Halloween Party and Trick or Treating

This year for Halloween we had a party at Imago Dei for the neighborhood kids with games and food.  I manned the ring toss and managed to give out a fair amount of candy.  After the party it was time for some Trick or Treating.  Hayes was a pirate and Max went as the Cake Boss.   Delaney didn't dress up but that didn't stop her from "helping Hayes" and carrying a bag herself.

Amy Grant Concert Peoria at Riverside Church

Ahoy Mateys! Hayes' 4th Birthday Party

Hayes had a blast for his 4th birthday along with his friends.  Their was a strong pirate theme along with a ship, a treasure hunt, pinata and more fun and games.  His favorite present turned out to be one of the big appliance boxes that was part of the pirate ship and we brought it home for him to play with.  He played with it for months and then Cat turned it in to a Gingerbread House for Christmas.

Geocaching on the Peoria Riverfront

Our family enjoys geocaching which involves looking for hidden stuff that people hide all over the world and then post the coordinates for you to find with your GPS device.  We decided to head down to the riverfront and see if we could find some caches.  We found a couple but couldn't quite find the last one before it got too dark.

Wildlife Prairie Park and Two Birthdays

My brother's and I took the kids to Wildlife Prairie Park while the wives were at a women's conference.  We then went home to celebrate Brock and Ally's birthdays.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Max and Laney enjoyed doing some theater this summer.  Max got to play Charlie bucket in Morton Youth Theater's production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Laney played one of the Grandma's confined to the bed with the other grandparents.  It was a lot of fun and I was surprised at what a good singer Max was.  They kids had fun and made a lot of good friends.

4th of July in Sheboygan

We celebrated 4th of July with my family on Lake Michigan this year.  We all spent the weekend in a cosy condo at the Blue Harbor resort in Sheboygan, Wi.  Fun was had at the beach, watching fireworks, going to Storybook Gardens and even a trip up to Green Bay to the Bay Beach amusement park.  For some reason the beach on Lake Michigan had a bunch of small dead fish floating in the water but Max and Brielle had fun collecting them in a huge bucket.  Cat and I enjoyed getting away to Il Rotrovo for some wood fired Neopolitan styled pizza that was really delicious.  I think everyone enjoyed this weekend getaway in Wisconsin.