Cookie Making with the Grandkids

A couple weeks ago 5 of the 6 grandkids came over for a sleep over.  We crammed in as much fun as we could!  We started by making candy.  Catherine loves to have her picture taken.

In between baking there was tree climbing.

 We also went out for pizza and looked at Christmas lights.

We came back to the house and made more candy.

 I'm sure there were more sprinkles on the floor than the counter top!

There was much discussion about having perfectly round pretzels for the candy to fit in.  You didn't want to have any that were "out of shape"!

Thanksgiving Day Football

We played.  I mean they played - I watched. A little game of football was played on Thanksgiving.  Watchout!  It looks like a throw gone wild!

Come on, Olivia!  Run!

Now you're doing it!

Good throw!

Here's Tommy in action!

Pie Face

We played a fun little game called Pie in the Face on Thanksgiving.  Everyone thought it was great!

New Floors and Stairs

This was one of those projects that started innocently enough.  I wanted new carpet in the family room.

Steve wanted to widen the doorway into the dining room.

And he wanted hardwood in his office instead of new carpet.  

Which meant we were going to get new stairs to fit in with all of the other improvements.

New treads are stained instead of carpeted also.

Finished product!  Pretty nice!

Lake Geneva.... again!

We made a quick trip to Lake Geneva in September.  We love going here. A friend of ours owns a condo and graciously lets us use it.  They were having a paddle boarding race one day.  It was fun to watch.  Our friends also own a Vespa type cycle.  Steve and I  made a few trips around the neighborhood on it.

We took a boat tour one day.  We have walked around the lake before and looked at the beautiful houses, but the tour also gave us background on them.  Lots of very wealthy families own these homes.  Such as the Wrigleys, Sears, and Montgomery Ward,

The path around the lake that allows you to stand in the yard of these homes and look at them.

Edie's 1st Birthday

We celebrated Edie's 1st birthday on Thanksgiving!  And we are very thankful for her!  The video goes sideways half way through. Sorry.....

Summer fun

Steve and I took Amber and the kids to Big Cedar in August.  We had so much fun.  

Mary thought she was pretty special going behind the waterfall.

We played Bingo and Michael won twice!  Gussie won once!  I was just about to tell Steve to stop playing because we needed to let some other families win, when he won!  Oh, well!

Here's a video of the kids going on a carriage ride.

Trolley ride in STL

I bought a Groupon that I thought was for a carriage ride.  I had the girls all hyped up for a fun Cinderella ride through downtown St Louis.  Alas, I was wrong!  It was a trolley ride.  I'm not sure how much they enjoyed it, but I really did.  It took us through lots of places in St Louis that I had never been before.  To make up for it, we went to Ballpark Village afterwards  and ate nachos and cheese.  Then walked next door to the fudgery and ..... wait for it..... ate fudge!

The Lanterns

We try and make it down to the Botanical Gardens every summer when they have The Chinese Lanterns.  This year Bennett (nephew) and Elaine (mother-in-law) joined us.  We watched the Chinese Acrobats.  I thought they would be a  snoozer but they were actually very enjoyable.  Everyone thought so!  Now, if we could only find a restaurant in the Loop that is open on Mondays!

Gussie's Train Ride

For his 3rd birthday Gussie wanted to go on a train ride.  It didn't matter that it was a 110 degrees out!  Or at least it felt like it.  We still had fun.

Happy 7th Birthday, Mary!

I'm a little behind on posting some things, but here's Mary's Birthday Party!

Fun times in Aspen

It has been many, many years since we went down an Alpine Slide.  But it was just as fun as we remembered!

This was one of the longest, highest gondolas I've been on.  Not exactly my favorite!

Maroon Bells.  Sure was pretty.

One of the highest peaks we were on this trip.

Steve gave the old rock climbing wall a try.