Saturdays in September

So we have had some rather busy weekends in September. We started out with the backyard camp out on Labor Day, but I won't elaborate on that as it has already been covered. Are you ready for what follows??

The next weekend was a celebration for the opening of the College Football season. We attended the Residency tailgate that Jeff and Larissa put on. We were so excited to get the kids all dressed up in their ND appeal. I realized that morning that Kami didn't have anything to wear so I whipped up a new onsie for her. I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

The tailgate was so much fun. Jacob had a great time chatting with colleagues and I was super happy to find that my new Twice Baked Potatoe recipe was an instant tailgate classic. On a side note - I realized recently that I really am my mother's daughter when it comes to food. I just can't seem to get enough of making food for get together. It really makes me happy when people enjoy the food I make. Okay back to the tailgate. It was a blast!! The kids (when they weren't being chased by bees) had such a great time and drank a lot of soda pop. Kami slept nearly the entire time and who can ask for more than that. After the tailgate we enjoyed the remainder of the day relaxing, as much as one can with 4 kids.

The next weekend Jacob and Clint went backpacking for 2 days. They had a great time, as you saw in the photos. But what was I doing during this backpacking trip? I was trying out my skills as an electrician. I can't say what a drastic change this was for me. We went from these retro, dirty, really outdated fixtures

To these very nice, very simple, very in style fixtures that carry the added benefit of having two light bulbs instead of one so they provide much more light.

Can I just say I love my new lights. Thanks to Adam and Mike who answered a few questions when things didn't quite look the way they had been described in the instructions. The other bonus of my little jaunt as an electrician is that it prompted Jacob to try his skills out the next week. He wired the bedrooms for light fixtures and I can not tell you how happy I am to get rid of the lamps that were in the bedrooms. Heaven!!!

The next weekend Jacob had Friday off so we headed to Chicago for a night in a hotel and a fun day to follow. The heading part was a little more traumatic than I on (Chicago traffic at 5:00 has made my husband promise he will never return to that city again), but once we arrived the good times started to roll. Sometimes I forget just how fun hotels are for kids. They loved it. We spent a pleasant evening playing in the pool and playing musical beds. Between the two double beds and the hide a bed there were a lot of choices. In the end, Jacob and I each got our own double bed and the three kids slept on the hide a bed. Sweet!!!

The next morning we geared up for what we hoped would be a fun filled family day. It turned out to be a day of mostly fun and some moments of frustration. We did our best with the frustrating parts and made the best of it. (at least we decided to make the best of it after realizing being frustrated with each other wasn't helping and there is nothing you can do about having to pay extra for full service gas or not being able to find a parking space anywhere in the entire city and ending up paying $20 for parking at what was supposed to be a free zoo, or having to return to that parked van two times because of potty accidents, or paying $20 to park at a tailgate.) Like I said, once we let all this good there was nothing but good times to be had.

We spent the afternoon at the zoo and the kids had a great time looking at the animals. I mean, what kid doesn't enjoy looking at animals? The kids favorite part of the zoo trip, however, had nothing to do with animals. It had to do with finding a giant human caterpillar trapeze zone. I lost track of how many times they plowed through this. And it was reconfirmed to us, once again, that Kristian is one strong kid. It didn't matter that he was to small to reach half of the platforms, he would just grab the wire next to it and pull himself up. It was hilarious.

After the zoo we headed to the White Sox stadium to attend the SUU Alumni Tailgate that was being held. My good friend from my college days, and the new SUU Alumni Director, Mindy Benson was in attendance. This was our main reason for the jaunt to the city and it was well worth it. It was so wonderful to get to catch up with her. You never realize how much you miss good friends until you get to catch up with them after a long time apart.

Kristian and Jessi struggled a bit at the tailgate because there was a live band near by and they didn't like how loud it was. Spencer on the other hand ran right over and became there number one fan. He danced to all of the songs and earned himself a turn on stage. That's right, the band asked him if he wanted to come up and shake the tambourine with them for a few songs. He was so excited, he went up and shook right with the beat. We think he got a little shy up there as he did not dance, but all in all he had a great time. When he was done his two songs the drummer gave him his drum stick and that made his entire week. He is taking it to show and tell tomorrow.

We were about ready to head back home (we weren't planning on staying for the game because it would be really late for the kids and the tickets were $30 and who pays $30 a kid when they don't even know what is going on) when we realized there was a rather large tailgate behind our vehicle and we wouldn't be going anywhere soon. It was then that the alumni head of Chicago realized they had some extra tickets and offered them to us. Jacob was in heaven. Suddenly all traffic concerns, getting up for church in the morning, and dealing with upset kids was forgotten. We stayed till the seventh inning stretch and were present for a grand slam. The kids did great and were happy to have so many new alumni friends willing to talk to them, play with them, and even take them out for an icee. Good times, thanks to all those that helped keep my kids happy which allowed us to be happy too!!!

The last weekend of September was spent in Ann Arbor at a Medical Conference. I was planning on doing something really fun with the kids while Jacob was in the conference but they deiced instead to spend an hour at the continental breakfast enjoying every breakfast food imaginable then two hours of cartoons spread out in the giant King Size Bed followed by lunch and then a four hour nap in the giant King Size Bed. I decided to take advantage of the quiet and read. Ah, you really cant ask for more in life. We got to enjoy some prime pool and hot tub time when daddy got back from the conference and all and all had a great weekend. And I decided that one day we will own a King Size Bed. Enough said.

So that is what we have been up too. Jacob is on Medicine this month so things should calm down a bit. We are getting very excited looking forward to a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Corry at the end of the month. The kids can't wait to show them their costumes.

So that is the update. Ever notice how all my posts are pretty much updates. Ya, that is because this is my journal. One day, I am going to be fun and off the wall like Jacob and post about something other than the going on of us. But not today.