Chicago Visit #4

For Memorial Weekend, we were able to make it to Chicago! It was our 4th time going, wow!!

We drove there Friday evening, and the 6 hour drive went really well. The boys played on their tablets, colored, ate lots of snacks, sang lots of songs and slept when they were supposed to!

We were fortunate to stay at the home of Brian and Callie Hill, our good friends. On Saturday morning, we went to the beach at Lake Michigan with the Hills. Everyone had a great time!

Playing frizbee

Going on a Dinosaur bone hunt

Every time the kids found a dinosaur bone, Brian turned into a Dinosaur!

Tanner and his friends had a lot of fun and played so well together. I think Tanner was pretty excited to ride in the bike carriage with this little lady.

After the beach, we enjoyed the Chicago Planetarium!

We picked up deep dish pizza on the way home and really enjoyed it!! Seriously, Chicago deep dish pizza is the best pizza I've ever had.

Such silly friends!

We enjoyed all 3 hrs of church at the Hill's ward.  Oh yeah, one thing I really envied about this church building- it has both a mother's room and a "reverent training room" where you can sit with your child. The rooms are still part of the chapel, so you can see and hear the speakers, but no one can see or hear you and your child! Cool, right? I got a few pictures with the kids together when they got out of their Sunday school classes, (minus Hill daughter #3).

After church, the Hills led us to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. The place was enormous and gorgeous! A perfect way to spend Sunday afternoon.

Admiring the beauty isn't complete without...

playing on the beauty! Yikes!

It was really hot, so there were lots of kids playing in this fun fountain...

including Dallin and his friends.

For late afternoon and evening, we headed to the Willis Tower (aka Sears tower) and decided to try getting to the top. I guess it's the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere! This is Tanner at the beginning of the line. 

The wait ended up being 1 hr and 40 minutes, but it went by fairly quickly, thanks to tablets!

We got to the top exactly at sunset. It was beautiful!!

Glass balcony!!

What a cool little boy!

View of the lake and city!

Mirror on the elevator down.

Monday morning was really fun. The kids and dads made up some games together in the backyard. 

This game is called Jump, Throw, Catch (named by Tanner). The kids jump on the tramp and throw balls to their Daddies. If the Dad can catch the ball intended for him, then he gets a point.

They got a great workout, and were really tired after playing for a couple of hours!!

We said our goodbyes to the Hill family and headed home. On the way home, we stopped in Milwakee for a baseball game!! The boys were so excited to be there. Tanner loved holding up this poster when the team played well.

View from our seats!

We ended up getting home on Monday before midnight! I am so glad we were able to make this trip happen. Thank you Brian and Callie for letting us crash your Memorial Weekend! It is so inspiring to be with you and hear of all the amazing good you are doing with your children, and with changing the world! We are so blessed to have you as our friends.

Spring!

We really enjoyed springtime. Jeremy found a great deal for a riding lawn mower, so now it only takes 30 minutes to mow the lawn instead of 2.5 hours. 

We have enjoyed some great bike rides. Maddie, our friend and house mate, came with us for a family ride.

Jeremy has stalked up a bunch of lunch food at work. He rides his bike to work almost everyday, so he doesn't have time to come home for lunch each day.

We have gotten a lot of gardening work done, and I have a gardening friend. This is Tiffany and her son. She is using one of our garden beds to learn how to grow some veggies (don't worry, I've told her I'm an amateur myself). Tanner loves playing with his buddy while we mamas work and chat away.

I got to spend a day with these four boys, they all play so well together. I felt super happy when I found out the little one calls me his White Mama. LOVE it!

Dallin is always giving me loves and climbing on me, and stroking and hugging and kissing me. His language of love is definitely physical touch!

It was a sad day to say goodbye to my friend, Serious. 

Seriously gonna miss her!

It's a good thing her sister Jackie moved back to town, or else I would go crazy! 

This one made me laugh out loud.

Trying to get a photo with these two is more challenging than with my own kids.

Tanner made this picture of him, Uncle Matt and a monster!

Church Playgroup at the Grush Farm was a big hit! Dallin liked helping collect the eggs from the chicken coop.

He LOVED trying to feed the cows. My little animal lover.

Tanner had his last day of preschool! Every morning was a challenge to get him ready for school because of his anxieties. And then on this day, he cried all the way home. I know he had a great time and I'm so thankful for his amazing teachers!

I also had my last days of teaching music for the year with my sweet preschool and kindergarten classes. I got pictures with some of them that I can't post. It was a really great year working with so many wonderful kids and teachers! I also had the chance to do some music classes at Tanner's school, which was really fun.