Jonas Brothers Rock!!!

About 4 months ago my dear friend, Jeannie e-mailed me in China and asked if El and I would like to go to the Jonas Brothers in Chicago to help her daughter, Em, celebrate her birthday! It was an invitation we couldn't resist for several reasons. First, we love spending time with our friends! Jeannie and I met through our husbands shortly after we both had our first children! We hit it off right away, our lives seem to run parallel, although in the last 7 years we have only lived close to each other for one year... we went to New Hampshire for hubby's business schools, both have gone on overseas assignments to developing countries, and we both love to chat into the wee morning hours!! Second, since El doesn't get to do many "American" things while we are in China, I enjoy taking her places and doing things that she will be able to talk about with her friends here now and when we return after our assignment. I guess I want to make her transitions as easy as possible and one of the ways to do that is to help her understand a little bit of "pop culture"! Don't get me wrong, I do like the fact that she really doesn't get exposed to these things in China, I can protect her for a bit longer. But, I also don't want her to have major reverse culture shock!! And third, I absolutely love my girl time with El! She is an amazing person and she is growing up way too quickly.

Happy birthday Em!!!A little dinner at the Cheesecake Factory before the concert! We had to take full advantage of our time in Chicago and that means eating at as many yummy restaurants as possible!!Ellie signing the tour bus!! She loved the fact that I allowed her to write on the bus!

I'm not sure in the end who had more fun, mommy or Ellie!! We stood and sang and danced through the entire JB set which was really great!! We had bought a CD earlier in the week, so we were prepared!! The only issue we had was a screaming teenage girl directly behind us, I'm pretty sure she has lost her voice for at least a week!!

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end! After an amazing night, regardless of the lack of sleep, we had to say good-bye! But, this will definitely be something we will do again next summer!!

Another Day, Another Zoo

I guess we are on a quest to visit all zoos that are within a 60 mile radius of where we are!! I like zoos because the kids are entertained, and they usually have parks where they can run around and release some of their endless energy!! This past week we met my sister T, her kids, and my brother to go to the Peoria Zoo (not sure about the actual name - I just drive where I am told!!)! It reminded me a lot of the Niabi Zoo close to the Quad Cities, which means it was small enough to do in a little over an hour and it wasn't terribly crowded!!

Our favorite animal to see...One can never have enough bribery tools and for some reason, dippin dots always do the trick for my kids!!

Summertime Picnic

Thankfully one of our favorite state parks is still open (earlier in the year the lovely governor decided to close a lot of the state parks, but many, including this one were reopened!). I used to run my cross country meets here and my grandma and grandpa Kimler loved for all of us to meet for picnics, so it would have been sad if this park had been closed!! We decided to take advantage of the facilities this week and have a little picnic there with some of my family! The kids loved having playground equipment all too themselves and it was a beautiful, sunny day (which we haven't seen too many of those since we've been back!), so I was able to get quite a few photos of my favorite children!!

Fourth of July...Part 2

Thanks to a lot of rain, all of the events planned here for the 4th were postponed until Sunday, which in a way was nice because we got to celebrate two days in a row! The kids were especially excited that they still got to decorate their bikes for the bike parade!! They had been buying red, white, and blue things for the past couple of weeks in anticipation of the big parade (they were able to participate last year, so they knew what it was all about!!)! Mom and I were so excited that they would all be riding their bikes this year instead of us pushing or pulling, but unfortunately that was not exactly the case!! Coop was so busy staring at the bounce houses that he forgot to pedal so mom actually did end up dragging him around the entire track!!

After the bicycle parade the kids played games, jumped in the bounce houses, and got their faces painted. This was the first time Eens has ever allowed someone to paint his face - I was shocked, but he looked really cool with his spider paint!! El loves everything about the games because she knew there were prices involved, and Coop was content to bounce away and play his Uncle Rob's favorite game, baggo!!

The fireworks at the end of the night capped off a wonderful event put on by such a small town!!

Proud to be an American!

This year, 4th of July meant more to me than it has in the past. I have always enjoyed the cook-outs, family time, and fireworks on the 4th, but I don't think I appreciated the significance of the day. Now, after living in a country that does not enjoy the same freedoms that we do, I am so thankful for the service men and women, past and present, in this country who protect our freedoms and help to make this country great! We are very fortunate to enjoy the freedom of speech, freedom from censorship (uhhh, blogger is still blocked in China!), and the freedom to pursue our dreams. Many citizens from other countries do not share in these freedoms, and although many of them are content with their status quo, many friends we have made in China have one dream, and that is to go to America!! God bless America!!

Here is Coop preparing for the cook-out!! Yes, he did get a bath after this!!
Decked out in red, white and blue!! Even Gillian got in on the action!!

Ellie is happy she has her United Nations Day outfit all ready for IST next year!!

Don't worry T, rain may have cancelled the town fireworks, but we've got sparklers!! Hehe!!

Since Danny wasn't here, I had to take charge lighting the extremely dangerous snakes!!

Happy Birthday America!!!

While the wives are away...

The boys must play!! You are probably wondering how my dear husband is holding up being in China all by himself??!! He is actually doing just fine, which I am so happy about, it makes me feel less guilty about the credit card bill!! We both miss each other a ton, and he really misses the kids, I think he may even miss all of the noise that they create, but we are thankful for Skype because it has allowed us to "see" each other quite a bit. It makes that big ocean that seperates us seem a little bit smaller! The kids and I are counting down the days until he flies into the US...only 25 more days!!

This weekend Danny and two of his buddies celebrated his birthday a little late with a trip to Shaolin, China. I arranged the trip in May while we were all away so he would have something to look forward too!! Shaolin is the birthplace of kung fu and he has been talking about going there ever since we found out we were moving to China! He loves kung fu, and he has been raving about his trip! They were able to spend an entire day at the monastery where the training is done. They watched demonstrations and then in the evening they watched an amazing outdoor show that he said took place between two mountains!! The picture looked beautiful that I saw, yet I'm sure it did not do it justice!! Here are some of the pics Danny sent to me...apparently his next job will be as a kung fu master!!

Stock Car Races...

Yes, "I was born in a small town..." and not too far away, we have stock car races! My grandpa Kimler loved (and I mean really loved) the stock car races. Every Friday night we knew exactly where he was and where he was sitting!! I can only remember going one time with my grandpa to this weekly event. I probably went just to hang out with my cousins, because I've never really understood the whole racing phenomenon! My aunts and cousins still continue to go to the races and so mom thought it would be a good idea if we took the kids last night. There were fireworks and it was definitely something they won't see in China, so I thought no harm could be done!!

Well, I might have some racing fans on my hand! The kids loved the cars and didn't mind the noise at all! El at one point asked, "Mommy, where can I get one of those racing t-shirts?" This coming from my little girlie girl who only wants to wear dresses!! I'm not sure Danny will be so happy about this! We only had one minor incident when Coop fell head first out of the pick up truck bed! Eens was mad I made them leave after the fireworks, he really wanted to stay and watch more racing!!

It is not a good idea to let my crazy aunts drive a golf cart!!!

I guess we'll be going back next year...thanks for the memories!!