Baby Mark

We have a new nephew!  Mark Hudson Ross was born on May 31st - 7lbs, 6oz, 20 inches long.  He is just the sweetest thing.  Praise God for a healthy baby!

I have always looked up to my brother, Mike.  We have such a special relationship, despite the fact that he is six years older than me.  He's given me lots of great advice over the years and is constantly making me laugh. Deb and I clicked the first time we met and she has become like another sister to me.  Everyone is doing great and they actually moved into their new house since Mark has been born.  They are loving live and feeling very blessed!  Oh, and I almost forgot.  We live 15 minutes from them now, so we see them quite a bit...which is awesome!

Parker loves baby Mark

Phillips Park

I love going to parks.  LOVE it!  I remember going to forest preserves and parks all the time as a kid (and sometimes putting up a fight,) but I have definitely picked up that quality from my parents.  I am always looking for new parks around the area to go to.  A few weeks ago, I was looking online for some nice parks in Aurora, and found McCarty Park and Phillips Park.  We decided to try to find McCarty Park since it was "recently renovated."  Let's just say, we drove by it twice before we realized we had indeed found it, and it was a total dud.  That was quite a laugh.

The next week, we decided to try Phillips Park.  We figured it couldn't be much worse than last week's adventure.  Were we ever in for a treat!  It has a giant wooly mammoth statue that Parker loved.  He kept says "Elephant eating crackers," and has a new obsession with elephants.  They also have a little zoo that has a decent smattering of North-American animals, in addition to a giant playground (in the shade).  And that's not all...(This is starting to sound like an advertisement).  There's a huge garden that we ran around in, and a splash pad.  It was a very fun family day.  Ryan brought the camera and got some unexpected, excellent pictures!

Cheese

Typical - Me trying to catch some rays while Parker runs away.

Ryan took these earlier in the day.