Memorial Day Weekend

Ahh, the bliss of a three day weekend. I had some quality time with Claire over the weekend as Lucian went up north to a friend's cabin for a few days and Spencer was at his mom's all weekend. We walked the neighborhood, read books, shopped with Aunt Mimi and headed to a few parks.

On a morning walk smelling the lilacs

Claire still loves to swing and pushes herself like this on the "big" swings

We met Sydney at the park both days so the girls could play together.

I think their favorite part was sharing the snacks we each brought.

Skater girl. Enjoying Monday's beautiful weather.

Lucian is doing another epic bike ride this year; Ride the Rockies, a week-long trek through Colorado's Rocky Mountains. He and a few local guys are going. They headed north to a friend's hunting cabin this weekend (near Spring Green, WI) to get in some training rides with decent climbing/elevation. He shared a few photos for the blog. Looks like a beautiful area.

Saturday morning ride

The cabin and "water truck". They use this old jalopy to get water from a distant neighbor for the cabin.

Horses running to greet them

Morels they ate for dinner. (That is a regular size dinner plate, by the way).Lucian flies out Sat., June 11th for the ride. We'll be without him for a week, but I know he'll have a great time.

Life is Busy

Claire is on the go these days. Learning, exploring, running and discovering. There is never a dull moment with her and she brings so much joy to our lives. Recently, I changed my work hours so that I can pick Claire up from daycare at 5pm daily (when it closes). It has made a significant difference in our evening shuffle, not to mention saving a few dollars by not paying a second sitter every day. Most nights I can feed her, get our dinner started and give her a bath before Lucian gets home. Other nights we play outside with the neighborhood kids or go for a walk. It's amazing how getting home at 5pm can change your attitude.

This weekend we sneaked in a couple trips to the park. Sunday's weather was such a tease, almost 80° and now it is 50° and raining again. Claire went down all of the slides by herself, the first I have seen.

She also loves to swing.

I got a text message from daycare last week that Claire found a jar of hair gel (while she was supposed to be napping) and put it all in her hair. Here she is having an afternoon bath. She looks very proud.

She enjoyed pretending to drive Papa's van.

We had some ducks in our back yard on Sunday. They are usually on the other side of the fence near the creek, but some strong winds blew a section of our fence down a week or two ago. Now the ducks are free to explore. Claire kept telling them "c'mere" and "more". She wasn't scared until they flew away.

Lastly, we joined a CSA this year, providing us with a box of fresh produce each Thursday. They deliver right to Lucian's office, which is awesome. Here is our first sampling. I'm not sure what some of the items are, but that's part of the adventure, right? We are using as much as we can, trying to let it inspire our meals. Lucian begged me to make a strawberry rhubarb pie with the rhubarb from this batch. So far so good.

Mother's Day Weekend

Our niece, Lucille, celebrated her 9th birthday last month. We had a family party on Saturday with delicious grilled food and a chocolate ice cream cake. Claire was a very big fan, as you can see.

Lucy has a guitar that Claire is often interested in. She had it out on Saturday and did a little performance for us all. Can you guess what song she wanted to play. It's at the end of the video.


On Sunday, we had a late afternoon picnic planned with our friends on what we hoped would be a warm day. Living near the lake has it's pluses and minuses. While it was much warmer inland, our drive to the park was accompanied by clouds moving in and a significant temperature drop. We opted to eat indoors at a restaurant and then head to the park for a bit. The girls had a lot of fun and we were home in time for baths and bed.

Claire and Sydney on the slide

Claire loves to swing. We hope to put one in our front tree this summer.

Spen on the rocking motorcycle

Claire was very upset to give a shovel and pail back to Sydney when it was time to leave. She sat herself down in the grass and cried. We asked Syd to go hold Claire's hand to walk to the car. She obliged and it cheered Claire up instantly.

Girls Weekend

Aunt Mimi, Claire and myself packed up and headed to Rockford for a post-Easter pre-Mother's day visit this weekend. With promises of 70° on Saturday, we went to a park early in the morning. It was pretty warm when the sun was out, but windy as you can tell from the photos.



Post nap, Nana Barb and Papa Joe took Claire and I to the Discovery Center. Claire had a blast exploring the exhibits and running around playing. I even remembered a few things that were there when I was a kid.

Driving a real tractor

Playing with air tubes

Conducting a steam train

Getting wet at the water table

and playing house

Claire had a very hard time leaving this baby doll when it was time to go. We promised to get out my old Cabbage Patch dolls when we got back to Nana & Papa's house, but that did not seem to matter to her. Luckily, the tantrum was short lived. At home, we got out the dolls as promised and she was even allowed to take one home with her.

We also dug out an old big wheel of mine that is just about the right size for Claire now. She had fun riding it on the sidewalk and we brought that home as well!

For whatever reason, Aunt Mimi was not Claire's favorite person this weekend... until she had a strawberry shake in her hands. As you can see, Claire was very happy Mimi shared.
We went for walks with Papa and the dogs both days. The weather Sun. was a little cold. You would never guess it is May!

Easter Videos

*Update*
Egg hunt #1 in Claire's bedroom.


Egg hunt #2 outside.