Tubing Video

Its kind of far away but if you look closely you can see Payton waving:)

Let's Try Camping Again!

Beware....Lots of pictures!

Payton looking out from the boat

Payton swinging all by himself

Riding his bike with Daddy

Eating breakfast

Showing us how he pedals

Emma in her floaty

Payton being a ham

Graham & Emma

Nap Time

Payton & I tubing

New apartment building at ISU

My old apartment building. My apartment was over Bagelman's on the left.

Dorms that are being gutted due to asbestos

New Business building

Payton walking through the quad

New area in downtown Normal, includes a Children's Museum

Hailey, Jolie & Payton

This past weekend we went camping again, this time with Alyssa, Andy & Emma. We tried out a new area called Lake Clinton in DeWitt, Illinois. We went down on Thursday afternoon and got acquainted with the campground and the lake area. The lake was HUGE and the campground was pretty nice. There was a large beach area, parks and hiking trails at the campground as well!

The Chudzick's came down on Friday morning and we spent the day on Friday and Saturday out on their boat, cruising around and doing a little bit of skiing and tubing. Payton has been in a swimming funk lately, only wanting to be in the water where he can touch so he was happy as a clam when he was playing in the water off the shore but he did not want to go in the lake when we were out in the middle of the lake, however; he surprised us all by wanting to go tubing with me and then wanting to do it again with Graham. When we were out on the tube he told me he wanted to go faster and when I asked him, after what felt like forever, if he wanted to go back on the boat, he kept on saying, "not yet Mommy!" It was too funny!

We had a great time switching off cooking meals with Alyssa and Andy and spending a little bit of time hanging out by the fire after the kids went to bed. Unfortunately, Payton got a bit of a bug Saturday afternoon, just as we had pulled up on shore in the boat. Luckily, I caught everything on me:) instead of Andy's boat. That put an end to our boating fun that day and he had a hard time keeping anything else down that night.

On Sunday, we left after breakfast and stopped at Illinois State to walk around and see how the campus has changed. Payton wasn't in the best mood so our visit was much shorter than we would have liked but it was fun to see all the old hangouts. Too bad The Pub was closed! After we left there, we had to make a stop in Indiana for my cousin's little girl's birthday party. Even though Payton didn't eat anything all day, he managed to shove a few bites of cake and ice cream down:) I am hoping this bug goes quickly because the poor guy still can't keep anything down today. All of the acid reflux issues when Payton was a baby should have been an omen of what was to come throughout the years.

Arboretum Fun

My friend Michelle and her daughter, Bella, invited Payton and I to go to the Morton Arboretum today. We had a great time exploring the Children's area and Payton got completely soaked in the water areas:) Becky and her sister-in-law, Sarah, ended up going to so we hung out with them as well. After nap, Payton and I met Kerri and Austin at Phillips Park Aquatic Center for some pool time! When we pulled into the parking lot Payton said to me, "this is my pool! Great Job Mommy! I love my pool. It's my favorite pool!" Too cute!

Father's Day

Emmett and Payton in matching pj's from my mom Playing out in the backyard
Uncle Tom caught a caterpillar. Emmett loved it but Jolie and Payton weren't so sure.

Daddy opening his Father's Day gift from Payton

Daddy's new garden stone that Payton made

I think Graham had a pretty good Father's Day this year. We spent a long weekend in Utica at Grizzly Jacks. Payton and I went there on Thursday morning and Graham met us there Friday night after work. We spent a lot of time at the water park and riding kiddie rides at the amusement park. Payton made Graham a garden stone with his hand print for Father's Day and I think he loved it! We got home later last night and to wrap up a great day, I went and got him some yummy Famous Dave's for dinner. What could be better? I hope all the other dads had a great day as well. Payton is so lucky to have such a wonderful and involved dad.

See You Later Alligator...

Here is Payton's rendition of "See you later alligator....after while crocodile!" What you are hearing him say is actually "see you crocodile" but it definitely doesn't sound that way:) Enjoy!

Procrastination

These first two pics are boring, I know, but I am so proud of myself for painting these ugly pots (free) and planting the flowers in them. I am strictly a perennial ground planter so this was a challenge for me:)

OK, so I am procrastinating planning for my tutoring sessions today so here are some random pics from this week. I will post some from the zoo when I get them from Becky:)

Photoshop 101

Before

After

Black and White

Before

After

Last night was one of many evenings to come where Becky and I met(without kids) to play around with our cameras and chat. For our first meeting, Becky gave me the basics of Photo shop and I had so much fun playing around with my pictures. Hopefully I can contribute some knowledge at some point:) Here is one of my niece, Emma. We played around with it, sharpening it, softening the grain, etc... Can you see anything else different from number 1 to number 2?

Busy Weekend

Emmett hanging out by the pool Payton & Jolie playing

Payton & Emmett

Payton & Daddy

Picnic lunch at Ralph's World concert

"Surfing" to one of their favorite Ralph songs

Passed out on the way home

So I think that will be the theme of the summer, " Busy Weekend!" We started off our summer vacation with a bang, that's for sure:) On Saturday, we had a family graduation party out in Lake Villa which was a great time as always. Its fun to see my Dad's family and see how much the kids have all grown. Payton has been in a swimming funk the last few days. I am hoping its just a phase because he was fine with me earlier last week but has not wanted to go in the "big pool" as he calls it, only preferring the baby pools. Huh? Anyways, he managed to have a great time anyways.

On Sunday, we went to another Ralph's World concert but this time it was at the Ravinia. Graham got lawn seats on Craig's List so we decided to invite Jolie to go along with us. The kids had a great time! It managed to stop raining just in time for the concert, which was a blessing! Jolie and Payton danced and ate the entire time and were so wiped out that they fell asleep on the way home. Three days with no real nap has really taken a toll on poor Payton. He is going to bed early these days and hopefully we can get back to some normalcy tomorrow:)