Our Summer Illinois Trip - Part II

Before heading to the city, let me back up and mention that since my parents were in town as well (seeing baby Ethan), and we had a rare opportunity for us all to be together, we took my mom out for a week early birthday celebration at a frozen yogurt shop. Happy Birthday, Mom! It always feels extra special having my brother with us since we only see him maybe once a year, often longer. 

In the city, we met up with Rachel and Ben at their house. The boys loved meeting their little chickens. We also got to meet her tiny, tiny baby bump!!! Yes, though he's just a peanut, there's a nephew/cousin cooking in there! Words cannot express how excited I am to have not one, but TWO nephews within the same year! And hooray for the boys to have 1st cousins!

We walked, rode the bus, and then hopped on the el. Kyle has been soo excited to ride Chicago's elevated train ever since he got a post card from GG about it and began watching the intro to While You Were Sleeping over and over! :)

I like the picture below because of how cute GG and Kyle look together. Also, though Ru grew up a Sox fan, I think it'd be super cute to learn how to play ball in this Little Cubs Field.

Uncle Ben was (is) amazing. He's going to be a great father. 

And the same goes for Auntie Ray. She was a terrific tour guide who made sure to plan several trips on the el for a certain 4 year old. :)

Kyle was mesmerized...

He especially loved this view from up top and could have stood here all day.

Gavie loved it all, too.

Crossing the Chicago River. 

We loved this cool piece of architecture at Millennium Park.The faces change and even wink at you. Kyle's favorite part was when the water shoots out of the mouth. 

GG, Kyle, and Auntie Ray (above and below)

Wow, imagine Kyle with dark hair and see how similar he looks to Rachel? I love family resemblances.

The bean! We were complete tourists and totally not ashamed! ;)

The next day we headed over to see my brother's work and Department Chair office. I'm so proud of him.

I didn't get any other good-bye shots but this one...but it just touches my heart so much to see Kyle's love for his family. By this point, he had already said good-bye to his GG, Auntie Ray and Uncle Ben and we were preparing to leave that night so he was really feeling sad and held on to my brother for quite a while. 

Back at the airport, having arrived at 4am, the boys were pretty adorable about the whole airplane thing. Kyle is at such a great age for traveling and did a fantastic job entertaining himself while we waited or were otherwise busy with Gavin.

The BEST part of the whole trip was coming home to see Daddy!!!! We had missed Ru so much!

Thank you, GG, for the opportunity to visit! 

Our Summer Illinois Trip - Part I

A few months ago, my brother and his wife had a baby! So once school was out, the boys and I got the much appreciated gift of airfare via GG and went back for a visit to meet the little fella and see Rudy's family. Kyle had been counting down the weeks, days, and hours until our departure. When packing day finally came, Kyle was only too happy to be as helpful as possible. ;)

Flying on buddy passes is always quite the adventure, especially with young children. We weren't able to get on our first choice of flights out of our local airport and instead headed over to LAX. Before we left we let the boys watch some planes land from a nearby parking structure. Gavin was squealing and saying, "airplane!!!" over and over.

Over at LAX we waited and waited. After not getting on another viable option (tickets just seemed to sell right out from under us), we waited hours for the next plausible flight that happened to be delayed by an hour. Boo. Fortunately, my sister was flying with us in order to help me and with all the waiting, she was invaluable. The boys did pretty well considering the circumstances but it was tough and we worked non stop to entertain and pacify them. Though Kyle enjoyed watching all the activity outside the window, he struggled to understand why we had to wait "sooo long" and why our kind of tickets wouldn't get us on the plane (after all, we had started our travel early on in the day and by nightfall we still weren't on a plane). Gavin, on the other hand, was running all over the place and after a few hours into our wait, I'd all but exhausted our packed tricks for the flight. Fortunately, our flight was so late, Gavin went to sleep soon after boarding and slept the entire direct flight into Chicago. Whew.

We were picked up at 2am and made it back to Aunt Donna's house by 3am. We are so fortunate that Donna is the kind of person who places family in such high regard, that she didn't bat an eye about picking us up so late. We were so grateful. We woke up to see this beautiful sight out the back window. Usually we are here for Christmas, so it was so surprising (and gorgeous) to see all that green!

Cousin Donovan has a cool tree house and was so sweet to share all of his things with the boys.

Before a storm was supposed to roll in, we sneaked a little bike ride over to a park. Walking through this wooded path made me realize we really do live in a desert back home. I loved all the beautiful greenery. 

And we really appreciated this... we don't see skies like this at home. And I hadn't remembered the last time (in years!) I'd heard thunder or saw lightening. I also hadn't felt rain drops like these in years as well. The 4 of us Californians just stood outside watching and feeling the storm. We were total foreigners delighting in the rarity of a "real" storm. (It wasn't even that big of a storm to a local but it was so unique to us.) :)

Inside, the boys had a blast playing with all of Donovan's cars, trains, and Legos. This kids table was a huge hit with Gavin for some reason. He seemed to think it was his job to move the chairs all over the place. So with determination, he shuttled those things back and forth and all around.

Then, we got to meet our nephew, Ethan Michael!!!! So incredibly thankful we got to see him at this young phase. He was precious. And my brother and his wife were adorably in love.

