The Wedding!

Louria girls love to help, which makes me so proud, because serving others is a hallmark of our family.

For those who know, the girl on the left is Janice Adamski's daughter, and the girl next to g is Jeff Thompson's youngest.



Finally, it is time for the wedding!

Beautiful!  (The girl in the peach is Krysten)  Everyone agreed that our girls were the cutest in their hats. It was so much fun watching our little ladies.

Saigee giving her signature hug to Auntie Joyce

Estes Park #2 - Al and T Arrive!

G with Joyce's daughter Krysten - check out G's hair...

g made sure she read every word about what to do if you see a bear.  Too bad we never saw one.

T loved Rock climbing.  I wish I had a better camera to show people how crazy high sha and Al climbed.

Climbing the waterfall again...

Estes Park #1

The little girls and I got to Estes Park before Al and T, and we had tons of fun.

Combine a favorite perk in our condo and a favorite Louria activity and you have one part of "the best vacation ever."



We spent on afternoon rock climbing at a waterfall. 

 



Going back to their Native American roots...

 

...and their plain old American roots.

Driving from IL to CO? Stop here...

We left Chicago at Midnight to make it to the Henry Doorley Zoo in Omaha by opening.  It was well worth it.  Lynn Ryg reminded me that the "Henry Dorrley Zoo" was named in Rainbow Express, which was one of the first Ark performances.  A blast from the past.



Another blast from the past.  Tim and I used to watch "Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins every Sunday night (along with the Disney movie of the week and Lawrence Welk)



The real animals were awesome! 



Ugh - erin, I went to Picasa and the flip buttons were not available.

So cool!



A "Reggie Stop" at a Pony Express Station. I hope this driving vacation stays with the girls like our driving trips with Gramps and Gram...



You know when you are in Nebraska when the kids' seats in McDonalds are saddles.

Good Bye, Josh!

Josh is going to be leaving for college in Mississippi before we get home from vacation, so we went to aunt June's to hang out...

Cousins make the best friends - even older ones

This is REALLY what happens when the kids see Jon and Josh - lots of phone stealing
(how do they EVER think they will beat Josh?)

...wrestling...

...and a lot of snuggling!

Happy Birthday to gairette!

gairette has never had a kids birthday party, so when we won a tour and lunch at the police station at a silent auction - we thought it was the perfect opportunity for a 1/2 birthday party!




In the garage with Office Smith - She is the community liason officer for Mundelein, so all Barb and my  kids know her from school.  She is terrific.





Lifting gairette's prints from the "evidence."




The birthday girl and Officer Smith!





 


They even gave us lunch - and it wasn't even Domino's!




A  serious game of hook tag - Tristan was the activities director and kept everything going smoothly outside.  There are HUGE benefits to having a 13 year old daughter!  No one ever talks about all the meals she makes, loads of laundry she will throw in, babysitting, and keeping a whole bunch of kids entertained...





Cupcake decorating





With her buddy Morgan ("Mom, I know my g's backwards - it just came out thta way.")




Time and Barb's youngest, Delaney - just too cute.




Some of the buddies at gift opening.  One thing that is really weird out here is that kids don't open their presents at their birthday parties, which I think is a bummer, because my kids work really hard to pick just the right gift for their friends and they don't get to see them excited about it.  Of course, g opened her presents with her friends; she was so excited and her friends were excited for her - just like it should be.




Cousins!




T and her friend erin




Only 9 kids went to the police department , but these were all the kids who came. Perfect birthday fun!