Micah Moo is SIX!!!!

Micah turned 6 a week ago!! Can you believe it? No more babies in this house! We hadnt planned a birthday party b/c Ethan had come down with the flu, so we did it a week late. He still had a blast!! He got all the Nintendo games he wanted, and a scooter! Awesome!

5th Annual Whitsitt Family Fun Day

THis weekend we headed to KC for the 5th annual Whitsitt Family Fun Day!! We had a blast!! A few injuries, but overall great fun. Baseball, touch football, lots of food and deck time. Cherish the time you have with your families!

Clayton Plays Flag Football!

Well, Clayton the Tank Miles is at it again!! Now he's playing flag football! His first game was Saturday morning, and he was ready to go!! They had a blast! Still getting the skills polished up, but they are gonna be great! Should be a fantastic season! Come watch!

Illinois River Balloon Festival!

Last weekend we tried to go to a hot air balloon festival that didnt work out so well!! This weekend, we tried again! We headed to Talequah to check out another fest. Josh had to work, and Ethan went on a campout, so it was me and the 2 little dudes! We took a picnic dinner and ate out on the field, waiting for the balloons to arrive! After finishing dinner, we did some carnival rides, one not working out so well....after it got started, and went upside down, Micah was not thrilled. I just caught a glimpse of his terrified face screaming, and knew he was mortified. Let me tell you...that is a terrible, hopeless feeling!! He literally FLEW into my arms as he got off...it was awful! Right after that we got some snocones to cheer us up, and laid out our blanket, and here came the balloons!! He cheered right up!! It was so cool to see! The just kept coming up over the horizon...the kids' favorite was one called "Skyscraper". It flew right over our heads. After they landed, and it was dusk, they all set up right in front of us and inflated. I gotta tell you, it was amazing. If you've ever been interested in hot air balloons, you got to go find one of these festivals!! You can get up close and personal with the balloons. They did their "glow", then rolled back up! Micah and Clayton told me it was one of the best days of their life! Awesome! IT was all capped off with fireworks at the end. Truly amazing.

First Day of School!!

Ready for the big day!

Do you think he's excited or what?

Is he handsome or what????



Thursday was the boys' first day of school!!! What a year for us. One in 7th grade, one in 2nd, and the other starting Kindergarten!!! Holy Moly!! Ethan moved to a new school this year....he is in the middle school now, with 800+ kids in his class...for Josh and I who grew up in tiny districts, this is unreal!! E's first day went well. Pretty crazy, and he happened to miss one of his classes and go to another twice, but we got all the glitches worked out! He was excited to see all his buddies after the summer. Clayton started 2nd grade, and he's in the same room as last year. For 1st and 2nd grade, we put him in the multi-age classroom. Last year he really enjoyed it, and this year, he's looking forward to being a "mentor" to the younger kiddos in the class! Micah started kindergarten!!! Holy cow, he was was nervous the night before, but woke up that morning ready to go! He has the same teacher that Clay had a few years before, so that was a level of familiarity that was important, I think. He did great!!!
It's going to be a great year!! An adjustment for all of us, having all of them in school all day long, but we will make it!

I Love This Kid!

Clayton dancing at the hot air balloon festival....He got his moves from his Papa T!!! :D

Hot Air Balloons!!

Last night, the boys and I went up to Claremore (about an hour away) to see the hot air balloons fly!! We were so dissapointed when we got there that it was way to windy for them to go up! We walked around for awhile, and then found one of the pilots who had his basket out to take pictures in! He informed usthat he was going to try and get his balloon inflated later that night, so we hung out. The boys won giant inflatable hammers so they entertained themselves beating the crap outta each other!! :D And Radio Disney was there doing a concert thing, so they all played the games and danced. Finally, they were able to get the Mayflower balloon inflated, and we got a close view!! It was so awesome!!!

St. Louis, and the end of our vacation...

On our way back home, we decided to stop in St. Louis for one final adventure. We took the boys up in the Arch! They thought it was awesome. Right before we went up, we watched the documentary on how the arch was built. That was interesting to see...and the boys got a kick out of seeing just how much work went into it. Up, up up we went and when we finally arrived at the top, we were all amazed. Even tho Josh and I had been up before, I think it still took us by surprise just how neat it was to see, and be up that high! We pointed out the stadium where Uncle J's favorite team plays...how awesome if they would have been playing right then?? :D Pretty dang cool, and a great end to our trip!

4th Of July!!!

Independance Day dawned rainy and cool in Lombard Ill!! :D We enjoyed a quiet day hanging out with Betsy and Jason, and also Dad and Connie who'd come thru on a big trip up Michigan! Also, Carina came in from the city to party with us crazy people. We grilled some burgers and hung out, and finally, it cleared off enough for us to go to the fair in Lombard. The boys were estatic! Papa T bought them tickets to ride whatever they wanted, so off we went. There was one ride called Cliff Hanger that everyone (minus Nana and Josh) rode. Laying on your belly, you go on a "flight"! It was pretty darn cool, but it was after that that I found out that I am too old to ride those dang things! About 5 minutes after we "landed", I tossed my burger back up! Ughhh....gross. We watched a few fireworks and headed on home!

Warren Dunes State Park!

I cannot even beging to describe to you how beautiful this place is!! It is utterly amazing, and I fell totally in love. SO did my family. Warren Dunes is about a 2 hour drive from Chicago, and it is where my dad grew up! Near there anyway...he would go there with friends all the time when he was young (SOOOO long ago!) For the first time in my life, I felt my "roots" when I was there...corny, I know. BUt I LOVE IT. We will be returning! When we first pulled in, we could see these HUGE dunes on one side, and the lake and beach on the other. I cant even tell you how huge theses dunes were, more like sand mountains!! The boys wanted to climb first thing! So up we went. The view was amazing! We were all huffing and puffing by the time we reached the top! But the run down was well worth it! :D After that, we headed to the beach. THe boys automatically went into the water, and JOshua started on his first sand castle. We ate a quick lunch (Micah got so frustrated with the sand on his hands!!) and then back to play. Josh and Jason created a Jabba the Hut which got many many looks and lots of pictures too! A little girl behind us, whom Micah had befriended had pink sand that she asked to put on his tounge! So cute! The boys could have played for days and days. When we wrapped up swim time, we headed to explore and find more dunes to climb. Of course, the boys wanted to climb the tallest ones! Up we went...Betsy stayed down to take pictures of our progress...it was pretty cool to see how tiny we looked! Exhausted, we headed back to B&J's. What a fantastic day. That day was my very favorite. Playing iwth my family in the sand, relaxing with not a care in the world......

Chicago Beach Day!!!

When we asked the boys what they were most excited to do in Chicago, their answer was "Legoland and the BEACH!!" All 3 of them agreed!! Amazing!! Thursday we finally were able to hit the beach! It started out cloudy and cold, so we headed to the Hancock Tower, which we hadnt been able to fit in earlier. They thought it was so cool to see all the buildings and the water...and especially the pools on top of the buildings!! After doing that, we headed downstairs for a quick lunch in the courtyard before heading to the beach! When we finally made it there, Clay was the first one in! The other boys soon followed. It was dang cold, but of course, that didnt matter to them!! Josh and Jason were such good daddy and uncle, they were in it with them nearly the whole time. I think they had as much fun as the little dudes! Micahs favorite thing was to be buried, then jump up and run in the water to wash off! Ethan spent a ton of time digging a huge hole that they eventually all ended up helping with! Clayton just loved wandering around, in a out of the water. Betsy and I worked really, really hard on our tans!! :D It was a great day. But every day there was great! We already want to go back!!!!