My new blog (used up all the space on this one!!)

www.craigjenschwantz.blogspot.com

Halloween!! One of my favorite holdiays! Our traditional pizza party night and trick-or-treating around the neighborhood! The weather was GREAT!!

Decorating a Halloween cookie!

Beautiful Witches!!

The only picture of Luigi...Austin didn't seem to love Halloween...the only time he had fun was coming back with Gma Penny early from trick-or-treating and handing out candy!! I sure loved his costume, though!!

The crew before we headed out!! I LOVED Eli's eyes!!

A better picture of Tate, the Lion....and Tyden is really checking Eli out!!

Gpa Steve and Gma connie joined in the Halloween festivities too!! Group hug!!

Halloween party at the Watzke's!!

Pumpkin decorating!

Mummy making!!

Fun night! Austin and Craig came late....and he was in a mood so he didn't participate much. He did LOVE the movie in the garage with popcorn!! Katelynn had a blast! Great party!!

Cobber Homecoming!!

It was an absolutely beautiful day for a.....

Kids 1 mile Fun Run

Baseball alumni game

Parade

Football game

Party at Ali and Troy's!!

Here they come!! There were maybe 8 kids in the Kids Run?! Craig ran with Katelynn and Tyden...Austin backed out at the last minute! They did GREAT!!

I have to find the picture we took years ago when we were in college.....looks a litte different now with our crazy kids!! We had so much fun catching up and getting to spend time with Laura and Tommy, and The Becker's!! We had just a great great day!!!!

What we've been up to......

The weeks seem to fly by!!

Austin has been busy....

going to football games

playing football games

watching football games on T.V.!!

and going to a few volleyball games!!

Katelynn has been busy....

taking piano lessons

3 on 3 basketball league

church choir

getting dragged to a few football and volleyball games!!

The football season continues!!

Gopher/Twins weekend in Minneapolis!!

Great weekend get away!

Everybody randomly decided to go to this weekend's Gopher game!!

Tailgating with Lynne Kovash before the game!!! What an atmosphere!!

Great time!!

And yes, I am proud of myself for learning how to merge photos and get the best picture of everyone!! :)

Bryant's brother Brett and Heather joined us as well!!

Discussing the statistics of the game I'm sure!!

Awesome seats, Craig!! Way to go!!

Super Super fun game! Gophers win!!!!

Look familiar? (Seattle?) HAHA!!

We stayed at Bobbie Jo and Derek's friday night! They are fantastic hosts and went the EXTRA mile and picked us up at the hotel where we left our car and dropped us off at the stadium while they went to Derek's aunt's house to park! We were going to walk to our hotel after, but instead we walked with them to the car and they brought us to our hotel! They are the BEST!!

Our evening downtown stroll and the Stone Arch Bridge!

Craig wanted to walk after the game over the this bridge....since Bobbie Jo and Derek dropped us off we decided to walk across it after supper at the Old Spaghetti Factory! It was a few blocks from our hotel and and an absolutely BEAUTIFUL night to hang out!!

Seats with a view!! Twins game Sunday (way up high!)

Since our East Coast trip, the kids think it's fun to sit WAY up high! We were three rows from the top!

The very top corner of Target Field! I have to admit it was fun to look at the city!!

LOVED the nachos in a helmet!! :):)

Running the bases!! Austin and I stayed after to run the bases, while Craig and Katelynn rode the light rail back to the hotel to get the car!

 

Austin and I walked out of the stadium just as Craig was turning on to the same street....we couldn't of even planned it better...they picked us up and we headed right onto 394!! Picked up a "Jimmy's" pizza in Albany on the way home...(the restaurant search called it Jimmy's, but they answered as Albany's pizzeria!!) It did taste like Jimmy's!!

What a FANTASTIC weekend!!!!

Cobber football!

A new season has arrived! Everything has switched into football gear!! The boys were sooo excited to play on the hill!! It was a beautiful day for Cobber football!! (Katelynn stayed with Papa to help with Tate!) :)

First Day of School!!!

Can't believe my baby is going to school! I was glad I had to work early so there were no tears shed by me (I had plenty the day before!!). The week was full of trying to get to bed early and adjust our schedules and routines for back to school! Katelynn loves her teacher and loves school...Austin is still trying to get used to being gone all day. It's been a long week for him and gets sad when Craig drops him off! The organizing of drop off/pick up has been really unorganized at Austin's school! Craig found Austin in the bus line the first day and that's what his card said on his backpack!! yikes!! So we didn't have a very good start on the first day! We have heard many horror stories from other families too!!

