More Summer Fun........

Joshua, Luke & Grandma Nichols

Dear Joshua and Luke,

Summer has been so much fun! The best news is that Grandma Nichols is feeling better each day. Thank goodness. She is home, and back to her apartment and all of her friends. During one of the visits to her in the rehab center, we went to the lunchroom with her. Not surprisingly, Joshua immediately spotted a piano. Daddy got permission for him to play, and the audience loved it! He played several rounds of Love Somebody and Red Balloons. He also played the Star Wars theme song which he mostly learned to play by himself, with a little help from his cousin, Ethan. These are the first songs he has learned to play with two hands. We are so proud of his interest and talent with piano. It is difficult to get him to practice sometimes, but he loves to play the piano most of the time. I think there is an upgraded piano in his future. Not the baby grand piano that he has been asking for, but something bigger and better.

Grammy, Joshua, & Luke at the Amtrak Train Depot

Last week both boys finally got their birthday presents from Grammy and Papa. While you may be thinking, it was a really late present for Luke who turned 4 in March, it was actually very good timing. Luke and Joshua both got an IOU for an Amtrak ride to Chicago with Grammy. Your day started at 4:15 am in order to pick up Grammy and make it to the train station by your 7:15 am departure time. You had lunch in Chicago, a fun afternoon at the Lincoln Park Zoo, dinner in the train car, and a 10:30 pm arrival time back. And you got to visit with Uncle Jose, too. What a fun day for all of you. I know that neither of you will forget this birthday present firm Grammy and Papa. It was very special for both of you.

Uncle Jose, Daddy, Dakota, Joshua, & Luke
at the Lincoln Park Zoo

You have been having playmates, and swimming most every day at the pool. I am amazed at your pool skills. You both have grown so much with swimming this year.

Lunch at Fitz's after a check up with the
allergist and pulmonologist!

A funny Luke story of the week: I was getting after Luke a little seriously because he was not helping to pick up toys in the loft. So.....Luke looks at me very seriously, and says, "Mom, would you be wanting to do all this if you were a kid?". In which I promptly replied that if I was a kid, I would not have gotten the help that he is getting to pick up the toys! Yes, he got a little reaction out of me! What a turkey! I did laugh later on as I was retelling the story to Eric. Gotta love these boys!

I love you both to the moon and back and back again.

Love,

Mama

Crazy For Cousins



The cousins all together watching old Scooby Doo episodes on
Elsa's I-Phone~ Joshua, Elsa, Luke, Ethan, Isaac, & Levi
at the house at Hilton Head.

Dear Joshua and Luke,

We have been blessed with another visit with the cousins from South Dakota.  What a treat!  They arrived just a few days after Joshua's birthday party, but just in time to celebrate your "real" birthday day.  There is something about cousins coming for a visit ~ maybe it is seeing your Aunts and Uncles, getting to stay up later, seeing Grammy and Papa more when other family is here, non-stop playing from dawn until a much later bedtime, plus there is so much more.  But needless to say, it is very exciting each and every time the cousins come!  The boys start counting down weeks, days, then hours before they arrive. 

Grammy drawing with Luke on the patio in the backyard.

During this visit, the cousins and both of you spent an afternoon at Monkey Joes, a place we usually go to only for birthday parties.  We also spent one evening making smores in the fire pit, catching lightening bugs, frogs, toads, food for the frogs and toads, so much fun!  A highlight of this time was realizing that when a frog swallowed a lightening bug, his whole body lit up as the lightening bug was flashing his light!  Very exciting for four young boys! 

Isaac showing Luke the "tricks" to hunting or at least how to
be successful with the hunting game!

 
From previous posts, you already know that the cousins spent Joshua's birthday with us at the Science Center and of course, the traditional Old Spaghetti Factory. Grammy invited the boys to attend the frog jumping contest with them.  That was a ton of fun, too. The cousins enjoyed swimming in the city pool with us.  Another highlight of the trip was daddy taking Isaac frog gigging.  It was hard for you to understand why Isaac was the only one that got to go, but daddy assured you that you would all get a turn to go when you are just a little older. Grammy was such a thoughtful Grandma by frying up the frogs at our house for everyone to enjoy (not me of course!).  On the fourth of July, we watched fireworks together at the park and enjoyed one of Daddy's fabulous BBQ's.

Joshua getting ready to enter his frog into the frog jumping
contest. Isaac was very close to being a winner!

