Happy 13th Birthday Jordan!

Today is Friday the 13th AND Jordan's Golden Birthday! He is now a teenager!!!!!!! We started celebrating last weekend!

Happy 13th Birthday Jordan! We love you!

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A few pictures from our trip to Minnesota!

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Minnesota or BUST!

Just a quick update...

We (Jojo, Sammy, Mimi, Grandma Nancy, Uncle Andy and Papa Don) leave tomorrow for Minnesota. Our first stop will be the Mall of America for a very short visit. We will spend the night Friday night in Bloomington, MN. On Saturday, we are heading to Deer River, MN to meet the Tresemer Fam and Marcy & Will for a week long stay on Jessie Lake.

(For those of you that didn't know Marcy & Will started their vacation a couple weeks early and will be coming from Montana).

We are all very excited about the trip and will have plenty of pictures to share when we return!

Trip to Chicago on the Train!

First, I must say Grandma Nancy and I haven't been so great about updating our blog regularly! We will try to do better!

Last week, Jordan spent the week with us so I took the week off to spend time with him. On Tuesday, Jordan, Sammy, Grandma Nancy and me took the train to Chicago for the day. Jordan loves the train and it was Sammy's first train ride.

Jordan & Sammy waiting for the train.

Grandma Nancy and Sammy on the train!

When we got to Chicago, we first took a water taxi to Navy Pier. At Navy Pier, we rode a Quadracycle, went through the fun maze and rode Thomas the Train.

Jordan on the quadracycle. Sammy got to sit in the front basket while the rest of us peddled.

Then it was time for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory! yum yum! Sammy had his first taxi ride on the way to lunch!

After lunch, it was time for a little bit of shopping at the Disney Store and Niketown. Jordan found a sweet new pair of shoes from Niketown. Sammy took a nap while we shopped!

Our last stop for the day was Shed Aquarium. We missed the dolphin show but saw lots of cool animals. Jordan's favorite animal was the beluga whale and Sammy's favorite were the dolphins.

Everyone had a super fun day and we are ready to go back again soon!

A Visit to Safety Town

Aunt Mimi took a Friday afternoon off and spent it with JoJo, Sammy and Grandma. We visited Safety Town. Fun was had by all. Sammy can pedal his trike now. Jojo and Aunt Mimi brought their bikes along. Sammy and Jojo were policeman and arrested Aunt Mimi a few times!!!!

Happy Anniversary Grandma and Papa!

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Sammy's Shaving Cream Fun!

Sammy discovered he LOVES playing with Papa's shaving cream. Here are a few pictures of Sammy enjoying the shaving cream at Grandma's!!!!!! Sammy had to get Papa a new can of it for his birthday becuase he plays with it so much.

Thanks Grandma for letting me have so much fun with Papa's shaving cream!

Papa's Birthday Celebration

On June 2, we had a birthday celebration for Papa. It started with Grandma Nancy & Sammy baking Papa's favorite cake, German Chocolate. We made two small cakes, one truly German Chocolate and the other chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. Sammy called that cake Sammy's cake. Sammy loved to help, taste and even help clean up!

Here are the boys blowing at the candles!!

Grandma Nancy grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for the big celebration. Papa got a Chicago Cubs bench for his patio! It was perfect! Here are the boys posing for a picture on the new bench.

Then on June 7 we continued the birthday celebration by going to the new Africa exhibit at the Peoria Zoo. We were going to have a picnic before but the rainy weather took us to Pizza Hut. Everyone had lots of fun at the zoo! Jordan's favorite animal was the Mandrill! Sammy's favorite animal was the Rhinoceros. We will post pics from the zoo soon!

Welcome to the Blog

Welcome to our blog! Grandma Nancy & Mimi want to share all the fun we have with Jordan & Sammy! Jordan is 12 and just finished 6th grade! He is enjoying his summer helping with VBS, riding his John Deere Tractor, mowing, volunteering at the Library once a week helping younger kids read and just plain having fun. Sammy is 2 and is always on the go! He enjoys his days with Grandma Nancy playing outside on the 'Sammy & Grandma' deck, going to the park, riding bikes, watching Mickey and so much more. We hope to update this blog with all the excitement of our summer (and for those of you who follow Marcy's blog... we hope to update it a little more often :)!)