PNW Part 1: Fishing on Vancouver Island

The girls and I recently went on a trip to the Pacific Northwest to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary. Lucy was so excited about her trip to Washington.

The first part was a mens fishing trip to Vancouver Island for some salmon fishing. My Dad took all us younger dads for a two day trip which was incredibly fun and meaningful.  We also caught a ton of fish as the conditions were near perfect.  

Watching the humpback whales swim by as we fished. 

An average sized fish.  We estimated catching about 150lbs that day.

At one point we had three fish on at once.  We got these two in.

My brother Doug displaying our catch. 

We stopped along our drive to enjoy Vancouver Island.

Hanging out and hiking the night before

This one took my Dad a while - it was almost 20 minutes before he got that fish in.

Our Lila is One!!

We can not believe that our little girl is already one year old! Her middle name is so fitting--she really is a joy, an absolute delight and we are so thankful to be her parents. Lila is observant, smiley, kind, sweet, determined, loving, and bright. She is a joy to parent, a joy to be around, and the joy of our days! Happy birthday little Bird!

Here is Lila with her buddy James!

Blueberry Picking

We went blueberry picking last month with our friends Emily and Eric Runyan and their daughter, Eleanor. It was hotter than blazes but so much fun. The funny thing is that Lucy was more interested in filling up her "blueberry" cup with water at the pump and Eleanor was VERY into picking, but refused to eat ANY blueberries! After picking we went to the New Buffalo, MI beach on Lake Michigan. The girls were tired, we were tired, but the ice cream at the end of the day helped us to push through. We tuckered out Lucy so much that she even slept in the car (which she NEVER does) on the way home! 

Lucy and Lila's Birthday Bash

We recently threw a joint birthday party for Lucy and Lila at the Randall Oaks Petting Zoo.  After much planning and preparation, the weather didn't seem to want to cooperate.  In fact, there was so much rain the night before and that morning that many of the major highways were shut down due to flooding.  Fortunately, the weather suddenly cleared up and became absolutely perfect.  It's also a testament to how great all our friends are since everybody endured the tenuous commute to get there (many leaving behind flooded basements). 

Lucy was excited to see her cousins Lucas and Asher who bravely drove in from Grand Rapids, MI to attend.  Asher and Lucy are so cute together.

The Randall Oaks location was great since there was a petting zoo with many neat animals, playgrounds, and we provided a bouncy house as well. 

Here is Lila Bird with her aunt Kristin.  This was before she tried the birthday cake.  She was significantly more messy after that since she practically inhaled the cake as fast as she could. 

Thanks again to all who came and celebrated our two little girls.  We felt so blessed to have so many family and friends to share our joy with. 

40 Years!!!

A few weeks back we celebrated my parents 40th wedding anniversary at a local Chicago restaurant.  It was truly a joyful and blessed evening commemorating such a wonderful occasion.  My parents are and inspiration to all of us and we had so much fun together. 

Aren't they still so adorable after 40 years?  

They are a model for all of us and it touched Don and I to think of our two little girls 

growing up and celebrating our 40th anniversary someday.  

Milo's Turns 2 (well last month)

So I am very late in blogging about Milo's birthday last month. His 2nd b-day party was a blast! We had pizza at Moretti's and then went back to Kristin and Eric's for dessert. My sister and I made a train cake for Milo.

What a goof ball!

Dino and Mary

 So on the day of Milo's actual birthday we spent the entire day together. Lucy wore her party dress and practiced singing "Happy Birthday" the whole week leading up to his b-day.

We went back to Kristin and Eric's so that Milo could open his presents. I love this picture because it reflects the cousins to a tee--Lucy is rockin out with gusto, Lila is smiling like a little Bird, and Milo is all intent on the task at hand.

We spent the day at Legoland which was a lot of fun. Although there was this one Lego lion whose roar scared the little birthday guy half to death

Of course I had to bring my little buddy some cupcakes for lunch.

For dinner we went to Superdawg for a Chi-town type of celebration. Milo was a big fan of his hot dog and fries!

4th of July

It's always fun to celebrate the 4th of July in Kewaunee! Here Lucy is watching the fireworks with her Daddy. Thank goodness that Grammy and Puppy remembered the ear plugs which helped her to not be so scared of the loud noise.

We went out to breakfast at our favorite local joint. Here Lila is saying, "Hooray for Bacon!"

Our little stars and stripes girls!

Her favorite place to be is in the swing.

The bird and her Kunkel