It is always difficult to say goodbye to the cousins.  It is almost always difficult for you to understand why the cousins can not spend every day here with us.  All of you are so lucky to have some of the best grandparents out there.  They love you so much.  They spend quality time with you ~ and let's face it - They are tons of fun!  Even though we live the closest to your grandparents, we do not see them as often as you would like to (or that we would like you to!).  But keep in mind, that sometimes your Grammy and Papa are able to come and see special things that you do like a soccer game, Vacation Bible School performances, etc.  Those are things that they can not do for other cousins.  I am glad that most of the time, you are both understanding.  And this is not to mention how much you love your grandparents and spending time with them. 

Levi showing Joshua how to use his DS. 
There is nothing better than having your big cousin show
you how to use the DS!!!!

We love spending time with the family, too.  It is always great to catch up on how life has been going, what has been happening, hopes and dreams for the future and just the day to day stuff.  It is really fun to watch the cousins play together, get up early and begin playing early in the day, sharing feasts together, and sometimes showing them around where we live.




You will certainly always be cousins, but I also hope that you are all life long friends.  I hope you visit each other, get to know and spend time with each other's families, and maybe even travel together.  I believe that each of your cousins is a very special person that will grow up to be a good person living a life as Jesus's disciples. We were able to spend special time with each of them before you both came along.  We were able to spend special time with each of them before you both came along.  They are all great children with lots of promise for the world. 

The boys posing at the frog jumping contest.

Hmmmm.....Being with cousins and family sounds very important to me, doesn't it?  I have thought long and hard about it, and come up with a few things.  First, Daddy loves having his family here too.  He loves to have them stay at our house.  Then, for me, I love having a house full of family.  It is one of the happiest times in my life (next to being just with my family!). When I was very young, we had Aunt Jean and Uncle Lloyd's family, including my cousins, over every year on Christmas Eve and a few other times throughout the year.  I remember Sunday afternoons where Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Dorothy's family, Aunt Pat and Uncle Art's family, Aunt Dora and Uncle Mike's family, and cousins ~ many other cousins.  Those were fun times.  We would go swimming at our house, my dad would BBQ, and my family would prepare a feast for the families.  It was a blast.  We did not do that as much as I got older, but I have many fond memories of these cousins and families from when I was very young.  Growing up, I did not feel like we had a lot of family around.  Everyone had grown up and moved away, started their own families, etc. and we did not do a good job keeping in touch, except for weddings, funerals, and now Facebook! So yes, I do love having family here. 

Isaac, Levi, Joshua, & Luke at the Science Center.

Daddy's family is very special for so many reasons.   I hope we continue to get together with them, even as our children grow up and start families of their own.  I hope the nieces and nephews think of us, and still want to visit us with their families. In the meantime, I look forward to many visits.  I think we may just have to get a bigger house so that they can all stay here together!  We will work on that!  :) 

Luke, Joshua, Daddy, Isaac, Levi, & Aunt Amy
at the fireworks.

I love you both more today than yesterday.

Love,

Mama

Happy 6th birthday, Joshua!

Joshua & his friends at the bowling alley.

Dear Joshua and Luke,

You both love to hear your birth stories....so here you go.  My due date was July 5.  July 2nd was a Saturday.  We spent the morning at the baptism class at St. Nicholas Church.  Then, we did some last minute baby things around the house.  Daddy went to pick up the new van that we just bought, and was gone for two or more hours.   I thought my water had broke, but I really was not sure since this never happened before.  I looked up "about-to-give-birth" symptoms on the Internet, then finally decided to call Debbie the doula.  We had hired Debbie to help me through natural child birth.  She was also the instructor for our birthing classes.  I called Debbie, and explained to her what was going on.  She told me to get to the hospital.  I asked her if I had time to go to church and out to dinner before I went to the hospital, and she told me, "Absolutely not!!!!"  So onto the hospital we went. 

Joshua & friend at the hockey table.

We settled into a nice room, and the contractions began.  The contractions came and came and came, but 23 hours later, we were only half way there.  After much deliberation and a phone call from my doctor, we scheduled a c-section for thirty minutes from the time of the phone call. The next thing I knew, the doctors were carrying this little bundle all wrapped up in blankets over to the scale - 8 pounds and 15 ounces!  I will never forget the first time I saw you.  You were so bright-eyed and beautiful.  Seconds later you were in my arms and we smiled for our first family picture.  The rest is history......

Sitting around with his friends discussing
what it is like to be six years old.

Fast forward to six years later, and you had a fun birthday celebration!  We celebrated a week early with your friends from school at the bowling alley.  It was a blast.  Your friends played at least one game of bowling, video games, and ate lots of pizza.  It was so much fun!

