Yellow Belts at Tae Kwon-Do

Congratulations Connor & Christen!!

Great job!

Now on to the Green Belt!

Trip to Huntley, IL - September 2009

Granny came to Chicago to spend 10 days at the Berggren's.

One day Jaki, Jeremy & I went to Chicago for the day on the Metra.

We walked from the train station to Navy Pier.

We saw lots of skyscrapers!


Then we stopped at Millennium Park to see "Cloud Gate", the monumental sculpture. It is a major feature of Millennium Park. It is called the "Bean"! You can see why.

We had lots of fun with the reflections!

The building on the right is where Jim lived in his corporate apartment when he lived downtown Chicago for 2 years. The "Bean" wasn't there then!

Then we headed for Navy Pier. Jaki & I wanted to go on the ferris wheel but Jeremy was frightened and didn't want to go.

Mommy tricked him to get him on, he cried on the way up, but on the way down he loved it and wanted to go again!

For being such a good sport he earned an ice cream cone!

Since we had walked many miles we boarded a water taxi for a ride back to the train station.

We went under many bridges and saw all of the skyscrapers from the river.

We even saw a train going over the bridge that we went under!!

Spectacular!!!

In the shiny windows of the skyscrapers we saw reflections of other skyscrapers!

Cool!

We even saw the Sears Tower from the water taxi!

And then we learn they have changed the Sears Tower to the Willis Tower.

That is crazy! It will always be the Sears Tower to us!!

This is the new Trump Towers.

We boared the train and had a great ride home on the top of the double decker train!

Another day Jaki took Maureen and I too the Japanese Gardens in Rockford where we had lunch and toured the gardens.

Beautiful scenery!

Lovely weather!

And great company!

It was so fun to see Maureen again! Now it is her turn to come to Seattle for lunch!!

Thank you, Jaki for another fun day!

We had a busy week. Jeremy went to school every day and one night we baked cookies!

And did some sewing on Granny's sewing machine.

On the week end the Christensen's and Pa/Bestefar came to visit.

We hung out around home and had time to enjoy the grandkids.

Olivia loved riding Jeremy's 4 wheeler on the highest speed. No fear...I hope I am not near when she gets behind the wheel of a car. ha!

Gavin loved walking with Bestefar.

And with Daddy!

A good way to keep the hair out of the eyes! ( :

And then Gavin did some more walking and jumping.

And then playing with Thomas the Train.

And crawling on the steps!

While Jeremy was intense with his drawing. He spends hours drawing pictures of the earth, the planets and the space shuttle.

Olivia helped Besta play Dominos!

Sunday we went for a hike in Marengo.

Olivia borrowed Jeremy's "hikes".

Gavin and Bestefar checked out the berries.

Lots of mosquitos in the woods! Yikes!

We were very happy to celebrate Grandparents Day with 3 of our Grandkids. It would have been perfect if Connor & Christen had been there too.

Now it was really fun to jump off of the fence posts!

Olivia flying high!

(oh, no......where did Jeremy go? He was flying high too!)

Jason, why aren't you flying?

Copy cat Jeremy!! ( :

Great job!

Well, we had a fun day!!

The Christensen's head back to Indiana, Granny/Besta & Pa/Bestefar head back to Washington!

Thank you Jaki, Jeff & Jeremy for the great time.

Look below to see what Connor & Christen did this week end!!

Connor & Christen in Connecticut

Connor & Christen were not with us for Grandparents Day but they were marching in a parade in Guilford!!
Christen looks very familiar in her Girl Scout uniform!
Pretty snazzy Christen!!

But I did not even recognize Connor as a Greaser!!

I didn't know a hairstyle could change him so much. Actually, I think it is very becoming. Maybe he will start a new fad!! ( :

Returning to Snoqualmia via Mt. Rainier - 9/19/09

Forecast for Paradise Inn was 90% chance of rain but we decided to go for it!

The new Visitors Center is amazing! Almost like a museum.

It was 42 and cloudy but as the day progressed the sun peeked out here and there. The cloud formations were awesome.

And by 3 o'clock there was a view of the mountain!

What a gorgeous drive!