Brett and Shay - Sitting In a Tree?????

And for the final leg of our vacation, we stopped in Lafayette/Brookston on our way home to visit my dear friend Amy who has recently relocated with her family to Camp Techumsa (I KNOW it's spelled wrong..I'm too lazy to google it, but that's how it sounds) :). Anyway, hanging out with Amy, Bryn, Shay and Liam is a regular playdate for us. And this was the first time we'd visited their new digs. I'd always said that Brett and Shay would make a cute couple (she is just 6 months older) because they are both blonde haired, blue eyed little ones. As soon as we got there, Shay grabbed Brett's hand and led him all over camp. It was adorable, so the camera had to come out to snap up the cuteness.

Annual Guilty Pleasure

So, the main reason we spent a few days with Rick and Tina was because Tina and I had our annual NKOTB show to attend. This will be the third summer we've gone (and we had gone the fall prior...so 4 separate shows..well 5 technically because one summer we went to 2 shows). We dug our shirts back out of storage...we bought these two summers ago, but with our pregnancies last summer, we were in maternity wear.

We still have the Indy show to attend on the 26th with my dear friend Nicole, and I can't wait!

Here are Tina and I pre-concert. Not looking too shabby for 2 girls who had just given birth 9 months prior!

Pool Time!

Of course we had to have a little kiddie pool time at Tina's house. And, of course I was there with my camera! Evan wasn't feeling well so he didn't join in the festivities, but Brett chilled for a bit, Kaia enjoyed perching on the side of the pool and posing, and Luke was so adorable...he was a little splash-bug. He seriously sat there for like 15 minutes, just splashing away..giggling and enjoying every moment of it :).

Time Flies!

How time is a-flyin' with the second one! My beautiful baby girl is 10 months old already (well these pics were taken a month ago, but you know...). She is really developing quite a little personality already. I can see her being a CEO, after she graduates high school as captain of the cheerleading squad and president of her class. Little girl is charming and DETERMINED. Seriously. This is the one that will give me gray hairs. Oh, but how I love her so :).

Anyway, here's a little post dedicated to Kaia. By this time in Brett's life, I'd written at least 3 times as many posts about him, so I feel like I need to have a few here and there just for my little ladybug. Here are a few with mommy and daddy taken at Rick and Tina's house.

Kaia and Luke, Sitting In a Tree...

What a better post to follow my previous one than one about Tina's and my youngest kiddos. Oh loyal readers (all 2 of you, God Bless You!) will remember that Tina gave birth to her adorable baby Luke 2 weeks after I delivered Kaia. Since then we "betrothed" the two of them (okay, well not really, but you know...) and they are so darn cute together! I really think they would make beautiful babies together...a long long long way in the future...but I'm not biased or anything ;).

Cuteness to follow....

Best Buds

For our next part of our trip. we went to visit my BFF Tina and her family for a few days. She has a son that is a bit older than Brett named Evan. I've blogged about Brett and Evan many times in the past. Well, they continue to be best buds every time they see each other. They had lots of fun playing...everywhere! Here are pics of them taken at a couple of different playgrounds. Listening to their conversations continues to crack me up as well. We've also gotten to the point where we let the boys have their own "slumber party" when we either stay at their house, or they stay at our house.

Wordless Wednesday

DuPage Children's Museum

Next we visited the DuPage Children's Museum. It's nothing like the Chi Mu in Indy. Totally different, but completely perfect for Brett's age. So much to see and DO! Sand tables, water tables, musical instruments, etc., etc. He LOVED it! Unfortunately I was too busy "hearding sheep" to get good pics of the museum, but I did manage to get some at the end.

Looking at these makes me laugh. Here are just a few of the "semi" good pictures I was able to get. Looking at them all, is like a study in getting a good picture of 4 people (with 2 of them being 3 and under :)).

Brookfield Zoo

The next day (after the Sox game) we made a trip to the Brookfield Zoo. It was a PERFECT zoo day...mid 70's, breezy, not a cloud in the sky. I think that both kids had a great time!

Root For the White Sox

On June 11th we went up to Chicago for a week-long stay. It was our vacation this year...we didn't go to a hotel or a cabin or anything, rather we stayed with family and friends. It actually worked out really well because the kiddos are so small right now, and we had a lot of people around to help watch them so I could occassionally take at least a mental break.

Anyway, the first half of the week, we stayed with Steve's family, and we went to our annual White Sox game. This was Kaia's first game and we got her a certificate (as we did for Brett) to put in her baby book.

Another cool thing that happened at the game was that Kaia said her first word...I am counting it anyway. She looked right at Brett as he was walking down the steps, pointed at him and said "Bep!". No doubt, she was trying to say "Brett".

I'll try to write a few more posts about our trip up :).