The Magic House

If you ever visit St. Louis there are a few places that you must go... if you have kids the Magic House is one of them! I remember going there when I was younger, but nowadays it is double the size. We had a blast this day!

Caleb as a construction worker

Caleb as a judge

Caleb as the President

Caleb as Jack from Jack and the beanstalk

More pictures

Some pics from Smoky Mountain National park near Gatlinburg. We got there right as the leaves began changing colors. I'm not sure we can call these mountains, but I will say that they are rather beautiful!

pics #4

Since our trip to Gatlinburg was in October everything was beautifully decorated for fall. I have never seen such large pumpkins in my life! It just added to the charm of this riverside town. Did I mention that my parents honeymooned in Gatlinburg 40 years ago?

Can u find Will in the picture above?

Caleb took this pic... not too bad for a 4 year old!!

Pics #3

In October we took a trip to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, TN. We had a great time exploring the two towns, playing plenty of puttputt, and riding the go-carts.

This was Caleb's first time driving a go-cart. They had a tiny circle track for the little guys. We took a video of it and I wish I could upload it here! Notice that Caleb is not looking where he is going! This is how he spent most of his time going around the track, causing him to run into the railing and some other go-carts a few times. Will and I were cheering him on, but having a hard time containing our laughter. Let's pray his driving skills improve before his 16th birthday!

more pics

For awhile we were always playing the game Monopoly Deal. Caleb wanted in on the action so we came up with a slightly less challenging format, and started playing it with him. He did such a good job learning all the rules, and even managed to win quite a few times. Here he is with a winning hand of three full sets.

We quickly signed caleb up for soccer lessons when we arrived. This one is before his first practice.

Here are a few from a game. You will notice that Caleb is smaller than most of the kids. The teams were composed of 4-6 year olds. Caleb had just turned 4.

Pics from August

Well, I am finally getting back to the blog! Here are some pics of the past 6 months!

Somehow they never get loaded in the correct order (I'm thinking it's user error), so I will explain as we go!

After Caleb's first day of Preschool here in Illinois, we treated him to a milkshake from Steak'n'Shake

The day after we moved into our new rental Caleb headed off to Preschool. Here are a few first day pics!

Toys are great, but they are not as fun as a giant cardboard box!! We had a lot of these after this move!

Here is Caleb's new bed and desk (over to the far right). They were given to us by some good friends we met in Guam that are now stationed here in Illinois. This is Caleb's room before it got painted blue and gray.