The CAT museum

After the wedding, we headed to Peoria for a few more days of family. First stop was the Caterpillar Museum. Really to see this huge mining truck!

HUGE!

I tried my hand at excavating. Wasn't very good in this simulator. Takes a lot of practice.

And a little bowling at this big store called Sportsman's Paradise. 

And don't I always need a picture of my husband hugging a huge grizzly?

Playing catch up on the blogging...This was all back in May, now moving through the summer in a fast fashion.

The Big Day

Generations. Great-Grandma Pat, Grandma Karen, Daddy (Brian), Aunt Sarah and the littlest one, Norah.

Waiting for the wedding to start. Keeping this girl busy so she could walk successfully up the aisle. Which she did so well!

Thanks to the bride and groom for an awesome bubble blower gift to the flower girl. This is one of my favorite pictures of all time.

Fun with cousins who live far away and we don't see them nearly enough!

Michelle and Jonathan. A beautiful ceremony for two awesome people. God graced their afternoon with sun which was amazing since it had been POURING that morning with a little thunder and lightening even. 

The beautiful location of the wedding. Two nights in this huge place!

Allerton Park in Monticello, Illinois

St Louis Zoo

Did you know the St. Louis Zoo is free? What an awesome thing to provide a city and visitors! We took full advantage of it on Day 2 of our adventure last May (embarrassing that we are just now posting these pictures...)

A train ride thru the zoo, since the zoo was free, we decided to pay for something!

Trying their hardest at a "goat face". How'd they do?

The polar bear was active and swimming. Awesome to see an animal so close, with a little glass between us and him.

For all those pregnant women out there. 

Sleeping under the water!

Next up, wedding pics!

St Louis day 1

Hopping into the plane and flying to St. Louis where we spend one day before we drive to Monticello, IL for my cousin Michelles wedding where Norah would take on her most important job of her life: flower girl. 

  Norah hard at work coloring wwwwaaayyy outside the lines. She didn't quite get the idea of a maze yet. That's ok, there is time to learn. 

 Always time to stop coloring for a much needed nap. 

 We made it to St. Louis and we had to go visit "The Arch". The park was being remodeled and I'm sure it will be spectacular when finished. We had a good time anyway. 

This plaza in St. Louis under the arch is the most Russian looking place I have seen in USA since being back. All plazas and squares in Russia seemed to look just like this: big stair cases, and wide open space near a river. Just a random recollection I had 

After visiting the park we went and got Chicago style deep dish pizza that was recommended to us. It was so thick that I barely got 2 pieces down.  Day 1 in the books. Tomorrow it's off to the St. Louis zoo. 

January activities

After the holidays, the months of January and February seems to fly by. It is always sad and a relief to see the Christmas decorations be put away. We did a number of fun activities in January.

1. My nephew saved a cat from being homeless and we took it in.  It lived in his car for a few days before we decided to keep him. We named him Mishka. He adds some adventure to our home.

The men, practicing their baby figures. Brian and Abe. Oh and Norah also has a balloon in her shirt. 

Happy Birthday Brian!

We headed to Portland to celebrate Brian's birthday with his dad, Matt in town. 

It was a pretty nasty day but we enjoyed a ride on the "train" or Max line and then had to walk a bit in the rain to OMSI.

We all had a good time, especially Norah.

Two scientists. Ready for anything!

I had to put this picture in. We went to a great restaurant for dinner for Brian's birthday, Mother's Bistro. Norah got a little tired of sitting at the dinner table, so she just relaxed on the couch next to Grandpa Matt.

Brian's birthday dessert. YUM!

The Birth Day of Harper

Harper Ida Reichlin, Born to my sister and her husband, Abe. I've see all her babies come out! Lucky me. Born January 21, 2017. 

Norah is enjoying baby Harper too.

We visited the next few days and each time she gives lots of love to the baby. 

And this time, she wanted to be a shark. Who can blame her? She's cute.

What a fun birthday party for our friend Ezra (not pictured here). Here is Norah with Ezra's mommy, Lindsey and her new baby, Zadie. We sat in a firetruck! How cool is that!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Off to Christmas Eve Service

Then to my mom's for fun activities like opening new pajamas!!

What silly kids, Gwyn, Noah, Isaac and Norah

Can you believe Norah slept in until 9 on Christmas morning? It probably won't ever happen again. Ha. She had a good time opening gifts and handing gifts out to us. 

Spinning in the sun in her beautiful red dress. Isn't she cute?

Holiday Activites

Off to the Oregon Gardens for some Christmas lights in Silverton, Oregon. A tad disappointing, I think my expectations were set a bit high. But we had a fun group to go with at least.

Gingerbread Houses! Year #3.

We are continuing in this tradition. It is a fun one! And the kids like to eat their houses for a few days afterwards. UGH. Everyone worked very hard on their houses.

I think Isaac and Jeremiah had the goal to get as much candy in and on the houses as they possibly could. They had some pretty heavy houses!

Here is Sadie's house (Ben's girlfriend). She did a great job and spent a lot of time working on it. I especially like her snowman. 

Here is my mom's house. Complete with a pond in the front yard. 

Norah's house required some help, although I was busy working on my own house, so I'm not sure who helped her. Or how much candy she ate along the way... Whoops.

Seasons Greetings to Salemites! The lawyer's office is the best place to see Christmas lights!