Our summer trip!

Mommy's first check-up with Dr. Ertel was first before making our way to Wisconsin. She was 9 weeks pregnant and got her first ultrasound this morning. Everything looked great and her due date remains at January 3rd!

Now, on with our summer trip!

We made a long weekend trip to the NW tip of Wisconsin a mini-vacation. We were going to Hudson, Wisconsin (about 20 miles from the Twin Cities/Minnesota state-line) for a HS graduation open house for our cousin, Taylor. On our way up, we stopped in Chicago for a late lunch at Giordano's for some awesome stuffed pizza....boy do mommy and daddy miss that! We also drove by their old house to see what had changed there.

Next, we stopped at Wisconsin Dells for a night of water park fun!!! It was a blast and we all loved it. Grammy, Gary and Great Uncle Jim were with us. I loved the water slides and was pretty brave. By the end of the night, I was going down the big tube slides and everything! There was so much fun stuff to see and do but we were there less than 24 hours. We will HAVE to go back and spend more time. This was about a 6 hour drive from Indy.

Welcome to Wisconsin sign

I got mommy to go down the tube slide with me after daddy and I tested it out first.

We were in the car a lot so that is where we took our naps!

 Friday night, we met our family at their house in Hudson after getting checked into our hotel. We played there for a little bit and went back to the hotel to swim in the pool before dinner. We were pooped and all went to bed at a decent hour.

We had another BIG day on Saturday! First, we went to the Mall of America that was less than a half hour away. It was pretty overwhelming and AWESOME!! I loved the amusement park portion and all of the rides. Vivi was too small for many of them but she really enjoyed the carousel and watching me! We only had about 4 hours to spend here but I don't think we would've lasted much longer than that anyway. The shopping looked great but there wasn't enough time (or energy) for that.

Daddy and Uncle Jim took me on the water log ride. So fun!!

Next, daddy and I went on the swings!! I think this was my favorite!

Good thing these things don't make daddy dizzy because mommy couldn't handle it!

The bumper cars ride was HILARIOUS!! I can't believe other kids deliberately try to run into you. I also can't understand how to go any direction other than in a circle!

We all enjoyed the carousel....especially Uncle Jim!

Vivi was pooped!

 We had to hurry from the mall to go straight to the open house. It was a beautiful summer day and the party was outside so that was perfect! Vivi carried Grammy's purse around that she was obsessed with. She didn't want to give it back to her...even when her phone was ringing inside.

They had a digger in the playground, so I dug me up some dirt!

Mommy with cousins Nick and Taylor (graduate)

More cousins - Alex, Andrea, mommy, Nick and Taylor

Grammy and Uncle Jim with their first cousin's Amy and Tom (daddy of graduate)

Great Grandma Susie's brother - Tom, Sr.

Relaxing at the hotel after a huge day

The drive home was very long but we made a special stop in the middle for lunch. We visited mommy's friend Melanie in Madison and saw their new house. Her kiddos Colin and Kate were awesome and even though I met them when I was younger a couple times, I didn't remember them. They had never met Vivi but played with us just the same. We didn't want to sit still for pizza because we had been cooped up. So, mommy and daddy enjoyed their lunch with Melanie (Doug was away on a trip) and catching up. They took our pizza to go and we were  hungry as soon as we got in the car. The stop was only about an hour long but it was a nice break.

Oh, and we decided that we need a bigger car before the baby arrives. The Jeep is just not going to cut it with three in the middle row. YIKES!!

Memorial Day

Daddy rigged up a homemade water slide again on our playground. The garden hose water is ice cold but a great way to cool off! Wrigley even enjoyed the water slide!! (see video below)

While we were having fun on our slide, Aunt Kari called and said she and Mark were going to Mark's parent's house to swim in their pool. They invited us along so of course we went! It was so fun. His family was all in Tennessee so we had the whole pool to ourselves. We swam for about 4 hours!!! 

It's always snack time for this girl!

Happy Memorial Day!!

Race Week

The Indianapolis 500 always brings lots of activities and this year did not disappoint. I had lunch with Johanna at a Fashion Show to benefit a charity. Most of the race car drivers and/or families were a part of the show. Johanna, Bobby, Isa and Ava walked down the catwalk together. Then, Bobby's older daughter Sam and Graham's girlfriend Laken walked together. There were so many dignitaries in attendance it was so fun just to people-watch.

