Summertime Weekend in Illinois

Before heading down to Illinois for the weekend, we took the girls to a parent and child golf lesson. Alyssa had missed the first time we took Emma because she was at camp, and she enjoyed it a lot.


The focus of the lesson was chipping onto the green, here Dad and the girls practice.


Kamele and I played at the putting green most of the time. She loved moving the 4 numbered flags around, and tipping the golf balls out. She kept calling the golf balls her "cuties" and pretended that they were eggs that were going to hatch.


Watching Alyssa swing.


Happy to be golfing.


Emma clustered 3 golf balls together and swung. They all went flying in different directions.


In Illinois...
Happy 2nd Birthday, Trenton!!! On Saturday, one of my best friends from when we were growing up, Kim, had a birthday party for her little boy, Trenton. Here's the birthday boy sitting on the baggo board.


I thought it was a cute pic of his profile, so I made it black and white too. Trenton's such a cutie, he reminds me of exactly how my friend Kim was when we were young, although we didn't know each other yet when we were quite this young. His personality seems so fun too, he started laughing and he buried his face in his hands to giggle ~ it was funny.


Opening his gifts, Trenton had the cutest surprised face when he saw this Mr. Potato Head.


Could Trenton look anymore like his mom? And Kimmie even has a very cute surprised face too :)


I bet he'll make a wonderful mess with this playdough.


Rebekah smiling at Grandpa as she enjoys some of the tissue paper that came from Trenton's gifts.


Kimmie and Trenton looking at his little cake. I think Kim was a little disappointed that he didn't want to smoosh up the little cake and get all messy (he did an awesome job with that last year!!) But if you scroll down a couple of pics, you can see him offering frosting to Emma.


Trenton's Grandma picking him up so he can get a good look at his cool Diego cake.


The Queen of anything Sweet, Emma will take a finger full of frosting anytime!


In their goodie bags, all the kids had balls with suction cups on them. Rebekah had never played with one of these before.


She was thrilled that they could stick to the patio door!


Thank you, Miss Kimmie for the awesome gift bags, these whistles kept the kids busy in the car all the way back to Milwaukee on Sunday, they have been loving the sweet tarts, and the little cars too :)


A group photo of Kim and me with our kids, Kim's mom, and my parents. Vegas sounds like such an exciting opportunity for you all, but we'll miss you guys when you move next month! The girls had a great time swimming at Trenton's party ~ Thanks for everything!!
And HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY to you, KIMMIE!


In getting to Trenton's birthday, we were driving in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Our directions told us to turn onto Dorothy Drive, and since it's Emma's middle name (Dave's Grandmother's name, and Aunty Kui's middle name too!) we started telling Emma as we approached the turn, "We're almost on your street, Em." Not even 2 or 3 blocks after our turn, my dad looked up at the cross street and the sign said Emma Cirle.


How Wild!?! How many opportunities could there possibly be to see your first and middle name on two crossroads together? The only thing that would have surprised me more was if there had been a sign that said Kahiwalani on it. It was cool.


The wild flowers that are blooming in my parent's yard.


I loved the next two pictures of Ka'iulani, and she's so funny. She won't just let me take candid shots of her, she always wants to pose.





Kahiwa kneeling near the flowers.





Making a mud pie because she sees Kahiwa doing it all the time.


A butterfly that stopped by the flowers. I was trying to get a photo of it in flight too, but it kept coming out blurry.