Libertyville, Lake Geneva, & Rockford: Roadtrip Part 2

From Minnesota, we drove down to Libertyville. I first moved to Libertyville when I was around 5 yrs. old. At this time, a new Covenant Church was starting and our family got to be a part of it from the beginning. It was just about 10 people and it began with a small group, just as our church now-Alive Covenant Church, so it was fun to show the kids how my family was a part of this, and I thought that our kids story with church kind of parallels mine in some ways. My church experience was (for the most part) great. We had growing pains and such, but it(the people) helped shape me into who I am today. So, it was really special to bring the kids to church on Sunday and also spend time with some of our Libertyville church family the night before! Thanks to Dave and Darilyn for hosting our gigantic family, having a firepit with s'mores, and making us feel welcome. It was also special to my dear high school friend, Stacey(I am so thankful for you!) and 'Grandma Jill' there so the kids could get to know them more too. Jill babysit our family at times when my parents were out of town and we spent a lot of time with her, but for some reason (mostly because she was so awesome and nurturing to us), we started calling her Grandma Jill (which has always been funny b/c she is only like 13 years older than me).

Sunday after church we hit Portillos for lunch-yum!! I was having a hard time deciding between that and Max's Dawg House, but the decision got easier since the Dawg House was closed-major bummer!!

After lunch, we took the kids on a bit of a tour of the three homes I grew up in there, as well as my Elementary, Junior High, and High School. They weren't as intrigued as me-ha!-but it was still fun. I lived in 5 houses and one apartment, so when my family talks about the homes, we have different names for them. The first house we only lived in for a year before moving back to Seattle for a year. We called it the Sedgwick house(street name) and we lived here when my little brother, Erik, was born. I also remember beautiful pink roses in the garden here, a good neighbor friend Michelle, a HUGE snowstorm that year, and all around good memories.

This is the house we call the 829(street number) house. This was a home in a new subdivision and it was on a cul-de-sac. I LOVED growing up here. Across the street from us was a pond that we used paddle boats on in the summer and ice-skated on during the winter. There were at least 12 homes on the street and most of them had kids, so there were children galore!!! Most summer nights I remember fondly playing kick the can, ghost in the graveyard, and riding our bikes around. We lived here from the middle of first grade (I think) until my freshman year in high school(again, I think, my sister can correct me-she has the better memory!)

This was our third home in Libertyville that my parents built when I was just starting high school. This was our 1219 house. It was a light yellow though when we lived there and my bedroom was the top left window. I thought it was so cool. This house was right on a pond, so again we got to ice skate and had our own paddle boat. This was a really comfortable and inviting home. My parents hosted many get togethers after church at our home, as well as lots of graduation parties. I loved this house. Some favorite memories were family events when all our Rockford family would come and sleep over. Or when I had a graduation party, but had to leave it early to go to a Bulls championship game. This was also the home that my parents lived in when I got married. The year leading up to it I was doing my student teaching at a Libertyville school so I lived at home and got stuff ready for my wedding too. Such great memories....except when everyone left me at my house to go to the wedding!! Hello??? Who has the bride???!!! I called my dad and luckily he came back for me! ;)

After Libertyville, the Jag 7 drove an hour up to Lake Geneva, WI where I spent 8 summers working at Covenant Harbor during high school and college. We also went to family camp there growing up and I went there numerous summers for a week of camp up til high school. When I was in 8th grade, I was baptized in the lake and then on July 18, 1995 I got engaged to Daron on the waterfront one morning. Needless to say, it was nostalgic and gave me some serious warm fuzzies during our afternoon there!

Daron asked me to marry him when I was sitting up on the lifeguard stand, doing devotions together one morning. It was one just like this one. What was kind of fun about this picture is that the lifeguard, who is now the waterfront director, was our flower girl when she was just 6! Not anymore, she is now going into her senior year at North Park University. I am so proud of you Kira-and I feel old! ;)

I had to take a pic of some of the kids in front of the boat house. It was one of my favorite spots to see/be at camp.

