New School Year

Back to school always brings all sorts of school supplies. This year, our table was full of stuff for several days before we got it all organized, 

and put away in their backpacks! I was glad to have my table back, too!

The first day rolled around and the boys were actually pretty excited. Noah was NOT interested in a photo, but at least Levi was. 6:45 is a mighty early time to get on a bus, but so far they've done it without complaint. Noah's starting 5th grade and Levi's in 3rd.

And off they go!

The school hosted an open house so I got to see their classrooms and visit with their teachers. Levi created this family tree, each of the people in his family are represented on one of the hands. Each finger is labeled with stuff that person likes to do. One of my fingers says "muffins" on it. I laughed out loud when I read it and so did Levi - he said, "I meant you like making muffins, but that was too many words to fit on the finger!" :-)

Levi and his buddy Kreed being silly. :-)

Noah's class has started the year with a unit all about chocolate. He wrote this cool poem about chocolate that was out in the hall, but he REFUSED to take a picture by it. So, this was the best photo I could get of him....

Fifth grade is when band starts in Goessel and Noah has chosen to play percussion. We're already enjoying listening to him practice. :-)

We're so thankful that our boys love school. They have fun with their friends, they enjoy their teachers and learning has always come fairly easy for them. That is something to be thankful for and we don't take it for granted. It also helps that school involves lunch, P.E. and recess. Those are still their favorite parts of the school day.

Last days of summer

Before school got going, my friend Joni and I took our 5 boys to a trampoline park in Wichita for the afternoon. The two youngest, Levi and Kreed, had fun jumping into the foam pit. 

The older boys played dodge ball just about the entire time!

That's 2 1/2 hours of dodge ball! Noah was actually sore the next day from all the bouncing and throwing. There was some fierce competition going on in the dodge ball area, it was fun to watch their competitive spirits come out.

Cousin Rylee was at the farm for the weekend before school!

My gigantic tomato plants that refuse to produce many tomatoes finally gave me enough to make half a batch of tomato sauce.

My beautiful mom and sister sang together in church, it was lovely!!

And then we ate these crazy good nachos for supper...well, some people had pancakes, but some of us had nachos. Weird meal - but oh so good!

A little margarita on the deck with the twinkle lights was a great end to the weekend of fun.

Sometimes we spend time in the evening just sitting and visiting with my parents on their deck. If that's the case, then surely Wilbur will be there too!

The garden and yard are taking less time these days, so I have time to go on an evening walk when the weather cooperates. The corn is slowly drying down for harvest!

The sunsets lately have been pretty amazing, especially with the smells of late summer floating in the air. Sometimes it feels magical.

I've grown quite a few cantelope in the garden. Most of them have been "ehhhh," but one of them was really good! I think I should skip cantelope next year.

The marigolds I planted from seeds are likely the most successful plants in my garden this year.

The zinnias are beautiful, but Levi and I didn't do the best job planting the seeds so they're a little sparse.

Technically, school had already started, but with only 2 days under their belts it was easy to feel like it was still summer this past weekend. It rained the night before and we thought it would be fun to take the boys down to the creek behind Bethel. Turns out there was a lot of water rushing in the creek and it was completely unsafe for the boys.

Wilbur even got to come along!

The boys were disappointed with the creek and while the mud was fun, it was also very challenging to not fall and get covered in it.

Finally they made it back up the muddy bank and squished the mud out from between all their little toes.

We walked on and then came to another much smaller creek crossing and it was just right for our boys! We hung out there for a long time and it was lots of fun to be together.

Sunday, Ben and I went with a bunch of friends to the Royals game. My dad took Noah too, but Levi didn't want to go, so he stayed home with grandma.

We sat out in left field and had a great time!

Summer brings so many opportunities for fun and while late August and September are usually still plenty warm, it just feels different with school being in session. I'm thankful we got to do these few fun things just before school got started!

Chicago Vacation

This post contains an estimated 256 photos. Sorry, not sorry.

The boys love to fly out of Wichita. They love how simple it is and they love to sit in the comfy chairs by the windows and watch the action outside.

It helps that Ben always buys them donuts to eat while we wait.

Seems like we always have to take some pictures in the airplane....there's next to nothing else to do!

We got to Chicago, traveled all the way downtown to our hotel without stopping for lunch and eventually we were all feeling like this:

Out we went in search of quick food. The boys were impressed by the tall buildings, for us prairie people they're always a sight to behold and wonder about.

Ahhh....lunch! I think it was at least 2pm by the time we ate.

Then we headed out to Logan Square to see baby Ezra!

We caught some snuggles just before he needed a nap. And oddly enough somehow our boys ended up mowing Andy and Lia's front yard.

Funny thing is, they got some job offers from people walking by on the sidewalk. We didn't bother to explain that we didn't live there and traveling from Kansas to Chicago just to mow their lawn would end up costing them MUCH more than they planned on paying someone to mow. :-)

We did a lot of riding on the old CTA.

Noah's dinner that night might have simply been a grilled cheese sandwich and apple slices with peanut butter but the presentation made him feel like it was a fancy dinner!

Happy boys after filling their stomachs at supper.

