Conner turned 4 on August 4th! To celebrate, he told us that he wanted a deer-feeder and Ranger birthday party. So as you can imagine - I struggled a little bit with trying to make that happen. Jason, on the other hand, had 150 different ideas and already had everything that we would use for decorations and games! We had a deer blind, tree stand, two decoy deers, straw bales, salt blocks and a deer feeder. The kids "shot" the deer with water balloons and bobbed for apples (like deer do) and had an egg toss. It was a great day with all of our friends and family. I cannot believe how quickly these past four years have flown by. Conner is so big - he loves to play in the creek, to go fishing and ride four-wheelers, he is learning more and more every day and every day he acts more and more like his Dad. He is not as shy as he used to be but he definitely still has a shy side. He still loves to tell stories (big fish stories) and has a very sensitive, caring heart. My favorite thing is that right now he is going through a phase where he wants us to hold him at night before he goes to bed. I love it and I know that it won't last much longer. He is very inquisitive and often asks questions that we do not know the answer to (thank goodness for Google!). He is truly a blessing!
Spiderman also payed us a visit at Conner's birthday party. The kids were ecstatic to say the least!
We then traveled up to Chicago to see our friends, the Ogle's. We had a blast walking through the park, going to the top of the tall buildings and going to Navy Pier. Most of all, it was great to spend time with the Ogles!
Ronan was in Chicago when we visited so it was great to see him!
On the way home from Chicago, we stopped at a Dairy Farm. The boys loved seeing all of the cows!
Another great thing about Conner's birthday was that Lois and Woody came over to have dinner with us. Lois and Woody work at our Marina and treat the boys like royalty! The boys go down to see them at least 3 times each week. While they are there, Lois and Woody let them catch minnows, feed the bass, catch crickets and drink yoo-hoos. We are blessed to have them in our lives.
Oh, I forgot (maybe on purpose!!) that we also went to Chuck-E-Cheese with MawMaw, PawPaw, Toby, Tiffany, Brody, Beckett, Saylor, Stone and Uncle Patrick and Aunt Emily. We had a great time, but boy do those boys like to spend tokens!