Happy Birthday!

It's Paul's dad's birthday today. Happy Birthday Grandpa Walker--we hope your day is fun and relaxing!

Volo Auto Museum

What? You haven't heard of the Volo Auto Museum? It's about 15 minutes from our house and it only takes about 1/2 hour to go through it, unless you are a huge antique car fan. Below are the top recommendations from our crowd if you go:

The Flintstone car from the movie with John Goodman and Rosie O'Donnell. The kids thought it was pretty fun to sit in it.

The Mystery Machine

The Seuss Mobile from The Cat in the Hat movie

Ecto 1--The Ghostbusters Ambulance. This is for my brother Troy who, at age 5, was a huge Ghostbusters fan. He even called himself Peter Venkman

Herbie from Herbie:Fully Loaded with Lindsay Lohan

Kit from Knight Rider--I hear they're doing a remake of this TV show.

Afton found her dream car. She fully expects her dad to buy this powder pink Mustang convertible when she turns 16. Don't you love her expression?

Matt's favorite: a futuristic car that the public "was never supposed to see"
yet here it is in Volo, Illinois.

Halle especially liked the wooden 4x4 with a slide out the back. Here we have 3 siblings playing nicely together for the entire time. For that, I give the Volo Auto Museum a thumbs up!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

It is my dad's birthday today! Thanks for the fun and laughter and always making sure everyone's taken care of! We hope you have a great day--we love you!

Milwaukee Zoo

We tried the Milwaukee Zoo last week and it was really fun--it was a warm, muggy day and most of the animals were sleeping, but we'll definitely go back!

Halle checking out one of the three bear cubs with their mom!

Watching the sea lion get his check-up and lunch

Halle likes the hippos. I'm sure she's trying to figure out why
they don't look like the stuffed hippo she sleeps with!

Riding the train. Matt took the picture of me and Afton-not bad!

What do you do in the summertime?

(The kids love summer)

We have a month and a half left before school starts. I'm counting down the days. Why? My kids are driving me crazy...Matthew thrives on his ability to bug Afton, Afton puts up a great whine when she's bugged, Halle just wants them both to be quiet and play nicely with her. How do I know that?--her high pitch scream that things aren't going her way! There are a lot of things we can go and do--the zoo, aquarium, museums, etc. but they also pose a little problem--construction on the tollways make it very difficult (and painful) to drive downtown. I have bribed the kids with a trip to the zoo this week, swim lessons start next week, and we do plan to hit the children's museum soon. But I have forgotten how to entertain children all day, every day! I need some inspiration on making summer fun (and not too taxing on me--there are three of them remember). Until then, I am the household referee and play-date-matchmaker!

Baby Josh

Today is Josh's 2-month birthday! We got to cuddle him when we were in Utah--Halle loves to touch him--she calls him "Baby Josh." I love this newborn stage--he's so sweet and precious. It's hard for me to remember when my own kids were this little, so I'm glad we have this new nephew to love on! We're sad that we won't see him again until Christmas when he will be so big!

He's Back!

Remember Cousin Eddie at Christmas? He decided to drop in on our family vacation as well! I will say that he definitely keeps things interesting!

Lake Powell

We love Lake Powell. I grew up going there every summer and I am so glad my kids and husband get to experience it too! Many thanks to the Bunting Clan for hosting a great family trip and putting up with our "invasion"--We did so many fun things-riding in the boat (Matt got to drive too!), braving the "big green machine", playing with friends in the water, hanging out talking, skiing, and eating! Matt water-skied for the first time and Afton got on the water-dog even though it was a bit scary for her! Here are a few pictures from our fun week!