Mommy and Johanna after the show

Sam, Isa, Johanna and Ava

Johanna having the girls pick out their daddy's face on the famous Borg-Warner trophy

The girls stayed with Grammy while I was at the show....Grammy texted me a couple of pictures to show me they were having a good time. 

Wearing some of Grammy's lipstick and jewelry. Aren't I pretty?

Hi mom!

Looks like some kiddos had fun at Grammy's house!

Although the Pacers have nothing to do with race week, they were actually in the second round of the playoffs and the 7th game happened to fall on this week. I got free suite passes through work so Kari and I took advantage of them. Unfortunately, they did not win but we were still proud of them and had a good time cheering them on!

The next day was Carb Day and Kari went with Susan and her work for the yearly outing. I offered to do the driving so they met at our house that morning.

Saturday morning was the parade and we (Grammy, Nick, our girls and I) went downtown early for breakfast with Johanna, her mom and the girls. Isa, Ava, Audrey and Vivi had a nice time getting acquanted/re-acquanted. 

It was a scorcher outside and we sure did sweat a lot! This was our second year attending the parade and we really want to go back every year. There are celebrities, fun floats for the kids, bands (which are definitely Audrey's favorite) and loads of people.

Every time a band would march by, Audrey would pull up her shirt and "drum" on her belly. It was so cute! See video below.


After we got home from the parade, we had some special visitors from Chicago stop in for a visit. Mommy's friend Jody, her husband Bill and their son Billy! It was great to see them and we chatted and played for an hour or so. They were on their way through Indy after a week-long vacation in the Carolinas. It was so nice of them to stop in to see us and great to meet little Billy!! What a CUTIE!

Last day of school

It was the last day of school and I posed for some shots with my buddies.

From left to right: Matthew, Noah, ME and Connor

Frozen Yogurt Bar

There are frozen yogurt bars popping up all over Fishers and we thought we should try one of them to see what the rave was all about. We went to Orange Leaf which is a trendy little shop near Geist with cool chairs, groovy lights and fun decor. There are so many different kinds of yogurt to choose from and a huge "buffet-style" bar full of candy, cereal, chocolate chips, and about anything you could ever dream of as a topping. They weigh your cup (which they only have one size) to get the price....it can definitely add up quickly. Vivi and I chose our toppings. I had chocolate chips with cake batter yogurt and vanilla. Vivi had some strawberry and vanilla yogurt with chocolate chips and some slimy cirlce things. Mommy had a concoction of many different things. We all shared and enjoyed our nice little dessert break.

Audrey's appointment at Riley

It took over a month to get in with the Pulmonologist at Riley and of course it was on a Monday morning, the second to last day of Audrey's school. Aunt Susan watched Vivi for us so the specialist had all of our attention.

After waiting for only a short time, the doctor spent an hour with us going over her history in detail. We brought a list of her medications, copies of her x-rays, ER and pediatrician visit documentation. After reviewing family history as well and all of Audrey's symptoms he diagnosed her with Asthma. There are not lung tests that can me done for kids her age...that is more around the age of 7. However, after reviewing her x-rays he felt that she didn't have pneumonia at all....he thinks it was asthma attacks. (I am not sure a fever of over 104 comes with asthma attacks but agree that there is some underlying cause for her constant flare-ups.)

Our plan of attack to hopefully suppress further "attacks" is to continue steroid treatments in the nebulizer once a day indefinitely. When attacks seem to be coming on, we add albuterol to the routine every 4 hours. Albuterol is not fun to give a child as it literally makes them CRAZY!!! We go back in 4 months for a follow-up to evaluate the next steps.

So far, the treatment plan seems to be working....it is also summer break away from school and not allergy season. Only time will tell...until our next visit.

Mother's Day 2012

This year, Mother's Day was really special. We drove to Bluffton for church at Calvary Lutheran to join Grammy, Great Grandma Susie and Wilbur, Aunt Carol, Aunt Susan & Austin, Aunt Kari & Uncle Mark, Cousins Kim, Cory, Adela and Aidan, Cousin Mark, Uncle Jim & Jill. After church we went to Pizza Hut and enjoyed a great lunch and conversation. We missed Grandma Cindy and daddy's side of the family though.

Ended a great Mother's Day with story time with my girls. Love them so much!!