a shu, a logan, some wheels.

oh, chicago, you wear me out

as a kid,  

on one or two of my less than stellar days, 

my nana used to say to me:

"Dear, Dear, Dear,

you Wear Me OUT!"

it was always said in her gentle Nana way,

but as a parent now...well...

let's just say i appreciate her restraint.

chicago can be similar.

though, instead of being less than stellar,

it is Very, Very Stellar.

particularly now that we have 2 family units to visit.

so many pictures, people. so many.

several posts are in your future.

this time round, we went to the north household first.

cue: stevie, LaLa and the ever-present Logie. 

as my somewhat L-less son says,

"yots and yots of fun!"

our little logan. i really, really love this kid.

fishing with aunt katie

tossing rocks with the cuz

gorgeous LaLa

steven (who may or may not have just scared those geese into the water)

shu and the fish i caught, reeled 2/3 of the way in, freaked, and sorta tossed the pole to katie, who then reeled the poor thing in, unhooked him and tossed him back into the drink. thanks, sister. i really wasn't prepared to catch one :)

a little baseball

getting the hang of the tee. or T? anyone?

practicing the future baseball card stance

these kids were capturing outlandishly sized amphibians.

dear heavens. joshua's face says it all.

he braves the touch! i, friends, did not. shocker.

the true love, rocks hurling through the air. (water optional.)

SO

RIDICULOUSLY

CUTE.

escaping the heat

sometimes you think

cramming a handful of cousins

into varying vehicles for a Free Summer Movie

is a pretty genius idea.

until you get to the theater with 5 minutes to spare

(see earlier "cramming" and "handful" and "cousins")

and get turned away...

No Room in the Inn Air Conditioning.

but we kids can find joy and festivity elsewhere--

even when slightly overdressed for the party.

i beg you to click and enlarge this picture. my brave boy :)

madi tries to encourage the shu

steven

starting to enjoy himself

steven, of course

our little logie

miss madison

logan bobby, afraid of no thing

this is the bean in a nutshell

there you go, buddy. its meant to be enjoyed, not endured.

lessie

the crew, minus one pair of shorts.

and, we're back.

hello again.

its been a certain kind of 8 weeks here in stroesslerland. the kind of 8 weeks that makes you want to revive your blogging with a couple of pictures that make you giggle and sigh and shake your head.

this is Logan. shu's next youngest cousin.
aliases: Logie, Yogie, Yogan, #11, Wildman, Climber of Anything, Giver of Nicknames. (you can start calling me Mena, by the way. Uncle Spud? just call him Babe.)

he and shuball have an incredibly strong love/strong dislike relationship. they'll be laughing together one minute, slapping each other the next. its loads of fun to be in charge of these two. in general, we try to provide a man-to-man defense.

as in, 2 adults for these 2 knuckleheads alone.

zone defense is tough, requiring more precision, agility and focus than i've been able to muster these last 8 weeks :) logan's mom, katie, and The Nana are especially skilled in this department.

the first photo is of a zoo day. the two passed out next to each other in the super-wide zoo stroller. the rest of the cuz were in the monkey building.

this one is that same night (i think...) at Nana & Jaj's house. the power went out, so the kids were each equipped with a weapon flashlight. the two, in a kinder, gentler moment spent some time sitting in The Nana's lap together. i'm sure 8 minutes later one was crying. or yelling. or slapping. or... you get the picture.

can you see the cut on joshua's chin?

5 stitches after a fall over the handlebars of a tricycle onto the edge of an asphalt parking pad only 4 hours into a weekend-long camping excursion prompting a trip to a very small hospital in northwest ohio.