Bookmark signing at Borders!

This past Saturday, Delaney had a bookmark signing at Borders. She had a table outside of the children's department, complete with a sign showcasing her winning bookmark. The store would periodically announce her name and that she won the national bookmark contest and was there to sign the bookmarks. Delaney had also created a list of her "Top Picks" for reading, that was on display and handed out as well. How neat is that?





Both sets of grandparents were there, as well as many other family members to celebrate with her. Her cousins, Michael and Teresa, were one of the first to receive an autographed bookmark. :-)

Delaney was a little uncomfortable with all the attention, especially when people she didn't know stopped by. So she asked her Dad to sit with her until the signing was over, which while she loved the honor -- I think she was relieved when it was over.

Thanks to Borders for selecting her bookmark design initially allowing her the chance to win first place at the Library of Congress's Official Bookmark contest as well as for honoring her at the store and just making the overall experience a wonderful one!

Dani

Delaney won the National Book Festival Official Bookmark Contest Sponsored by Borders!

Delaney loves to read, and she also likes to draw... what a perfect combination for her to enter a Bookmark Contest sponsored by Borders. During the summer, she designed and created her bookmark and took it into our local Borders store at the mall to enter the contest.

There were three levels to get through to try to win! First, you had to win at the local store level; then, you had to win at the state level; finally, all the state winners were competing for the top three spots. What a tough process to get through, so imagine Delaney's surprise as she kept getting calls from Borders that her bookmark kept winning! Then she received the major call that her bookmark was the Grand Prize winner -- she was beside herself with excitement!

Borders just released a press announcement. It’s weird -- if you put “sixth grader from Indiana wins” in Google – Delaney shows up everywhere!!! :-)

Here is the winning bookmark:



Her bookmark is the official bookmark of the National Book Festival this year. Her bookmark will be "distributed to tens of thousands of book lovers when they descend on the National Mall in Washington D.C. for the Festival Sept. 25". How neat is that?

What did she win? Well, at the store level she was awarded with a certificate showing that she was the local winner; then at the state level she was awarded with a certificate and a $25 Borders gift card; then at the grand prize level she was awarded with a $500 Borders gift card as well as a $500 Borders gift card for her school library. Simply amazing!

Way to go, Delaney! We are all so excited and proud for your accomplishment!

Love,
Dad, Mom & Bro

 

Palm Springs 15th Wedding Anniversary Trip!

We had purchased some raffle tickets for a fundraiser with the LAM Foundation, and somehow we won one of the trips to Palm Springs! The prize package included staying at the Hilton Palm Springs (right at the bottom of the mountains), a gift certificate to their spa, free breakfasts at the hotel, a gift certificate for lunch for two at Sherman's Deli & Bakery, a gift certificate to Riccio's Steak & Seafood (we couldn't even use it all!), as well as a gift certificate to The Wardrobe (ladies apparel). How fun is that?





We flew into the Palm Springs International Airport, which is the prettiest airport I think we've ever seen. It has an open air concept, so we were immediately enjoying the lovely sunny weather right when we arrived.



This was the view almost everywhere, palm trees all over with the mountains in the background. Absolutely gorgeous! It was so weird to think that we were basically in the middle of the desert.





We were able to check in right away, and we had a small beautiful suite. We remembered to take pictures of the room before we messed it up this time! Wasn't it lovely?



And here was the view outside our balcony, we had a beautiful scene of the outdoor pool. We decided it was a good thing we had kiddos at home, or we could have easily just never come home!!!

We were hungry from our four hour, non-stop flight (long time to be in an airplane, especially if you need oxygen to fly - UGH!). So we quickly redeemed our first gift certificate at the deli and had a wonderful lunch, actually there was too much food!



Kenny was brave and tried something brand new -- their chef's specialty, beef 'n latkas. While I went for the basic turkey melt -- I'm not all that adventurous when it comes to new foods, and I was hungry! I didn't want something I couldn't eat. :-)

We went to bed super late the night before, trying to make sure we covered all the bases with the kids -- their school, soccer, and everything that needed packed for them -- as well as trying to finish up our packing. So I was pretty tired, and I think I could have easily just called it a day and gone to bed early. However, Kenny was ready to go sightsee and talked me into just driving around and checking Palm Springs out. It did wake me up a bit. It was so beautiful out, we got to do some shopping, and we even watched a movie at the Imax - Inception. It was a very unique, complex movie -- you really have to pay attention or you'll easily get lost. It definitely kept me awake to the end! I was also able to redeem the gift certificate for a beautiful dress at The Wardrobe too. Definitely had fun with that, now I just need my husband to plan more date nights!!!



