The Windy City

We spent Friday evening through Sunday afternoon in Chicago visiting some seminary friends who left the school last year. We loved getting to know them when we were in Princeton and were so sad when they left last year. Kennan always talked about Reuben whenever he heard the word Chicago or moving van.

It was funny to see his reaction when he saw Reuben for the first time on Friday night. It took him awhile to warm up...but once he did it was like old times!

They cooked up a yummy rib dinner for us Friday night (it is our recipe, but it was great to not have to prepare it!!). Saturday we rode the train into Chicago ...

and went to the Millenium Park Fountains.

We brought the boy's swimming suits so they went for a run through the fountains and had a blast (until Reuben wiped out).

We also got to see the big jellybean statue in Millineum Park. (I know it has another name...can't think of it right now.)

Then we hiked over to the Navy Pier and got some yummy treats and looked at lake Michigan. I was surprised at how blue the water was! Then we took a water taxi back to Union Station and walked over to Giordano's for a pizza dinner. It was good, but by this point Kennan was wiped out and wasn't very good dinner company. We took the train back to Deerfield (where they live) and Kennan fell asleep on the car ride home. It was such a fun day and we all slept well that night!

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend.

Kennan and Kenny sharing their troubles with a statue...

Adam and Nathan

My sweet boy on the water taxi ride

Brayden with Reuben...he loved playing with her and she definetly cuddled with him a little on the boat...too cute!

If you stuck through this entire post, good for you!! Between Adam's camera and mine we took close to 450 pictures while we were there. That is why I had such a hard time only choosing only a few!!

An update on our road trip...we made it to Grapevine this evening!! We were in the car for 10 hours today (which includes a lunch stop and a few potty breaks). It was a long day but we are glad to be here and not have to mess with driving tomorrow. We plan to spend 3 days in the DFW area before heading to Abilene this weekend. Then we go to Pampa on Monday to see our new house! All of our things arrived there today...this feels so real!!!

Road Trip!!

Well, I am sitting in a hotel bathroom somewhere in the middle of Missouri! The good news is that we are over half way to Texas! If you know your geography well enough you are probably thinking "Why the heck are you in Missouri if you left NJ to go to Texas??" Here's the story...we left NJ on Thursday and made our way through Pennsylvania and spent the night in eastern Ohio. Then we hit the road bright and early on Friday morning and made it through the rest of Ohio, Indiana, and then to Chicago. We met up with some seminary friends, the Johnson's, who moved away last year. They took us into Chicago and we walked around and went to the Navy Pier. They made us some yummy ribs on Friday night and a great pancake breakfast this morning. It was fun to see Reuben and Kennan playing again! Then today (Sunday) we left after lunch and made our way through the rest of Illinois and into the middle of Missouri. Tomorrow we will hopefully make it to Texas around dinner. The days in the car have been lloonngg...but we are surviving. Kennan has enjoyed many movies and Brayden is easily entertained with an empty water bottle. Kenny has done all but 1 1/2 hours of the driving and I am so thankful for that. I have spent my time trying finding pacifiers and sippy cups that have mysteriously made their way to the floor of the van. In all it has been a great trip and we are looking forward to being in Texas tomorrow!!

Funny story...so about 3 hours into our trip today I called the Linds (Hannah's family) to see how they were doing on their drive. I knew that they had been in southern Illinois and were heading up to Chicago to see the Johnson's. We were heading south to St. Louis and thought that we might be traveling on the same road. As Alisa and I were calling out exit numbers we were passing we discovered that we were minutes apart. So, as we were each cruising down the fast lane we spotted each other across the median and waved frantically back and forth. If we would have planned it better we could have pulled over for a pit stop, but it was probably better that we didn't. We might still be sitting there not wanting to say good bye again!!! I always knew our paths would cross again someday...but not that soon!!

I haven't been able to mess with the pictures we have taken on our trip so here are a few from before we left NJ.

Kennan enjoyed some time in the pool with Evan.
Pretty girl!!!
Evan reading to Kennan and Hannah
Brayden with Tim and Blair
Kennan took their first (and last) bath together our second to last night in town

Hopefully I'll be able to update some more tomorrow night or Tuesday...be on the lookout for LOTS of pictures!

Look what I got for my birthday...

An apartment all packed up and ready to go to Texas!!!

