4th of July Festivities

First and foremost (if you are a toddler), there was a toddler bounce house. Tucker and Kathryn were in heaven!

There was a rib cook off.

Waiting for the fireworks to start... gorgeous sunset on the river.
A friend without kids brought a firework show of his own and shot it off the dock before the downtown fire works began. It freaked Tucker out so much -- all he wanted to do was go home -- but we managed to convince him to come back out for the "far away" fireworks. Which he loved.

Spring Training back in March

Cards v. Mets
Actually took a nap on me he was so tired! Unheard of!

Many pics of St.Louie

Lots of time with the birthday girl - Cia!!!

Betsy, Casey & Cia
At Grant's Farm (out of order)

At the big birthday party!

Fishing with Pop & Great Grandpa. Tucker caught THREE fish... but didn't want to touch them!

On the Zoo Train - a major highlight of the week.

Zoo train engine.

At Grant's Farm with Deena & Darin's kiddos, Andrew & Adam.

Lots of Beach Time

We've been going to the beach a lot lately... I vowed to go once a week and we are pretty close after last week. While Kyle went to Canada fishing, Tucker & I hung out down at Kyle's mom's house at the beach all week. The picture above was Memorial Day at Plantation Beach Club. It was a gorgeous evening and a fun atmosphere!

This is Tuck at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club... he only wanted the pool, pool, pool. Apparently the waves are "scawy." This place has perhaps the best atmosphere anywhere - with all the pools looking out over the ocean. We spent the week swimming and playing at eating at Mimi's! We did have some withdrawl problems after getting that much Mimi time... Tucker did not want to go back home to the real world!

Bowling & Trolleys

Kyle, Tyler, Davis & Tut had a Day-O-Fun that included golf and eating and eating and bowling.

A couple weeks ago, Tucker fufilled a dream... we rode the Riverside Trolley on the other side of the river from us. They are brand new, extremely well air-conditioned & very fun for an almost 3 year old. We may be doing this every other hot day this summer! It takes you from a 5 points in Riverside, through all of downtown and back around.

Chicago

Highlights of the weekend included Patrick's Band Concert. Here, Tuck & Sean head in to the auditorium together.
Patrick just before his trumpet solo.
Major highlight: Riding the train from LaGrange downtown!
Downtown with Sean, Grandpa Mike & Patrick.
Before the big baseball game Saturday!

The Wedding

We went up for Kyle's best childhood friend, Maura's wedding. It was so great to see everyone Kyle grew up with in LaGrange again. It was a gorgeous... and so much fun!
One last family pic in the yard before we left.

I stayed an extra 24 hours to visit Keri & Alec downtown and then spend the day with Julie and her twins in Glen Ellyn. It was fantastic to catch up and see their worlds! Bill, I know you will comment on this: I REALLY missed seeing you. It was the disappointment of the trip. Seriously. This is Kyle & Ellie at almost 2... they are so, so sweet!

Assorted May

We threw a shower for sweet Tara who works with us at Sharp & Sally -- she got married last week. Below is Calvin & Tucker who were there by default, but had a fun time playing with each other.

Teddy & Tucker lovin' each other as usual.

A recent phone conversation between the two of them:

Teddy: "Hey Tuck-o!"

Tucker: "Tuck-o?!? What is that about?"

You never know what is going to come out of his mouth. He talks so much these days it is tiring. The past few days he wants to know what every "hard" word that comes up means. We were listening to a new kids worship CD in the car the other day and he says: "Mama, excuse me, Mama... What does Alleluia mean?" Hmmm.

Gangsta boy.

"There's always something new!"

The Southside Methodist Preschool Spring Program.

Hmmm... can't really see Tuck, but he is in there in a royal blue shirt singing "There's always something new" and "Sewb one anoder" (serve one another). It was precious. Below is Tucker in his undies and my shoes walking through the yard.
More car washes...
The car wash below is when he puts the beach towel over the dining room table so it hangs down and then goes underneath with his truck. He usually pulls the towel with him. And he has another paper towel washing the steering wheel. His obsession is as strong as ever.
Tucker singing Happy Birthday to me. Loves Mimi's birthday hats!

Vintage Ryan Fam

Tucker continues to never sleep in the same place twice. Below was during his bout with the stomach flu... he walked past Kyle and put himself to sleep up in our bed. We had to go in and protect it from throw up with multiple towels... poor guy!

Above: He had been asleep for over 2 hours like this. What is that?!

Yesterday Kyle was teasing Tucker incessantly - trying to get him to say silly things and egging him on (those of you who know Kyle can picture this easily) when Tucker breaks out with:

"DADDIO! I DON'T WANT TO PLAY YOUR GAMES!"

Classic.