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Friday, July 29, 2011

Jetting through July!

 Well, it's so hard to believe that the end of July is upon us, and in a little over a week, my children will be embarking on a new journey....Jesse and Claire to a brand new school....and Claire beginning Kindergarten.  The whole idea of the sweet little baby girl we met for the first time 4 years ago about to embark on a great journey is a bit scary to us.......she's ready!!! But are we????

Anyway, we have thoroughly enjoyed our summer and thank God every day that Lance is able to provide for us so that we can do these things for the family.  We were also blessed this summer with the presence of our neice Keri, who is a sweet little girl who loves to hang with us and just have fun!

Here's Keri making one of many desserts the kids made on their own this summer!  Here she is making Brown Sugar Pound Cake!  It turned out beautifully!
 The kids' favorite part of cooking.....
 Jesse & Keri have been teaching Claire chess this summer.....can't wait til Claire whoops Jesse fair and square!
 
 Well, we took Jesse, Claire, and Keri to St. Louis this week for a fun little trip.  We absolutely loved the City Museum and yes, that is me climbing all the contracptions and slides and so on....I felt like a kid again...complete with mud and rust stains all over my clothes after like 50 slides!
 Claire and I zooming our way to Lance.
 The biggest ball pit ever....Claire had to be lifted out by a worker the balls were so deep and large....she had a blast!

 If you ever want your child (and husband!) to have a great night's sleep, simply make them do a life sized hampster wheel for a few minutes......

Jesse waiting patiently to pet a manta ray...he did, and loved it!
 Our view from Busch Stadium.....wonderful night and the Cardinals won too!!

 Of course, we couldn't leave St.Louis without letting all 3 kids visit the arch and ride to the top...so that's just what we did.  We actually thought either Claire or Keri would see the little pods that take you to the top and bail out, but they both hopped in and rode right to the top!  Great views and the kids loved seeing the whole city and the Mississippi River from there.
Our last stop before heading back home.  As soon as we arrived in Memphis, the kids and I repacked, and headed back in the car the next morning for Murfreesboro, where we visited my aunt and uncle and cousins!  The kids had great fun swimming, eating sushi, and visiting the Murfreesboro Discovery Center.  Unfortunately, I have no photos of that because I was buzzing around Nashville with my aunt fabric shopping!  So much fun!  Well, a couple more fun things headed our way this coming week, so stay tuned for lots more pics!!!

Love, Gretchen

Sunday, July 17, 2011

20 Year Class Reunion!

 Well, the big 20 year was this weekend! We had a meet and greet at McGuinness Pub with the alumni and lots of our former teachers.  It was the best time!  The reunion continued Saturday morning with a picnic at the Mud Island Riverwalk with alumni and children.  The kids all enjoyed meeting each other and playing with all the water soakers down the Riverwalk!  Here some of us old buddies having a great time on the river!
 Lauri and I at the Hollywood Disco, where we had our actual reunion party and dinner.  So much fun was had, complete with a disco ball and old school music!
 Old girlfriends together again!


Friends since 2nd grade!!!