Design Help

Apparently Jaylyn thinks I need some design help. I am always finding sticker designs around the house on bookshelves, door trim, etc. Thanks for your help, Jay! :)

County Fair

We made it out to the "exciting" county fair on the free night. TJ's mom was at one of the exhbitor booths for LifeNetwork. So, we went by to wave at her and then see the fair activities. We saw part of the horse competitions. Adley liked watching that. Then we went in the mini barn to see the baby animals. We also bought tickets for the girls to ride one ride. They chose the swings and as the ride operator was getting ready to buckle them in, Jaylyn decides that she is getting off and she is going to ride the carousel instead! I kept trying to tell her that we already gave the ticket to the swing lady and she has no more tickets to ride the carousel. But, she still got off and cried that she wanted a different ride. Silly Girl! So, we just watched Adley have fun all by herself on the swings. She loved it! And that was about the extent of the excitement at the County Fair. Woohoo!

"Baaaaaaa!"

Jaylyn wanted to get her picture in front of the peacock.

The swings before Jaylyn decided she wanted something more exciting.

Wheee!

Horseeee!

Jaylyn really liked the very stubborn horse that didn't
want to do the competition! Imagine that!

Here is one of the horses I actually caught a picture of.
This one was one of the best.

Moooo!

My messy sister!

Jaylyn loves for us to take pictures and on this particular day, REALLY wanted me to take pictures of how messy Adley was. Actually, they are kind of gross. So, beware--these are not "cute" Adley pics. Ha! Adley a la Chicken Tetrazzini.

More Chicago

Here are some of the random pictures I took during our Kid's Club. We had a great time with Bible stories, crafts, snacks, games, etc. Our theme for the week was the story of Noah.

Family Mission Trip

We just recently returned from Chicago on a Family Mission Trip with our church. Yes, a mission trip with our kids! This was our second one. We went to Golconda, IL on our first family mission trip when I was pregnant with Adley. Let's say the first one was a little more family friendly - meaning slower paced. But, this one was a lot of fun and a neat cultural experience. I really enjoyed it.

I really didn't do very well at taking pictures that week. Here are some pictures from some of our recreational activities while we were there. I will post some Kid's Club pictures later.

While some of our team were able to experience some culture and ministry opportunities in "Little India" in the city, some of us stayed back with the kids. The missionary team on staff had some fun mission activities for the kids. Jaylyn loved her "prayer journal" they gave them. She has written several prayer requests in there.
Here they are coloring a picture about being "fishers of men".

Then they took us to the Billy Graham Museum on Wheaton Campus.
This was the room that depicted Heaven.

After the museum, we walked to a smaller museum that was supposed to have a replica of the wardrobe from the Chronicles of Narnia, but it was closed for the 4th of July holiday still. So, we just took a group picture in front. :)

Here we are on our "free day". We all rode the train into the city . Then our little group took a trolley to Shedd Aquarium. This is Jaylyn on the trolley.
(Let's just say there is a lot more to our free day story. It was quite a "dramatic" day.)

Here we are at Shedd Aquarium checking out one of the big aquariums.

Jaylyn and Trista really enjoyed the jelly fish that were swimming behind them.

Jaylyn loved the computers that were in the Wild Reef exhibit.
They could look up info on different fish.

Here are the girls as they were heading into the Komodo Dragon and lizard area.

The Wild Reef!

Here we are getting ready to walk 2+ miles in the rain from Shedd Aquarium to Navy Pier! AHHHHHHH!

Here we are excited that we get to take a taxi limo back to the train station!

Hooray for limos!

The girls had a good ride!

Back at the church we slept at, I found the older girls reading to the younger girls one evening.

Two boys from the host church were big hits with the little ones. Both of these boys have quite a few siblings, so they are used to entertaining. Adley lit up so much when she saw them. She would even call for them when they went out of the room. Thanks Austin and Kevin!! They kept Adley and Bryce entertained sitting at the table with a penny for at least half an hour I think!

Our friend Josh kept a wonderful log of our experiences each day while on our trip. He has about 6 posts from our trip that you can read on his blog at http://humilitypersonified.blogspot.com/.