Day trip to Chicago!

Last Wednesday we took our first day trip to Chicago. Aaron, Meredith and I parked downtown and spent the afternoon at Navy Pier before meeting up with the rest of Aaron's family at a restaurant downtown. We had a great time and are hoping to do it again soon.

Aaron and Meredith standing at the entrance of Navy Pier. Even though the pier is right on Lake Michigan, there was little breeze and it was SO HOT! We stopped about halfway down the pier so Meredith and Aaron could have ice cream.

Here's Meredith and I with part of the downtown Chicago skyline in the background.

The whole Staub family! Aaron's brother Michael and his wife Clare (from Houston) are on the left. Aaron's parents Arlys and Scott in the middle. That's Uncle Jeremy in front. This day was the very first time that we were all together since Meredith had been born.

Aaron taught Meredith how to "pound it" last week. She's doing it here with Uncle Jer. We met in Chicago really to surprise Jeremy--he flew into OHare that day from Venice. He had been traveling in Spain, Austria and Italy for choir tour for college. We wanted to also meet him to say goodbye--he flew to Hawaii yesterday because he got a teaching job in Maui!

Uncle Michael and Aunt Clare again with Meredith. We miss them a lot and even though they live all the way in Houston, hopefully we'll get to see them soon.

A Trip West...

We traveled to Western South Dakota over the Fourth of July (typically we spend a good part of the summer in Eastern South Dakota). Here's some highlights of our trip:
Aaron, Meredith & I several thousand feet up in the Black Hills at a look-out point on Needles Highway. If you look in the background, you can almost see an 11-acre chunk of land that my dad purchased a couple of years ago. You'll see in pictures below that this chunk of land, or "Dad's Ranch" will be a popular destination for the whole Gehrels family in the future.

My grandpa, his sons and their kids and families all vacationed in the Black Hills together. My "Grandpa Wilbur" is 86 years old and hadn't visited this spot since he was 17.
Here's all of us on the Fourth of July hiking around Lake Sylvan.

Well, the cabin's not there yet but this camper suits us just fine! Most of the crew stayed overnight at a rented cabin near Custer, South Dakota but Aaron, Meredith and Grandpa Wilbur and I got to stay in the camper at "Dad's Ranch".

While we were there, the men/boys helped Dad finish a shed. It's a wonder they got it done because it rained a lot. :(

Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandma and Great Grandpa came!

In late June, Aaron's parents escorted his grandparents here from Nebraska. Aaron's Grandma Lorene has lots of family in Wisconsin and they stopped here on their adventure around the state.

Half of our kitchen is now...

Although we have very little counter-space, we've been blessed with a big open kitchen. A couple of weeks ago, we were able to turn half of it into "Meredith's Kitchen." I found some great deals on Craigslist and we bought her lots of new things to play with. I wish I could say that these new toys have stopped her from emptying Mommy's cupboards, but they haven't. Oh well, I figure that the more we let her play in the kitchen, the sooner she'll be able to cook/bake for us someday!

Our toddler wants to do what Mommy and Daddy do!

Weeeeeeeeeee!

Back in April we found a nearby park right off of our bike trail that has some swings for toddlers. Meredith loves it! We take her there just about everyday and upon first glimpse of the park she says, "Weeeeeeeeeee!" That's what she calls a swing. A few weeks ago, our neighbors put up this swing for her on their swingset. Here's some pics of her "Weeeeeeeeee-ing."

Who does she look like?

It is humorous when people come up to us at school, in South Dakota, at graduation parties, at church, etc and say, "Oh she looks just like you!" Or, "She looks just like her Daddy." Without a doubt, 50% say she looks like me and 50% say she looks like Aaron. Well, it has taken 14 months but it is now easy to determine that Meredith has Kelli's hair, Aaron's eyes, both of our long limbs, big hands, and feet, and other than that, she's just a mixture? What do you think?