Chicago and Uma's Botanic Gardens

I took today off to meet the guys installing our "flood control system". Hopefully this will do the trick and Patrick will have his playroom for the winter. Anyway, I think the blog is caught up through the summer. We did make it over to see the Botannical Gardens finally. Our neighbor let us borrow their pass. I just have to say how much we love our new neighborhood (flooding and all). There are five other kids just on our block within 6 months age of Patrick and plenty others just a block on either side of us. Everyone is so friendly (and a bit nosey), but we are having a great time meeting everyone. It is a big change from downtown, and I do miss the convenience a little, but it is fun to finally be in a real neighborhood and the commute isn't too bad. Here are a few pictures of the train garden at the Botanic Garden and just a few cute ones of Patrick at my parent's house from earlier this summer.

The Theme for the Summer is Camping

We took a few camping trips this summer and now when Patrick gets into the car he asks "are we going camping". Really he says "camping" and nods his head like he is convincing us to go. Pretty cute.

Our first was to southwest Michigan where the highlight of the trip was blueberry picking. Patrick couldn't believe all of the "bo-balls" his favorite fruit. We had a lot of fun playing on the beach and in the waves.

Our next trip was to Travese City, sort of a mini-family reunion. Patrick had a great time with his cousins. Can't wait to do it again next summer.

A couple of weekends ago we decided to take a last minute camping trip with the Wells family. Who knew Illinois had such great state parks? Although I didn't get any pictures, we will surely return to White Pines State Park, the best thing about it was the short 2 hour drive! We have one more camping trip planned for the summer. We're headed to the Upper Penninsula of Michigan over Labor Day. I can't wait to show Patrick and Charlie the U.P. in warm weather!

Patrick is 2!

Yes, I know we have been slacking on the blog. I guess that means we have had a fun and exciting summer...It all started out with moving into our "new" house, our basement flooding (with sewer water), and Patrick's 2nd birthday.

Although things were a little crazy that week/weekend, it didn't keep us from having a little Elmo birthday party for Patrick. Patrick invited his new neighbor Maggie and her Mom and his cousins Keegan, Mackenzie, and Mark to the party. We had a lot of fun.