We debated if we had the energy or not, but then decided that we shouldn't pass up the chance, so we went out to Navy Pier to watch their free fireworks show. The city skyline is very impressive at night.

The fireworks were great too! By the time we got back to our hotel room, the boys were ready to crash. It had been a very long day for all of us!

We had such an interesting view out our hotel windows. We got to look down on the outdoor space for a big condo building. Dog park, fire pits, swimming pool, outdoor TV, outdoor bar, sitting areas, etc. It was fascinating for us to think of that as the primary outdoor space for all the people in that building. We saw kids kicking a soccer ball around and the boys thought it looked fun until we explained that none of those kids have a backyard to run around in. They have to go to a public park to find grass to walk on, let alone to play soccer on. The boys had a hard time understanding that.

We all agreed that Trump is good at building impressive buildings and that he should stick to that. His building is the ONLY one that has his name on it. Hmmmm...

Walking around was just about all these boys could handle. This is how they looked on Michigan Ave. while we waited a couple minutes for stores to open. Clearly, we embraced being tourists.

My love for Michael Jordan lives on - or at least my admiration for the athlete he was - and this was on the wall outside of Nike.

The boys had never been to a Disney store, so that was fun for about five minutes.

This piece of art was pretty amazing at Nike. The piece is made up of individual two-dimensional golden Air Jordans hanging from the ceiling. Installing it must have been very, very challenging.

Levi loves Alex Morgan, can you tell?

Finally it was time to go to the beach!

My first Chicago style hot dog and it was amazing!

Supper that night was Chicago style pizza. :-)

And then we dropped by Dylan's Candy Bar to let the boys grab some dessert.

That place had so much candy, but the decor was pretty cool too!

Lunch the next day was at:

a first for three out of the four of us.

Then we went to the Art Institute. I thought the boys were old enough to appreciate some of the pieces on display. Our first stop was the miniature rooms. I had never seen them before and they were quite fascinating.

The boys recognized several pieces from works they've studied in art class.

They were momentarily impressed by the fact that these were the real paintings, not just prints or pictures of them.

And I thought it was encouraging that they'd let me take their pictures in front of the pieces that they most recognized from art at school.

But the patience of my three guys wore thin. They hung in as long as they could, but it was pretty obvious when they'd all come to the end of their ropes.

An unexpected twist to our trip was a chance to go see a White Sox game with Andy. Levi wasn't interested so he stayed with Lia, Ezra and Grandma Schrag while the rest of went to the game.

I think the White Sox lost. The people watching/listening was amazing that night.

The next morning we met up with Andy, Lia, Ezra and Grandma at the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was a gorgeous place.

The boys loved the animals,

and took turns pushing Ezra in his stroller.

They wouldn't get any closer together for a photo...

For lunch we walked over to the Chicago Hot Dog Festival that was taking place in the park. Sadly, the Chicago Style hot dog I had that day wasn't nearly as good as the one on the beach. And the boys did not enjoy their cheddar dogs (a hot dog literally drowning in cheddar cheese sauce...yuck).

Oh well, back to the zoo we went!

And finally we went to the hotel. Levi was excited to swim and Noah was happy to relax in front of the TV.

Dinner that night was Subway sandwiches by the Bean.

Boy oh boy do they perk up after they eat!

Can you find us?

The Bean is such a fascinating thing. It's really fun to watch people take selfies.

Just next to the Bean was a free symphony concert so we hung around just long enough to hear some of their first piece. The whole grass area was full of people with picnics and chairs and blankets.

Our boys wanted to go to the fountain, claiming they wouldn't get wet. Ok, maybe just their feet.

Well, maybe they'd just run around a bit, but that was it.

Pretty soon, Levi was soaked from head to toe! Noah never got soaked because he didn't want to be wet walking back to the hotel.

Isn't it a lovely city? The river was full of boats that night. People coming in off the lake from being out all day, and boats full of tourists being guided around.

The next morning we went back out to Logan Square to meet up with family for brunch.

Ezra was surprised to see so many faces staring at him!

Brunch at Longman & Eagle is always a delicious adventure and this time was no different. Levi adores Ezra, can you tell?

That afternoon Sue joined us for a bike tour!

We were feeling pretty silly sitting in the bike shop with our helmets on...

then we got our bikes

and before we knew it were riding along Lake Michigan!

Ben and Sue volunteered to be at the back of our group so the guide would always know we were all together. That meant they each had to wear a lovely vest in addition to the helmet!

We stopped to rub Lincoln's left foot for good luck. Went to the zoo again and saw a bit of it we hadn't seen the day before. It was a wonderful ride. Levi made a friend and the two of them had a good time together!

That evening we went on a lake and river boat tour. The boys had never done that before and we felt like they were old enough to actually appreciate it. Finding Ben and the boys across the boat is a bit like Where's Waldo.

Levi enjoyed it much, much more than he thought he would.

Such a lovely view of the city.

Before and after the boat ride we had snacks for an unconventional supper.

Before flying home we ate lunch in the airport and then suddenly our vacation was over.

We go to Chicago a lot, but we're always finding new things to do and it's fun to go back to familiar places too. Seeing family was wonderful and we wish it had worked for all the Schrag's to be there. Maybe that'll work the next time we go to Chicago!