuesday we all got to help celebrate Ben's birthday. Madeline loves a birthday party and was happy to sing and eat cake!

Here's the whole gang...

... and just the ladies.

Trip to Quincy

After seven months, we finally made it down to Quincy for my Grandma Schmitt to meet Evelyn! My dad and I took the train down for a quick visit at the beginning of August. Fortunately, many of my cousins were around as well, so we had a great time!

Four Generations

My smiley girl...

We stayed with my Aunt Elaine and Uncle Bill (my dad's sister), and Madeline had a blast on the "roller coaster" she set up.

Here, Madeline is playing cards with some of the "big boys". My cousin Tricia was visiting with her three boys from Indiana.

Evie with Graceann and Andy- before they headed back to U of I.

... out playing games with all the big boys

We also got to do some farm stuff during our visit. Here we are at my Uncle John's farm watching them feed the cattle...

...riding the tractor (that can drive itself with cool new GPS!)...

...and riding on the 4-wheeler.

We hope to go down again this fall to celebrate my grandma's 91st birthday!

Happy 35th Birthday Dan!

For the "Big 35" I asked Dan if he'd like a big party to celebrate. Nope. He just wanted a quiet evening with family and an evening out with me. So on Friday night we put the kids to bed, then had my parents come over while we enjoyed Downtown Naperville for a few hours. We went to Le Chocolate, our favorite place for a good chocolate fix, then walked around downtown where we promptly realized that we were either too old or too young, and were definitely covering too much skin.

On Sunday evening his parents and Marie joined us for a spaghetti dinner and some birthday cake. (Notice that Madeline has now become opposed to smiling on demand in pictures).