Three Rivers Parade

We took Lilly to her first parade.  She loved it!  She clapped and waved and enjoyed the views.  Liam loves parades also.  Some of the highlights for him were trying cotton candy for the first time, seeing firetrucks and tractors, and collecting candy and goodies.  Last year we took Liam to two small town parades near us and he was really restless.  We were so impressed with how well he sat and waited.  We arrived at 8:40, the parade started at 9:45, and ended at noon.  That's a long time for a three year old to stay still.  Dave and Liam did walk around before the parade started.  They got free juice and a brownie at the Republican head quarters.  Lilly and I saved the seats.  I had packed plenty of ice cold water, snacks, and a picnic lunch.  We were in the shade for most of the parade, which helped a great deal.  We also had a lovely view of our courthouse.  It was a great day!  We love making memories with our little family.

IPFW Mastadons

"Wook!"

Chinese Cultural Society

(We felt like we were back in China for a moment)

Zoo Trip

Last week I took the kids to the zoo.  It was a beautiful summer day.  The kids were well behaved and had a wonderful time.

Grandma Kusch bought Liam a zoo keeper outfit.  He loves to wear it to the zoo.

I love Liam's face in this picture.  He looks so concerned about Lilly's driving.

looking at the lions

camping out in Africa

Liam fed a giraffe

Liam is having a chat with the ostrich.

Of all the ponies, Liam picked the smallest one - poor pony

It was a hot day, so Liam enjoyed the misters.

Lilly got comfortable too.

Family Field Trip to the Wellman Farm

Liam has been asking all summer to go to the farm.  So, we called the Wellmans and asked if we could come for a visit.  Liam was SO excited!

"Wook Mom, kittens!"

Lilly wasn't too sure about the cows at first.

(This brown and white cow will be in our freezer in a couple months)

Liam was especially excited to see all the farm equipment.  He wanted to sit in the cab of each tractor.

Even Lilly liked sitting on the tractors.

Since we were out near Woodburn, we decided to stop at the John Deere shop.  We were surprised how many toys they had.  Liam picked out his favorite truck, an excavator.

Lilly really did enjoy sitting on the little tractor, even though it doesn't seem that way by looking at her facial expression.

It was a great Family Field trip.  Our adventurous little man loved everything about the farm.

Independence Day

We went over to Dave's parents' house for Independence Day.  Denny & Carol were watching the Koehlinger kids while Debbie & Brady were on a cruise, so Liam and Lilly had fun playing with them.  Lilly is warming up to everyone and really liked 'talking' on Emily's phone.  Liam swam in the pond with Gabe, Hannah, and Adelyn.

Pure Michigan

We took a little break from our normal routine and went up to my Mom's house for the weekend.  One of the things on our to-do list was to get some family pictures taken for our post-placement update to China.  It was a little bit of a challenge.  It's hard to get a picture with everyone looking good. At least our outfits coordinated!

The kids also got to see fireworks with Grandma & Grandpa while Dave and I had a date.  Liam, of course, loved them, and Lilly didn't seem bothered by them.  My mom bought matching, patriotic outfits for all three grandkids.  They tried to get a picture of the three of them, but I'm not sure there was one with all three kids looking at the camera.  All of them want to move!

We also introduced Lilly to the pool.  She loved it!  Liam is our little fish.  He has become such a strong swimmer.  He will go down the slide by himself, go under water, jump off the side and yell 'canon ball', and swim the length of the pool over and over again.