Sydney's 3 year old pics

Wood River Illinois Triathlon

Mike participated in the Wood River Trithalon on Saturday. A couple of our friends from church also participated. Check-in was at 6:30 am, so he went early with the other and the girls and I got there around 8:15. Mike didn't start until 9:30. The girls had fun decorating signs to wave at Daddy when he swam/rode/ran by.

Mike ended up winning 2nd place in his age group with a time of 1:11. After the awards we had an awesome lunch. We love this triathlon because it's so family friendly. Your whole family gets to eat lunch and swim in their community pool! This year Kathryn went down the HUGE water slide all by herself! Sydney wouldn't even go on it with Mike! We headed home around 4.

That evening I went to see Hairspray at the Muny with some of my girl friends from church. I was pretty tired, but managed to only doze a little bit during the second half!

St. Charles County Fair

We had so much fun taking the girls to the St. Charles County Fair in Wentzville. The girls fed goats and donkeys. Sydney was bolder than Kathryn, until the donkey nibbled her hand...then she was finished.

They had a butterfly house where you could catch butterflies on these sticks dipped in Powerade.

The girls had so much fun riding the rides. They rode motorcycles, the ferris wheel, these little hot air balloons, and a mini roller coaster.

We ended the night by watching some bull riding. The girls' favorite part was the girl who carried the flag around the arena who was decked out in red, white, & blue sparkles.

Pioneer Day

We had a Pioneer Day activity at church at the end of July. Us girls had fun dressing up. (Mike did not dress up. Are you surprised?) We brought a bean & sausage stew and pecan bars. We had fun playing pioneer games and eating yummy food!

The Fauna & Flora of our backyard

Some deer we saw in our backyard one morning.

My first and (so far) only zucchini. Some kind of squash beetle (?) got our plants. They're still alive, but having a hard time producing. I also harvested one tomato. The squirrels have been enjoying a green tomato feast! Oh well! Maybe we can make changes next year to protect our bounty.

Sydney's 3!!!

We had a small get together for Sydney's birthday. The ice cream cones are cake! Sydney is such a sweet girl with the most amazing laugh. Although, her most hilarious chuckles come when she's doing something naughty (like putting a booger on Kathryn or basically doing something annoying to Kathryn). She has a hard time sitting still enough to even make eye contact most of the time, so it's fitting that she's not looking in ANY of these pictures.

Eat Mor Chikin!

On Friday it was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A, so we dressed up like cows to get our free food! It was fun, silly, and yummy!

Another Birthday Celebration

We had another birthday celebration at the end of the week so that we could include Baby Madeline! Here are Matt (Mike's brother) and Kathryn posing with cute bowls.

Madeline's first taste of cake and frosting! YUM!

Sydney Jumping

Not to be left out...Sydney jumped off the diving board, but she kept her life jacket on. She jumped this same cute way every time, arms straight out and one left forward, one leg back. Isn't that cute? Since she had her jacket on, she would just swim on over to the side by herself and climb up the ladder. (And notice the McDaniel's beautiful backyard on the bayou! We felt so lucky to be there.)

Kathryn Jumping

Kathryn pretty much taught herself to swim on this vacation. The week before vacation she was peer pressured (in a good way) into putting her face in the water and jumping off the side of the pool with her life jacket on and going all the way under. So, she was so excited to come and show Aunt Kelly her skills. Once we started swimming she wanted to take her life jacket off and she was so excited that she could go under the water. She spent 5 minutes going under and looking around. We couldn't even talk to her because she just kept going under! So, after a couple of days, she graduated to jumping off of the diving board without her life jacket on (!!!) and swimming to the edge. I would sit on a noodle and be there if she needed me. Now she has to work on being able to take a breath and then keep swimming. We are so proud of her!

(Notice those tensed muscles!)

4th of July

On the 4th we got up early and took the girls to a children's parade. Kelly helped me make these cute dresses for the girls.

We ate an early dinner of brisket and ribs, and then we went to see the fireworks in Monroe. We sat very close and I had the honor of having the largest piece of debris (a fuse) land on me!

Our Super Fun 4th of July Vacation to Louisiana

We had such a great time spending a week with Mike's Aunt Kelly, Uncle Emmett, and cousins, Zack, Aaron, & Sam.
We went swimming twice a day.

We ate snow cones.

The girls played with the dogs.

We visited the children's museum.

And more...