Camping - Round One

We are going family camping twice within 2 weeks. This was our first adventure and we are still planning on going on our second (yeah!). We traveled down to Hawn State Park with our small group from church. We were originally planning on 2 nights, but a significant threat of severe storms made us chicken out and only go for one night. We had lots of fun (despite feeling like we were actors in an "Attack of the Ticks" movie). Our setting-up-the-tent supervisors decided to relax on the job!The cold water felt great after a hot hike.
Can you tell we didn't get much sleep?
Hiking on the Pickle Springs Trail: 7 adults, 5 kids 3 or younger, and 2 dogs. Wembley (14 years old) was the first to give out.
A rain shower came through as we were getting ready to eat supper. I was convinced it would blow over, but it didn't. Mike and Larry put the rain shelter up in the nick of time.

Weekend in Columbus

Uncle Eric is SO MUCH FUN!

Hanging out with Cousin Daniel and Grandpa and Grandma. Annika can't wait to see them again in July.
Happy 90th Great-Grandma!
Lauren enjoying an apple as we wait at the airport. Annika did really well on the plane; lets just say Lauren ate LOTS of snacks during the flight.

Family Photo

Picture Day!

In honor of Mother's Day we decided to drag the family to a portrait session. As is par for the course, we didn't get any full smiles, but at least we avoided any major meltdowns. This was Karl's first experience at a photo place with the girls - he said we can do it again. . . in 5 years.

Summer is a comin'!

One of life's simple pleasures: water!
Olivia doesn't look too amused with Annika's antics.
If only I were a little taller, I could get both of them soaked!
One of summer's best treats: popsicles!

May Days

Lauren discovered the joy of coloring her hand with blue marker and then kissing it. If she keeps this up I may just audition her for Blue Man Group. (Her latest "pose" for the camera is smiling and squinting her eyes.) Cheerios Bandit!
Indoor play can get pretty rough in the Pollack household!

Snuggling with Daddy is the best!

Potty training, bye bye binky, college?!

Annika was all about the sticker chart. The puffy stickers were her favorite. Way to go, big girl!
The wrapped up binky. . . ready to be delivered to baby boys and girls who need it more than Annika.
A gift from the "postman" who came overnight.
Could it be a Dora scooter?!
I should have given my binky to the postman years ago. . .

Visit from the Sprick family!

10 years ago it was Shanda and me - best friends enjoying life in Miami. What happened?! 9 month 0ld Noel checking out the "big girls." She is one smart girl - strategically positioned so that Lauren is unable to poke her eye out.
Annika and Garrison are VERY focused on the task at hand - bubble blowing. Garrison was kind enough to take a break from throwing the ball in the hoop (over and over and over again) to blow bubbles with Annnika.

Spring is here!

Thousands of daffodils in bloom at Shaw Nature Reserve.

If you look carefully, you can see a Spring Peeper. These frogs were all over the place and were "peeping" so loud and high-pitched that I had to cover my ears.
The new kids area at Shaw.
On a different day we picked up Daddy from work and had a picnic lunch at a nearby park.

Finishers!

On Sunday Karl and I ran the St. Louis half marathon together (he was very gracious to run with me). We trained for about 10 weeks. We ran the same race the year Annika was born. Two children, 4 years, and less training resulted in being about 10 minutes slower than last time, but we still (barely) met my goal of under 2 hours.