Rinns at Great Wolf Lodge

The morning after we got home from the beach, we flew to Chicago to meet the entire Rinn clan for a great Labor Day weekend together!  Papa, Nana, and Uncle Mike also flew to Chicago, where we met up with Jon, Kristy, & Griffin.  We caravanned north a few hours to Great Wolf Lodge in the Wisconsin Dells!

We all stayed together in a large condo at Great Wolf Lodge.  Most of the pictures from our weekend together are of these two cousins--they LOVED being together.

Apparently they thought the bathttub was just as much fun as all the rides and slides in the waterpark.  :)

This is one very happy Nana with these two boys in her arms!  :)

The bunkbeds in one of the bedrooms were a big hit with these two!  They went up & down the ladder countless times.  Isaac also tried jumping off the top rung of the ladder....

I think the funniest thing these two did together was try to get Michael to wake up every morning.  I really don't know how Mike slept as late as he did with these two boys running around.  Griffin & Isaac would keep pointing at him and saying things like , "Mike ni-ni," "he sleeping," "wake up!" and "shhh."  (Trust me, their "shhhh" wasn't quiet at all.)  They'd get a little braver and walk by the bed, then climb on the end of the bed, and finally attack him.  One morning they were both brushing his hair with Nana's hairbrushes!

The boys loved the jet skis in the kid's area!

all the Rinn boys together

Here's all the guys (minus the two little ones, of course) coming off Great Wolf's newest ride, the Howlin' Tornado.  I went one time and that was enough for me!!  :)  The ride starts off with a 6 story drop and then you fly up & down the sides of a large funnel.  Dave, Jon, Michael, & Kristy all went a few times together...and realized the reason that the tube started to double over on itself in the funnel was because they might have been slightly well over the weight limit--ha!  It definitely made for some fun memories.  :)

It really was such a fun weekend together!  We'll have to make this a tradition!

Our Trip to South Texas!

Earlier this summer, once we realized that we really weren't getting either of the babies we'd hoped to adopt, we decided to plan a fun vacation to the beach with Isaac.  We wanted to do something special with him and celebrate this precious little boy God has given us. 

We went back and forth about where to go, but finally decided to stay in Texas.  We'd never been to the Corpus Christi/Padre Island area. 

Early Saturday morning, we started the drive toward the coast.  Before the trip, we bought a portable DVD player for the car...Isaac LOVED it!  (Why didn't we buy one sooner?)  We arrived at our condo on Mustang Island just in time to make supper.  A family whose children I taught at Friendship Elementary stayed at this same condo earlier this summer, so it was nice to hear about it from someone who'd actually been there recently. 

 Even though we spent most of our time at the beach, the pools were fantastic!  One was a kiddie pool that was only 2 1/2 feet deep...perfect for Isaac's head to be above water.  :) 

Did I say how much Isaac loved going to the beach?  I wish this picture had turned out better, but when we woke up the first morning, Isaac found his swim diaper, swim trunks, swimming shoes, and shovel and brought them to us (no small feat when living out of suitcases)...we hadn't even eaten breakfast and he was ready to hit the beach!

A big change from the last time he was at the beach!

 Isaac loved to "dig dig dig" at the beach.  (He always says "dig" three times in a row.) 
And, if he was digging, he wanted Dave & I to be digging--or at least holding a "hovel." 
One afternoon, I started taking a walk down the beach while Isaac and Dave were digging in the sand.  After a few minutes, I turned around to find Isaac racing after me with a shovel and yelling "Mama hovel, Mama hovel."  :)

We planned our trip after schools in Texas had started, which ended up being a great idea! The resort was nearly all ours after the first night, and besides a few fishermen, we had the beach to ourselves, too.

When we weren't digging, we were in the water!  It was so warm and shallow quite far out.  After the first day, Isaac was brave enough to walk out on his own.  Dave could get him to laugh so hard when he bounced him up and over the waves!  He started saying "sand," "gull," and "beach" while we were there.

 

Our friend Corrie borrowed the book Heaven Is for Real to us for this trip.  Dave read it in one day!  He couldn't put it down or stop telling me about it.  Isaac was apparently interested, too.  ;)

On Tuesday, we packed everything up at the condo and took the ferry across the bay into Corpus Christi.  We spent the rest of our trip staying at the Omni.  I may have made a slight complaint about our room, and the manager offered us this room (for the same price!)...the views over the bay were gorgeous!

 

While we were in Corpus Christi, we spent half a day at the Texas State Aquarium!  We all loved it!  

Touching the stingrays

Watching the stingrays being fed

Watching the dolphin show



Outside the aquarium--USS Lexington is in the background. 
Dave visited the Lexington while Isaac and I spent the afternoon at the hotel!

Another fun place we visited was Snoopy's, a great restaurant right on the water.

For our last day of vacation, we drove down to Padre Island to the National Seashore.  It was gorgeous!



           We went to Landry's Seafood on our last night in Corpus.  Isaac loved the banana foster dessert!  (Okay, so did we--we ordered two!)

 



 

Wow!  I think this goes down as my longest post ever!  But, I wanted to write down all our memories while they're still fresh in my mind.  My heart is so full after such a wonderful week with my family.

Wordless Wednesday

Grandpa's Helper

Earlier this summer, Dave & I enjoyed a weekend away in Austin while my parents kept Isaac!  One of the weekend activities at MaMo and Papa's house was building a stone wall around the pool pumps.



What is this hat?!?  Apparently my mom was worried Isaac's little head was getting sunburned,
so she found this hat in her stash of baby clothes!  Ha! 
(Next time, I'll make sure to pack one of his own hats.)  :)



What is on my hands?

During the years while we were praying for a baby, one of my specific requests--due to my dad's heart disease--was that my dad would be able to live long and enjoy his grandchildren.  I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see Isaac with my dad.  Isaac loves following my dad around, especially when there's a project involved (which is nearly always).  :) 
And, we are also very excited that Isaac gets to see his Papa and Nana (Dave's parents) in just a few weeks, too!



Wordless Wednesday

Visiting Dada and the "dodos"

We had lunch with Dave one last time at his jobsite yesterday...next week he's off to a different adventure. 

"Wow Dada, I love visiting you & all the machines!"

 I was trying to get some pictures of Isaac in a machine for his birthday party invitations. 

His eyes got so big when he crawled onto the excavator!

Rock Box Painting

1.  Find a rock in the yard and paint it...the more colors, the better!

2.  Tape a piece of paper into the bottom of the box, and put the rock into the box. 

 3.  Shake the box as hard as you can! 

(Isaac's favorite part...he also liked hitting the box on the table for good measure.)  :)

 4.  Admire your work and say "cheese!"  

(Repeat until toddler is disinterested or too messy to continue!)