Basically, every morning we just put on our swimsuits and headed down to the pool. I was able to read several books, including a great trilogy by Matthew Reilly: Seven Ancient Wonders, The Six Sacred Stones, and The Five Greatest Warriors. If you are a fan of James Rollins, Clive Cussler, Dan Brown, Steve Berry, etc. -- you will definitely enjoy this series.



Kenny apparently took more pictures than I was even aware of, while I was enjoying the sun in my bikini -- I'll spare you from seeing those!!! Our breakfast coupons only lasted until 11:00am, which I think was the only thing that got us up and moving from the pool. We had a delicious brunch late every morning, and either got ready or went back to the pool to hang out some more. It's so nice not being on a schedule sometimes. LOL





Kenny redeemed the spa gift certificate for a massage this morning, and then we dressed up and headed out to Riccio's Steak and Seafood for a nice evening meal. We sat out on their patio seating and just enjoyed the beautiful view and weather.



The next day we took a scenic trip through the mountains (at times a little harrowing, my passenger brake pedal just wasn't working properly!), as well as taking a ride on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.



This is a shot of the other car on their way down, as we were on our way up! The floor inside rotates 360 degrees the entire time you are riding, so you can see from every viewpoint. It is a 10 minute trip, 2-1/2 miles long starting you at elevation 2,643 feet and ending at elevation 8,516 feet!





Kenny isn't a big fan of these cable rides, so it was a big concession for him to ride one. :-) Although, I must admit that I wasn't all that thrilled when we had to go over a tower and the entire car rocked back and forth for a while.

But the views from above were simply breathtaking! There are a variety of activities available there, including nature walks and hiking trails (which I don't even think I could do with oxygen now) -- so we just did their Ride n' Dine option. We had a nice meal and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery.

Then somehow after another lazy morning at the pool, it was time to get ready to head back home. It was a wonderful trip, celebrating our 15th Wedding Anniversary just a bit early (September 2nd). Back to reality!!!

Ken & Dani

Hammond 3v3 Soccer Champions - U12 Girls Division

On Saturday, July 31, Delaney played in her first 3v3 Soccer tournament in Hammond. She was on a team with six girls total, two of which were on her Three Lions team. It's bit of an adjustment to regular play: smaller field & goals, a box around the goal that no one can cross (defense or offense), no goalie, you can only score on your side of the field, playing both offense and defense throughout, etc. But all the girls did very well! The Three Lions teammates worked extremely well together -- controlling the ball, passing and setting each other up for goals. They were subbed out with the other three girls, who were from Hobart. Kenny used to play 3v3 tournaments all the time (pre-kids mainly), and it was a lot of fun watching them again with Delaney.

Their team shirts were hot-pink -- not a color that Delaney was very thrilled about. Kenny and I had fun chanting, "Go Hot Pink," and watching Delaney shake her head and roll her eyes at us! :-)



Freakishly enough, the weather was perfect for hanging outside all day. It never rained, it wasn't too sunny and hot, it wasn't too cold -- definitely NOT the norm it seems for soccer games. Don't get me wrong, it was wonderful!



They played a total of four games that day. They won each game they played, although one was a nail-biter! In fact, they snuck one goal in RIGHT before the whistle and we thought it had tied the game. I guess we obviously had our goal count off because that last-minute goal won the game. Whew!





Here was one of Dee's many goals throughout the day!!!



After the final game, they headed over to the tent to receive their trophies with a lot of excitement!



And Delaney was THRILLED to receive another shirt (that was NOT hot pink) that said Champions on it!!! I'm sure this is the shirt that she'll be wearing most of the time.

It was a lot of fun. We'll have to do this again! Great job, girls!

Dani

Six Flags Day!!!

Kenny took Tuesday off from work, and we took the kids to Six Flags for the day. They had each earned their free ticket from reading, and we were running out of time to get there this summer. The summer vacation is going by so quickly! (* gasp *)

We had an absolutely beautiful, sunny day! Delaney and I started our day off in the Hometown Square riding a family roller coaster, the Whizzer.



Well... we definitely could have had a better start to our day. The ride got STUCK at the top of the spiral lift with US IN IT -- just hanging around 70 feet in the air!!! We did have QUITE a nice, lengthy view of the entire park from our unique vantage point!



One of the poor employee's working there, had to trudge by foot up every single circular level until he way was up there with us. He had to inform us what was going on, probably make sure that no one tried to get out and walk down, and inform us that they had the technicians coming over to get the ride going again. I'd say we were stuck there at least 15-20 minutes or so, before we finally finished the ride. YIKES!

