Labor Day

On Labor Day, we went to the Naperville Parade. Rachel, Haley, Ayden and Ryleigh were there too!

After the parade, we walked to the "mountain" (fountain). Grandpa taught Ryan how to throw pennies in the fountain, which he loves to do!

And then we went to the VanDykes for a summer-end feast. Ribs on the grill and lots of other treats. Ah-gar (Oscar) the dog and Colton James were there too!

Labor Day Weekend - Saturday

Jason was off work all weekend, so we headed out for some family fun! Our first stop was Blackberry Farm.

Ryan got to pet Lilly the rabbit.

And Mom pushed him on the pedal tractors. He needs to grow a little before his legs can make the pedals work.

And we rode on the "twain".....

And again, and again....can you see the sparkle in his eye? He loves anything to do with trains right now!

And Ryan rode on the ponies for the first time. This is Apple the pony.


Then we had dinner at TwoToots Train Restaurant. We sat right next to the "twacks" and the "twain" delivered our food to our table.

Labor Day Weekend - Friday Night

NCHS is upgrading their home field with astro turf, so they're playing all home games at North Central College. Ryan's 1st NCHS game.

Chris Van Dyke (CVD) is the offensive coordinator for the Soph team! He's the center coach, drawing on the board.

Grandpa is on the chain gang! Here he is with the 1st down dial-down. We also have a family friend (James -Jimmy- O'Connor) who plays on the Varsity team, but I didn't get any shots of him.

Colton James came to watch his Dad coach. He was having a great time!

Touchdown Redhawks!! (or is it REDSKINS?)

The band performed a 'rock band' routine at half time. I found out afterwards that my co-worker's son played electric guitar in the show. Great job, band! (Ryan would rather play in the band than get tackled, right?)

Mike, Aynn and Ayden were at the game too! Here's Ayden and Ryan with their Grandmas. Ayden had gummy bears that he shared with Ryan. The game was a lot of fun!

Long time no blog!

Let's see, where did I leave off? Not sure what we've been doing, but apparently life has been busy 'cause it's been more than a month since our last update.

The last weekend in August, we met my parents in Bloomington on Friday night and Ryan went home with them. Jason and I went to Daddios (an ISU fav) to hear 'Maggie Speaks' (another ISU fav) to celebrate my friend Deanna's 29th b-day. (Dee, are you sure you're only 29?!) It was a good time - Jason's cousin Amy (Senior at ISU) went with us. I didn't feel as old as I thought I would hanging out at a college bar. Thanks Shannon for the pic!

On Saturday, Jason and I stopped at the Ford dealership in Lincoln. Jason's Escape was 8+ years old and we were looking for an upgrade. A wave of small town nostalgia must have hit me, because I agreed to let Jason buy a truck. We are now the proud owners of a 2008 F150. My parents were super surprised when we arrived at their house later with our new vehicle. Ryan now says that we gave Dad's car to Mr. Xamis and we got Dad's "twuck."

And if you have a truck, you have to have something to pull, right? Nothing yet, but we'd like to get a pop-up camper sometime soon.

Jason and Ryan were playing outside at my P's and Jason said that Ryan was trying to FLY. At first I was concerned, but when I saw the picture, I understood....

Kinda hard to see, but deer visit my parent's yard frequently now (I don't think they were always this brave). While we're there, Ryan always expects to see a "deewr" in the yard.

Sox Game

Jason loves to tailgate and to go to the ballgame, so he organizes outings for his co-workers. Ryan stayed home with Grandma/pa, so I got to go too. It was a small gathering, but fun anyway.

We played bags...I'm pretty sure I won, but Steve insisted that my points were cancelled by his??....

Steve eating his first Katydid...yummm!

Jason made corn on the grill. That was good too.

PSAPers at the game.

It was a beautiful night!

Mom's turn!

Mom & Ryan picked the buussiest day of the year to go to Splash Country (aka the 'wada pauk').

It hasn't been a great summer for swimming, but on the recent 90 degree day we had, everyone else went too. Oh well, Ryan loved it. I was surprised at how brave he was. He started in the zero depth area and walked out until the water was as deep as his mouth. No fear. He'll be swimming like a fish soon.

I didn't take any pictures near the water, but here's Ryan chilling on his 'mic-ee tou' (mickey towel). He looks cold here, but it was really hot!

More fun from Dad's days off

The Murr schedule continued and the boys went to Blackberry Farm while Mom went to work. (poor mom, once again!)

The Pioneer Village train. Ryan loved it! He and Dad rode 5 times. Ryan now says "ALLLLL ABOOOOOARD" every time we mention choo-choos or trains. He loves to drive over the train tracks by our house and look to see if a train is coming.




There was a donkey and other creates to meet!