As much as I am excited about our upcoming move I am sad about all of the goodbyes we have to say. I would much rather just say "see ya later" instead because it is my hope that we will see and stay in touch with a lot of our friends from this season of our life. I am most sad for Kennan because this is all he has known. He was 5 months old when we moved here, so this is his home and these are all his friends. I just hope he has memories from being here...we all know that I took enough pictures over the last 3 years so maybe they will jog his memory when we talk about our time here! We have been blessed by great friends which made the last 3 years bearable since we have been so far from family. We have already said a few goodbyes since friends left for vacation and won't be back before we leave. (I'm on the laptop so don't be offended if we've said goodbye to you and there isn't a picture...most of my pictures are on the desktop and it's in a box!!!!)

Kennan had his last day of school today. Here he is with Jon Gabriel and Torrey
We had to say goodbye to Matt and Cari
Kennan with Edith, Hannah, and Hans

Yesterday we took Kennan and Hannah to the Picture People to have their pictures taken. I am going to frame the ones we ordered and put them in his bedroom at our new house. Kennan and Hannah have been best buds since September 2, 2005. We have had many a play dates in our pajamas and slippers and lots of family dinners together. God really knew what he was doing when he made our families neighbors. We entered this season of our life at exactly the same time with the same age kiddos, same backgrounds (teachers and youth directors), and same goals for the future. Okay, now I am getting teary eyed...all that to say we are going to miss this sweet girl, her adorable baby sister, and wonderful mom and dad.

This one is for Uncle Kyle...

Well, the packers are coming tomorrow and I'm feeling a bit stressed...so I needed something to lighten the mood. Enjoy!

SUCCESS!

Today was my first yard sale experience....as a seller that is. Actually, I don't know if I have ever been a shopper at one either... Oh well, the point of the story is that it was a success!! We set up shop at 7am and were back home around 3pm. We made over $500 which should pay for our trip to Texas (hotels, food, gas). We are thrilled at how well we did and may do it again sometime...like in 10 years!!

Countdown to Texas!

We leave in 6 days !! Here is what the next week looks like for us...

Saturday-Yard Sale
Sunday-Recover from Yard Sale and pack personal things for our trip to Texas
Monday-Relax (maybe??) and celebrate my birthday
Tuesday-Packers come to pack up all our belongings (also my birthday)
Wednesday-Movers come!
Thursday-Start the drive to Texas (by way of Chicago)

Brayden says, "WOW!!!!"

Rewind

I have a lot of catching up to do of past events, so here it goes!!

We went to the Philadelphia Zoo again, this time with Hannah and Katie and their families.

The picture below is Kennan with the naked mole rats. He claims that the giraffes are his favorite but he LOVES to say naked mole rats over and over and seems fascinated by them!!!

We took Kennan to the dentist a few weeks ago for a little 3 year old check up. HE LOVED IT!! He had the best time helping the dentist with her tools and couldn't stop smiling!


Here are a few more graduation pictures...

Kenny with Tim Kenny with Kenny S, Bryant, Jeremiah, and Matt
Kenny and Jonathan

We went bowling in Philadelphia on Sunday before taking Uncle Chris and Kelsi (Chris' girlfriend) to the airport. It was Kennan's first time and he loved it! Brayden had a great time too!
Our friend, Megin, from ACU met up with us!

Kenny's friend David from elementary school also met up with us!
Thanks again Kelsi for watching the kiddos!! Oh, and many people called Kelsi my sister this weekend! I can see it...can you??
Well, I think that catches us up on all the events of the last few weeks. We are counting down the days until we leave for Texas! Only 9 more full days left in New Jersey!! Yippee!!!

Gradubirthday

We fondly referred to yesterday as Kenny's Gradubirthday. He is offically a Master of Divinity and 28 years old! Yesterday was a whirwind of excitement that brings us once step closer to our move to Texas! Here are some pictures of the day (and a few flashbacks)...

Kenny opening the birthday card from Kennan with a hippo on the front
On the steps of a building on campus yesterday...in front of that same building September of 2005. Things have changed!!!
Kenny walking into the chapel for graduation...this was the only picture I could get during the ceremony because flash photography wasn't allowed
Kenny with Matt, Dan, and Bryant
With Kevin and Alisa yesterday...and in September of 2005. We are going to miss these friends!
Kenny's parents, brother and brother's girfriend came in for gradubirthday. Kelsi stayed with the kids so we could go to graduation (thanks Kelsi!!!)
I am so proud of this man!
Kenny liked that his robe looked like it had bat wings!

Well, that's all for now. I have many more pictures to post later...stay tuned!