A day with Thomas

Last Saturday we took Kevin to A Day out with Thomas & Friends. Kevin loves Thomas the Train, so this was the perfect event for him. We started the morning with a train ride, photos with Thomas, a few rounds in the bouncy houses, and raced through the straw maze. It was a fun event held at the Boone, IA Scenic Railway.

Washington, D.C.

We had a wonderful time in Washington. We spent the beginning of our trip with Debi & John, then the last few days exploring the city alone. They were fantastic tour guides, and best of all - we got to see the city from a local's perspective.

Saturday afternoon we toured the Tidal Basin and the FDR Memorial. I would love to go back when all the cherry blossom trees are in bloom.

The new World War II Memorial is beautiful.

I think one of Nate's favorite parts of the trip was seeing 3 helicopters circling over the White House. We learned that they travel in 3's when the President is on board. Later on the trip we saw the presidential motorcade on Pennsylvania Avenue. I thought that was cool, but not too subtle!


The "living room" of our hotel was very swanky:

On our last evening with Debi & John we went to the cool rooftop bar at our hotel. It overlooks the White House and Treasury Building

Visiting Julia Child's kitchen at the Museum of American History was fun!

A great anniversary trip!

Vacation!

Our visit to Chicago last week was busy! Nate and I traveled to Washington DC for our anniversary, and Kevin partied with Grandmom & Grandpop. Once we were back from D.C., we spent much of our time in the City. Kevin & I reunited with our playgroup, we stayed with Aunt Nicole & Uncle Joe for the weekend and I ran the Chicago Half Marathon on Sunday! Here are some photos from our trip:

We like to stop on the road trip to & from Chicago for Kevin to run around a bit. He was fascinated with the corn.

Play group reunion!

Nate, Joe, Nicole & Kevin were great cheerleaders for me & Shari at the race. Kevin was very excited to ride on a Metra train to the race!

After the race I ate the best sandwich of my entire life!

I'll post some D.C. pictures soon...

Getting ready for vacation

Kevin is excited to leave for Chicago tomorrow. In fact at dinner he said "I want to go to Chicago now". I explained that we are leaving in the morning. He then said, "I'll go to bed now". This was at 6:00. He must really want to go to Grandmom & Grandpop's house!

It's raining...

I bought Kevin a pair of fireman boots. He sure loves them & couldn't wait to wear them outside in the rain last night. Nate and I stood in the kitchen smiling :)

This might be one of my most favorite mommy moments yet...

Adventureland

Last Saturday my company gave us free tickets to Adventureland amusement park. We weren't sure if they had enough kiddie rides, but they did! We all had fun, Nate and I could fit on some of the rides with him. By far, his favorite ride was the Teacups, which we rode 3 times in row before we stumbled home. Good thing Nate drove home, I was too dizzy, can't handle spinney rides like I used too.

-Waiting in line for the train ride-

-Riding the Ladybugs with Landon-

- Boat Ride! -

-Good thing Nate isn't fat, it was a tight squeeze on the semi-truck-

(Eventually, Kevin went on this ride 3 more times all by himself :)

We had so much fun we stayed until almost 10Pm when the park closed.

State Fair photos

Me, Nate & Grandma Becky took Kevin to his first State Fair! We started with the Hands On Farm. Kevin had a chance to plant seeds, harvest vegetables, ride a tractor, and milk a cow.

Another first, yummy corn dog!

A few rides down the giant slide

He sat on big tractors, there were lots!

We took a break for some ice cream

Grand finale: merry-go-round ride

*** For Tanya, you would be proud, we saw lots of livestock too. In fact, I am sure it's the most livestock I have ever seen in.my.life. all in one space. I did my best not to show Kevin I was a bit freaked out! This photo is for you!

This 3400 lb bull was a big deal

(Am I the only one who thinks the dinky metal fence might now be enough to hold this thing back? Seriously, did they sedate it?)