Pokagon Summer 2011

Luke with the "pirate booty"

 Mom and Dad treated us all to a weekend at Pokagon State Park in honor of their Wedding Anniversary.  Dad planned an itinerary for the entire weekend complete with a treasure hunt, scavenger hunt, "free time", family trail exploration, beach day, whiskey tasting competition, fireworks, and meal times.  He even emailed the itinerary out to all of us ahead of time for input!  Drew even got to stay in what we all affectionately referred to as "The Presidential Suite."  Yes.  From his description he could touch all four walls from standing in the middle of the room!  We did have the luxury of staying in the Lodge though!  Glorified camping.  Maybe we will be brave enough to try the cabins next time? 

A chest of childlike delights!

 As you can imagine, the treasure hunt was a HUGE highlight!

Unearthing the buried treasure.

 A chest full of dominoes, legos, tiny bowling pins, a 30 year old matchbox car that still blasts a siren and flashes a light, shells and other misc. treasures that delight your inner 3 year old!

Pirate Luke

Pirate Drew (although his appearance is teetering on "Muscle Biker")

 All of our meals were planned ahead of time.  This was a picnic lunch down by the beach.

 Exploration of the domesticated wildlife on a rainy afternoon.

Micah and his curly hair!

 We were well fed!

Micah!

 Grandpa was captain of the double jogging stroller on the trails.

Happy Anniversary!

All tuckered out!

Look at Micahs' curls!

 We hit up the arcade!

Hmmmm...

Luke fell in love with a most unlovable creature...the MUDPUPPY! 

Luke with the turtles.

Family pic preBevin.  Sweet memories!

Bugs were caught!

 Mommy and daddy helped!

So many great memories!  Thanks Mom and Dad!

"Knee Deep" - Phil's Birthday

"Gonna put the world away for a minute
Pretend I don't live in it
Sunshine gonna wash my blues away..."

Today is Phil's birthday!

I got up early and made breakfast; one of Phil's most favorite things! Every time I do it he says: "We should do this every day!"

I don't know who was happier about the bacon and eggs this morning? Him or pregnant mama?

Phil said it was most definitely pregnant mama.

Or maybe Baby Micah? Not so baby anymore...

"Wishing I was knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze and it don't seem fair
Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair..."

Luke and I went to Best Buy at 8:00 PM last night to get daddy the Zac Brown Band cd with the song "Knee Deep". It was an adventure for him and he got to stay up and wrap it!

I have been trying to get Phil to relax ever since we first met. He doesn't even like to take naps...until now! It never dawned on me that "relaxing" means so much more when you actually have something you want to take a break from.

Phil didn't get home from work until 7:30 last night.

I'm not complaining. I'm just saying he treasures every minute of the weekend!

I hope that someday this will will be us:

"Wrote a note said be back in a minute
Bought a boat and I sailed off in it
Don't think anybody gonna miss me anyway..."

Cheers to you Phil and your special day!

A Splashy Day

What good is an umbrella if you can't use it?

Lately, we have had much rain.

Things have "greened" up quite nicely. We were starting to wonder if our yard would make it through?

We feel bad for our Texas friends and the drought that makes shower water smell like earth.

Luke and I sent a package to Texas last week for our friends who had a new baby. Luke said "I want to send them a hose to put out the fire" He has been very concerned about the wild fires in Texas.

A splashy puddle was located

And fallen into.

Watch out!

Getting splashed by brother.

Spider moves.

Ditching the umbrella!

Praying today for some sweet rain to cover Texas!

The Helm

Bethel has a new entrance! Honestly, this is our very first photo at the Helm. I really wanted this to be a family shot but the boys were sleeping in the car. Maybe next time? On the drive over Luke said "what is a Bethel?"

Trip to Madison Wisconsin

Last week we transferred our normal everyday happenings to Madison Wisconsin. Phil had a week long seminar at the University of Wisconsin so we tagged along! I thought that during the day the boys and I would take long morning walks on campus, eat picnic lunches, and explore museums. So that is not what happened at all! A few days before we left for the trip Phil and I started getting colds and they hung on all week. Luke started coming down with it the day we left. Thankfully we brought a plethora of hankies which were well used believe me!

The campus is really neat but it is a major part of Madison. Busy streets surround all of the buildings and I did not see myself wandering around the busy streets just to look straight up a beautiful building. We spent our mornings playing in the room, eating breakfast and snacks, and watching T.V. At noon we would meet Phil for lunch and then explore in the afternoon. I would ask Luke if he would rather go to the zoo or a playground and he always chose playground! So I did not argue and we found a playground in a residential area that we liked. Then, after playing on the playground, we would go to Target and wander around then get chocolate milks for the ride back to the hotel and they would get really sleepy. Naps in the afternoon and then we would have dinner with Phil and then wrap up the night with a swim in the pool! Maybe it doesn't sound like much but by the end of the week we were exhausted!

I also must apologize for the lack of photos taken on this trip. I took a few on my phone and posted them on Facebook throughout the week and then I took a few at the pool. If you feel a lack of "Madison" from this Madison post feel free to see the artists interpretation on the pool wall in the following photo:

Luke loved the pool but little bro Micah did not.

Getting out the wiggles!

Happy swimmers!

Hotels are fun!

MDA Lock Up

Phil showed Luke this picture of him "locked up" for the MDA.

Luke: "Daddy, did you get locked up to make money to put in your bank?"

Phil: "No buddy, I was locked up to raise money for some sick kids so that they can go to summer camp and feel better."

Luke: "Wow daddy, your are an amazing guy!"

Luke, we think that you are an amazing little boy and we can't help but smile and chuckle at your cleverness!

Don't Break the Ice

Mad Ants Basketball Game

Phil has a networking event at the Coliseum every month and it concludes with a seat at the Mad Ants game. This usually brings him home pretty late so last night we met him at the game. Phil got us tickets from the firm so that we could all go!

Boys. One particular boy a little overdressed!

And there is the Mad Ant mascot or like Luke says the "Bad Ant" He kept both eyes on him the entire game.

Chris Kramer (former Purdue player) and Rod Wilmont (former IU player) are on our team!

There is that "Bad Ant" again. It is unclear whether Luke understands that a basketball game is about basketball or a giant muscular insect high fiving fans and stealing the cheerleaders pom poms?

Micah's first basketball game. Does he like it?

No.

Bummer.

Update:

For the record Luke has been playing "basketball" game all morning. I was putting Micah down for his morning nap and I could hear Luke in his room saying "Larry Bird, Larry Birrrrrd where are you?" Then he came and found me and said: "Mommy, I have a problem. Larry Bird is missing." As it turns out he was playing basketball game in his closet because his dirty clothes hamper is a basketball hoop. And Larry Bird really WAS missing because he got in a fight with Micheal Jordan and he was later located beneath Luke's shoe rack! Phew. And just in case you were wondering, I actually did have to pay for a ticket to get into the game and save Larry Bird. Lots going on here today!