Of course we made our kids pose for pictures on the dock we got engaged on. Unfortunately, it was a little sunny and I was the only one with glasses on, so they weren't too happy with us. Ha!

On July 18, it will be 15 years since we got engaged here!

After camp, we headed to Rockford to go see my family! We were lucky, because on a quick pit stop, we got to meet my friend Heather and Theo's son, Bennett. He was such a doll and we were all fighting over who got to hold him. Heather and I have known each other almost my whole life and have grown up together, gone to and worked at Covenant Harbor together and then attended North Park University and did the Swedish exchange program together. She also played a big part in who I am today, so it was amazing to meet their little one.

Two more weeks until I get to see her again when she comes out our way! Sorry, no pics of Heather & Theo this time, just their adorable little guy!

Our time with my grandma was wonderful! We got to go and visit for a couple days with her and all my Rockford family. We missed a couple of my favorite people (love you!), but those that we saw made our time there so special. Thanks also to my Aunt Joyce & Uncle Dan for being fantastic hosts; and even babysitting for us one night so we could go to the movies. We actually happened to go the night that Twilight was opening a few hours from our start time and it was CRAZY!! When we got out of our movie it seriously seemed as though we were going up against a crowd that was running with the bulls to claim their seats for the movie. It was FUNNY!

We even had cousins from outside of Chicago and Madison come up to play with us-thank you!! I LOVE my cousins, so any chance I can see them and their kids is a special treat. Our families really grew up together for much of our lives, so it totally warms my heart to now see our kids play together.

Another special treat was meeting my cousin Tyler's fiance that just came back from Romania with him. She is so beautiful inside and out and I can't wait to get to know her better. Honestly, any woman that he FINALLY decided to date, must be amazing, because that is what we think of him! Love you Tyler and I am so sorry we can't be at the wedding.

Wow! Look who's as tall as G.G!

Riding with 'Great' Aunt Joyce in her convertible to Stockholm Inn(famous for their Swedish pancakes) was definitely a highlight for the big kids!

All said and done, we had a great time with G.G. and our family! We love you Grandma!

Stayed tuned....Part 3 @ the Farm is next!

Summer and the Roadtrip Part 1

School ended on Friday, June 18th, had a party for my mom's 60th on Saturday, said good bye to my sister and her kids who were visiting for a few weeks, and we packed up our new (used), most awesome-ist, pimped out, pastor's wife ride of a suburban and headed east on Sunday. Destination...Minneapolis.

The first day we drove to my cousin's house in Montana and we stayed there two nights. The kids had fun with their 2nd cousins, whom we LOVE, and we chilled in the hammock, watched the World Cup games, enjoyed some great company & scenery, and even watched the little kids dress up as princesses, superheros and dinosaurs and go on the trampoline-it was hilarious!

You may think we are crazy for driving our family of seven from WA to MN, but hey, we had a fantastic time and I even heard my kids say that they liked this as much as our Hawaii trips (I thought they were crazy, but I didn't let on since this will happen MUCH more often than Hawaii I am guessing!). We seriously surprised ourselves with how well the first 4 days went! The kids are at a great age and really love to travel, see friends and family, and just explore. Our new car has dual entertainment and I think it is possibly one of the sweetest inventions! The kids could watch a movie or listen to a book on tape in the back, and we could listen to our own thing up front-very cool! We said that in the mornings the kids had to travel like 'the olden days' (remember this is relative to their ages) and they couldn't use electronics. They had a bunch of things in their backpacks to do, so they never seemed bored. In the afternoons, we took turns with who got to choose the video or book on tape. For the most part, they watched a few hours of Little House on the Prairie-season 2. They absolutely loved it. And since we were traveling through Montana and the Dakotas, it seemed very fitting!

After going through Montana and North Dakota in two days of driving, we finished our last day of our first leg in the Minnesota twin cities-but not before seeing a cow sticking out of a VW or stopping in Fargo, ND to see a favorite boutique of mine, Hot Mama, in a location I hadn't been to before. (wow--that was a crazy run on sentence, but I am too tired to fix it!) Some people do this with baseball stadiums, I do it with Hot Mamas!

