The Parrillo Family

With school starting the very next day, we sent summer 2016 off in style with a 'camping in' movie night with popcorn and smores.  I think I liked it more than the kids!

Well, well, well.  Look who is finally tall enough to get on the diving boards and the slide at Elmhurst's East End pool?  Our top dog, Ellie! She was so proud of herself! And, she actually did it!  Here's a video of her going up the ladder and down the slide.  (If you are reading this in your email and can't see the video below, click here to watch it .) And thanks to Google Photos, here's both an animated image and  panoramic composite photo of Ellie walking forward and jumping off the low dive: Seems like it was yesterday that the girls were in swim lessons learning how to swim !

Yep!  She's a first grader.  And, a St. Mary's of Gostyn Viking to boot.  There's just so much cuteness and special in this photo that I can't help but smile along with my big girl. Eloise is such a great kid and she is being so brave in taking on this new challenge of going to a brand new school (with uniforms!) in a brand new place (Downers Grove!) all on her own. Just like her Mama, she's carving a path in the wilderness that her siblings will draft behind.  And she's doing it all with a smile (and some tears!) and more courage than I could ever have. Ellie....we love you so much and are so excited to see you take on this new adventure at SMG!

One of the annual traditions that Nat has been able to keep up is peach picking during our summer visits to Coloma.  On the trip that we all went on earlier this month -  that included that stop at Lake Michigan and the dunes that I posted here - Nat and her sister also took the kids peach picking.   I posted details and photos from our peach picking adventure last year here .  Pretty remarkable how much our three have grown in that one year.  Frankie was in a carrier!   And here's the post from peach picking in 2014 when Nat was pregnant with the Big Beef and SD was battling a bad case of HF&M.   In 2013, we had a very small Sadie and Eloise who was getting so big .   And here's a post from 2011 when it was just the three of us peach picking .  A few of these photos of Ellie really remind me of big Frank these days! I wasn't there this year, but the photos below tell the story.  The kids and their bestie c...

Earlier this month, Nat and Aunt Sisi took the kids (our three and Sisi's boy) to a visit to Lake Michigan in St. Joseph's Michigan as part of a trip to Coloma. We've been to Silver Beach a few times with the kids in downtown St. Joe's, but there's another place called Tiscornia Park that either my sister Vic or my Mom recommended and the kids loved it.  We don't get to the 'big lake' very often because we spend most of our time on Paw Paw Lake or in the pool. But, this year is special and Nat wanted to take the kids on new experiences. So, off they went.  In addition to getting in the lake, there are dunes! Sadie above is all ready to go.  She has her goggles, her life jacket and even "Mr. Ray" to float on. The Big Beef got in on the action, too. You can see him below.   He likes being in the water, but loves working in the sand.  And mostly destroying sand castles that his sisters make. Brave SD taking on the waves. Ellie...

They fight like cats and dogs one minute.  The next?   They play so well together.  Then back to fighting and screaming and...even (gasp!) biting!  Yeah...biting. But, in the end, they love each other so much.  And Nat has done an amazing job of fostering the sister love and relationship between these two.  As summer ends, I'm going to through some photos to post here on the blog, but this one was too sweet to not warrant it's own post here. These two girls are amazing and loving and - along with their brother - are the best parts of our life.

Take a quick peek here to see a post from November of last year to see Frankie and his 'then' yogurt face. And now check out this photo below.  Same guy.  Same yogurt.  Just so much more grown up.  And A LOT more hair on his head! At this point, Frank is getting close to being two years old and he's learning so much and expanding his world every day.  There's new words, new experiences and new boundaries that he's continually testing.   But there isn't a better breakfast companion than this dude and his yogurt face.

Close to the end of July, the girls were able to spend a day with their cousin before she shipped back off to Switzerland for another year of school at the International School with her family.   In June, we took a family trip and were able to spend some time with our family in their house in Switzerland (which I haven't posted photos of quite yet), but following that trip, my Sister and her family came home to Elmhurst for almost a month this summer.  And they got to see all their friends and family.  Including us! The last day before they went back to Europe, the girls took their cousin on a little adventure where they showed her around a few places in Downers Grove including Everyday is a Sundae in the photo above.  Who doesn't like a good summer ice cream cone? And then they took her by our lot where we're building our house - that you can see the in the backyard below: These girls were so, so close when we all lived down the block and see...