We made our way over to the Southwest Territory to ride an oldie but goodie - the Chubasco, spinning teacups. Since Kenny can NOT handle spinning rides, those are all left to me while he snapped pictures!



Delaney was tall enough to ride every ride in the park, but that didn't mean she actually wanted to! We couldn't talk her into riding some of the bigger roller coasters with us. So Kenny and I ended up riding the Raging Bull by ourselves. It features a 208 foot first drop with a top speed of 73 miles per hour. It was pretty awesome! Maybe someday our kids will ride the "thrill" rides with us!





Then we talked Kyle into riding the Ricochet with Delaney and I (spinning ride again = no Kenny). Since there was only 2 people per cart, Delaney had to ride by herself. Away we went...



The spinning part didn't bother Kyle, but when they started "ricocheting" or swinging out the carts, Kyle was done with the ride. Problem was, the ride had quite a ways to go. :-( He was a pretty unhappy dude for a bit, but he was pretty ecstatic when the ride was over. He did not feel the urge to ride this one again. Delaney, however, was all for it.




Kyle's all-time favorite ride once again was located in the County Fair: the Buccaneer Battle! He probably would have rode this ride the entire day and been just fine.



Not that Delaney and Kenny didn't enjoy the ride too! I did ride it once, but that was enough for me! I somehow escaped being thoroughly soaked that ride, and I didn't want to push my luck with multiple rides. I was content to take pictures of them riding and continue to have dry underwear! LOL





Afterwards, Kenny and Kyle were taking turns on deck adding to the mayhem squirting riders on the boats! They were COMPLETELY soaked from head to toe.



Then in an effort to start drying off, the kiddos took their parents on a drive at the Great America Raceway. We had a nice leisurely drive -- it was nice being the passenger for a while -- and the kids were off to the next ride.





We convinced Kyle to ride his very first roller coaster in Camp Cartoon, the themed kids' area -- Spacely's Sprocket Rocket: Campground Shuttle Service. We rode the ride, which Kyle was definitely NOT thrilled with, and at the ending of the ride -- WE GOT STUCK AGAIN! Can you believe it? At least we weren't up way up high for very long, we literally got stuck at the end of the ride (they couldn't open the safety bars) and only had to wait about 5 to 10 minutes to get out. Kenny said that Delaney and I were bad luck. :-(





The next ride was probably Kyle's second favorite, the Roaring Rapids -- a family rafting adventure. After all our water rides, where I was somehow able to escape with hardly getting wet -- my luck was over. I wasn't COMPLETELY drenched from head to toe, but I was definitely pretty wet after this ride.

During all this, we obviously had the typical amount of waiting and lines to stand in. Yes, thankfully the park wasn't very crowded since it was a week day -- in fact, less crowded than previous weekdays we've attended -- but still there were lines. Which pleasantly enough, the kids did very well with!





As long as it wasn't a big thrill ride, Delaney was pretty much up to riding anything. We rode the Condor in Orleans Place. I think it took you up over 100 feet, so you got quite a nice aerial view of the park. Delaney and I rode it, Kyle was a no-go with Kenny no on the spinning action.

We rode a lot of other rides. Delaney and I rode the Ragin' Cajun. We again went for the single rider option to avoid the long line. Delaney actually rode it a few more times that way. (That darn spinning thing left Kenny out again.) We also rode the Logger's Run; Kyle was pretty unhappy with this one too, the drops were freaking him out. Delaney and I LOVED riding the Whirlgig, the swings -- riding it several times. Kenny misses out on so many fun rides with his aversion to spinning! Delaney and Kenny rode the Demon, in the shortest line to that ride EVER (awesome). I'm sure there were more that I'm forgetting, and Kenny and the kids towards the end of the day braved the Rue Le Dodge: bumper cars!



After a very long (and exhausting) day, we changed into dry clothes and headed home. Another fun day at Six Flags (Kyle's BEST DAY EVER), and we now have another year to recuperate and think about taking them again next year. :-)

Dani

 

Delaney won a Chicago Fire Coloring contest!

Way back in April of this year, Delaney entered a Chicago Fire coloring contest. She received a phone call earlier this week that she had WON her age bracket (ages 10-14), and they wanted to confirm our address to mail out her prize package! Woo-hoo! How exciting is that?!?

We received her package in the mail today. They sent back her drawing, signed by one of the players: John Thorrington, #11. She also received a team jersey signed by many players (she's wearing it in this pic) --



As well as all this other Chicago Fire stuff --



Which includes a bag, a poster, another t-shirt, a teddy bear, a ball, a key ring, and more! Delaney is pretty darn excited and surprised that she won. Great job, Dee!

Dani