Chicago - day 1

We left last Saturday, 8/15 and went to Todd and Kristin's for the day.  We got to celebrate Braden's birthday and relax in the pool!

Quite honestly I didn't get a lot of pictures because I spent most of the time relaxing in the pool!!  Hey - it was Day 1 of our vacation, so it's ok!!

We left the next morning before 9am to head to Chicago and arrived at our hotel around 11am.  Fortunately we were able to check in immediately.  We stayed at Mile North hotel which was just a block of Michigan aka "Miracle Mile."  It was a fantastic location!

 Blake and Cora checking out the view from our hotel room.  They thought the tall buildings were pretty darned impressive!

Our hotel

 Fortunately our hotel was located right next to Gino's!  Needless to say, that was our first stop for lunch!  The kids were pretty excited to be able to write their names on the walls, and Tom and I were pretty excited to try some hard root beer for the first time! (It was delicious!)

Me and my girl

Next stop was the American Girl Doll store.  Cora was lucky enough to have Christmas money saved up from Grandma Sue so she could buy her very first American Doll!  She picked out the one she wanted right away.  It's amazing the resemblance they share!  She was SOOOO excited!

 Cora named her "Gracie"

While Cora and I were at American Girl, Tom and Blake checked out the Lego store and Blake spent some of his birthday and Christmas money there!

Next stop was Millenium Park which was about a mile walk.  It was a little tough on the kids because it was close to 90 degrees that day.  The kids weren't overly impressed with the "Bean", they just wanted to find that ice cream truck and get some ice cream.

The Bean

Our reflection in the Bean 

We took the LONG way back to the hotel to do some sight-seeing.  Apparently I was the only one who was excited about that.  Oh well, we saw some beautiful sights!

Trump Tower

Tom & I - photo by Blake

 And....we finally found the ice cream truck!

No Chicago trip is complete without some Garrett's popcorn!

No, we didn't buy these, but we did stop by the Hershey store!

We went back to the hotel and ate leftover Gino's pizza (it was still delicious!).  Then we waited until closer to dusk to go to Chicago 360/John Hancock Observatory to see the city from above.

 The kids checking out the view

Gorgeous!

Phew, Day 1 was a busy day and we were all very exhausted that night!! 

Prayers

It warms my heart so, to go in and check on my children a few minutes after putting them to bed, to hear them both whispering their prayers....without even being told to!  I'm so proud of these kiddos.

Summer is quickly passing us by and school will be starting before we know it.  I did some online school shopping (I may never visit a retail store again for school shopping!) and so far, so good.  Most things fit, but a few have to be exchanged.  It was like Christmas in August for Cora.  That girl just loves fashion and matching up tops, bottoms and shoes, too.  Blake...well as long as it involves anything sports related, he's good with it. :-)

We are looking forward to our trip to Chicago next week to go see the Tigers play at Wrigley Field and to take Miss Cora to go to the American Girl doll store.  Of course, we are going to see many other landmarks and maybe some museums, too.

Blake turned 8 last month, as crazy as that seems.  We had some friends over for a day of outside fun - playing baseball, kickball, squirt gun fight and baseball waterslides.  Boys are pretty easy to entertain.  His guests included Tyler Bush, Logan Trepokowski, Peyton Bowerman, Brendyn Essenmacher and Bryce Reinke.

Grandma Regentin broke her hip over the weekend and went in for surgery today.  Everything went well, so we are hoping for a speedy recovery.

Ball season

I'm going to pretend like I'm not months behind and just continue on with my post!!

I don't want to forget tonight and if I don't take notes, I just might...although I don't think Blake will forget anytime soon!  Blake had a baseball game tonight and not only did he hit the snot out of the ball every time he was up, he also made a triple play!!! Technically it was a double play because there was already one out, but he still made the play.  There was a runner on first and second.  Blake was playing second base.  A pop fly was hit over the first basemans head, Blake ran over, snagged the fly ball, tagged the runner who was headed to second, then ran and tagged second base to get the runner who had ran to third base out!!  I'm so proud of his quick thinking and skills.  At seven years old, I think we have many years of baseball in our future!!  Tom and I are coaching his team (ok, actually Tom is - I just keep the book and give him my opinion on who should play where, etc). 😊. 

Cora is playing Tball again this year and I am her coach.  Luckily Tom, Jessie and Rob are all helping out.  It's amazing how many people it takes to keep the attention of nine 4-5year olds!!  Cora is doing a great job hitting the ball without a tee!

I'm really going to miss baseball season when it's over.  I truly do enjoy it.  However, I'm sure Blake will want to continue playing in the yard until the snow flies!

Cora graduated preschool from Peace Lutheran a couple weeks ago.  This was bitter sweet for us.  It's hard to believe she will be starting kindergarten soon, but she is so ready for it, it makes it a little easier.  Plus I won't miss the running back and forth to school twice a day, three times a week!!

Summer vacation is almost here for the kids!!  Blake will be done with school on June 9th.  We don't have a lot for summer plans except a trip to Chicago.  We are going to see the Tigers play at Wrigley Field and take the kids to the American Girl doll store and the Lego store.  

