Schuster Visit

What a great way to kick off John's week long vacation!!

Keith, Shima, and Ryan came to town for a visit on their US tour from Korea.  We were lucky enough to get a few days and nights in with them and Mrs Schuster - Keith's mom.  Ryan was able to meet all of the big kids - it's hard for us to think about how the next time we see him not only will he be walking and talking but he probably won't remember us.  Too bad, we were finally starting to make some good with him :-)

Dupage County Fair

Sammy was the white egg Grand Champion Winner at the Dupage County Fair this year.  Here she is when she participated in the Grand Champion Auction and a bidder paid $150 for her dozen eggs!!  She is so excited and we are so proud of her.  Great job Sammy!!!

Camping

Need
To
Take
More
Pictures
!!!

Next time we need to actually take some time to take the camera out and take some more pictures.  We had a great weekend camping here in IL with friends.  It was the first time I have camped without John but the kids did a great job sharing in all of the work.  The big kids are able to start and tend the camp and cooking fires now and helped with the tent set up and take down.  Ben was instrumental in helping me how to figure out how to set up the "easy set up" screen house that I wanted to toss into the river.  Maisie was great this weekend too, she had fun swimming in the Kishwaukee River and was a trooper when her legs got shredded by the Rice Cutgrass.  Although Sammy spent alot of time fishing she didn't get many bites and didn't catch anything.  Thanks Lustig Family and Holiday Acres for another fun and memorable camping trip!

The Renaissance Fair

John and the girls went to the Renaissance Fair last weekend.  Maisie had a great time choosing her outfit and being a peasant for the day.  Sam was all about the turkey leg.  Maisie's most memorable part of the day???  The DUEL TO THE DEATH! 

A boy and his dog

Almost once a day Ben will turn to me and say "I am so glad we have Freckles.  She is the best dog in the world".    It always makes me tear up.  She really is the best dog in the world.  Thank you FOSTER 2 HOME!!!

Strange Weather - Bad Weather

So I guess it's not enough that it has been over 90 degrees for the last few weeks.  Mother Nature figured she would throw in a crazy wind storm.  Well, thanks!  It wasn't what we planned but due to a huge tree that broke in half in the far back yard we have now doubled the sunny areas on our property.  On it's way down the Oak took five or six smaller trees out with it.  Mostly they are unplanned garbage trees so it's all good but it is sure going to be a lot of work splitting the oak up. The hundred degree temperatures for the past two days haven't made the job of hauling it to the front for pickup easy so I think we are going to just have to rent a chipper on our own when things cool off. 

We are going to mulch mulch mulch and then try building the area up for some future gardening.  We've always wanted to try planting corn and pumpkins but never had enough sunny space to give up.  Well it seems as though now we do!  We are going to look into what is best for soil prep and try to get this all cleaned up by fall so we can plant next spring.

BTW.... My apple trees were not hit.  One was actually straddled by the branches of the oak but it's almost like the oak made an effort not to hit it. 

Bye bye old oak tree you will be missed

What do you do when it's 103?

Get out the WT pool and some drinks with umbrellas of course!!!