County fair days

Team Family Awesome preps for the DuPage county fair.
Herbs and salsa from Joe
Photos, applesauce and soda bread from Kate
Banana bread and photos from A
Brownies and photos from Julia
Two years to go from John

Jumping rope

With Uncle Steve

Joe at sunrise

Either the man or the setting is highly photogenic.

Perhaps both.

Savannah, Georgia

John, age 6

Red hair

Blue eyes

Freckles

Slightly out of focus

Patterns

We get our love of patterns from our Gramee.

Cheese days

It would seem Joe is out of town.
Not pictured: mushroom marinara.

Happy campers

Dressed and ready

For something. But probably not the public.

Lemonade stand

On being told to play outside, the children became quietly entrepreneurial.

Family Medicine

Julia, migrant mother for the 21st century

Twilight on the porch

Sand castles

Geodes

You had me at "smash" and "break".

Dolphin cruise

Palmetto state

Where I go, there will be sticks. And I will find them.

Headed to the beach

If you need these boys, they will be at the beach.

Racko

Family tradition.

At the beach

Happy sixth birthday, John

July 9 was a day of travel for us, but thanks to John's relentless reminders over the past few months, we also celebrated his sixth birthday! We had presents in pajamas, airplane cupcakes, sharks, and more presents in pajamas, but 1000 miles away. It was a great birthday!

Family dash

Sweaty kid!

Fourth of July picnic

Barbecue chicken, corn on the cob, baked beans, potato salad, and blueberry pie. America, 1950.
Later, smores!

Keys to surviving the car trip

Kentucky portraits

If I'd asked them all to comb their hair and put on decent clothes to take some pictures, they would have just rolled in the dirt and complained for 45 minutes. 

Oak Ridge

We have been to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, but we aren't allowed to talk about it.

 John, Human Computer

River hikes

We had a great river hike in Cincinnati, topped by this amazing river hike in the Smokies. It combined rushing, freezing water with very slippery rocks and scrambling, so a good time was had by all. 

On the trail