Fun Times with Friends

I am taking a "time out" from posting the rest of my Chicago trip pictures to keep up with the present. My dear, dear friend Stephanie (i.e. alma...inside joke) and her little guy, Canon came to visit us while Chris (steph's husband) is deployed overseas. It has been 3 years since we have seen each other and we had yet to meet each others children. So this was exciting!!! Even though the times are far and few between, it is like we haven't skipped a beat!!! Just a bit more "chaotic" with 3 boys in the mix now!We have stayed up late (or should I say early) talking each others ears off, attempted to pick each others brains about parenting, teaching, organizing, & life in general, and the boys have taken their naps in the van every day so far...and we are all having a blast! Here's some "magical moments" together so far:

MAGIC WINGS butterfly

who would have ever thought?

here we are with our boys. steph (L) has my two boys Jack & Drew

& I have her Canon.

they were SO EXCITED about the butterflies it took about a dozen tries to get them both looking at the camera!

wonder. curiosity. discover. amazement.

(& probably one of the only times they stood still for an extended period of time)

scary lizard that almost kissed jack

(though he wasn't the one too concerned, as you can see!)

out for the count!

CHICAGO TRIP~day 1

WOW...It has been awhile and I have BLOG OVERLOAD with soooo much to blog about!!! A week ago we returned from a nice, loooong week of vacation visit with my family in Chicago (more specifically, Lemont!!!). I can't believe it, but we drove out!! It actually wasn't too bad. Although I can say that because John did most of the driving. We (john) drove through the night on the way out: we left friday night at 9pm and pulled into my parents driveway saturday at 2:30pm. What a trip! We had to pull over for a quick shut-eye break because John was reaching his limit (after driving for 7 hours straight after a full day of work). The nice part was that the boys slept for about 10 hours straight.On the way back we drove during the day and stopped at a hotel at night. That was definitly the more sane way to go! Well, enough babbling: here are the many, many pictures. (they'll be coming in chunks at a time) I was going to put them in a slideshow, but didn't have enough time (or patience) to figure it out. Enjoy:

DREW CHILLIN' OUT WITH AUNT MEGAN & UNCLE RYAN

This is a bean bag toss game my brother, Sean, made for my dad.

My dad painted it in none other than the great chicago baseball teams!

~And a nice little wash for the van that collected bugs across america~

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CHICAGO

I have not the time nor the energy to divulge our week of vacation to Chicago. But I will leave you with something! These are 2 group pictures, the first being the Quinn bin, the second one of the times we went out to eat. I have SO many pictures from this past week (probably around 300!!!) That's the danger of quick technology with tons of space, I suppose. I will get busy posting sometime this week, and will try to keep it to manageable bites! We had such a wonderful time, but I am exhausted and must go to bed! Until next time...

(in reverse birth order)

Ryan, Megan, Shannon, Erin, Sean, & my parents down front

the gang at Red Robin

A VERY SPECIAL DAY

H A P P Y

B I R T H D A Y,

M O M !!!!

I won't actually give away her age, but when we are together it is not uncommon for someone to ask if we are sisters!

The Quinn's on our wedding day

8.4.01

Mom birthed & reared 5 kids which = a lot of long days, laundry, home-cooked meals, birthday cakes, nights of homework help & argument difussers between siblings!! I don't EVER remember hearing mom complain about the daily duties which she kept up with like a pro. Our home was ALWAYS perfectly in order and mom was always on her feet doing something! Her art though is displayed through her garden! She has such a wonderful touch in knowing exactly how to place colors and types of plants to make a beautiful display. Anything she puts her hand to do, she does it well!!!

I feel like I am just beginning to understand the great sacrifices Mom has made over the years! She is such a hard worker and gave everything to our home and us kids. I don't know how to thank you enough, mom, for everything you are and give to us & for never giving up on us! :)

I LOVE YOU, MOM!!

Cool Find

JACK'S

NEW HAT

I happened upon this adorable hat quite by accident! It jumped out at me and begged me to take it home for my little jack. Now how do you resist a cute little hat like this? This is the only way I can get away with "accessorizing" the boys!

WHEREABOUTS

SATURDAY (5.5): My intentions were to take the boys to the Library after we dropped John off at work. But Jack fell asleep in the van before our destination. It was too beautiful of a day to spend it all indoors anyway. So we ventured here and there, really no where in particular, but seeking out what the great outdoors had waiting for us to discover. We live in western MA among some of the beautiful country so different from the flat plains of the midwest I grew up among. This was, of course, all from the window of our van. I wasn't quite spontaneous enough to actually get out! It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we had a lot of fun on our little adventure.

My Co-Pilot inTraining

(don't worry, this was actually after a feeding stop)

Just up our road overlooking the Berkshire hills

Mommy & Jack

A fresh water spring

Ahhh, the Farmers Market. This says to me, "SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE!"

Forsynthia on fire with color.

One of the local farms

And, yes, buffalo!!

[oops, my husband just informed me these are NOT buffalo. he thinks they are long horned steer, or something. guess which one of us is the city slicker!]

Two of them, whatever they are.


Pixel on for the ride

This is downtown Pittsfield, north street. The significance of this picture is that my husband designed those awnings! I wish I had a before picture because they were so run down.


It is cool to see something that was once up on our computer screen in its finished state.



Some sweet possibility of bouldering rock down our road.

A creek with a bunch of branches. It just looked cool.


And to finish off our day, a stop at none other than TARGET!!!

Sepia

I played around with some new filters on these pictures.