Our weekend at home

Seems like forever since we've just had a nice, quiet weekend at home and this weekend - we did just that! This morning we had swimming lessons and then we went to a birthday party for our neighbors who has twins (Jackson and Olivia) who turned 3 today. Alex loved playing with his friends and I'm pretty sure he loved the cake and ice cream too! Lauren did well also. Then we went to the zoo this evening so Alex could show dad the new grizzy bear exhibit - the kids of course loved the zoo. We were only there an hour or so (thank goodness for memberships) but Alex was able to see all of his favorite animals! And then this evening after dinner, dad started a bonfire in our backyard and Alex and Lauren had smores - can we say YUMMY! Lauren was especially excited about the smores! Here's some pictures....

Isn't she smart?

So, my sister (good old Aunt Kristin) caught this picture of Lauren while we were on vacation...Got a good kick out of it. Isn't she so smart? Already has life figured out! :)

Great-Grandma and her little ones

Here's a picture of Great-Grandma Betty with her 3 great-grandkids. As you can see - Miss Lauren is the feisty one! Always happy to have someone tell her what to do (sit here, smile and we'll take your picture) - yeah right! :)

Our Galena, IL vacation

So, we got home this week from a vacation in Galena, IL with my side of the family. Needless to say, Alex and Lauren were very excited to see Gaga and Papa O'Brien and their grandparents were equally happy to see them! We went with my Grandma Betty (or GG as Alex calls her which stands for Great-Grandma) and all my aunts, uncles and cousins. We all rented a huge house that all 18 of us stayed in - yes, we like each other that much! The kids had a blast. They spent a great deal of time swimming - they were like little fish, it was so fun. Alex went fishing a lot with his dad, Papa, and Uncle Mike - I'm pretty sure Alex caught the most fish - go figure. We spent lots of time outside and the kids just had a blast with all the people. Alex worships his Uncle Mike so it was nice that Mike was able to make it from California. Alex made sure we all knew that Uncle Mike left his jeep in California and flew in a big plane to vacation. It was a very nice time and we felt very fortunate that after all these years, we still are able to all get together and take a vacation for that - thanks Grandma Betty for footing most of the bill! My grandpa Herb would be so proud of us all! As we were leaving and beginning our trek home, Alex exclaimed, "Vacations are a blast!" Looks like he's already figured that one out! Here's some pictures of the kids on our vacation - 2 of the pictures are during the "dance party" that they were having.