5th Anniversary Celebration.

A weekend away in Chicago:

Ryan and I were able to get away for a weekend to spend some time with my cousins, Kyle and Jackie, andto  celebrate our 5th anniversary. Here we are the first night at a bar called The Garage, having a blast. THEY PLAYED THE BEST MUSIC. Which, for m,e can totally make my night. It was all fun 90's music. I even had to go tell the DJ what a fabulous job he was doing (dork, I know). We were also enjoying some Leininkugel's Summer's Shandy--(my favorite, only available in the summer). Hey, we knew we could sleep in, no kids!

Night #2:

Well after a rough morning, we did some shopping on Michigan Ave. and also went to visit a great friend of mine, Liz, in Wrigleyville. After taking a wrong turn to get to the train, which resulted in a long walk, finally hooked back up with Kyle and Jackie for some more fun in Linconville. It was really awesome to get to see all the different parts of Chicago. We have been there many times but have always stayed in hotels in tourist areas. This trip was different because we got a sense of what it would be like to live there. I loved that.

Kyle and Jackie's amazing apartment:

We stayed with my cousins in there new condo, a renovated factory in Bucktown. It was amazing. The exposed brick and duct work, the tall ceilings, such a neat place!

"Our room"


Hallway leading to master sweet.

Kitchen

Door leading to balcony, off living room

Kitchen

Living room

Our fabulous hosts in the entry way

Day #3:

The last day was so relaxing. We woke up, had some coffee, got dressed, walked to the uptown area of Linconville, went and got Bagel sandwiches for breakfast(SO good), took our time eating them, and just walked around the shops and the neighborhood looking at houses and people watching (my fav part!). Did I say it was relaxing?? After the Ryan and I wanted to go see the lake. So we drove our selves straight to the Navy Pier....doesn't get more touristy than that! But we got to see the water, grabbed some gifts for the kids(whom we were starting to miss) and it was time to head home.

Us and Lake Michigan


It was such a great weekend. I loved the quality time with Ryan.

577 Foundation.

Here are a few pictures form the 577 Foundation. It is a beautiful property on the river that was preserved from being turned onto houses by Virginia Secor Stranahan. None of her 6 children wanted it so she decided to return the property to the community. She often said,  "Whatever we do here, let's be educational, environmental, experimental, and let's have fun". And there his lots of areas to have fun! We took a river walk, a grass maze, digging for fossils, put our feet in the stream, checked out the green houses, and the cabins, and the beautiful gardens. It was a fun day and we will be visiting again!

Owen's forth birthday-June 23!

Flying down the slide.

Eyes always closed.

Some of the girls...Ava, Carly, Cameran, MaKenna

Owen with his cakes.

Cake #1.

Cake #2.

Singing...

The gang.

Opening presents.

and more...

Motorcycles...his favorite.

Will...O's best bud!

Mom, Dad and birthday boy.

Pretty Chloe and Claudia.

The boys.

Cuz.

We had a very interesting party at Monkey Jump. Owen talked about having his party at Monkey Jump for about six months prior to his birthday, so, when the time came I booked the party there. I booked a private party since a lot of the kids would be young and I did not want to take the risk of being booked along with a bunch of older, more wild kids. Guess what, the accidentally double booked us. And it was for an eight year old boy. Ugh. So, I set everything up and we went to play. The play area was dangerously hot. And the huge fan on the ceiling was coincidentally not working. Luckily, there was water. Next it was time to eat, open presents, and have cake. The "other" party was in a loft like room right above us. I'm not sure who was watching the kids because they were throwing stuff down at us and traveling down the stairs to watch us.

Fortunately, the kids did not notice a thing (besides the heat) and everyone had a blast. There were 25 kids so it was a full house! Owen was so happy to have all his friends to celebrate with. He also was super excited about his basketball cakes(that was another request). He is a boy that knows what he wants. Owen is thrilled to be four, to say the least.

Owen, I hope you enjoyed your party. I was a fun filled time with lots of action. I can't believe that you are four years old. Time flies. You keep getting cuter every year and you are still as feisty as ever. You are the sweetest talker. You are always saying nicest things to me, such as, telling me I look beautiful, my shirt is nice, and I am wonderful to name a few. You are just a joy to be around. You LOVE to dress your self. If I try to pick out your outfit, you tell me some silly reason why you can't wear it and why you must wear the shirt you want. You usually win. You even told me that you would pick out my outfit for your party. Also, you still love tennis shoes. You were born with a love for tennis shoes. You have been telling everybody about your shoes since you could talk. Your favorite game to play right now is good guys and bad guys. You are always batman. You have a great imagination, and love to play with Ashton and Carly. You still amaze people with your basketball skills, and you have a new love for tennis. Your favorite movie right now is Cars. Buddy, you are such a sweet, caring, and fun boy. You are a joy to be around and you make me laugh every day. I love my big morning hug I get from you and my goodnight smooches. Oh and you have the cutest muffin around. Your dad and I are so lucky to be your parents. We love you.

Baby Bump-June.

Here I am with my BF Lindsey. We are both pregnant with our fourth. Yes, we are that crazy. 

Best big brother EVER!

Opening, opening...

A Batman sword!!!!

The gift giver, Owen, the gift.

Owen turned 4 on June 23, Ashton came to me and told me he wanted to get Owen a present, with his own money. How sweet. He does not get an allowance, he just has money from his own birthdays, or the occasional bill grandpa slips him. So we grabbed his wallet and headed to
Wal-mart. He knew what he wanted to get him, but they did not have it there. So, he picked out an awesome Batman sword, we took it to the register and he paid for it. What a thoughtful kid, it just warmed my heart that he took it upon himself to do that for Owen. Oh, and Owen loved it!

Too cool for (pre)school!

Owens "thing" lately has been doing cool dude poses. In both these pictures he has a different pose. And you will notice his coolness in several other pictures in different posts as well. Not quite sure where he picked this up, but he can totally pull it off. He really is that cool, at least I think so.

Back to the Beach!

Some serious sand castle building...

...and sand boat driving....

....and bucket filling, was going on.

The three little Carters.

Bustin' a move.

Stylin'.

We are so lucky to have an awesome State Park on Lake Erie just 25 minutes from our home. It's not the ocean, but it's the next best thing. The lake is shallow so the water gets really warm by the end of the summer. It just takes an hour of getting everybody ready for an entire day of fun in the sun. It is probably the entire family's favorite place to go in the summer. The boys spent over an hours jumping the waves last time we went. I even joined in for a while and it was really fun. Sand, sun, and water...it doesn't get any better than this!