Asher comes to visit for a few days...

   Asher came home midweek for a short visit.  Tomorow he flies  to Birmingham, Alabama to do summer sales.  We tried to make the most of his time.  First we had Sylvia's family birthday dinner party. You can never have too much chocolate cake.

Ephraim loved having Asher home to wrestle and play Dota with. 

    I enjoyed hearing Asher attend Sylvia's violin lesson.  She has been working on trios to play with her brothers when they are all home together.  I actually started to tear up as they played the Beethoven trio, feeling so grateful that we have all this beautiful music in our home, and that the kids share this common interest.

    Thursday night, we attended a Court of Honor for scouts.  It was Sylvia's first!  She advanced to Tenderfoot rank.  She is enjoying the experience thus far.

    Sylvia's troop has a wide range of kids, from ages 12-18.  It is well staffed by adults who have been in the program for decades.  She has some great summer camps coming up!

      Friday, we drove down to Chicago, and I took the younger kids to the zoo while Sean and Asher went to the temple.  There were a few annoying things about Chicago (the traffic and parking fees), but the architecture was beautiful.
      I couldn't believe this building was where they kept their monkeys. It was a beautiful 100 year old building, with big heavy oak doors, and detailed stone masonry.  It was the sort of building that belonged on a college campus.  I loved wandering along the beautiful paths in Lincoln Park.  I think we have a better zoo, as far as animals go, in Madison.. but the architecture and walkways of Chicago were lovely.

    We went back to get Asher and Sean from the temple, and tried to get a nice family photo. That is almost impossible with Ephraim involved.

This one turned out the best...

    Saturday, was a yard work at home sort of day.  We spent most of it in the yard,mowing and taking apart an old swingset.  Ephraim wanted to run through the sprinkler later in the day, and Sylvia had fun taking photos on him and the flower garden.

She really is great with a camera.  These flower shots are beautiful.

And this is my little man, actually holding still for 2 seconds. 

We grilled brats and roasted s'mores Saturday night.  Asher invented "s'mores 2.0" (adding peanut butter to the mix).  I am not a fan, but Sylvia was.

Ephraim wins the award for most epic burnt marshmallows.. every single time.  We couldn't believe he could keep eating them. 

    Sunday afternoon we went up to Olbrich gardens in Madison. I wanted to see if the roses were in bloom, and they were!  It was lovely.

We found  a nice shady nook, with comfy seats, and pulled out our sketchbooks. We sketched until the mosquitoes finally drove us away. I'll have to start packing bug spray along with  the colored pencils.

We had a great view of the Thai pavilion, across a wavy filed of grass.

I love the variety of adventures our family gets to do together. It was fun having Asher be part of some of them this week.  I look forward to hearing about his adventures in Alabama.  No matter where he goes, he'll always know that the best burnt marshmallows are found back at home.