Native Americans Joshua & Luke
in the Discovery Room at the Science Center.

The cousins building things at the Science Center.

On your actual birthday, you spent the day with your cousins at the Science Center.  You wanted to see the Brain and Body exhibition, but that was expensive and not everyone was as interested as you were in it. Daddy and I will take Joshua to the exhibit one day by himself very soon.  Everyone had fun at the Science Center on your birthday.  We visited the Discovery Room for the first time.  It was loads of fun.  We wished we could have stayed longer....there was so much to see.  The Old Spaghetti Factory was a huge treat for dinner.  We ended the evening with watching Part I of Star Wars.

Happy 6th birthday, Joshua!  I am really proud of the little man you are becoming! 

Love,

Mama

Dr. Luke getting ready to perform surgery on the skeleton. 
Isaac seeks a 2nd opinion from Dr. Luke.

Back From Vacation!

Joshua, Luke, and Kennedi - best buds -
at the Friday night performance!

Dear Joshua and Luke,

We are back from vacation and right into Vacation Bible School.  This is our second year going, and it was unbelievably better than last year - which was hard to beat!  This year I volunteered to be a teacher leader.  I was assigned to a multi-age group of four and five year olds, and children that just finished kindergarten.  It was a busy group, but the best part was being the teacher for both of you.  I am so pleased about how proud you both were to have me as your teacher. I am sure that neither of you realized how proud I was of saying that you were both my sons!  The week ended with the celebration in the park.  It gave me goosebumps to see you both along with 270 other young children in our city, singing and praising God.  It was quite an experience! 

Even better was hearing both of you talk about God sightings all week or things that reminded you of God outside of Vacation Bible School.   We spent a great deal of time talking about the daily lessons and the scriptures.  Here are a couple of examples that make me so proud.

A portion of the 272 children  from Vacation Bible School!

I asked Joshua to help his brother strap in his booster seat.  Joshua said, "Well, I don't really want to, but if Jesus was here, then he would do it so I will do it, mom."  WOW!  I have been teaching both of you to think about what Jesus would do in certain situations and here you did it without any prompting from us!  I was so proud.

Just Joshua!

Luke was drawing at the desk in his room two nights after Vacation Bible School ended.  He was very serious about this drawing, and looked quite intent on completing it.  So we asked him what he was drawing and he said, "My Father's house.  It's a big house with lots of windows."  We had been singing a song called, "My Father's House" all week at bible school.  How cool that he was dreaming of how wonderful God's house was going to be. 

Then,  there were at least four times this week, that Luke has reminded us that, "Nothing is Impossible With God," - another song that we learned this week.  One time Daddy was fixing the toilet leak, and Dad said, "This is impossible!!!! (Luckily, that is all the kids heard!)  Luke walked over to the bathroom, and said, "Nothing is impossible with God."  How could you not smile at that? There was a time this week where I said, "That is just not possible." and Luke reminded me again that nothing is impossible with God.  Just tonight he was singing in the bathroom...Nothing is impossible with God!

Luke!

We sang happy birthday to Grandma Nichols this week.  She was 81 years old on Sunday.  Unfortunately, she needs lots of extra prayers this week.  She had a heart attack on Monday, and is now in the hospital.  The doctors have diagnosed her with congestive heart failure.  Her dementia is so much worse now, too.  Please keep her in your prayers.

I love you both more today than yesterday.

Love,
Mama

Tour of Western America - Part III

Joshua watching Old Faithful erupting.

Dearest Joshua and Luke,

The third and final stop on our tour to the old West was Yellowstone National Park.  After saying goodbye to Aunt Amy, Isaac, and Levi, we made our first stop at Devil's Tower on the way to Yellowstone.  It was sacred and very beautiful.  The boys took a tour up the hill to the base of the tower.  On the way to Yellowstone, there were quite a few people pulled over looking out into a field.  We could not see anything, so I stopped to ask what everyone was looking at, and the lady told us there were cattle in the road up ahead.  She was not kidding!  There were about 100 cattle and three cowboys - real cowboys - trying to move the cattle off of the road.  It was very cool to see.  Unfortunately, you had both fallen asleep, and we could not wake you up to watch this!

Yee ha!!!!  Move over cows!!!!

One state is just more beautiful than the next.  Montana was awesome, and we could not believe how you could see the Tetons from so far away.  What a magnificent site!  We finally arrived in West Yellowstone around dusk.  We were so tired from the day that we decided to go to bed early and wake up early the next morning to get started.  Poor Luke coughed all night and had a terrible time staying asleep.  So the first day in Yellowstone, we met the physician's assistant at the local urgicare and the pharmacist.  Luke had a sinus infection, and she started him on antibiotics.  Joshua was coughing, so we went ahead and had him seen, too.  Needless to say, both boys started on  antibiotics.  We have met many new doctors in urgicares around the country.  It is difficult when you both have chronic asthma. 

