It’s been super busy around the Komac house since the Cousinpalooza ended. Here is one quick pic from that event:

We also had a great time at the Museum with the boys. Kayla was involved in a Lego building contest.

Kevin and I did our bike event, the 2016 Tour de Farms in Dekalb. We both biked 75 miles on day 1. It was SOOO hot and extremely windy. If it had been cooler and less windy, I think we both could have done the 100 mile route. On day 2, we only did 35 miles. We were so beat from the day before, and it was a little rainy. We’ll try again next year!

The day before our event, Kayla left on the church mission trip to Mescalero, NM. They spent a week at an Apache reservation, where Kayla got to do a lot of painting and a little bit of deck building. She didn’t take pictures, but the church has a Facebook page with pictures that include Kayla.  Here is the link:Mission Trip

Kayla came home on July 3rd. The next day, she marched with the Woodlands Academy girls in the Lake Bluff 4th of July Parade.

Our adventure that day continued when my car’s battery decided to die in the parking lot. Thanks to a super helpful volunteer fire fighter at the Lake Bluff station, Mom’s speedy phone skills, and the guys at Sears, I had a new battery and made it to the family cookout just in time for food. We made an apple pie cake. Here is the cake before the vanilla buttercream went on it.

To make the week even crazier, we decided to surprise the girls with a 3 day trip. Kevin’s work made him take last week off, so we decided to go to Wisconsin Dells. There is a resort there named Mt. Olympus. Everything at the resort was named after figures in Greek and Roman mythology, and Mt. Olympus is the home of the gods. Both girls are fans of the Percy Jackson books, so getting to go to Mt. Olympus was fairly cool. There was a small coaster park, an outdoor water park, and an indoor water park. We stayed in a little hotel with some cool bunks.

Off to Mt. Olympus!

Taking on the Hades 360 wooden coaster. This thing is huge, sprawls over the whole park, and goes under the parking lot. They said it was super bumpy.

They rode a huge motored pendulum called Apollo’s Swing.

They rode another swing ride called The Manticore.

We all rode a bunch of go-karts that went on multiple levels like a giant, old, wooden, bumpy Mario Kart. We went back to our hotel to sleep.

The next morning we went to the water park. Nobody wanted to ride these water slides. Hmmm…

This is the Poseidon’s Rage tide (tsunami) pool. It generates a HUGE wave.

These are various tube rides and things around the water park.

The girls rode on a Boomerang tube ride where you fly down a tube then up a wall.

They splashed in a regular wave pool.

They rode regular tube rides.

They raced their dad. Physics dictated the winner there.

Kevin had his fortune told by Zoltar. Well, it tried to tel his fortune but then he never got his fortune card!

The girls posed for a picture.

The next morning was check-out. We spent some time in the indoor water park.

           Right before we left, the girls did need a photo with the King of the Gods, Zeus. 

Kids were pretty tired after all of this!

You might notice I am the one taking the photos and not playing in the water park. Stupid biology with incredibly precise timing.

We came back on Friday. Kevin left for a work trip to Toronto on Saturday. Ashley left yesterday morning for her church retreat in Green Lake, WI. Kevin comes home on Thursday, Ashley comes home on Saturday.

We have had a VERY busy week! To get all of this down, I will have to go day by day.

Sat. May 14th: Ashley had her spring piano recital (right after cousin birthday party). She played 4 pieces. We start with Musette.

Next up was At the Lamb’s High Feast (her church themed piece):

Followed by a cute little number called Comedian’s Dance:

And the show closer (she was the last performer of the day), I Dreamed a Dream:

Not too many dry eyes in that place (just the old folks who fell asleep).

Sun. May 15th: Ashley participated in the state karate championships. She placed 2nd in kata and 3rd in kihon, which earned her an invitation to the national competition being held in PIttsburgh. At first we thought that would be cool! And then we saw that it is a week long event, at which she would only compete in one event. The dates are the exact same week as her church retreat, which will be far more fun. She got some nifty medals to add to her collection, and she decided that she might like to do nationals when she has a higher ranking belt. Her next belt test is June 11th. She will move up to blue.

Tues. May 17th: Ashley’s band concert. They had 3 numbers, and just about any small child will recognize the third song.

Wed. May 18th: Ashley’s choir concert. Her choir sang in 5-6 songs, but I am only posting the two that are just the 6th grade. They did Brave and a One Direction song. Check out the soloist for Brave…

Thurs. May 19th: Kayla had her orchestra concert and art exhibition. She made a really pretty dragon pot in her ceramics independent study!

The orchestra had 7 songs, but my camera was done by now so I only have the first and last. This is fine with Kayla since these are her two favorites: It Takes One to Tango and a Calvin Harris medley.


Sat. May 21st: Today! Ashley worked at Save A Pet this morning, and Kayla worked a car wash to earn money for the mission trip to New Mexico. Both girls got grungy and stinky, but they’re clean now!

Ashley is all done with school on Thursday. I am done on June 1st. Kayla is done with regular classes on Friday the 27th, but then she has final exams on June 1,2,3,and 6, with a final assembly on June 8th to close her year.

I had a baby blitz at work: 3 babies for whom a single baby shower was going to happen. I also had a co-worker who contracted me to make a blanket for her prior to June 1st. Kevin has been traveling a lot, so I had many evenings here. All 4 blankets were done by May 9th! Here they are: