Crook Family: Busy and Sick

So the reason I haven't written in so long is due to not feeling good and my sister coming in from Chicago for Mother's Day and the last two weeks. It's been a blast to have her here, it is nice to let the kids have so much fun. But I think we are all ready for our lives to go back to how they were. I just wish she could stay here and have everything settle back down. But her life is in Chicago (more especially her husband).

So I'll cover tidbits with little stories and such, but I'm going to let the pictures talk too! A few weeks ago Justin and I took Levi to the OSU scrimmage game. It was interesting, and fun. Levi loved the band most of all. But he saw the football and pointed that out too. We didn't stay the whole time, but it was still fun to go.

We did a lot while my sister was here, but at the beginning it was mostly going to the park and local places. For mother's day we had a wonderful dinner at my sisters, where after much prep by the women, the men cooked the dinner. Justin bought me some scrapbooking supplies for Mother's Day. Actually I was allowed to go and buy some for myself, and I count that as my gift. But I did get flowers and a card from Levi! It was a good day, and I hope mothers everywhere had a good time too! Another day while the women were out and my dad and Justin were babysitting, Levi started to climb into his old jolly jump-up at my parents. He is too big, so it wasn't working like he planned. Well, he flipped and flopped and then landed on his face on the floor. His teeth went through his lower lip. It wasn't a huge wound, but of course bled like crazy! He is still somewhat recovering, but he is just fine! So if in some of the pictures you see a fat lip, that is why!

Our big adventures started this last Thursday when we took all the kids (that would be ten total) to the Children's Museum in Salem. I've been there before, but Levi still had a blast. When we arrived there was about three bus-loads of kids there as well. This meant chaos! About halfway through our trip they all headed out, and we were pretty much left alone, which was nice. We still had to keep our kids from running off, but what else is new?

Friday we headed up to the Zoo for a Member's free dinosaur exhibit. The drive was long and traffic was bad. Once we got there, I found out Levi hadn't been added yet and I was told too many "guests" had been let in on the account my Grandma set up. So we had to pay full price and didn't get the perks of membership (the free dino exhibit we came for). I then discovered that some of the other prices had raised as well, and I spent far more money that day than I anticipated. It was fun for Levi at the Zoo, and although I didn't feel good at all (hence me in the wagon with Levi) I let Justin take him to as many of the animals that he wanted. Keeping all ten kids herded together was a task, but we did it. We spent three hours there before heading home. Keep in mind that day was 95+ outside with the sun burning down on us! We were hot and tired most of the day! Levi got to ride the train too, which he loved. He really enjoyed all the animals so it was worth the trip. Later that evening, when we were back in Corvallis, we met to have pizza at the riverfront. We then let the kids play in the fountains down there. It was after 6 PM, but it was still over 90, so they were happy. It was a full and fun day!

Saturday started with us helping our church with a service project. We cleaning graves and the cemetery grounds at a place here in town. We did that for an hour, and then headed with the whole family to the coast. We went to Mo's for lunch and then Nye beach. After that we took the kids to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Again, the kids had a blast and loved every moment!