Birthday celebration in Grand Island

Thanks Aunt Nicki for the delicious pumpkin cupcakes!! Make a wish Kate.....
"10" years old and loving the birthday decorations!

May all of your wishes come true Ben!

"Suhr" cousins: Wil, Ben, Kate and Jon

Aunt Nicki and the birthday kiddo's making some cookies.

We took full advantage of having a Monday off of school over Columbus Day and headed West to visit the Stoltenberg family for the weekend. Aunt Wendi and Scarlett (puppy) were able to join us for a few days too so that was great! The weather was less than desirable for most of the weekend with cool temps and rain, but we still had a blast! We were able to watch Wil play his last game of football for the season, played catch, went on walks, played "headbands" and laughed harder than I have in a long time (: and mostly, just enjoyed quality time together.

They all made celebrating Kate and Ben's birthdays early very special too with awesome decorations, delicious cupcakes and of course, some new Husker football jersey's, T-shirts and sweats. Thank -you guys for everything that you did to make the weekend great... We love you all!!

#10 for Miss Kate

Who would have thought that 10 years ago this little blessing came into our world at only 5#7oz??

Kate chose an icecream cake for her special day and Kara K. brought cupcakes to share for the party.

Chatting with her long distant friends and family -- wishing her many, many more birthday blessings!!

She had been waiting for this book -- a must read for you all too!
Happy birthday my sweet girl ~ We love you -- XOXOXO

Kansas City outing for Kate & Doug

Kate and Doug
Kate and her Aunt Lynne

their tailgating view of Arrowhead Stadium

Kate had been hoping all week that her request to go with her Dad, Aunt Lynne, Uncle Jim and cousin Jack to a football game in Kansas City would be granted.....and on Thursday night - we told her that she could go and she was STOKED!!! I don't know if I have ever seen an almost 10 year old girl that excited for 6 hours in the car and a foot ball game. Of course, with Kate, she was excited about the football, but very excited also to just be with everyone (and of course the tailgating snacks (-;) They went to watch our cousin James (who plays for Northwest MO. State) /vs/ a big rival of theirs Pitt St....and conveniently enough, the game was being played in an NFL stadium -- how cool was that??? It was a beautiful day and it sounds like they had a great time, except for the fact that the bearcats got beat ~~ bummer!!

All in all...I do think that Kate is getting hooked on football road trips....she already loves going to watch all of her cousins play everything! That's our little "sporty spice" Miss Kate!!

playing catch with Jack - another highlight of her day!

St. Louis Vacation - August 2011

Passing some time during the 6 hour road trip -- working on some spelling words and Math worksheets. Am I the meanest Mom or what (-;

The Arch

silly time while waiting in line for the "RED tram capsule #2", to take us to the top!!!

We made it and we were loving it!!! -- 630 ft. in the air

We had been counting down the days until the middle of August so that we could go exploring in St. Louis for a few days. Earlier in the Summer, Kate and I had requested some vacation info. from the visitors bureau, searched some websites and decided on what we wanted to do and see while we were there. There is so much to do and we quickly found out that 5 days was not enough time to do it all.

We took off Tuesday morning after breakfast, enjoyed the road trip (even though it was rainy most of the way) and headed South. The kids were excited and I must admit, so was I! I just love going to new places. Doug had been to St. Louis for wrestling tournaments in the past, and we reminded the kids that our first trip to Florida with them had a small layover at the St. Louis airport, but they had no recollection of that time. We got checked in to our hotel for the day, and then walked around downtown a bit and headed over to the Arch.

The Arch completely blew me away. The history of how it was made, the materials used, the planning, the unveiling to the city (and the entire nation), the awe of seeing it and then riding to the top was so amazing! The expressions on the kid's faces was so fun to watch as our little "egg capsule" manipulated itself up the 630ft....into the air!

A funny story, Ben had been having some reservations about going to the arch. He had told us many times " I do not want to go up on that thing" But we pretty much told him that he had to, because we were doing it as a family, explained to him that it would be fun, that he would be fine, etc,... Hind sight 20/20 and flash forward a few minutes......after the event was over and after he had said probably 3 dozen times "that was awesome - can we do it again?? Can we come back tomorrow??" We all laughed and asked him what it was that he was so worried about. He then went on to explain that he thought that you rode on the outside of the arch "outdoors" in a little coal car like a roller coaster -- YIKES!!! WE all agreed that we would not have wanted to do that either.....just goes to show that we never know what those little minds are thinking!

Our first evening in town ended like the rest with story time, bedtime snacks, and being so thankful for vacations together!!!

What an amazing trip -- thanks for the fun memories Doug, Kate and Ben ~~ I love you all -- Mommy

view from the arch of the "Mighty Miss"
View of downtown

view of Busch Stadium

I loved this comparison mural of how big the arch is compared to other monuments

Kate and Ben loved easing into their mornings eating breakfast in PJ"S, and watching cartoons in bed while vacationing in St. Louis!

Wednesday -- Busch Stadium tour

They let us in, even though Ben was wearing his Marlins gear!

The Stan Musial statue - it's amazing how small Kate looks in comparison!

Kate made herself comfy in the Cardinals dug out

On Wednesday we spent the morning touring Busch stadium. Another beautiful day in St. Louis -- and this stadium was amazing....even though we are Cubs fans (-: We learned many interesting facts about the Cardinals, the stadium, current and past players. Our tour guide was such a passionate baseball fan and lover of the Cardinals, you could just see the twinkle in his blue eyes while he was telling a personal story about his time there and his love of the game for the past 70+ years.

Next time we are in town, we will definitely try and catch a game!

Thursday -- a day at the Zoo

We literally were - "up to our elbows"

Enjoying some time with the stingrays and sharks