Adventures in Wisconsin

Last week, Julio, Sam and I were in Green Lake, Wisconsin, participating in the Feast (a multi-ethnic, intergenerational spiritual life conference for families) and the Covenant Annual meeting. My job was to coordinate the children's ministry aspect of these two events, as well as serve in the nursery. Julio served with the grade school kids all week and Sam got to hang out in the nursery. Sam got a little spoiled being with people all day long, who wanted to carry him and play with him. He's going to have to adjust to having some "alone" time :)

While the week wasn't restful as we were literally with kids the whole time, we managed to make some great memories as a family. It was fun to meet new friends and connect with old friends who were in town for the events. We are thankful that we had perfect weather and that the children's ministry went really well. There were over 150 kids for the Feast and another 50 who attended the program during the annual meeting. They kept us busy as we played games and made crafts with the older ones, took treasure hunts with the preschoolers, and tried to sooth sleepy babies in the nursery.

A growing boy

Samuel is about 6 1/2 months old. He has grown so much (literally...at his 6 month check up he weighed 18 lbs. 14 ounces). We are amazed at how quickly change happens from one day to the next. Here are some pictures to commemorate the developments in Sam's life over the past couple weeks.

First time eating rice cereal - as you can tell, he wasn't too sure about it at first.

It's definitely grown on him!

He especially likes pears, prunes and peas :)

He loves to sit and play with his toys!

Not only has he figured out how to scoot backwards, he's now figured out how to get up on his knees.

Happy Father's Day

I just wanted to say a very happy Father's Day to two very special people:

JULIO

AND MY DAD!

Take me out to the ball game

Julio's birthday gift from Samuel and I was tickets to a White Sox game. They played the Minnesota Twins this weekend and so we drove down to the stadium after church on Sunday to watch the game. Unfortunately, we arrived right as a thunderstorm with torrential rains was passing through the area. So we spent about 40 minutes in the car waiting to see if it would clear up. Luckily it did and we were able to enjoy a wonderful afternoon at the ball game.

It was quite an exciting game. Final score: White Sox -12, Twins - 2

Too much excitement for this little guy (he actually slept through a lot of the game)

A view of the Chicago skyline from the stadium

Julio's birthday celebration

We always have a tendency to drag out birthday celebrations! This year was no different. We had a fun celebration with our small group from church, which included yummy food, delicious cheesecake, and silly games.

Getting ready to sing "Happy Birthday"

Aubree displays the delicious cheesecake and Julio makes a wish

Then on Julio's birthday, I made an authentic Colombian stew, called Sancocho. I was surprised at how well it turned out...since it's been a long time since I've made it. It was a little weird to be eating stew on a day when it was 80 degrees, but Julio enjoyed it and that's what matters.

Sancocho is a stew made up of meat (in this case), potatoes, plantain, yuca (cassava), onion, tomatoes. Sometimes it is also made with corn, and topped with avocado slices.

Happy Birthday Julio!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful husband,

and an amazing father!

We're so blessed to have you in our lives!