First Day of School 2022

The 2022-2023 school year has begun!  The kids were excited to start the new school year.  I think they were ready for some time spent apart from each other.  Cadence has entered middle school (which is now housed by the old high school) as a 7th grader, and Colin is entering his last year in elementary school as a 4th grader!  Shine brightly, Schuerman kiddos!

Late July & August Fun!

Late July and August brought us some fun times with friends - check it out below!

Colin had his friend and teammate, Leo, over for a swim.

I saved this cute photo of Colin after sending it to Danny (he was traveling to Philly for work).

Colin spent all day, Monday through Thursday, in late July, at the Otterbein basketball camp.  Mason was there, too, but I think it was mostly kids that Colin didn't know.  He had fun with the 3 on 3 games most of all.

Colin also did a 3 week 3v3 lacrosse league.  It was good for him, but I think there were a lot of kids who were being introduced to lacrosse for the first time, so things were a little show compared to what Colin's used to!

The Jones family invited us over for Adrian's 10th birthday.  They did pour paintings that turned out really neat!

The 3rd Saturday in August brings the Sunbury Sizzle and Sounds.  The 9u and 10u baseball teams hosted a fast pitch booth to raise money for the teams.  While we were there, the kids had lots of fun with the Rileys!

With each revolution, I tried to sneak a picture of Cadence - I was laughing hysterically.  

Colin got his face painted 😁

Cora came with me when I picked Cadence up from XC practice.  She spent the morning with us and then we headed to the 'Square!  She just adores Cadence. 😊 And I love that she wears Cadence's hand-me-down sunglasses. 😎

Adrian came over to swim after travel basketball tryouts - the rest of the Jones family came to join us for dinner that evening.  Cadence and Jalen get along so well!  

 

Annual Glamping Trip with Grandma & Poppa

Mom & Dad took Cadence & Colin to Jellystone this year for their annual glamping trip.  They left on Thursday and came back on Sunday.  Check out all of the fun they had!

I learned that they didn't catch any fish, unfortunately.

They painted pottery - a softball and a baseball

Colin started the fire & was very proud of himself

They both went down the water slides this year 😊

They also had a bike parade!

We are so thankful for my parents spoiling the kids (and us) every year.  The kids have a blast.  We also had fun this year - Danny and I went to Henmick Farm & Brewery after work on Thursday (to celebrate a friend's birthday); on Friday, we went to Carfagna's for dinner and then to the lacrosse fundraiser (FORE! golf outing) for some drinks (Danny & Raising Leaders sponsored a hole on the course); Saturday we got some stuff done around the house, enjoyed the pool, and went out to dinner with the Joneses.  It wasn't a quiet, laid back, kid-free weekend, but it was a good time!

Independence Day 2022

Starting off, Independence Day was a little different for us this year.  Both of the kids were IN the 

4th of July parade with their baseball and softball teams!

Here's Colin with his team...

...and Cadence with hers!

The kids enjoyed being in the trucks and throwing out candy.  We had fun watching for them!

We hung out in the pool, cooked out, and played the Tortilla Challenge game before we headed out for the fireworks.  I don't think I had laughed that hard in a long time.  We wrapped up the evening with the best fireworks show Sunbury has ever had!

 

Chicago, Round 3

Back in the spring, I remember I was folding a load of laundry; Danny was downstairs & said, "You'll probably say 'no,' but the Red Sox play the Cubs in Chicago 4th of July weekend - do you wanna go?"  I thought it sounded like a great idea - our entire family LOVES Chicago - the kids are always asking when we'll go back.  We'd also never been to Wrigley Field, so it sounded like an awesome time!  We flew out EARLY Friday morning and came back late Sunday night, right before the 4th.  We packed in a lot in our short weekend trip!

We stopped at Starbucks at the airport before our flight.  The Marinelli kids love the 

"Pinkety Drinkety" - Colin was not a fan, Cadence said it was so,so

After a quick flight to Chicago, we were on the L to get to the hotel!  The kids did not like the odor (it smelled like skunk).  They soon learned that weed smells like skunk.  Cadence covered her nose because she didn't want to inhale it 😂 Hopefully that's how she always thinks about it!

We stayed at this pretty boujee hotel, Hotel EMC2.  A friend from high school posted on Facebook that she stayed there years ago and I remember being impressed with the photos of the hotel.  There was a lot of neat artwork.

We walked to Portillo's for dinner and we were freaked out by this face on one of the buildings

Yum!

I got a veggie Chicago dog - it was really good!

The kids cooperated with a photo, but they were so hungry.  

We waited a REALLY long time for our food.

We spent the evening just walking around.  

The lights on all of the buildings were so patriotic and pretty!

One of the "robot attendants," Leo!  Named after Leonardo Da Vinci.  At this particular time, we shared an elevator with him.  We had him bring us face cloths and hand towels to our room, too!  It (ahem, he) was pretty cool.

First morning in Chicago calls for Do-Rite Donuts

So good

We did some walking around to pass the time before our boat tour

Cadence and I had to try out a technique we saw on Instagram - when taking a picture of tall buildings, turn your phone sideways and use the panoramic feature!

The boat tour starts off near the Wrigley building.  This is the 3rd time we've taken the architectural boat tour - and definitely not our last!

It was a beautiful day outside.  We really lucked out with the weather all weekend.

Recreating the photo from our tour 5 years ago!  

Colin didn't want to play along - took some bribing. 😑

We crossed the wake from another boat and all got splashed a couple of times!

BEAUTIFUL

I asked Cadence to take a picture of us with the pretty flowers - this is what I got 😆

Next up, the beach!  The water was pretty chilly, but the kids played for hours!

That night we went to the Cubs game.  The kids were decked out in their new gear!

Perfect night for a baseball game

Danny's seat was a little obstructed, but we were able to scoot down so there was nothing in our view.

The Cubs had a nice comeback and won 3-1.  It was a really good game and mostly everyone stayed until the very end!

The next morning we rode bikes around the city - first stop was the Bean!

Next up, Buckingham Fountain

We stopped to take a break and had some lemonade

We rode back along the shore

Next up, Navy Pier!

We wrapped up the day at Giordano's.  The food was so good.  Check out that mozz!

We had some time to kill at the airport - we rode the moving sidewalks a bunch of times.  Always a favorite with the kids.

Until next time, Chicago!