We ventured out to Old Faithful first.  We visited many hot pots, fumaroles, etc. on the way to Old Faithful.  While Old Faithful was shooting water into the air, Luke kept yelling, "Awesome! Awesome!"  It was very cool to say the least.  We learned that there was an old volcano, about forty miles wide, lying underneath Yellowstone Park causing the geysers, hot pots, etc.  The bubbling water and steam was very stinky too.  Beautiful colors, but very stinky! 

Visiting with friends from home in Jackson Hole, WY.

Another day we ventured to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park.  As soon as we arrived in Jackson Hole, we stopped for gas. Luke and I were waiting for Daddy and Joshua in the store, and one of Joshua's friend's moms appeared in the door to my van and started talking to us!  It was so unbelievable that we ran into each other 1300 miles from home!  I guess it was meant to be!  The kids played in the town square for a while.  That was very amazing!  And what nice friends to run into!  They are a great family!!!!!

Snow on vacation!  Who would have known?

On the way back to the hotel, we saw a grizzly bear and a bison, elk,  a coyote carrying a rabbit in it's mouth, and rabbits.  The grizzly bear was very exciting as was the coyote.  We saw a lot of bison or buffalo on the trip.  In fact one evening, the buffalo were standing on a bridge in Yellowstone, and would not let us get through.  One very long hour later, the buffalo finally took the hint of the HUGE line of cars waiting for them.  They finally moved!  Buffalo were not quite as exciting at that point. 

We also spent a day in Mammoth Hot Springs, touring the hot springs, the original entrance to Yellowstone Park, and several other local spots.  Yellowstone is such a diverse area with so many habitats in one place.  There was so much snow on the way down to West Yellowstone!  The day we left the park, it was snowing as we left.  We stayed one evening in Cheyenne, Wyoming, then drove the rest of the way home.  Daddy and I really liked Wyoming.  It was a beautiful landscape, a quieter pace, and lots of wonderful things to see. 

It is difficult to sum up such an awesome vacation.  There were so many things that happened each and every day.  Hopefully, the hundreds of pictures and movies that we took will help spark all of our memories in years to come.  For now, it is difficult to imagine ever forgetting the wonderful things that we have seen and experience over the last 17 days.  This was not a relaxing vacation, but it was very educational for all of us.  We learned so much about our beautiful country and each other.  You are both so lucky to take such a fun vacation.  You have traveled fifteen states so far this summer with two months of vacation left to go!

I love you both more today that I did yesterday!

Love,
Mama

Luke and Joshua taking the Junior Ranger Yellowstone
oath to protect the national parks. 

Tour of Western America ~ Part II - "Why Are We Going to This Terrible Place?"

Joshua & Luke at the Corn Palace.

Dearest Joshua and Luke,

The next stop on The Tour of Western America was South Dakota. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD was not just "corny," but very interesting.  We learned that the Corn Palace exterior design is changed every year.  We also learned that it takes about 100 acres of corn, 10 different colors of corn, and 275,000 ears of corn to make the designs each year!  Any way that you look at it - that is one humongous amount of corn!


Driving into South Dakota was beautiful - plains, rolling hills, blue skies....we used the word "beautiful" alot to describe this country.   It was wonderful to see our cousins.  They have a darling house which is decorated to reflect the diverse places they have lived.  It is a nice home with lots of love in it.   You both loved playing with Isaac and Levi.  They are fun cousins.  It was so much fun to watch how much Isaac cares and loves Luke.  They have a very special relationship.  And Levi and Joshua are only 11 months apart, so they always have something in common to play!  We should also mention that we were sad not to get to visit with Uncle Ray as he has been gone protecting our country for some time now.  Please keep him and the safety of all of our soldiers in your prayers. 

Checking out the mammoth fossils at the Mammoth Site.

Our first visit was to Mammoth Site.  We saw a huge tar pit that many mammoths fell into.  Paleontologists are working to recover the mammoth's bones around the clock.  We also toured Wind Cave, a fun place to visit on a cold and rainy day.  The boys loved going down into the cave!  The day ended with a great meal at the Firehouse Brewing Company.

The cousins in the Bad Lands.

Dinner at the Firehouse Brewing Company - yummy!

