down on the farm

Logan, Riley and I took a much needed trip to see our great pals in Iowa this weekend. It has been SIX months since we last got together; some kind of despicable record. We made up for it in spades with late nights, endless gab sessions and a serious dive into nature. (Oh, and we ate!) While the girls explored the woods behind the house with deer running right alongside of them, Amy and I talked about literally everything. It just filled me up to spend time with her - life has gotten so busy for us both.

The highlight of the weekend was surely our trip to Amy's friend's farm, where something like 9 horses, 22 chickens, 15 sheep, several cows, cats and a myriad of dogs welcomed us. The excitement about the animals was only surpassed by our host, Sharon, and her willingness to let us and our girls truly experience farm life. From getting the horses ready to ride, to feeding the chickens, we did it all.

Riding a horse is one of my favorite things to do in life, period. Amy let Sharon know this, and she delivered. Delivered me right to her horse, Caesar, who I familiarized myself with for several hours as she and Amy led the girls around on Bella, a good ole sway-backed mare. I seriously thought I was in heaven! At the end of our time there, Sharon and I went out on her 130 acres and not only saw the beauty of her amazing property, but cantered those horses a bit. There is nothing like that in the world.

So, with a unimaginably sore ass, I'm telling you we had an awesome weekend, one and all. Watching the kids get down and dirty chasing silly chickens, bothering horses and feeding calves made me yearn for a simple, country life. Feeling the crisp, dusty air in my face as I charged ahead atop Caesar makes everything else seem small. Reconnecting with an old friend in such an earthy way was priceless.

I am so grateful for the experience.

One more...

Can't leave out the dream team!!

More catching up...

Now on to the fireworks... Happy Independence Day!

Catching Up

June, in a nutshell, has probably been the busiest month of my life. I've never felt so strapped for time, exhausted or so active. Even with so much going on, there's been much excitement and fun to be had. Here's our highlight roll and a couple of posts of pictures to get us caught up...

Logan was accepted to the Otters swim team and begins weekly meets that run into the wee hours. She's doing great and becoming an awesome swimmer.

Riley began USAG team practices and logs 7.5 hours in the gym each week.

Finn is learning to roller blade and ride his bike with training wheels.

We took our first family trip to Great America. The kids loved ALL the rides and measured up to 51 inches (Logan), 49 inches (Riley) and 40 inches (Finn). They're already excited to see what rides they'll qualify for next year. There was nothing like Finn's face as he drove those old antique cars all by himself - remember those??

Daddy, Riley and Uncle Dan participated in a family relay with Logan for her time trials meet. They were the "Dream Team"!

We've experience major summer storms and power outages, with the strongest destroying our trampoline. We're hope to get some replacement parts for next year!

Logan attended a week-long Brownie camp at Camp Dean near Sugar Grove. It was an awesome experience and she got to experience things like archery, canoeing, creek stomping, hiking and so much more.

We've been swimming almost every day.

Riley had her first visit from the tooth fairy.

Logan and Riley got their ears pierced!

We visited the Geneva Swedish Festival.

We even rode to the top of the Sears (I mean, Willis) Tower and had flaming cheese in Greektown.

Sounds like the summer of "the kid" to me!

Time Flies....

Sadly, much has been missed during this last one-month blogging hiatus. I'm glad to report that, from a working standpoint, things are very busy. I actually have my first "on newsstand" article out this month - although it's still a local magazine, but you have to PAY for it. If you're interested and in Chicago, pick up the latest issue of West Suburban Living magazine. If you're more interested in the details of us Anderson's, read on...

Here are the October blog posts that will never be....

"Malfunction Junction" - in a matter of two months, everything is breaking around here. My watch, my sunglasses, our coffee maker, our DVD player (thank you Finn), our first batch of paper shades in our bedroom (they are the only ones left in the house, I swear!) Our iPod is even at max capacity. Just in time for Christmas - ugh!!

"Poison Control - Installment 3" - This is the story of Finn climbing up the shelves in our bathroom last week and chewing multiple ibuprofen. Four hours later, I found orange spit all over my bathroom - I had no idea that he had done this and he was fast asleep. After waking him and listening to his crying and doing much research, we finally determined that he had indeed spit all the meds on the bathroom floor. Yes, this is our 3rd call - for Finn.

"The autumn virus of 2009" - Sick kids, one week of fever, sore throats and coughing and no work time for mommy. Glad to announce everyone is almost healthy around here.

"Miley Cyrus" - Mike and I took the girls to see her - yes, Mike and I. It was a trip and they were more in awe than nutso. It was a good time.

Life is busy. Life is full. Life is good. More to come...