Friday, May 30, 2014

Yes, More Pengin Park

This is our second home during the summer.  Niko begs us to go to the park anytime it is nice.


By far, this is Ryker's favorite part of Penguin Park... the water fountain.

Ryker is scary good at climbing the monkey bars....

Dino rider.
Swing time with Daddy.

Likes the bouncy horse.

More swing time.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Counter Love

This is probably a bad idea, but I don't care.  He loves it up on the counter and I can keep an eye on him while I am cooking.  

OMG!!  Is that......

DJ LANCE ROCK?!??!?!?

Whew....  getting hot in here.

Woah!  Muno!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Niko & Ryker's Garden


Niko & Ryker's Garden is ready to go.  (Actually, I took this photo on Friday and these plants have almost doubled in size now!)

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Camping!

Tent and hammock ready to go!

 Niko is stoked to sleep in the tent.  He did a great job!  We both slept in the tent all night... until about 6 a.m. when the rain started and woke us up.


In and out of the tent all night long.
 

Someone had a rough time getting in and out of the tent.

Yes, that is a dinner of hot dogs and marshmallows.  Don't judge....

A rare shot of Daddy 'cooking.'

Godfather Mark took a few 'candid' photos from the camp trip....
 

More marshmallows...

Monday, May 26, 2014

Team D4D

Yea....  this is what 'Other Duties As Assigned' looks like - just in case you were wondering.  I competed in the Dancing with the Chamber Stars event last week.  I danced with Councilman Chris Lievsay and we pulled Hip Hop.


I'm 'getting down' here...

Booty Shake.

Yes, we danced to Vanilla Ice.  Don't hate.


And here we are hyping up the crowd.

BOOM!  We won Peoples Choice!!!   And yes.... Neil was in the audience.  Surprisingly, both of our spouses don't run out of the room after our performance.   On the right our AMAZING coach, Gretchen Bretz!




Neil shot a bootleg video of our performance.   Unfortunately, Niko likes to watch it.... I better start saving now for the therapy bills later......

Friday, May 23, 2014

End of Year Class Ceremony


Yesterday was Niko's End of Year Class Ceremony....  but he couldn't attend.  Niko was diagnosed with Strep yesterday and has felt quite miserable the last couple of days.  He missed his last day of school party too...  :(   

He is on amoxicillin now and hopefully will feel better in a few days.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Penguin Park

This weekend was nothing short of GORGEOUS!   So, off to Penguin Park!   I let Ryker drive us there.
 


 I like this picture of Niko-chan.... look how big he is getting!

As close as I could get to a group photo. 
 

LOVES the monkey bars. 
 


Who wouldn't be happy riding on a giant kitty?!??
 

Someone else loves the swing.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Mom's Day Weekend

 We drove to Chicago this weekend for Mom's Day.  Spending the weekend with my Dad was the only thing I wanted for Mom's Day so off we went.

This trip started like many other car trips for us.... barf.  Yay.   We can't seem to have a trip without some form of 're-processed food' to kick us off.


When we got to the house, we drug out our old toys.  This toy is easily 30+ years old, but is a favorite for any visiting kiddo.

One of the things I wanted to do over the weekend was to plant Mother's Day flowers for my Mom & my Grandma.   Here is what the graves looked like before we planted.   This is my Grandma's grave marker - usually my Aunt Kay plants the flowers, but we beat her to it this year.


This is the back of my Mom's grave marker.

 And the front.


The boys helped me dig up the soil for the flowers.

Kinda weird to see, I know but I like to think my Mom was happy to see the kids playing 'with her.'



 After!

After!

My Mother's Day meal.... mmmmm... some of the best pizza in Chicago.

Niko gave me his present early on Sunday morning.  YAY!  Look at that age... 31.  Sweet.  Last year I was 55, so this is a nice improvement.


I am looking good!

We drove home after breakfast... here is King Niko-chan grubbing down on dinner.

On the drive home, we put in a Yo Gabba Gabba DVD.  This was Ryker's first reaction to the show.... confusion & wonder.