Thankful

We had a nice Thanksgiving at John and Florence's today.  We celebrated both Christmas and Thanksgiving.  By the time we got home, the kids were sleepy and ready for bed.  As I was tucking Blake in, I gave him a hug and kiss and told him to remember to say his prayers and to thank God for all the things he is thankful for.  His response, "That will take awhile, momma."  Such a sweetheart he is!!

From the mouth of my babes....

Tom picked Blake up from catechism the other day and his teacher stopped him and told him that she needed to talk to him about Blake.  Of course, Tom was thinking, "uh-oh...what has he done?"  Here's how the story went:

Mrs. H was teaching the class about some saints and how some of them were from Peru.  She asked the class if anyone knew where Peru is?  Blake raises his hand and she calls on him.

"I know about Peru!!!  They played Michigan State last week!!!" says my son who is apparently watching way too much sports lately!

***

The other night Tom, Cora and I were out for dinner at the Stone Lodge (Blake was at a friend's house).  We were starting to get a bit impatient waiting for our food, so as we sometimes do, we try to figure out who's order takes the longest to cook.  Cora was quick with the solution this time, "I know it's your's momma.  You ordered the Cowboy burger...so now the cook has to go WAY out to the wild, wild west, find a cowboy, bring him back, and cook him up." (all while rolling her eyes) :-)

12x5 = 60....don't you know mom?

These children continue to amaze me!  The other day, we were in the car and out of the blue, Blake says to me, "Mom...did you know if you add 12 five times, you get 60?" 

I paused, a little surprised and said, "Yes...12x5 = 60.  I know that, but how did you figure it out?" 

He replied, "The other night when I was going to bed, I was just laying there and doing some math in my head.  I thought...If you add 12+12, you get 24.  And if you add 12 more, then you get 36, and then 48 and then 60.  It's easy, Mom."

Needless to say, I was impressed.  I replied, "Blake...do you know who else does math in their head when they go to bed?"

"No, who?" he said.

"Your father.  He will look at the clock and pick a number and do all kinds of different math problems in his head."

True Story.

I told him I was very impressed that he figured this all out as a 6 year old.  He replies with, "Well, technically I'm almost a 7 year old, mom."

I told him, "Well, even for a 7 year old, that's very impressive.  Keep up the good work, buddy!"

Summer is finally here!

It was a coldy snowy winter and a very wet spring.  Now that we are almost through the month of June, I'd say it's finally safe to say that Summer is Here!!!  Since it's been a while since I've posted, I've got to back track a bit.

In May, Tom and I took a long weekend trip to Niagara Falls (Canada) with Rob and Jessie.  We had a great time and enjoyed ourselves.  

Tom took on coaching Blake's 8U baseball team this year.  The season ended just a couple days ago and it was bittersweet.  I helped him out and we both really enjoyed the kids.  It was cool to see them improve so much from the first game through the last.  We had some really good kids on our team and I'd say it's a good possiibility that we will do it again next year!

Cora is playing Tball for the first time.  She is having fun with it, thankfully it's a short season as the games can be a little long!!  I think it's more of a social event than anything, as she is on the same team as Brennen Hooper, Brooklyn Wendling and Ava Kolar.

The kids finished up a few sessions of swim lessons this spring.  What an amazing improvement they've made!!  Blake can swim the entire length of the pool with no help and no life jacket.   He can also go down the slide and jump off the diving board with no life jacket.  Cora can also swim a short distance in the deep end!!  Their improvement from last summer is just remarkable!!  We went swimming over at Aunt Peggy's a few weeks ago and it was so nice to see them both jump right in with no fear and just have a blast, with me not having to worry about them!

Cora graduated from the 3 year old Peace Lutheran Pre-School on June 3rd.  She will start the 4 year old program in the fall.  It's hard to believe she is growing up this fast!  She seemed to do very well in pre-school and really enjoyed it.

Blake's last day of 1st grade was June 17th.  They had about 10 snow days they had to make up so they were in school much longer than normal.  He will start 2nd grade next year.  He did very well with his "grades."  They don't get letter grades, just numbers 1-4.  Blake got all 3's and 4's (meets and exceeds standards).  He is also an exceptional reader which makes me so happy!  At the beginning of the school year he was a Level 18 which is the highest level a first grader can be.  His teacher said that with most kids they try to get them to a 16-18 by the end of the school year.  Needless to say, we are very proud of him!

Tom and I have been trying to get out golfing when we can.  I'm playing on the ladie's league again this year with Amy Trepkowski.  Tom is a sub for the men's league and is enjoying getting out a little more often.

It's hard to believe we have been in our houes for almost a year already!  I have no regrets and am so happy that we made the move.  With ball being over for the year (Cora's last game is today), swim lessons being done and school being out, we are thinking things should slow down a little bit.....but that never seems to be the case with summertime.  We actually don't have too busy of a summer planned....a couple graduation parties and just a camping trip or two.