Oops...

Happy late birthday to Aunt Smelly - I mean Kelli!

Thanks for the photo, Joe.

Windy City

A few weekends ago, we took a family trip to Chicago.

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We met up with our friends from Iowa, Vince and Melissa, at the Museum of Science and Industry. The boys had kind of short attention spans, so it was the fastest I've ever gone through a museum in my life!

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The boys played on the anchor of the U-505 German WWII submarine. The museum built an entire wing around (literally) this submarine. It was captured in the middle of the war and helped the US learn a lot about the technology the Germans were using at the time. It was a very significant capture, and it's the only German submarine in the US. We had to learn everything from the brochures for the museum after we left. No time to stop and read with four little ones afoot!
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Patrick and Joe pose in a cut-out in the train exhibit of the museum.
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And, of course, what trip to this museum would be complete without seeing the baby chicks? Apparently, it's still the most visited exhibit in the museum. (the babies and the walk through heart were not on display while they renovate the area. Mom was disappointed.)

Buckingham Fountain - also the site of Melissa and Vince's engagement. The couple is expecting to adopt their first baby from Russia any time now. They'll be wonderful parents!

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Please check the blog from the Fourth of July - I finally finished it and posted it.

On my own...

While Maida was still here, we took full advantage. We visited the Milwaukee Public Museum, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Betty Brinn Children's Museum, and, of course, the Harley Davidson Museum. I forgot my camera on the last trip, but when Maida gets home to Germany, she'll send me pictures. Meanwhile, at the Children's Museum...

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"Calling Safari Headquarters" Patrick and Luke play in the Mr. Potato Head exhibit's Safari truck. Don't ask me what safaris and Mr. Potato Head have in common, but they made it work somehow.

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They had a little theater where kids could put on costumes and work with the background and curtains. They all loved dressing up the best.

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They also had a puppet theater. Patrick couldn't quite figure out how it worked, but he had a lot of fun.
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Even baby Andrew got into the fun, riding on a rocking horse with Maida's help.

. This was his first trip down a slide!

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With Patrick at the helm, the twins enjoyed the rocking boat, although I think it's made for only one.
. We also took a trip to the pizza store for the kids. This time, they really enjoyed the face painting area. We learned that the paint only came off with some messy baby oil. Yuck. (thanks for the tip, Dinky T. Clown!)
..Maida left us last Thursday night. She's on her way to Washington, DC, and New York to complete her American adventure. The boys still ask about her: "Is Maida awake?" "Where's Maida going to sleep?" (we moved the twins beds back into that room) "Wait! We forgot Maida" (as we were leaving to go to a park the next morning.) They miss her. I'm sure Andrew misses her the most since they were such good pals.

Summer fun

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We took everyone to the zoo! This would have been almost impossible without Maida, but with her, we even enjoyed a ride on the zoo train.
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The kids all really love her, although I think Andrew is her biggest fan.
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This is a shot of Maida taking a drink from a water fountain for the VERY FIRST TIME! Who would have thought? Guess they don't have "bubblers" in Germany.

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The boys are comparing their size to a baby gorilla's size.
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Patrick is fingerpainting on his tummy with yogurt. It's so nice to be outside to eat in the summertime! (note the hose in the background - very handy for clean up!)
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Andrew is laughing! He loves being tickled under his chin and lets out a sweet little giggle. Maida was the first to hear it. He loves smiling and cooing at her.

Swyngomatic

When we were home, we discovered that my dad had saved our swing from when we were babies as a souvenir. Don't ask me why it never made an appearance for any of the other 5 grandkids. My guess is that he forgot. Whatever the reason, we had it for our visit. Baby Andrew just LOVED it.
.The "Swyngomatic" - a Graco product, no less!
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He loved listening to the clicking it made and watching it swing at the top from his view in the vinyl seat. The seat made him sweat, and he stuck to it a little, but that didn't diminish the love. As it winded down and got slower, he would start to get fussy until someone would crank it again.

Can you see the relaxation?

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On another note, we would like to wish Aunt Janelle a very happy birthday and Aunt Katie and Uncle Michael a very happy FIRST wedding anniversary. Sorry we're a day late. Things get a little crazy around here. We love you all!

Happy 4th of July!

Last night, we went to a parade one town over. They had a few clowns and jugglers, but mostly bands and the usual parade fare.

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Ronny McDonny showed up and was marching along with the little baton twirlers group in front of him. It was really cute.
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Maida thought it was fun and pretty funny, especially the "Dancing Grannies"

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In the spirit of the 4th, but all tuckered out, Andrew slept in Maida's arms most of the time. You can't even see his cute "Little Firecracker" shirt that Grammie got for him.
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The coolest part was Cho's Martial Arts. The kids in the program were all dressed in their white gear and in pairs - from teens all the way down to Joe's age. All at once, the group stopped and one of the pair would hold a little bag and the other one kicked it and sent candy flying. The whole group of about 50 did it in unison so it looked like a candy explosion. The kids watching went nuts! The only problem for us was that we realized that Tootsie Rolls are on the "can't have" list. You can see Luke in the background with a red, itchy eye. Other than that, we all had a great time, and Maida enjoyed a classic bit of Americana - the small town 4th of July parade.

Sleeping Issues

Luke asleep standing up.
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With the longest days of the year upon us, the boys are having trouble getting to sleep. After at least an hour struggle at every naptime and bedtime, they finally fall asleep. Yesterday, it was just too much for me. We fought and fought, but they just would not nap. Instead, we walked to the library for some videos. These pictures are of what I saw two minutes after turning on the videos.

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No sleeping issues here!