The boys got to meet their first 1st cousin! We all score big time in this deal. :)

Back with GG and Great Grandma Sally, we got such a fun treat out at a train restaurant that sat right in front of a real train station. The boys got to watch several trains pass through and we even got served our food from this little locomotive train going by...

By this point, I think Kyle had a pretty bad headache, but he really enjoyed all the train things this cute place had to offer.

Happy.

Gavin loved being with Grandma Sally, calling her "Saaally" over and over. 

Over at the house, we hung out with even more family (how cute is it that GSal is next door neighbors with her sister and brother in law?). The boys enjoyed riding around on this tricycle and though most of the cutest pictures turned out blurry, these ones melt us.

And in case you're wondering if we purposefully match our boys, Kyle actually asks to match his brother and will ask to buy matching clothes. Kinda cute. But back to the family... I loved watching Grandma Sally chase after Gavin. He enjoyed her and she is so cute with little ones.  

One of our favorite memories was at this water park/pool. Funny, but they call it "the pool" and I expected to find a rectangular concrete hole filled with water. Instead, we were introduced to another Midwest thing ...and really enjoyed this kid's playground, a dirt/sand/river play area, some pools, water slides, a lazy river, and a zipline! I totally got my zipline on and went on water slides like I used to some 25 years ago!

Gavie was in heaven with all the water play/mud making he could do.

Kyle and his GG.

We stayed from lunch to dinner time and had a blast. It was a big highlight. Also special, was spending time getting to know cousin Aito. 

The next day GG took us to a beautiful nature spot with a river, some falls and a big water wheel. We explored a little bit and really enjoyed the children's indoor nature center before picnicking for lunch outside.

Check out this huge birds' nest! Gavin loves birds and nests. :)

Back at GG's place the boys loved singing and dancing to a country song over and over and having "pop-sics" in the bath. ;)

And before this becomes an even longer post, I'll end Part I here. Next up, our day in the city with Auntie Ray and Uncle Ben!!!

Jonathan's Name

It's our 3 year anniversary. In remembrance of him, I'd like to share how Jonathan got his name.

Walking out of the ER with my little baby boy in a box was one of the most surreal moments of my life. Basically unbelievable. While picking up some meds at the pharmacy, I had this indescribable urge to buy him something. I can't explain it, but I didn't want to leave without something to remember him by. I noticed some name key chains/charms and I wondered what we'd call him. Looking through the names I knew right away that our son wouldn't have one of the popular, trendy, light-hearted ones. Instead, his would most likely carry some weight, so to speak. And then I spotted it. Can't explain why, but I just "knew" it was Jonathan. The same second I "knew" I was also very aware of the fact that Rudy would have to have just as much a say in the naming process. Still, something was calling me to this name and so I bought it with the idea that I would ask Rudy what he wanted to name him and if he said Jonathan, I'd pull out the charm and show him.

A day later, Ru flew in and after Kyle went to bed, we spent the rest of the night together with our baby. When I asked Ru what he'd like to name him, he said, "I want to honor John (Parker). So how about John...Jonathan?" With tears and a nodding head I pulled out the little charm I'd bought. Somehow we had both been touched by the same name.

Jonathan's middle name, Harold, is my Grandpa Thune's name. There are so many reasons we wanted our son to carry his name, but I think perhaps the "cutest" thing is that Papa John and my Grandpa were best friends from childhood and throughout their entire lives. ;) Both men are amazing men of character, faith, and integrity. Solid, strong, good men. Harold is such a significant, special name that we hesitated (for a second) to give it to a son who wouldn't ever live to know it, and (hopefully) be so very proud to carry it. However, we reasoned that perhaps we'd never have another son and therefore never be given the chance to use it. Also, it seemed that our beloved little boy deserved the best. Since we wouldn't be able to give him anything else in this life, we wanted to give him the best name we knew.

Though Papa John had since passed away, my Grandpa Harold was able to hold Jonathan in his box during our brief time in Murdo. It was a bittersweet "meeting."

So, that's how JHM got his name. And that's the story of the charms in this frame that hangs in the boys' room. (I'd bought one for Kyle at the same time, and my friend Esther went back to the pharmacy there to get one for Gavin after he was born.)

The 3 Brothers

Jonathan, we remember you today and every day. We love you so much!

Kyle's Preschool Class Beach Party!

Kyle will have his last day of preschool tomorrow. To celebrate, the kids from his class all went to the beach. They had such a fun time.

While the girls made pies and cakes with the sand toys, the boys ran and jumped in the water.

And Gavie was Gavie...running straight into the water over and over and over again! Starting swim lessons for this guy pronto!

Sheer joy and giggles.

My adorable littles!!

Can't believe Kyle is already through with preschool. So excited for summer though! He's been looking forward to a couple of fun trips and a big birthday!!! :)

Bonk!

One of Gavie's favorite things to do is bonk you on the head. He loves to bonk, say "Bonk!," and then sign "hurt" while saying "Oww!" Don't get him started unless you're prepared to bonk yourself out. His giggles make all the head butting worth it though. 

After the hundredth time, I got my camera out. We love how much he enjoys signing. He gets such a kick out of saying and signing everything he knows. 

"Owww!"

Giggle, giggle...

Rudy souped up this little beeper car in order to play firefighters.

Silly!