We drove into to KC for a wedding on July 11th. I wonder how many pictures I have in this exact same place on my parents deck over the last 20 years?

On July 5th we took MeMaw and Papa out and showed them a little of the Quad Cities . . . Ainsley loved the petting zoo.
We started out at a park overlooking the Mississippi for lunch and a little playtime.

One of the many pieces of equipment at the John Deere Pavilion in downtown Moline, IL.

Papa with his kids on the 4th before dinner.

Someone Turned 60!

MeMaw, Papa, Aunt Carrie, Caleb, Carter and Chloe came to Iowa to celebrate MeMaw's 60th Birthday. Luckily we did all of our "4th of July" celebration on the 3rd because is was 63 and rainy on the 4th.

MeMaw and Carter watching fireworks over the Mississippi River.

Legoland Discovery Center

We were able to hook up with our friends from Salt Lake that now live in Taiwan. They were visiting their family in Wisconsin so we decided to meet at the Lego Discovery Center in Schaumburg, IL on our way home from Chicago. The kids had so much fun!

Caden entered one of the hourly, themed contests and his was make any animal you want. He made and alligator and won 2nd place. He was very proud of it!

Shedd Aquarium

We walked to Shedd and saw some amazing fews of the lake.

The Museum of Science and Industry

The Lego retail stores have a "Lego Club Meeting" once a month before the store opens that's available to about 20 kids to attend where they assemble a lego "model of the month", get a free T-shirt and a bag of Legos. This was the first thing we did in Chicago ,and I'm pretty sure if we got back in the car and drove home after Caden was finished he would have been fine with that.

Navy Pier

Waiting for their lunch at McDonalds.
Ainsley was too little for this ride so she held on to Caden's glasses for him.

Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier. Caden set up the dominoes and is hiding behind the boy with red backpack.

Daddy and Ainsley creating with clay!

The highlight for Caden and daddy for that matter. Building a house.

The finished product.

We had a hillside of what looked like weeds for the longest times and we were finally able to enjoy the multitude of blooms at the end of June. Ainsley just loves picking the flowers!

Quad City Air Show

We attended the Quad City Air Show on Father's Day weekend.

Yes, this guy ended up hanging from the Helicopter and flying around dangling in the air - Crazy!



The highlight of course was the Blue Angels!