Northwest Indiana visit

 

We were so excited to go back to Northwest Indiana where Stephen grew up and see so many of our friends and family. 

It was a fun two days jammed with fun!

After the Cubbies game we drove to see Stephen's aunts and uncles and cousins!

It was such a great dinner, full of laughter and catching up.  We love y'all!

 

We also took the kids to our Alma Mater, Valparaiso University!

This is where the love story of Stephen and I all started :)

Love in the chemistry lab, ha!

 

The beautiful Chapel of the Resurrection.

It really is a gorgeous place that I did not fully appreciate while a student at the university. 

 Although, that could be because of my part time job as a janitor while a student; I had to polish the hundreds of pews on Sunday afternoons.  

 

This is the baptismal font at the Chapel of the Resurrection.  This is where precious baby Amelia was baptized.  

 

Yay!  Neil's Science Center! 

 This is where Stephen and I met and spent many, many, many hours as students.

This was so fun to show the kids our old stomping grounds.  We even saw our Chemistry and Biology professors and they remembered us and got to meet our kids.  That is definitely something really cool about going to a smaller school.  They even gave our kids tours of the labs, showed them research, etc.  

 

The physician wall :)

Yay Dr. Stephen Boskovich!

 

 And of course we were thrilled to spend time with our Indiana besties, The Ruzas family.

Amelia and Abby, love these two girls.

 

Sam, Luke, Addison, Amelia, Abby- we get together every summer and they all just fall right back into the groove.  Amelia and Abby and Sam and Luke have been friends since they were babies-that's a pretty special friendship!

 

We love you Ruzassssssssssss!

 

Our old house in Schererville, IN!

Stephen grew up in this house and we bought if from his parents when we were pregnant with Amelia.  

We brought both baby Amelia and baby Luke home to this house.  

 

 

We always need to get a picture of this tree in the yard. 

 Stephen planted it when it was just a 3 inch sapling, that he mailed in for from a Lucky Charms cereal box! 

 Look at it now!!!

Cubs game

 

Go Cubbies!

 

There it is!  

The best street ever!

 

We were some of the first folks in the gate so Stephen and Luke ran to the best spot in the bleachers in left field :)

 

Happy boys :)

 

Luke watching the players warm up.

 

Addison loved the game...and the ice cream...and the teddy bear...and the lemon ice...and the hot dog...

 

Stephen and Luke painted this banner in Mississippi and brought it all the way to Wrigley Field!

HIT IT HERE JAVI!!!

Super cute, you can see Luke at the top holding it and Addison on the bottom corner.

 

Addison snagged a ball!

She is nothing if not scrappy.

A bunch of kids were at the fence when they threw it up and it bounced off a kid's glove, then the bleachers, then the ground and they all scrambled but guess who came up with it?

 

They even put this shot of Addison up on the jumbotron! 

Pretty good first Cubbies game experience.  

 

A few innings later and Luke caught a ball!

Daddy found a great spot for us to sit :)

The game was super fun, Cubs WIN in the 10th inning!

 

Our kids were able to run the bases (well, Luke and Addison).  

There they are, Addison between 2nd and 3rd, Luke right behind her.

 

This is where I started to get nervous.  Oh no, Luke is catching up to Addison, she is probably going to start yelling at him...

 

This is where he passed her up and I was certain she was going to either start screaming at him, punch him as he went by or trip him, or even all three.

But they both made it to home plate without incident so then I started to breathe again.  I was sure my kids were going to be on SportsCenter having a brawl at third base at Wrigley Field.

Great game, great day!

Chicago!

 

All of the kids had been bugging us to get back to Chicago to see a Cubs game.  Amelia hadn't been to one since she was about two and a half, Luke saw one when he was around nine and Addison (the namesake) had never been to one!

We flew in the evening before the game so we got to show the kids a few of the landmarks.   

Here is everyone in front of the water tower.

 

When Stephen and I  lived in downtown Chicago as newleyweds, I worked at Northwestern Hospital in the Labor and Delivery Department.  It was called Prentice Women's Hospital and that is also where we had Amelia!!

 

The Chicago River :)

We also got to show the kiddos where our old apartment was.

 

Of course we had to stop by The Bean!

Addison: "I mean...but what is it?  Like why is there a bean at this park?"

Us: "Don't worry about it, just smile for the picture."

O  

This is early the next morning at our FAVORITE breakfast spot where we used to go to treat ourselves.  

West Egg Cafe!

And they still had my favorite pancakes Blues and Cashews!

Grandma and Grandpa even bought newborn Amelia a "Just Hatched" onesie from here!

Lots of fun memories!

Gulfport Little Theater Camp

 

Anyone who has met Addison knows she is a bit dramatic so theater camp seemed a perfect place for her to spend the week.  

Addison LOVED it and after being moved up to the older kid group, she told me, "Mom, these are my people.  They get me."  

Ha!  Like I said, dramatic.

 

At the end of the week they had two theater productions.  

In the above one they sang and danced to a choreographed number from "School House Rocks" called "Interjections." 

Of course I am biased but my eyes were glued on Addison because she was so animated.

 

The second performance was a portion of Shrek and Addison played the Big Bad Wolf.  Here she is doing a scene with Shrek.  

She was perfect!  She projected her voice, remembered her lines, didn't look a bit nervous and was funny!

Bravo Addison!

Happy 4th of July!

 

Happy 4th of July!

 

The kids had a blast with this giant slip and slide at our family friend's giant 4th of July party.

 

And that's Addison!

What do you do if your daddy has to work on the 4th of July?  Climb on another daddy to use as an inner tube down the slide.

 

Amelia was the best, she took all the little girls she babysits for down the slide so many times.

 

Lukey!

 

Stephen had a very long shift that day so we were thankful to get some quiet family time for the fireworks.  

Nothing like walking to your backyard (actually our sweet neighbor's backyard) to sit on a private beach and watch the fireworks over the water.  

 

That's it, it was like a private show, just for us :) 

 

Luke chose to spend the evening jet skiiing and watching with friends...what a surprise!  Ha!

 

Twin Lakes Summer Camp

 

Twin Lakes is the place to be, Twin Lakes is the place to be!

The kiddos were excited to attend another week of Twin Lakes Summer Camp!

It is a fabulous Christian summer camp about three hours away from us.

 

Luke's last year as a camper!

 

Addison's cabin!

 

The kids love this camp because it is full of fun activities like swimming in the lake, blow up obstacles in the lake, kayaks, pool, giant water slides, archery, rock wall, zipline, etc.  All while learning more about a bible lesson and how Jesus loves them.

 

As you can see by all their smiles, they don't have any fun at all.

 

Amelia served as an LIT (leader in training) for the second year in a row.  

She loves it so much and all of the campers love her!

 

That's Amelia, in the corner of the shot teaching archery.

 

The week goes by so fast when you are having so much fun!

Best buddies, Amelia, Whitney and Lizzie have been campers together and now LIT's together since they were little girls.

 

Pick up day!!!

 

 

Brownie ice cream sundaes to welcome them home!

We love you Amelia, Luke and Addison!