Next, we visited the "terrible place" otherwise known as the Bad Lands.   The morning of our journey Luke asked with a very reluctant look on his face, "Mom, why do we have to go to this terrible place  anyway?"  It turns out this visit was a huge hit for all of the cousins (and us!)  Of course, it would be quite unusual for four boys not to enjoy rock climbing and looking for fossils all in once place.  What a magnificent site!  A gorgeous landscape!  Did you remember that there are Bad Lands on each of the seven continents?  The boys were fortunate enough to become Junior Rangers in the Bad Lands.  We listened to an excellent lecture with lots of hands-on real fossils for the boys.  We even got to see a fossil that was just found the day before!  It was still in the ground, and paleontologists were on their way to check it out!  It was a prehistoric sheep-like kind of animal.  If you remember, all of the Bad Lands had been covered by a shallow sea before the dinosaurs.  Very cool place for all of us!

We also visited the Wall Drug for our free ice water and 5 cent coffee.  The boys all had $5.00 to spend.  It was interesting to see what each of them picked out.  There were two sling shots and two guns.  Wouldn't you know it? :)  The Minuteman Missile Site was very interesting, too.  This is the location where several nuclear missiles were were buried and ready to launch if needed.  Thank goodness that these were deactivated and not needed.

Mount Rushmore was quite majestic along with the Crazy Horse monument.  I remember reading about Mount Rushmore in my first grade social studies textbook.  Wow!  To think of the vision of Mr. Bulghum to imagine, then create such a monument.  I hope the Crazy Horse Monument gets finished in our lifetime. 

Aunt Amy is a wonderful trip planner.  We are so lucky that her services are so reasonable ~ and she is so good at it!  She planned a picnic lunch for us each day.  She shared Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park with us.  It was very beautiful!  We saw a wedding party setting up for a wedding later in the day.  Then, when we attended church later that evening, a wedding was scheduled after the homily.  Two weddings in one day!  Wow!!!

The cousins at Custer State Park.

It was very nice to get to visit with Aunt Amy, Isaac, and Levi.  Now we have a much better picture of them playing and living each day in their home and neighborhood.  They are a good, loving family, and we are so lucky to be in their family.  We love them so much!

Beautiful, magnificent, majestic.....so many of these same words used over and over again to describe our beautiful country.  It is not a wonder that we are proud to be Americans....

Onto the next stop on our western tour....

I love you both more today than yesterday.

Love,
Mama

Tour of Western America ~ Part I



Joshua and Luke at Lake Minnetonka



Dear Joshua and Luke,

Well, it's actually the northern tour right now, but we began our western tour with a stop to see the cousins in Minnesota.  We visited with Daddy's brother, Luke, and his family.  This is always a highlight for you two - mainly because of the cousins.  Also, it is a beautiful place to visit, relax, and spend time with one of our favorite families.

One special part of our visit was seeing Ethan's piano recital.  Ethan played "Great Balls of Fire!"  Wow!  He can play piano.  He inspires Joshua (and the rest of us) with his beautiful music.  It was sweet to hear Joshua ask, "Ethan, will you teach me how to finish playing the Star Wars music?"  And Ethan did help him, although Joshua does not have it mastered yet!   Ethan plays a special kind of piano in which he hears a song and can sit down at the piano and play it.  Ethan's talents are simply amazing!



Luke coming into the boat for some yummy grapes.



 Daddy took all of the boys to the park on scooters in the scorching heat while Elsa and I did some shopping and lunch. Elsa is a very special niece to me.  No longer can we spend all day playing Barbies or reading or playing outside together, but at least for now we can get together and talk about girly stuff and enjoy some shopping and lunch.   Later we met up with the rest of the family at the swimming pool for some cool refreshment. 

We were blessed that Uncle Luke was able to take off work one day, and take us to Lake Minnetonka o their first boat outing for the season.  It happened to be one of the hottest days in Minnesota since 1988,  It was fun refreshment at the lake.  It is always a lot of fun on the boat. 



Joshua swimming around the boat at Lake Minnentonka.



Dad and I have so much fun watching you with your cousins.  You jumped on the trampoline, dressed up as ninjas, Jedi's, knights, queens and kings.  I just love your four imaginations when you get together!  You rode on scooters, made smores on the fire pit, built the biggest GeoTrax train city in the basement, watched Monsters, Inc. and Star Wars, and giggled and giggled. It was a wonderful start to our summer vacation with family that we dearly love and enjoy spending time with.  Now onto some more cousins farther west.....

We love you to the moon and back and back again.

Love,
Mama

Aunt Lisa, Elsa, Uncle Luke & Ethan