Upon arriving in Minneapolis, we stayed with our dear friends Mike and Becky. We had a fabulous time with them thanks to Hotel Donna and Herb-thanks again! The kids loved reconnecting and even retreating to the basement one night for a tornado watch. We were jam packed during our days there with Daron in meetings for the Evangelical Covenant Church, our denomination that Alive is a part of, and me gallivanting through the cities visiting with my aunt, old(young??)friends, and even taking one of their yoga classes-thanks Syd! I always wish I had more time when we are in the cities to see more friends and family, but this time we had to take what we could get and for Daron this was a work trip-which he loved by the way, and felt SO thankful that he had the opportunity to go to this.

Last, but not least, as we were leaving the twin cities, we got to meet up with some friends of Fia and Kwame's from Eban House, their adoption center, in Ghana. This mom and I have been cyber friends for the last year and they live in Minnesota, so it was so fun for not only Fia and Kwame, but the rest of us to see these two special girls again that we fell in love with in Ghana during our visits. They are two very neat girls and it was great to meet their mom and sister and see them SOOO happy. It was a great experience and I forever treasure any time we can get together with friends from Ghana and in our adoption community.

Okay...now I must wrap this up and will post Part 2 of our summer road trip soon. Next stop: Libertyville, Lake Geneva, WI, and Rockford, IL....

Happy 60th Birthday Mom!

A VERY happy birthday to my wonderful, beautiful(outside and in), fantastically superb, amazing mom! This first picture of her is when she was a young teenager at their family farm in MN, where my grandpa would make their own ice rink for the girls. Yes, this picture is in the dead of a Minnesota winter where my mom decided to put on her ice skates and pull a Dorothy Hamel! How beautiful is she???The cars not so bad either, huh? ;)

I really have had THE best mom I could ever ask for and now I am realizing, as a mom of 5 myself, just how much more I appreciate all she ever taught me and did for me. She is now a best friend of mine and there has never been a time when I felt she wasn't on my side(even when she didn't agree with all my decisions).

We have really had a special relationship. I don't ever remember that time that most teens have when they are embarrassed of their mom. I really don't think I ever went through that phase(did I Inger? I have to ask her b/c she has a great memory and mine stinks!) I always loved when she was around and took pride in the fact that my friends thought she was cool too. I don't think I was spoiled (siblings may disagree here), as I fully knew my boundaries and felt I was held accountable to my actions. I just never wanted to disappoint her, and when I did, it hurt. I LOVE my mom and today I wish her the very best birthday. We had fun celebrating with our family over the weekend, but I wasn't able to be with her today, so I definitely want her to know that I strive to be a better mom, wife, and person because of what she has taught me and continues to model for me. Thank you mom and I hope you have had a great birthday and know that not only me, but your son-in-law (right Daron?), your grandkids, and your whole family love you so much and we are blessed to share our lives with you. Happy birthday Grandma Bevy!

It's a BEAR!

So...I think our luck has finally turned. Usually when we run into wildlife, something crazy happens like a bear breaking into our minivan or something...see here if you don't already know this story. This time, we were leaving my parents house and straight ahead of us, was a big black bear! Seriously, I had heard that there were bears in the area, but this one was so much bigger than what I thought would be around our area. I stopped the car and tried to get my camera out and have Justus call my mom to look out her window, but by the time I took a picture, it went into the brush. Then, as I was talking to my mom, she said she could hear it off her porch, so I drove down below their home. As we pulled into another driveway, THERE WAS THE BEAR!! It was just probably 15 yards from us and it looked at us and stood up on its hind legs checking us out. At that moment, I captured a picture and then it turned and went into the brush again. The kids all thought it was super cool. That is, until Justus saw a mouse run in front of the car (he said he had seen at least 4 bears in the wild now and he had never seen a mouse-arghh). Seriously, he was more excited that a field mouse ran back and forth in front of us with its tail up. I thought it was probably scared of the BEAR!

