OK, so I’ve admittedly been terrible about blogging about all the events going on in our lives. I spend lots of time editing and posting new pictures, as you can sometimes see in the Recent Photos widget, but I never seem to get around to writing about it. Honestly, I think the photos tell a better story anyway (not to mention I’m already writing when I do the captions…).

The Vandermarks, Sept 2010

I’ll try to get better about posting simple updates when a new batch of photos have been loaded (like the remainder of our April trip to AZ that uploaded last night), but in the meantime, here’s just a straight list of the albums that have been updated/created since last Sept:

• Sept-Oct 2010 – the Scarecrow Festival, the circus, Halloween
• Visit with Auntie Mary Ann – who came to visit us in Sept
• Infiniti Crash II: The Deer – the results when a deer runs in front of a car doing 65 mph.
• Nov-Dec 2010 – Christmas decorating, Thanksgiving in Chicago, big snow storms
• Christmas 2010 – yep, pictures of presents and family at Christmas
• Jan-Feb 2011 – Cole’s 16th birthday, fun birthday parties, making cookies and craft projects
• Zach and Alex’s 5th birthday – including their 1st “friends” party
• Mar-Apr 2011 – Karen’s birthday, planting a garden
• Spring Break 2011 – a few days of fun in Chicago
• Arizona – April 2011 – a family get-together

Tags: Alex, Belouseks, birthday, booms, cars, Chicago, Christmas, circus, Cole, family outing, friends, GG, Grandma Marilyn, Grandma Pat, Grandpa Dan, Halloween, holiday, Joe, Karen, museum, Papa Bob, party, playtime, Santa, school, Thanksgiving, Tucson, Vandermark family, Zach

Grandpa Dan and Grandma Marilyn with their grandsons

We were thrilled to have Grandpa Dan and Grandma Marilyn come to town to visit us for the weekend a couple weeks ago.  It was so wonderful to see them!  We all had such a great time.  Zach and Alex showed off their Lego-building and lightsaber-fighting skills to Grandma and Grandpa, and they had Grandpa read any book they could get their hands on.  On a rather chilly Saturday, Grandpa Dan helped Joe and Cole with a little yard work.  That evening, the adults, joined by Grandma Pat and Papa Bob, went to nearby Suzette’s to celebrate our 6th anniversary.

The next day was spent at the Minnesota Zoo, where Grandpa Dan and Cole had the amazing opportunity to spend 3 hours backstage with the dolphins.  They got to interact directly with the dolphins, work with them on their tricks by giving commands and rewarding them with a treat for a job well done.  Pictures (and a couple video clips!) from the weekend, along with a few other random pictures from the last month, can be found in the May – June 2009 photo album.

In other family news, we were excited to hear that Cole’s band and jazz band both won first place at a recent competition.  We were also proud of Cole himself, who sounded great in a solo at a recent concert.  His baseball team is off to a great start this season too, with an 8-2 record.  Way to go, Cole!

Tags: Cole, family outing, Grandma Marilyn, Grandpa Dan, zoo

The May-July album was getting long since we’ve been going crazy with pictures, so I’ve created a new July-August album to keep both albums smaller.

New pics include a little wrestling match between the boys in mid-July (it had been hiding on Joe’s camera), a visit from Grandpa Dan and Grandma Marilyn, the 2nd cereal feeding (the first was videotaped) and bath time – plus some just plain cute ones.

Tags: Grandma Marilyn, Grandpa Dan, milestones, playtime