He seems to have a few stories at night, so hopefully he will find his routine too! I am hoping for a better week this week!! He got a $dollar$ from Craig on Friday for finally remembering his coat and lunch box to bring home!! :)

I thought we would "practice" lunch for Austin the day before school starts...we had to make sure he could open everything in his cold lunch! What a great idea to have a picnic at the park......OR NOT! We were immediately surrounded by bees which I can't stand! So, we ate in the van and played after!! Good thing was, Austin could open everything!! :)

Labor Day Weekend!

What a great end to a GREAT summer!!

We spent the day on Lake Jewett in Gpa Steve and Gma Connie's new boat!

Kids took a break swimming and jumping off a raft!

Campfire time! The kids thought it was pretty funny to switch shirts!!

Weekend at home!!

Football season has begun!!

First Vikings party! (Craig made chili and it was 95 degrees out!)

Joel had all the kids yelling what to do for the game he was playing! Fun.

Sleepover after the kids watched Mama Mia!! :)

Spent the rest of the weekend at Island Park craft show and lunch with the girls,

shopping with Katelynn and Mom for back to school (and a Tutti Frutti treat after!),

playing Clue Jr. and Monopoly Jr. with Austin,

going to a really fun park that Kateynn suggested this afternoon!!

The home stretch!!

Chicago (Austin has requested we go to Chicago next summer as we drove by the White Sox stadium twice and didn't get to see a game!!) Katelynn has requested Oregon?!?! :)

 

We stayed near Schaumburg our last night (Redhawks rival!) and had a little night swim before bed!!

Home tomorrow!!

Austin liked wearing two caps with the headphones..that worked best I guess!!

The last day seemed to be the longest day...especially from the cities...I guess since we make that drive a lot it wasn't that exciting!! Good to be home!!

 Amazing Day!!

We had a great day touring museums, seeing the capitol, swimming at the hotel, and seeing the Nationals play....our 30th MLB stadium!!!

We LOVE D.C!! It's easy to get around, quiet, full of history, and clean!!

Started the day on the carousel!! Next....

National Museum of Air and Space

 

Hubble telescope....this place was amazing. They have all these actual

 HUMONGOUS things that went into space!!

The actual very FIRST airplane. It flew for 59 seconds!!

The planets/universe were Katelynn and my favorite!!

Lunch Break! Coolest McDonald's I've ever seen! 22 ordering lanes and separate pick up lines. Then, there were separate spots to order just the treats!! They had really cool ice cream cones!!

The Capitol building is AMAZING! It takes my breath away!!

Next....

The National Museum of Natural History

(most of these pictures are for you, Eli! Your cousin Katelynn really thought you should be here! We decided next time we just bring you and Katelynn to tour more of D.C!)

Crazy big Elephant! Just the skin weighs over 2 tons!!

The dinosaur exhibit was amazing!!

Katelynn thought Eli should see these tools. They are going to be fossil scientist, I guess!! :)

The actual Hope Diamond!! It's gorgeous!!

This blurry picture is of a snake that was 48 feet long!!

A caribou...the mammal exhibit was cool...all kinds of stuffed mammals sea and land and a big exhibit on evolution...imagine the questions I had to answer??!!

The Smithsonian Castle

cool!!

Craig and Katelynn went up a clock tower for a view of the city, so Craig has pics on his phone! Austin and I had an ice cream treat while we waited!! We weren't sure how long it would take, but no waiting!!

Nationals Park

Washington, D.C.

Nationals vs Mets

We drove to the subway from our hotel, hopped on and took us all they way to the ballpark!!

George Washington was there!! :)

And Abraham Lincoln (Teddy was there too, but I didn't get a picture!!)

Great seats! (The kids like to sit way up high, so they didn't think so!!)

Heidi, Austin told me him and Noah call the Nationals the "Walgreens team"! Now I know why!! :)

We bought a hat for Austin for $5 off the subway before the game!! :)

Super fun after Papa's home run guy hit a GRAND SLAM!!!

 

It started raining in the 6th inning. We went up top and hung out for awhile. Decided to head to the subway in the bottom of the 8th...they get sooooo crowded otherwise!! We bought Katelynn a pink Washington Nationals hat on the way back!! She had to borrow Austin's for this picture!!

We did it!!

All 30 MLB stadiums (and many minor league stadiums)!! It took us 12 years!! (Florida has a new one since we've been there, so that's next!!) It's been amazing, fun, crazy, and AWESOME!!!! I would do it all again and we maybe will! :) Looking back at our honeymoon, to the first game in Kansas City with a 3 hr rain delay....I never would have thought we would be at our 30th stadium 12 years later with our amazing kids!! What memories!! :)

( I have to mention...Mom gave this blue bag before our honeymoon...it has been to all 30 stadiums with me!! Mom, thinks I should get a display case!! HAHA!!)