asher wins

the second part of the previous post, where asher does get abbies toys and tosses them off the bar stool, will not download! i have been working on taking movies with my new canon camera and the files are really large, and this movie won't upload. any suggestions on how to shrink the size of movies before uploading?

funny [clever] boy!

asher is so funny. he is always making me [sarah] laugh, and i try to always make him laugh! he is changing so much, i thought i'd put out some videos. abbie has been learning that she needs to move her toys away from him, out of his reach, if she doesn't want him to have them [video1]. she tried, but as you'll see he didn't take long to figure out he could reach them.... listen for her 'growl' [video2 in next post] when she sees what he's done. so funny! **we have a chicago post down lower, so don't miss that!**

10

We had a very delightful 10th anniversary! We spent 5 days in Chicago-the best "us" vacation since our Honeymoon. We stayed at the Drake Hotel down in the heart of the city and traveled all over the beautiful city. Our transportation included walking (a little too much for my pathetic body and by week's end I was experiencing pain), taxi, bus and the el-train. We dined in some very tasty restaurants. We enjoyed some deep dish at Gino's, warmed up with a spicy Blood Mary or Bloody Mike's as the call it at Ditka's. And we even spotted Mike Ditka as we were leaving. We dined in China Town, Navy Pier and filled ourselves to the full at many other places. I probably would have gained weight if it wasn't for all of the walking.

Some of the highlights from our trip included traveling by boat through the city on an architectural boat tour. This was a wonderful way to experience the city; We took the self guided Frank Lloyd Wright tour and his home and studio tour. His home was so innovative, impressive and ahead of its time. We spent an evening at the famous Navy Pier and an afternoon looking at sea creatures at the Shedd Aquarium; we were in the city during the The Taste of Chicago food festival-lots of food and even more people and some really cool street performances; of course the view from the John Hancock building was great but the most unique event we experienced was the strange and oddly satisfying Blue Man Group. This performance is definitely different but we recommend it!

Its been 10 years since Sarah and I first said "I Do," and every moment has been filled with bliss...mostly. We have had our ups and downs. Our "ups" have been crazy wonderful; our "downs" have have certainly terrible but it has all been better together. I can not image anyone else by my side-I all the more believe that The LORD definitely and divinely brought us together. He knew I would need an strong, thoughtful and supportive woman. She is peace in the midst of the storm and in this story I think I am the storm. Thank you for this lady. I look forward to celebrating our 20.

Manhattan or Bust

Traveling with young children is challenging. Can I hear an amen? Amen! And traveling without Sarah is even more challenging. Sarah wanted some "alone time," this summer in order to accomplish things we hinder her from doing, or in other words James had to leave with the kids for 4 days. We traveled to Manhattan to visit family and a few friends. Abigail has always been a very good traveler but Asher proved not to be as he began whining soon after we hit the road (He doesn't like sitting still for very long). Abbie had fun feeding family's two dogs pieces of bread as they performed dog tricks. Abbie also loved sleeping over with cousin Leah. Asher had fun chewing on new and different objects. One particular night, after hanging out at my parents home, I returned to my grandma's home (the place we were sleeping) as thunder storm hit and knocked out the electricity at about 8pm and the power didn't return until around noon the following day...Asher didn't seem to mind.

Another late afternoon and early evening we spent time with the Vandorn family. This was the first really hot day and so it was a perfect day to take a dip in their community pool. We all had fun! Additionally, The Stewart and the Nutter families were enjoying the pool too-its was a pool reunion. And in grandma fashion, my Grandmother made our entire family a feast before leaving town so we were all fat and happy as we left town. Of Course we were all happy to return to see Sarah-But she was at a Bible study until 11pm and So Abbie cried "I want to see mommy" as I tucked her in for bed. Welcome home James.