2010 Balloon Drop

We started having a New Year's Eve balloon drop at our house 10 years ago as we ushered in the year 2,000. Our first was designed with white trash bags, string and tape. Each year we have gotten a little more sophisticated. This year we added a pulley. Dana is glad that the girls are big enough to help blow up the balloons. The first years were tough on the lungs and fingers.

In the second photo you can see the view the cats would get as they look up at the girls with the Balloons suspended overhead. Of course, when the balloons start to fall and the noise starts to come. The cats, Larry & Charlie, both run and hide someplace less scary.

A few minutes before midnight we turn on one of the local TV stations as they do the count down to the new year. 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... HAPPY NEW YEAR! At about "3" Julie and I start pulling

the strings that release the balloons. The girls really enjoy having them fall on and arou

nd them.

After the balloons fall, we have a popping party where we see how long it takes us to pop the balloons. We jump on some, we use pencils with others, sometimes we sit and bounce. The noise is part of the fun. Here you can see the girls working on finishing off the more than 110 balloons for the year 2010.

Happy New Year from the Koch family.

2009 Summer Vacation - Discovery Park

Our 2009 Summer vacation took us to both Upper and Lower Michigan. One of our favorite experiences was going to the Mill Creek Discovery Park. We were able to challenge a rock climbing wall, walk on a canopy walk and ride a zip line.

In this first photo Rebecca models the fashionable attire worn by all Discovery Park adventurers.

McKinsey and Kristyn on the wall demonstrate girl power in action. All of the girls did a great job climbing high on the wall. Not once, but several times.

The last photo is our venture on the canopy walk. What a great looking crew! Nice helmets, eh?

Naperville Stake Fun Run - by Dana

Our family all got up this bright Saturday morning to participate in the Naperville Stake Family Fun Run. It is a 5K run/walk with various turn around points. Julie, McKinsey and Kristyn all did the full 5K. Rebecca and I did a shorter distance. It was a beautiful June day at the Danada Forrest preserve. It was also nice to get this exercise with many from our stake family.

FHE Blog Party

Tonight is Family night at the Koch home. We have wanted for a long time to share family news and fun with family and friends. Tonight was the first step. Watch for news and photos of our adventures.

Illinois State Park Adventure - by Dana

Today we took a day trip out to Oregon, Illinois. It is about a two hour drive from our home in St. Charles and is host to three state parks. During our family adventure we were able to see some scenic Illinois landscape including the Rock River and the rolling hills surrounding the river. The parks included Lowden State Park, White Pines Forrest State Park and Castle Rock State Park. None of the parks are large, but collectively they made for a nice get away. Here are a few pictures from our day.

PHOTO #1: Dana with Rebecca, Kristyn & McKinsey overlooking the Rock River from the Castle Rock State Park overlook. The platform was made to preserve the natural rock outcropping.

PHOTO #2: The girls collected several "heilocopter seeds", grabbed them with both hands and tossed them in the air so they would land on their heads. It is fun to see their creativity and the happiness in their faces.

PHOTO #3: Julie and the girls by the Rock River. It was a comfortably cool, damp day.

Track Season 2009 - By Julie

We love spring time here in Illinois especially after a long winter! 2009 was no exception. With spring comes running season at our house. This year both Kristyn and McKinsey were involved in school track. McKinsey ran for the Wredling Red Hawks and Kristyn for Saint Charles East Fighting Saints. Kristyn competed in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. We are very blessed that our high school has an indoor track facility. This meant all our winter meets were home meets! The outdoor season was a rainy one and many of the meets were cancelled, but Kristyn and McKinsey both had the chance to compete and grow their skills.

As a family we love to attend and cheer our runners on even though scheduling can get a bit crazy. This year McKinsey enjoyed competing in the 100 m hurdles and various relays. Kristyn really worked to focus her skills on the 100 m hurdles and the 300 m hurdles. Being the Mother of Hurdlers can be nerve-racking!! I just pray every race -- please let them make it over all the hurdles. Good thing we stocked up on band-aids, we have had our share of skinned knees and scraped elbows, but the girls keep coming back to race again. Kristyn and McKinsey seem to love the training time outside, friendships they build, and the successes they feel as they compete.

AAUW Writing Contest - by McKinsey

During this past school year, my Language Arts teacher made all of her students enter the 2009 American Association of University Women (AAUW) writing contest. This year there were over four hundred entries submitted. I entered a fiction story.
About a month or so later, the predetermined day of the results arrived. The day passed, with no news of the winners. I knew that I had not been as great a writer as my mom said I was.
The next day we got a call from a number we didn't recognize. My mom handed me the phone with a smile. It was the contest judges, to tell me that I had won first for seventh grade fiction!
Our family attended the awards ceremony where we met my teacher (who was smiling more than anyone else in the room), as well as the other winners.

From this I learned two very important things:
First, you never know if you will like something until you try it. I had never written anything outside of school before, and it was actually kind of fun!
Second, and the most important; the judges quoted a famous author. He said, "the most important thing for a good writer to have is a very big trash can!" I learned that it is actually a really good thing to make mistakes, because of what you can learn from them.