LinvilleUSA.com

Mom, I will go out to dinner anytime you let me have a mango smoothie!!! Yum!

Apologies for the blog hiatus – this one is overdue.  On the weekend of Fourth of July, we drove down to Indianapolis to go to my Aunt Marilyn’s farm.  A little context first….

Every year growing up, Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Steve would throw a party on their farm in Noblesville and my entire Mom’s family would come. We’d play volleyball, ride horses, swim in the pool, roast a pig and cap it off with a hayride where my uncle would lift my 90 yr old Mammaw II into the wagon with some kind of bobcat bulldozer.  So pretty much, the best weekend of the summer for a kid. We stopped having them sometime in the mid-90’s, so bringing it back was a big deal.  Over 70 family members came in town for it!

Needless to say, it was an AWESOME weekend.  We were able to:

• Stay with the Sterley family (Jasper and Nat had so much fun)
• Play with the Davis family
• Meet Ali Marten and see their awesome new house
• FARM PARTY!  Meaning: swim, eat Indiana corn, make tie-dye tshirts, bounce in a moonwalk, and play with our cousins
• Hang out with the Linville family at Grandpa and Grandma’s house and see our other cousins!
• See the Bolings and meet a tall drink of water named baby Quincy

I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves, but needless to say, it’s always a little bittersweet to go to Indy and see so many great friends that we rarely get to spend time with.  And there were even more that we didn’t have a chance to see in the 48 hours there.

But the great news?  The Florida family came up, including Mammaw and Pappaw who are coming to Chicago for two weeks!  It will be great for Natalie to get to spend some time with her Mammaw and Pappaw.  And great for me!

Gotta picnic inside when it’s 103 degrees outside!

!!

Gotta picnic inside when it’s 103 degrees outside!!!

Th

Granda (“Ma”) and Grandpa (“Pa”) spent the weekend with us.  Natalie has trouble saying their full names and seems to use Ma and Pa interchangeably.  I will say that I uploaded these pictures in reverse chronological order – sorry! 

Oh, I’m kinda bored of this picture-taking.  It’s not my fault Pa wants so many pictures because its his first time here!!! 

Ah! Ma and Pa.  You are so silly and fun!

Whoa – Pa, you discovered a dinosaur bone!!!

Hmm… this watering can seems to have a hole on more than one side. Why, Ma? Why?

Look at the Wind Sock I made at my first art class!!! Did you know that the 4th of July is coming up?

As you can see, we packed a lot of fun into 28-hours!  I especially give my parents credit, as they managed to be (mostly) high energy, even though they’ve each spent 2-3 days/week with Trevor for two weeks, since Becky is recuperating (well) from hip surgery.  Natalie did catch Pa napping while she was playing yesterday and the only word to describe the look on her face is “perplexed”.

Natalie calls Jordan Dada and Dado. We couldn’t figure out where Dado came from. Yesterday I called him Daddio, which I believe is off him calling me Mommio. Natalie must have shortened it to Dado. Here are Nat and her Dado.

Hey Dado! I can only strut my stuff do fast. Wait up!

Natalie loves of neighbor girls – Julia (entering 6th grade in the fall) and Caroline (entering 8th grade).  Their mom used to be a pastry chef and is a fabulous cook… and the girls are following in her footsteps.  They let Natalie sample a piece of their beach cake (aqua frosting with crumbled graham crackers for sand!  I’m totally stealing that idea).  Natalie opted for shoving it in her mouth, for fear of me taking away any more than I already had.

Meet my friends - Julia and Caroline! I think they might open up a cupcake shop one day. As Dora would say, Deliciouso!

For you foodies, their mom Katie writes an entertaining and yummy food blog, Pinch – www.katiefairbank.com.  Too bad I don’t really cook these days….