Welcome to our World

These two wonderful ladies both started at a new school on Tuesday. First day for 6th graders and Freshman with a sort of orientation and making sure they know where all their classes are. It was great to hear about their day when they came home. I’m glad the schools do this for them. While Michelle and Natalie were at school our new washer and dryer were delivered!  Yes, both machines had been limping along and we finally decided to put them out of their misery when the washer door couldn’t close and therefore couldn’t wash anything. Luckily Hubby found ones on sale that could be delivered in just two days. They are so different from the ones we are used to but it’s kind of fun.  Also, they hold so much more and can things things washed and dried a ton faster if necessary (which we learned the day I forgot to wash Natalie's softball pants for practice). Then it was the real deal: all of my children heading to school with a true schedule and all the students in the building. ...

Michelle made us a lovely Summer 2024 bucket list.  I have to say that somehow the summer got away from us and so many things got left without being done.  Sometimes we even had an activity on the calendar, something would come up, we would reschedule, and somehow it just never got done.  For example, Danny was supposed to get his wisdom teeth removed the last day of July and the oral surgeon ended up postponing because Danny was so congested he didn’t want to take the risk of sedating him. Other things didn't seem big enough to need a plan and we never got around to checking it off.  Really makes me realize I don't have many summers left with my teenagers and that we may have to do less relaxing next June and work on that list early instead of waiting until August to realize how much we wanted to do. My dear sweet Natalie finally got to go to camp at the local humane society this summer and had a wonderful time learning about, meeting, and making things for the anim...

  Michelle and Natalie really wanted to go camping in Colorado this summer and Michelle planned a wonderful trip that led us to Great Sand Dunes National Park (the sand was so hot!), Mesa Verde NP complete with a Cliff Palace tour, gorgeous Ouray (we didn’t want to leave), Island Lake in Grand Mesa National Forest with beautiful wild flowers, and Rocky Mountain National Park before heading home. We did this after dropping Danny off at the airport to head to Vegas with his basketball team and Hubby and Kate stayed home. They didn’t mind doing things like seeing Deadpool & Wolverine in the theater together.     (Kate said she had already been on a camping adventure with E and Hubby said he couldn’t take any more time off work since this was so close to our California & Chicago trips.) I am grateful for Michelle’s planning. This would not have happened without her hard work!

When your son is playing basketball in Chicago and your husband has never been there and you haven’t seen the city since you were a child, you go too and turn it into an anniversary trip! Bucket List Items in the order we completed them : River Walk & Lake Michigan ✔️  Chicago Style Pizza ✔️  Architecture River Tour ✔️  Navy Pier ✔️  Chicago Dog ✔️  Union Station ✔️  Danny’s basketball game in Naperville ✔️  Willis Tower & Sky Deck ✔️  Danny’s game at Judson University ✔️  The Art Institute of Chicago ✔️  Grant Park ✔️  Wrigley Field & Cubs game ✔️  Danny’s last basketball game ✔️  Garden of the Phoenix at Jackson Park ✔️  Cloud Gate ✔️  We truly enjoyed this city!  Such a neat place and I’m so grateful we got to go. A big thank you to the girls and my mom for their support while we were out of town.  And Hubby deserves an award for all his public transit and navigating skills.

If you’re already using up all your airline points to get to California and some of the family is heading to Disneyland, you fly out from SNA and join in on the fun!  As a bonus, we got to see Joe & Sandy again and finally meet their son!  It has been way too long! All the things that might bother someone about Disneyland melt away when you have a family as great as Hubby’s with you.  Lines felt shorter, rides felt more fun, and we were as happy as I could be to hang out with them a couple days longer. They are the best! And if you know a super nice Magic Key holder, they might meet you at Disney California Adventure and give you things that are no longer available for purchase. They totally made our day! We also got to experience Disney magic twice at DCA. First, an Avengers Campus cast member did this fun photo shoot for us and then when we wanted to watch the nighttime show we got front row “seats” on the boardwalk. I would head back to Disneyland with this group a...