More summer time...aka more pictures...

JoJo, Addie, and I visited Butler...

This picture just cracks me up...cardboard cutouts rule!

Cousin time!

Aunt Ali and Addie...

Hey look...it's a long haired Uncle Dan.

Russell turned 30!!!  You may call him Mr. Tablesaw now.  Isn't that what everyone asks for for their birthday?

The destination wall that was started two years ago has continued to grow...Bismarck, San Diego, Ottertail...they are all there!

Back to school hair cut for me!

Someone loves her sunglasses...

Happy girl.

Isaac and Addie enjoyed the splash zone at the zoo on a 95 degree day!

We hit up Terre Haute again...tailgatin'.

PS...We are now owners of an iPad...I heart the photo booth app.  I am special.  This I know.

Summer time...summer time...Sum sum summer time...

As summer draws to a close, I thought it was about time to update the ole blog.  We have had a great summer, and I seriously cannot believe that school starts next week!  Yikes!  Here are the pictures of summer (because that is pretty much what this blog has become...less words...more pictures):

We landscaped...

I hit up Boston to visit some friends...

We traveled to Terre Haute to see Aunt Ali and Uncle Dan.

We played tennis and swam.

JoJo, Addie, and I hit up Brown County...Addie was shopped out.

A good friend got married in June, and this is only picture I have...a little blurry.

We celebrated Father's Day...a Jonathan Toews jersey, Cubs phone cover, and a jar of M&Ms...we take care of ole Russell.

We peek-a-booed all the way to Minnesota...

Time to stretch!  How many pictures are there???

Lake time.

Daddy and Addie loving the water...

Ellie and Addie...cousins share chairs.

We swam some more...

We rode the boat...and Addie loved it (as long as we were going fast).

We celebrated 'Murica.

We visited Great Grandma Chilton.

Russell showed off on skis, eh, I mean, Russell skied.

Addie enjoyed time with Grandma and Grampy.

We had a great time in Minnesota.  The Armbrusters were there for a week, and the Camps were there a few weekends too.  Aunt Cassie was able to get away from camp to spend some time with the whole family too. 

Picture Post...Picture Post...Everyone Loves a Picture Post...

Russell went from Duck-Dynasty-called-and-they-want-their-bearded-look back to the sixth-grade-inspired-front-of-a-train look.  Don't worry...he shaved it all off that night. :-)

Speaking of haircuts...this asymmetrical mullet was getting out of control, so...

Addie got her first haircut.  She was great, and who knew that her hair would be so curly once the weighty mullet was trimmed?

Addie...post haircut.

Brad and Andrea got married, so it was a photo op for Rebecca, Steffany, and me.

Hi...I take my own photos.  My glasses are comically large.

Hink showed up at the reception, which meant it was time for another photo op.

Addie is quite the reader in her new playroom.

Russell (and Addie) went all out for Mother's Day.  I received many great items, and this was just one of them.  I heart DP.

This May marked JoJo's last, last day of school, for she retired after forty years in the seventh grade.  Words cannot describe the impact she has had over the years and still continues to have to this day.  I am incredibly proud to call her my mom and my role model as a teacher.

 

Hey JoJo!  Let's celebrate!

Russell and I celebrating with everyone at...

The Milano Inn...JoJo's favorite.

Aunt Amy had big time babysitting duties one day when our babysitter couldn't watch Addie.  This picture just cracks me up.  I just wish I could have witnessed this trip to Target in person. :-)

JoJo, Addie, and I hit up the Franklin Walmart, and look who we ran into?  Willie from Duck Dynasty...or just a cardboard cutout of him...:-)

Popo's tennis team made it to state again this year.  Addie was able to support chick tennis in style with her very own chick tennis bedazzled shirt.  Thanks to Steffany for such a great birthday present.

We sure are ready for summer around here...Addie's painted piggy toes are proof of that.

Out for a walk...Addie knows how to relax in style.

School's out for the summer, and we are ready for the warm weather, trips to see family, and whatever else the summer has in store for us.

Goin' Back to Cali...to Cali...

Ok, so the title of this post isn't quite right, for I had never been to California before last week, but it is a title of a song that I had in my head up from wheels up to wheels down back in Indy (and ever since), so that warrants itself to be the perfect post title.

Over spring break I was able to attend a conference for my school's positive based solution program.  A team of us from the middle school are going to help implement this program as a district-wide initiative, so our corporation sent six of us to learn the ins and outs of PBIS.

The conference itself was great, and we all came out of it with new ideas.  San Diego was unbelievable!!  If it weren't so far away from family, I would live there.  Ok, the cost of living is a little tough to stomach too, but other than that...yah, I am there.  :-)  Maybe not...

How did I enjoy such a fantastic city while attending a conference?  Well, Russell and I turned it into a mini vacation as he joined me after the conference was over.  We walked five hundred miles (maybe a little less) to a multitude of restaurants, bars, and shops.  We hopped on a ferry to nearby Coronado (once we found where to buy tickets). We even rented a two seater surrey (sorry, no fringe on top).  The surrey was definitely Russ' idea of a good time...I think he might want to buy one to tool around town in.  Ok, so it wasn't the most efficient mode of transportation, but hey, now we can say that we rode a surrey around Coronado, and that makes us cool, right?  Eh?

As we were living it up San Diego style, Addie enjoyed her stay-cation with my
mom and Aunt Linda.  Addie is definitely talking more now, so we are wondering if that is coincidental or if she suddenly learned how to gab from the greatest? :-)

We also visited Terre-fic Haute in order to cap off a great spring break.  Addie witnessed her first robotics convention as she watched Uncle Dan at work (no, he wasn't the one building the robot).  Mexican food and Addie make a perfect match, for she loved the rice and beans at lunch with Aunt Ali.  

The hotel pool overlooking the bay.

La Jolla...La Holy Smokes!

Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry when that Russell is on a surrey...

Midway aircraft carrier...standing next to a fake man apparently means I should be fake too...haha...hand on hip...yikes.

That's our hotel...both towers...what.

The big window at the top of this tower is a bar called The Top of the Hyatt...how fun!

Look Mom and Dad...JoJo is taking good care of me. :-)

So now it's back to school for seven-ish weeks, and then it is summer time.  Wow!