Memorial Day Weekend - 2019

Memorial Day Weekend - We headed down to Burlington, IA to watch our brother-in-law, Steve, race at Snake Alley. What a beautiful day to watch the race! He did an amazing job!

After Steve raced, we left Burlington and headed further south along the river. Our first stop was in Montrose, IA. What a wonderful view of the Mississippi River!

A funny-not funny story with this picture. Just as I snapped this picture, Maddie swung the viewer around and smacked Will in the face. Took Will a while to recover from that one. It wasn't very pretty.

Lots of turtles in this little pond!

We left Montrose and headed to Keokuk, IA - first stop was Rand Park, overlooking the river.

Chief Keokuk

Some fun on the See-Saw!

Matt stopped filming as soon as the girls fell off. He didn't capture their laughs, but the pictures do show some of that.

Notice Will & Kaitee give hi-fives to each other!

While driving to lunch, we stopped at this little pocket park - Tolmie Park.

We ate lunch and then walked this boardwalk (converted from an old railroad track) above Victory Park and the river.

Maddie asked if we could stop back in Burlington on our way home. She was hoping to see the final race of the day (Pro Race). We stopped and enjoyed the last race.

Snake Alley straight ahead.

First lap for the pro race - pace car out front (first lap only).

A few laps into the last race - Matt took a video of them climbing Snake Alley.

We enjoyed our weekend with extended family - a girls' day out, birthdays, cornhole, lots of great food and laughter. We also celebrated our niece Kayla's graduation from high school. A big weekend!

Kaitee's 17th & Final Band Concerts of 2019

We were pretty busy the last 2 weeks of May - concerts, birthdays, family weekends, concerts, banquets and more concerts!

We finally got some great shots of Will during his band concert! He typically gets hidden behind a handful of taller kids.

We said goodbye to Will's band director/teacher - he will be retiring at the end of this school year. Mr. Slothower is a trombone player as well and worked with Will the past two years to help him improve on his playing. We will miss Mr. Slothower but wish him the best on his retirement!

We then enjoyed the Wilson Jazz Band and looked around at the art on display (Will had his Kyle Schwarber drawing on display).

We celebrated #17 for Kaitee!  It was an extra special birthday as it was her Golden Birthday! We made some brownies and added some ice cream - added some gold "bling" and had a great night!

A few weeks later (with extended family in town), we celebrated the May birthdays - Kaitee, Uncle Steve & Aunt Barb.

Watch Steve - he never even blew out his own candle...he focused all of his attention on Kaitee's candles!

Alex also had a few band concerts to close out the school year. I took a few pictures of her band concert but none during the jazz concert.

Just a few weeks before this concert, she started playing the piccolo. I am amazed by her music talent! She had a solo on her flute as well as switching from flute to piccolo during this song. Sorry for the spotty blurriness. The camera wouldn't cooperate!

Add in a music banquet, an end of the year dinner and choir concerts, it was busy!

Mother's Day in Freeport - 2019

Freeport, IL - an annual day trip that we've been taking since before the kids were born. We love this town! Every year, it seems to get harder to pinpoint a date that works for all of us. We have to be intentional about putting it on the calendar. Unfortunately, sometimes we put a date on the calendar and don't end up with the best weather. While it didn't rain, it was a bit chillier than we like.

We started our time in Freeport at Krape Park. Took the traditional "climbing the rock wall" picture. Maddie made it a little harder to capture the moment with the booted foot!

They built a new fence around the carousel! Sadly, the carousel wasn't running (for the season) yet.

The last few years, the kids have put together an "American Ninja" course around the playground. We've been fortunate that very few kids were there, allowing the full playground for their course!

We walked across the Yellow Creek bridge and fell in love with this little family!

As we walked along the creek, we saw evidence of Spring flooding.

And lots of Spring wildflowers!

Ran into the cute little family again on the other side of the creek!

I am compelled by this picture - Everyone is in their own world. No one is mad or upset, just contemplative.

For the past few years, Maddie has tried to conquer her fear of heights and slide down the firepole at the park. She goes up the stairs and stands on the platform - only to look down the hole, shake her head and come back down the stairs. This year, she declared that she would conquer the pole (um, yeah...we've heard that before).

She's moved closer than any other time she's tried this...but you can see the look on her face, she isn't happy to be there.

After many tries (and walk aways), Maddie finally stepped out and wrapped her legs around the pole...and slowly slid down (not the best day to wear shorts!).

Pure joy, laughter & a lot of clapping/cheering  - "I want to do it one more time!"

We left the park on a high note and headed to the best part of our day in Freeport - Union Dairy Ice Cream!!

After ice cream, we stopped at Debate Square for our annual picture with the statue.

While I was looking at the pictures (later), I laughed at the different things going on in this picture. Maddie ready to push Alex off the edge (luckily Matt is ready to catch her, lol) and then I noticed Kaitee, slyly putting her foot under Maddie's side to flip her off the front.

We left Freeport and headed to Rockford to find some letterboxes.

One stop that has been on our list for the past few years is the home of the Rockford Peaches. We looked up the address and made the stop this time. Rockford has done a great job with the park and placards - lots of history, pictures & facts regarding the All American Girls Baseball League.

What a fun day! Did I mention that it was Mother's Day? Doesn't get much better - traditions, laughter, exercise, fresh air, conquering fears, no cooking, ice cream, listen to Cubs game (and a W against Brewers!), letterboxes, wildflowers & wildlife, lots of memories! My kind of Mother's Day!