Right in the Feels

One of my favorite people sent this to me yesterday. I thought it was very appropriate.

Two Weeks in Downers Grove - Part IV: Pool Time, Outlets, and 31st Street Beach (TWICE)

We had a pretty adventurous second week at the Downers Grove House. We went to the beach (twice), worked on a hard (very HARD) 550 piece Harry Potter puzzle, swam in the pool, played the Wii, went shopping at the Chicago Premium Outlets, celebrated Theo's actual birthday, celebrated my birthday, and mades s'mores and told ghost stories.

[Thanks Grammy Suzi for taking the boys to a movie!]

[Cole asked me to take a picture of him. He's so silly!]

[Grandma with all her grandsons] 

A few of us decided to go to the Chicago Premium Outlets so we could walk around the boys could play at the playground. Of course, it's an OUTDOOR outlet and the rain came down in buckets! But we still had fun!

[Brady and Brodee at the Disney Store]

[Brady getting ready for Halloween?!] 

I told the family that we could try another beach, but everyone seemed to like 31st Street Beach so much that we decided to go back two more times!

[Dane loved playing in the waves]

[Porter sitting in his bucket! He thought he was so funny!] 

On August 8th, we opened Theo's birthday presents. Thanks everyone for the kind gifts!

[It took a lot of work, but we FINALLY finished the second Harry Potter Puzzle! All those dark colors were a KILLER!] 

[DONE!]

[Ghost stories and s'mores]

[Great-Grandma Judy and Theo]

[Kisses from Cole]

On August 9th, we celebrated my 30th birthday! 😜

I got chocolate covered strawberries, macrons, and red velvet cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory! My family knows me so well!

[I also got this "Theo" necklace from my best friend Emily]

[I was saying, "This has the wrong number of candles on it!"]

[Boxs of cookies from Jessi and Ally]

On Friday we went back to the beach for one last time!

 [I love Cole's face in this one 😏]

[The boys taking their turns being buried]

  

 [I still got it!]

The Carlson's left on Friday and my family left Saturday morning. This gave Josh, Brodee, Theo, and I some good ole quality family time together before Josh took Brodee back to Texas on Sunday. We went to Target so Brodee could spend some of his birthday money (thanks Grandpa George and Julie) and then we went to iFLY, an indoor sky diving place!

[Brodee went first!]

[Josh's turn!]

After all the students got to fly, the instructors had their turn! They were so much fun to watch!

Earlier in the day we asked Brodee what his favorite food was and he said steak! So after iFLY, we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. 

[Brodee got a hold of Josh's phone 😁]

On Sunday, August 12th, Josh and Brodee got up early and headed back to the airport to catch their flights back to Texas. Brodee is such a great kid and I'm so glad he was able to come and hang out with us for two weeks!

Theo and I finished packing up the car and then headed back to the Raptor. Having a nice big house for two weeks was fun, but I'm glad to be home!

I want to thank everyone again for coming all the way from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Utah, and Ohio, to spend time with us. Thanks to everyone for cooking, cleaning, and helping me host Theo's birthday party extravaganza!