Celebrating Easter & Birthdays

Another year of Easter celebrations! We celebrated Alex & Grammy's birthdays as well!  Alex asked for money (to save up for her next big splurge!) for her birthday, so no pictures of opening gifts.  She will have a friend's party after school gets back in session.

As the kids get older, Grammy & Grandad make the Egg Hunt a bit more fun with more money than candy!  There are prize eggs (some are mysteries) but the coveted egg is the Camouflage Egg.  Alex found it this year (in her right hand) and is $5 richer! 

Another wonderful Easter - celebrating the Resurrection of our Savior!!  After worshipping, we had a great dinner with family and then the much awaited Egg Hunt.  We are all so blessed!

Rockford for a Day!

We had a day this past weekend with NO COMMITMENTS!  It seems to be harder to find those weekends anymore!  We took advantage of the spring day (no rain!!!) and drove to Rockford to find a letterbox series and to hunt down some fun statues.  Our first stop was lunch then off to Harrison Cemetery to find our first box for the day...



Just a bit further down the road, we stopped at Hoo Haven to find a series of boxes from a winter gathering.  We were told that the trail for the series was flooded, so we only planned to grab the few that were close to the parking area.  After reading the clues a bit, we realized that we could find a few of the boxes from the trail - just going backwards (no water on that trail)! 



Alex with a vulture looking over her shoulder!!
 





We looked for one of the boxes and couldn't find it...then we looked over and see this!  Maddie is on the ground (muddy, need I remind you!) digging out the box! Will is trying to get the vulture's attention and Alex is helping Maddie!  Rather comical!

While hiking the trail backwards, we saw how high the river was!  The bottom steps are under water!  We were disappointed to only find the outer bag with no inner bag or stamp for this box.  We looked under other rocks and all around the area.  We moved on to the next 2 boxes then backtracked due to the flooded trail. 

We stopped at the steps again in a last ditch effort to find the missing stamp.  Just about to give up, Becki spotted something at the very edge of the river, wedged against the steps (if you look closely in the above picture, you will see a "white triangle")!!!  Halleluiah!! We were thankful for a green/yellow zipper on the Ziploc bag!!! Otherwise, we wouldn't have seen it! 



We also stopped in Rockton to look for a series that had been retired for the winter...hoping that they had been replanted.  No luck!  We did come across this sign though...

Our next stop was downtown along the river - we have walked this beautiful area many times but have never walked south/west of the conservatory.  We found this gem just south and then headed to the conservatory to enjoy the beautiful grounds!  We definitely need to go back sometime when the flowers are in full bloom and the fountains are going!

The Rockmen Guardians, Rockford, IL

The guy taking pictures is a STATUE!!!  So realistic!

Matt surprised the kids by running up behind them while I was snapping pictures!

Totally scared them!!!

Someone needed a break from her siblings!

We ended our day heading to Midway Village to find a Sock Monkey Statue!  Heading home we stopped to find Trail Rider's "Pedal Pushers #5", making our total box count 11 for the day!

A roadside Easter Display

Winter Fling in Chicago

We try to get away every winter for a few days - usually not too far from home considering the weather could change overnight!  This year, we headed to Chicago for a weekend in February.  We arrived in the western subarbs Friday morning - just in time to eat at Lou Malnati's for some yummy deep dish pizza!  While eating we were discussing our plans for the two days.  Alex made mention of shopping at American Girl while at the mall (Woodfield).  I told her that the only American Girl store in Chicago was downtown...and we hadn't planned to drive into the city on this trip.  She was devastated and fought tears through much of lunch.  She had been saving her money to purchase the new girl of the year and some accessories for the doll.  I assured her that we would purchase them online as soon as we got home. 

After lunch, we headed to Woodfield and IKEA - checking out the Legos and Disney stores at the mall and purchasing a few "needed" items at IKEA.  Unfortunately, we ended up purchasing a piece of furniture that was on a great sale, which meant that the whole van needed to be rearranged and the two in the back had to practically sit in each other's laps!!

Dinner at Five Guys and lots of swimming at the hotel - then off to bed! 

The next morning was sunny and beautiful!  The weather promised to get better throughout the day too!  Matt surprised all of us with the "Let's drive downtown" announcement!  We left early enough that we didn't hit much traffic heading downtown.  Matt & Will dropped us at the front door of the American Girl store - they drove north to find some letterboxes!  The girls and I had fun looking at everything in the store.  Maddie & Alex both spent some saved up money on "treasures" for themselves! 

We called Matt to tell him we were done shopping, he swooped in for the pick up and we headed east to the lake to show the kids a bit more of the city.  We drove Lake Shore Drive and made a list of places we want to visit next time for our "downtown only" Chicago trip!

It was a great weekend!  We ended our time in Forest Park looking for a handful of letterboxes.  We favorite was Cemetery Stroll #12; M is for Murder by Waltzing Pigs - fun clues and a nice walk for all of us.  We then headed out of town for lunch and the drive home...already planning our return trip in the near future!

Lion King Jr

This year's Roosevelt Mini-Theater production was Lion King, Jr!  As always, Mrs. Watts and crew put on an amazing performance!  Will and Maddie were both cast as "ensemble" characters - Will as a hyena and Maddie as a dancer.  Alex (now in Middle School) went to Roosevelt during every practice to help with the play.  She was rewarded with a few small parts in the play.  She also helped with music and mics. 

Will was promoted to Ed (the dumb hyena) with only one week before performances.  He played the part wonderfully! 

It was a joy to watch! 

Alex is the wildebeest on the far left

One of the fundraisers for the musical are these picture posters.  You purchase stars to write an encouraging note to your performer. 

The kids with their teacher, Mrs. Watts