IMAGES
October 02, 2010
Ethan's first Illinois Football game. Go Illini! (unfortunately they lost to Ohio State)
Back home
Max has clothing issues ...
Game night
October 03, 2010
Sunday morning at Curtis Orchards
Who's the cow?
Off to the pumpkin patch
Time to wash the pumpkins
Two cool kids
We're getting bigger!
Movies:
Too cool!
Daddy, we need one of these for our backyard
October 04, 2010
Lining up at school
Swim classes. Max is in a group with Anna and Collins
And Ethan is working on floating on his back
October 05, 2010
The morning walk to school
Signing in at Ethan's classroom
Story time with Opa
I-L-L-I-N-I! Go Illini!
October 06, 2010
National Walk to School Day
Lots of kids met up with the principal in Carle Park and then walked to Leal School
A stop at Carle Park on the way home. The two monkeys loved climbing
October 07, 2010
This is how you drink in our house!
October 08, 2010
Biking to school today
Max got to ride his bike too.
Snacks in the park
Introducing Oma to Tokyo Mater and Dragon-style McQueen!
October 09, 2010
The Youth Literature Festival at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, hosted by The Cat in the Hat
Malcolm was in the band
Max found a nice house for a mouse
The highlight of the morning was making puppets from pool noodles and pipe cleaners
Before the puppet show, the kids got to play with some of the real puppets
But the puppet show captured everyone's attention
Back upstairs, Ethan explored some more
And found his friends Ori and Siggi!
Mara's birthday party at the little gym. A chance for Max to play with old friends
While Ethan went to the The Chanute Air Museum in Rantoul with Oma and Opa
Kirstin and Luigi stopped by for dinner and got to read to the boys
October 11, 2010
Meet me in St Louis!
Checking out the Mississippi River and the Louis and Clark statue (which was not supposed to be under water)
It was a little too cold (and too dirty) to swim, but Rob, Robert and Ethan stuck their hands in!
Oma and Opa!
The first of many pictures of the Gateway Arch. While it looks quite simple, it is mesmerizing
A few shots from Ethan:
Then up the stairs with Opa
Strong-man Ethan
A demo of the elevator capsule
While we were waiting to go up, we wandered through a small museum
The park ranger explained ALL of the uses of buffalo!
Ethan found lots of things to take pictures of
Say Buffalo Mozzarella!
On our way to the elevator. Pull the whistle cord!
We all fit inside!
630 feet up and what a view.
Heading back down
We had some goofy boys in our elevator
A riverboat on the Mississippi!
We walked through a nice park on our way to dinner. There we fountains
And some very fun sculptures
A very large Pinocchio
The Keith Haring Sculpture was really cool
Walk or Don't Walk?
Dinner time
Max thoroughly enjoyed the pots de creme!
And Ethan liked the ice cream!
October 12, 2010
When you say "Bud" ... visiting the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. The famous Clydesdale horses
A stop at the stables
around the grounds
and inside the brew house
The production line
And back to the main house for a taste of the beer
The Magic House - aka the St Louis Children's Museum
These were real musical chairs!
So much to explore. The piano play music and controlled the bubbles
GOAL!
I could watch this for hours
The bubble room was a big hit
Pull hard Oma!
And every one had fun with the pegboards
The faces of Rob
That's Max!
And I'd recognize that nose anywhere :)
Gears galore
Down stairs we wandered into the old west ...
And upstairs there were all sorts of machines to test out
Not sure what to call this one, but everyone started having flashbacks to the 70's
A room of magnets is fun for all ages
But the big hit was the static electricity room!
A really big harp
Outside was fun too
Max and Ethan built some great foam tracks for the balls to roll on
Strongman Ethan!
Last stop, a climb up Jack's beanstalk with mommy.
After dinner, we all took a ride around the downtown in a nice carriage
October 13, 2010
On our last day in St Louis, we went to the City Museum, which was anything but a normal museum.
There was a room full of skateboard ramps for us to slide on
Movies:
This was one really big pencil. Where's the giant to write with it?
