special request granted

I overlooked the highlight of last weekend! (Thanks, Babs, for the reminder!)
I'm not sure who was happier.....but Hannah ran her first race last Friday!! Here are a few photos:
Putting on her bib number...


We were ahead of almost everyone, then...poor girl, she fell and scraped her knees...

....but got right back up and kept going!

Her ribbon!!

an ironic chain of events led to this.....

update in pictures

We shaved the dog.
Cooler for him....less floor cleaning for me. Everybody wins. Except maybe his pride.

Ran a 5K with Vickie at the White Sox stadium. Lots of fun!
The mascot (okay, I'm not a real fan yet, because I can't remember his name for the life of me).....It's SOUTH PAW!!

The start,

Mile 1,

Mile 2,

and the finish!

party in the stands
Vickie catching a high ball (sorry for my weak baseball vocabulary)

...touching the turf...too bad she wasn't able to stand where Buerhle stands....


sitting on the dugouts...

a spontaneous trip to the Jelly Belly Factory with Vickie and Barb! This is the best candy in the WORLD.


Hannah displaying her gifts from our trip. (Thanks, Barb!)

I'm influencing future generations.

Home on the Range...part 2

The last stretch of our trip was the annual family reunion. This year we camped at Lake McConaughey. I'm not much of a camper, but was surprised at how much fun it was. The only downside was that most of us were too exhausted to chat into the evening around the campfire.
We spent lots of time on the beach...

...and on the water.

My sweet sisters

Grandma Jan (who is 75 years old!) riding a jet ski

H was thrilled when her cousins Danae & Bryson arrived.

A sunset canoe ride


The cousins...we've really grown up, haven't we?

Making ice cream the "old fashioned way"

One big happy family

Having fun with a white elephant gift

Home on the Range....part 1

Well, we're back. We just returned from Nebraska and we're tired. But it was fun and really good to see family. Times like these make we wish we lived closer.

But here are some highlights of our trip. I may break it up into a few entries, since I can't figure out a simple way to leave comments on individual pictures. If you want the full version, check out our family pics link in a day or two and I'll have more there.

A strange museum/landmark to break up the monotony of the Nebraska terrain.

The whole family 4-wheeling....even Schaeffer

self-explanatory...

The fourth of July festivities in Oshkosh, Nebraska:
the pancake breakfast at the fire station,

the parade,

the free lunch at the city park,

the fireworks with Grandma.

Some of my best memories are all of us hanging out at my grandparents on the fourth, putting on costumes for the parade, swimming at the free city pool, watching the city fireworks at the baseball field, then watching my uncle (and others probably as well, but my uncle is clearest in my memory)setting off our big fireworks. If all my cousins and sisters had been there this year, it would have been perfect.

Does anyone out there have a family like this?!

We've been in Nebraska for a couple days now, but the real event is the annual reunion....we are heading to the lake and meeting the rest of the family today.

My family loves to perform. Maybe I should rephrase this.....The matriarchs in my family (Grandma, mom, & aunt) love to perform and love even more bringing the rest of us along with them.

Every year we have an evening exchanging white elephant gifts (you MUST tell a story before you get a gift) and then performing (to whomever the poor souls who are camping next to us) the Hokey Pokey and the Chicken Dance. To top it all off, this year, they have scheduled a Talent Show.....

I have to admit, this reunion always leaves me with several good stories to tell and I always silently get a kick out of the tortured look in Isaac's eyes. Poor guy. He's been dealing with this for 10 years now....and still not given in.

I'll try to post a video and pictures of the evidence of my crazy family. I can't help but love them. =)