Pix from vacation in Chicago

In rather random order, these are some pictures from when we did the home exchange in Chicago a month or so back ...





This was the view from the roof of the building we stayed in ...

Picture day at the Life and Times of the Wildwood DeVries

Okay, for today's viewing pleasure (if I can get blogger.com to handle the pix correctly ... having some problems), I present for you, pictures! I went to grab a few pictures from the last week or so off the cameras, and found some other stuff too. So I'll try to get to those all today. Starting off ... the first day of school.

Here's Emma's teacher, Mrs. Crowell.

Emma's desk is next to her best friend Amya's.

Timmy and Mrs. Mueller.

Did you think I'd slack off?

Yes, it's been a few days since my last post, but I am still on the wagon. I don't usually post on the weekends as I'm not sitting in front of the computer near as much. So, what have the Wildwood DeVries done over the long Labor Day weekend? Lets, see ...

Saturday we worked a lot on the house. Cyndie painted some in the entryway/hall to the laundry room. It's a light gray, which we never thought we'd put into our house, but it's actually rather cheery and light ... with a little bit of a blue tint to it. She's eventually going to take that up the stairs and all along the hall upstairs as well. I worked in the kitchen. I took out the old lights (the big flourescent "shop light" that was the main kitchen light, as well as the "spaceship" light over the table in the kitchen). Then I put in some recessed lighting. It looks pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

Sunday we went out on the boat with our friends the Holtes. That was fun ... fairly warm, though not so much as several weeks ago. The boating season may be screeching to a halt quickly! In the afternoon we had a wedding ... some friends from church. I was doing the sound setup for them, so that took quite a bit of my time before and after the wedding. My folks watched the kids, so Cyndie and I went and got a light bite of dinner after the ceremony and clean up (the kids were still at church with my folks!).

Monday we went to the Walworth County Fair. The highlights were (Tim) the demolition derby and (Emma) the superman ride. We ended up getting wristbands for the kids so that they could ride as many rides as they wanted to. We got there around 11am, and at that point, the kids were walking on the rides ... no wait. After the demo derby*, there were a LOT more people. So the kids just did 4 or 5 rides and we left. A good time was had by all!

*Demolition Derby ... man, that was a redneck-a-polooza! It was fun though. A bunch of old cars just banging the crud out of eachother. There were a few minor fires, one car almost flipped over, and just generally a lot of noise and wreckage!

Now, we're almost back into the swing of things. It's a "not quite" full week of school (4 days), and soccer starts for the kids tonight (twice a week from 4:30 - 5:30). The school year is ramping up, and the weather is cooling off!

Is if fall already?

Wow, the weather has headed south rather quickly over the last several weeks. Or so it seems. It went from in the 90s with lots of humidity to today in the mid 60s, windy, and (obviously) cool. Man! We were supposed to head out on the boat with some friends from church (the new pastor), but due to the weather and (I'm sure, though I didn't verify it visually) the 3 foot waves that accompany the 20 mile per hour winds! Oh well.

After all the moving and associated being away from the house yesterday, it really felt like a Friday night for Cyndie and I when we were hanging out in the jacuzzi. Bummer that today we had to get up and do most of our normal Friday routine (minus the getting the kids off to school since they had the day off for "fair day" ... the Walworth County Fair runs Wednesday to Monday). Right now Cyndie's babysitting a friend's kids for a couple of hours, one of whom is a good buddy of Timmy's, so that's nice for the kids. Or at least nice for Timmy. The two other kids are girls younger than Timmy, so I think Emma is doing more defending of her stuff than actually enjoying a play date. Oh well, now she know's a bit of what Timmy feels when she has friends over!

Yesterday I took Timmy to his physical for school at the doctors. He was not thrilled to go. He ended up getting a couple of vaccinations (a shot in each thigh) which he wasn't real happy about! He cried when he got the shots, but bucked up pretty quickly afterward, especially when he was given two lollipops by the nurse. He then proceeded to, in typical Timmy fashion, eat his reward ice cream cone over a period of 25 minutes ... I assume savoring every lick. I've never known a person, kid or adult, to take so long to eat. It's partially that he's just enjoying the food, but it's also that he's just not in any hurry, so he spends a lot of time looking around, playing with his food, and squirming around in his seat!

So there's the daily post. We'll see where the weather takes us for this weekend. We're supposed to go boating tomorrow, but it's supposed to be pretty cold, so that may change our plans again!

A Rainy Moving Day

Hello from rainy southern Wisconsin. I'm sitting on the porch, listening to the rain, and waiting for Timmy's bus to arrive.

Cyndie and I spent the morning helping Laura and Gow move the 1/2 mile from their rental duplex to their first home! Exciting times! Between around 9 and 11:45 when I left, we'd gotten everything moved. Now it'll be unpacking and cleaning the old place! Good times.

I don't have a whole lot else to report this morning other than we're excited for the long Labor Day weekend and hoping for some nice weather!

In the spirit of consistent blogging ...

I'll write one while I sit here and watch the Royals game online. Cyndie is out sailing (her summer, Wednesday evening activity).

Laura and Gow are moving into their new house tomorrow, so today I was over there helping to lay the laminate flooring in the dining room and kitchen. Man, that stuff goes in way easier than when my dad, Cyndie's dad, and I did out first laminate at our townhouse in Fountain Valley! The ease with which it went in gave me visions of putting new flooring into our bedroom (we're thinking of hardwood with a rug or two) and my office. However, first things first, we have some lighting work to do in the kitchen and dining room, finishing up some trim in the craft room, and then some work on a treehouse for the kids. Whew, how come the list only gets longer, never shorter?

The kids' second day of school is tomorrow, and Cyndie and I will help out with the moving tomorrow morning. Then we're easing into the long Labor Day weekend with some boating with friends from church!

The Return

Yes, the blog is back in action. School started for the kids today, so I figured now is as good a time as any to get back on the wagon. I won't attempt to recap the summer ... too much fun has been had boating, at family camp, at Auntie Jane's, and a reunion, more boating, Lee visiting, enjoying the deck, etc., etc.

So, yes, school started today. The kids have two days this week, then a 4 day weekend for Labor Day, then to the full time thing after that. Cyndie took the kids this morning and took pictures for their first day so I'll try to get some of that in the next post.

When Tim came home from school at around 12:45 he was all excited because he got to be the line leader for the first day of school. He's also really excited about his fancy new shoes (black with neon green Adidas stripes). He learned to tie his shoe laces in one evening so that he could get them.

Emma's not home yet, but I do know that she got to pick where she wanted to sit in her classroom this morning, and she got to sit at the desk that is right next to her best friend Amya. Emma and Amya will both likely be in the same girl scout troop this year (assuming all the sign up stuff goes according to plan). Cyndie's excited about that because she's not one of the troop leaders this year, which will give her a little more time. Tim and Emma both start YMCA soccer here in a couple of weeks too, so that will be fun for them.

So, there you have it, back in the swing of things, hopefully regularly!