First Stop: Chicago

After 2 days of driving we weren't worn out but definitely excited to get out of the car.  Thankfully Grandma Tina and Grandpa Pat were up for a long walk in the rain to the park.  

The boys couldn't pass up the sledding hill even though there was no snow.  Apparently it's just as much fun to run down in the rain as ride a sled.

Of course then we were all too wet and muddy to be allowed in the house so it was time for sibling bathing in Grandma's giant tub.

And because she's super fun, she made shaped pancakes too.

Saturday we went to a morning movie and then waited outside the Chicago Temple while Grandma and Grandpa went in for a friend's sealing.  We had planned to stop and "touch" temples on our trip anyway so this was perfect.

The unique thing we discovered about the Chicago Temple is that there are 16 "secret" doors on the outside of the temple.  "Secret" because they don't have doorknobs on the outside so you can't go IN through them.  Really they're just fire exits but kind of neat to see.  That's one of them behind the kids if you can make out the faint lines.

When they were finished, they came out and touched the temple along with us.

Sunday we went to church with them and Isla's teacher gave all the little kids in class funny sunglasses.  Isla was in love and wore them for days- inside and outside the house.

We climbed the giant spider web.

And took turns on the zipline at their park.  Isla was not impressed- even with the slowest ride ever and being held the whole time by Grandpa.

The other boys though were in heaven.

And worn out even before we started the long walk back to their house.  Luckily Grandpa is preparing for a backpacking trip and was happy to try out all 25 pounds of Isla.

Monday we joined them for their ward's Memorial Day breakfast- complete with Mickey Mouse pancakes and sausage!

Then we headed out to Independence Grove Lake to play.

And when we were all thoroughly exhausted from 3 days of way too much fun, I let them all be zombies with their ipads.  Even Grandpa snuck in on the action a little bit.

Random May

Our bishop has the tradition of taking soon-to-be or newly baptized primary kids down to Temple Square to the visitors center and also to touch the temple.  He's been a little busy with 2 new grandbabies, a busy job, and a missionary coming home so he ended up combining a few kids.  This actually turned out to be fantastic as the kids has friends along.

Ashton, Ella, Mason, and Isaac

They teach them about the temple and talk to them about goals for going there when they're old enough.

And of course they get them ice cream and let them make penny wished in the fountain.  So cute!  I'm so glad to live in such an amazing neighborhood where my kids get to grow up with so many caring adults.

Spring planting.

The Wizard of Oz at Grams school?  We're in.

Primary service project to make sack lunches for kids at a homeless shelter in town.

Teacher Appreciation Week.

More service project.

Aria came to stay.  She's my favorite of the cousins.  She's so sweet and easy.  She cleans up after herself and follows my kids around wherever they go.  She sleeps great and is honestly about 3 extra minutes of work each day and that's just to get her dressed/undressed/and change her diaper.  She can stay anytime!!

Plus then Isla gets to join bathtime!

Sadly 3 hours of afternoon church is too much for her but she was pretty cute all sacked out in the back of Primary.

P1 Rocket Derby

Taylor has done both Pinewood derbies and Boat races with his cub scout troops, but since this is his 5th year, he's bored of that and decided it was time to hold a Rocket Derby.  

Everyone's rocket is ready.

And we're all waiting our turn to go.

I have to say it was pretty hilarious how hard these turned out to be.  There's a fine line between turning your propeller (and the rubber band inside that it's attached to) enough to go far but not too much so that it breaks.  Lets just say a few of the dad's were cursing the cheap rubber bands.

There was a whole lot of this- dad's on the side doing emergency fixes to rockets.

But they flew- sort of.

Ok so the kids were happy.

And of course there were awards and treats so it was worth all their effort in the end (although I bet several of the dad's would disagree).  Luckily it's back to the Pinewood derby next year.