As I said, I think our luck has turned. We saw a bear, and nothing bad happened to us. I definitely feel confidence now before we embark on our road trip this summer! Wish us luck! ;)

Viking Fest!!

Awww....Viking Fest! I love you, but you always leave me tired! V-Fest is always such a fun-filled, jam-packed weekend that has us running around watching Norwegian dancing & marimba performances, parades, races, and if the kids are lucky, going on the rides. This weekend was no exception and it has taken me a full week to recover to write about it-ha! Anyway....here are some(scratch that) ALOT of our favorite moments in pictures.

....AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!

Gotta Love this: SWAGGER WAGON Official Toyota Music Video

LOVE this video! Wish I would have thought of it! I could have bought a few vans with my millions....

....And What Was In It?

Well, I think I have now made you wait longer than I had to wait and although it is kind of fun-I don't want to be mean!! First off, we got another personalized letter from the President saying he was glad that we were okay and that he loved Greta's letter and he keeps it on his desk. I thought that was so fun to imagine Greta's letter on his desk; her picture and message really was cute and we had nothing to do with it.

But you are more interested about what was in the box, right? Well, there were three packages and two of them contained three different Toyota bags. One, a really nice gym bag, and the others are totes that the girls were excited about. As they opened the second package, the kids were all like, "Another bag? He said they were sending toys!" Ha ha! (BTW, before we opened it, Greta guessed incorrectly that it was a WiiFit!) Then, in the third package, there were a bunch of Toyota paraphernalia: 5 pens, 5 stuffed orange cars, a few stuffed koala bears and frogs(with a Toyota logo), a couple key chains, a flashlight, a money clip, a blanket, a travel coffee mug, a biodegradable water bottle and three Toyota hats! Woo hoo!

Was that worth the wait? Hee hee? Sorry. I swear if it were keys to a new car I would have posted right away! It really was so nice of them to send all of this stuff. The kids were SO excited to open it when they came home from school. So now, be honest, what did you really think would have been in there?

Okay, so I have been debating whether or not to post the video of the kids opening the box, but I think I will because it was so funny how bummed they were when there weren't toys, until they found the 'toys'! They started fighting over the key chains and money clip...hee hee. Easy to please, I guess! Watch if you want. (I hate my voice-do I really sound like that??)

What Is In This??

Hmmm....what is in this box??














To give you a little background, after we were in our car accident, the kids decided to write letters to Toyota thanking them for making such safe cars. A few weeks ago, Greta ended up getting a personalized letter from the USA President of Toyota replying to her letter. It was awesome!! It definitely wasn't a form letter as he addressed many of the things she wrote about in his letter to her, and he signed it. I was so amazed that he actually took the time (with everything else that is going on with Toyota right now), to respond to the kids. We were, however, a bit perplexed by part of it. It was just regular letter head in a regular envelope and he mentioned that he included some toys in the 'cubbies' for Greta to share with her siblings ??!!! Huh??? (Greta had mentioned in her letter that she loved the cubbies in the van to put her toys into) Ha!! What was he talking about though? We didn't have a van anymore! Honestly, for the next couple days, I kept looking outside to see if a new minivan was pulling up...uh...Kristin, YOU HAVE WATCHED TOO MUCH REALITY TV!!!! Btw, no minivan came. Then, I just laughed it off that they wrote the letter, but forgot to put in the little toys he mentioned, but that was no biggie, as it was already cool enough that they wrote the letter to Greta in the first place.



But---much to my surprise, I came home today from my women's Bible study group, to this box!! I can hardly contain myself with excitement to see what is inside it, but we are waiting for the kids to get home. Ughh..Definitely Daron's idea. I thought we could open it and tape it back up! What kind of toys do you think are inside? Little minivans? Toyota stickers? It really doesn't matter. I just think it is super cool of them to follow up on our letter with this-THANKS AGAIN TOYOTA!!! YOU HELPED SAVE OUR LIFE!