Our Weekend In Chicago

We just came home from a wonderful weekend in Chicago visiting our sister & brother-in-law & family. As always with visits with family, it went WAY too quickly.

Matt, Katie, Ellie, Sam, & Mike

The Man of the Hour - We were in Chicago to celebrate this sharp dressed man. Matthew Edward Reall turned 8 and was baptized.

We stayed with the Realls for four days. Mike's sweet sister, Tammy, and her darling boys, Gavian, Damian, and Christian also made the trip up. It was so fun getting to know her better. Along with the five adults in the house, we had one 1 year-old, two 2 year-olds, two 5 year-olds, a 6 year-old, three 8 year-olds, and a 10 year-old. That would be ten kids under the age of 10! And believe it or not, everyone got along so well! It was great to see the kids having so much fun together.

Partners in Crime - Sam, Drew, and Damian

Matt, Christian, and Ross

Russ & Monique Felker's boys - Danny & Michael (I couldn't get Tyler's picture)

The Felkers (Russ is Edward's first cousing) live about an hour from Mike and Katie. They came over for the baptism and for dinner afterward. Their boys are DARLING! All three boys (ages 3, 5, & 7) became absolutely smitten with Elizabeth! They all wanted to sit on her lap and hold her hand the entire evening. It was precious! Danny, the three year-old, asked if Elizabeth could be their new babysitter.

The whole gang getting crazy after the baptism.

While there we spent a day enjoying the beautiful weather at a park. We started off the day fishing, but that was quickly aborted when a clueless woman brought her dog over to our dock and threw a stick into the lake for it to retreive. Tammy even asked her, "Are you not concerned about the dog getting stuck by the hook?"

We moved on to a picnic lunch, followed by chasing chipmunks, playing in the dirt, and an intense kick ball game.

It was a wonderful weekend!