An indoor train for the kids
And the climbing begins
Bob's Big Boy - one of the many random things found in the museum
A view of the entryway
And Ethan climbing through the curly tubes
The rest of the first floor was a underwater wonderland
Up to the roof.
Down a fast slide. Go Ethan and Rob!
Ethan, Rob and Robert took the 11 story spiral slide (just use your imagination, no picture could do it justice). Part way down, there was a full pipe organ!
Back outside for one last climb out onto the wings of the airplane!
See that school bus all the way up there? Ethan ans Max were hanging out of the door ... and making Rob very nervous!
October 14, 2010
Back home, Ethan and Opa enjoy Carle park
The best way to play Scrabble. If you can't use the tiles you have, just eat them. They're made of chocolate!
October 15, 2010
Happy Birthday Oma!Robin, hard at work on the birthday cake.
You're our Ace, Oma!
Dinner was homemade dumplings. And everyone joined in to help make them.
Yummy!
Lang zal zij leven ...
Blow out the candles!
Who wants cake?
A fun night of good food and good friends
October 16, 2010
Backwards day with the kooper boys
Getting ready for Halloween.
Oma's sad and happy face pumpkins
Look, mom, I used both hands!
A new toy for Max. But first we have to put it together.
Then we put the little balls in the top and watch them go!
October 17, 2010
A happy dance from Ethan
One last trip to Meadowbrook Park with Oma and Opa
And of course a few family pics
Everyone tickle Oma!
Now it's time to say good-bye ...
A great tree to climb
October 23, 2010
A special Lego day at the toy store! Ethan and Max got to make and race their own Lego cars.
Back home it was time to rake the leaves .. and have some fun too!
Daddy's little helpers
Watch out. Here come the leaves!
Mommy took lots of pictures
Daddy got in the pile too!
Movies:
Hey look ... I found a leaf!
Filling the leaf bags
Our own Illini Cowboy (Movie)
October 24, 2010
A beautiful day for a trip back to Curtis Orchards. The kids never get tired of this place.
Pony rides!
Have we gotten any taller since last time?
Mommy needs big pumpkins to carve our jack-o-lanterns!
Pull ...
Much better with teamwork
Scrub, scrub, scrub
October 27, 2010
Pajama day at the Little Gym
Ethan got all the way up onto the bar!
And it's fun to play on them too!
October 28, 2010
Halloween party at Leal Kindergarten. Mommy made skeleton and pumpkin cupcakes.
First the Halloween parade! Lisa and LaDonna's class made all of their own monster masks.
They made a full lap around the playground
They all lined ...
Ethan's friends Siggi and Hank from the other classroom.
Inside, the kids had some good treats
And still had energy for a nice story from Lisa
After dinner, Ethan and Max got to enjoy the leftover cupcakes!
October 29, 2010
The Super Star Halloween Party at Next Generation
Our scarecrow
The kids sang along with a few songs
Movie:
Max's friend Paulina
Then it was off to Trick-or-Treating at NCSA
Boba Fett and Darth Vader were ambushed by Yoda!
This time, the force didn't win
Darth Leia?
Let's all join forces and get some good candy!
The Halloween Party at the Little Gym!
Max tried out the hula-hoops!
Movie:
October 30, 2010
Robin's pumpkins (Boba Fett, Yoda and Darth Vader)
October 31, 2010
A Sunday morning puppet show
Trick or Treat! Ethan and Max were joined by Teoman and Sinan (Darth Vader and Captain America), and Allie (Dementor)
The Italians know how to do Halloween in style!
Kate (princess) and Hank (Darth Vader # 3) joined the crowd
The Star Wars theme continued with Yoda and Princess Leia
OK, now, I am scared!
Off they go! (Monkey - Rahul)
Karrie and Paris's house! Give us something good to eat!
And of course, our Star Wars pumpkins
Darth, I am your mother ... um daughter ... I'm so confused!
How do I look in silver?
The evening ended with a fun round of Beatles Rock Band!
