August 2011

Special Day Out
Early in August we did a fun day out, just me and the boys.  I took them to lunch, then we went to one of the local children's museums.  As usual, Evan enjoyed the different activities there, and Luke was so excited to explore somewhere new. 

 Playing instruments together

 My little drummer boy

 Our 3 hands

 Monkeying Around
We met up with my friends, Kate and Joe, and their 2 adorable kiddos Jack and Amelie.  I haven't seen them in a long time, so it was great to catch up with each other while watching the kids play.  We went to a place called Little Monkey Bizness, which has an indoor play area for the kids and a coffee shop for the adults.  Very cool!  The pictures aren't the greatest since the kids were running the entire time. 

Jack and Evan

Morton Arboretum
All I can say is this place is amazing!  The grounds are beautiful and they have a huge children's play area.  We will definitely be back!

In the tree house

 Pumping water

 Lots of water to splash around in

 Luke was too little to enjoy most of the activities, 

so he relaxed in the stroller most of the day

 Posing with Yiayia

 King of the mountain

Playing in one of many streams of water

July 2011

 Most of July was spent hanging around the house just having fun and enjoying life.  I was taking an online class since I am working towards an additional teaching endorsement (English as a second language), so I was extremely busy with a 4 credit hour course in an 8 week session...one of the many reasons I am so behind on blogging. 

 Napping with papa

Exploring every inch of the house

Goofing around together

 Where's Luke?

 Peek-a-boo!

What a good helper

Family Vaca

Although I'm posting the majority of our summer happenings month by month, I think our mini vacation we took in June warrants its own posting.  Seeing that we remodeled our kitchen and bathrooms in the spring (perhaps some pictures later?) and Luke has about a 3 hour limit in the car, we decided to stay close to home for our vacation this year.  We headed up to Gurnee, IL to Key Lime Cove, which is a hotel with an indoor water park. 

While we waited for our hotel room to be ready, we killed some time at Gurnee Mills Mall.  Evan was so excited to see the Hudson Hornet from the Cars movies.  We also had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, however I was not able to take any pictures since Evan was terrified of the whole concept. 

 Like a kid in a candy store...

 in the hotel lobby area, where they also had Starbucks coffee (thank you!)

 Not the greatest picture, but a view of the whole water park from the lobby

 The slides in the kiddie areas were perfect for Evan, my super-cautious child.  They also supplied the life jackets for "free".

 Luke had fun splashing around in the mini fountains.

 At the hotel restaurant - ARRGGH!

 Hanging out in our room

 

On our way home we visited Kohl Children's Museum in Glenview.  It's one of the nicest ones we have visited, with a great selection of activities for Evan and Luke.  However, it was VERY crowded, probably since it was a rainy day.  

Playing in the infant area

 Who is that adorable baby in the mirror?

Building and painting a house

 Grocery shopping in Dominic's

Reliving mommy's college days as a cashier at Super WalMart

Making a sandwich at Potbelly's

June 2011

 Everyday Fun
These pictures depict what most of our summer consisted of - having fun playing and being silly at home.

You can see Luke's bottom 2 teeth, and at this point his top 2 teeth were also coming in.

 

 White Fence Farm Outing
Our summer is not complete without our yearly pilgrimage to White Fence Farm for THE BEST fried chicken and corn fritters. 

 Picnic in the Park
I bought an awesome picnic blanket, which we were able to use several times over the summer for picnics and other random occasions. 

Our 1st picnic with yiayia

 T-Ball
I've posted a few times about Evan playing t-ball.  This was him after his last game very proudly holding his trophy. 

 Major Milestones
Summer was filled with many firsts for Luke.  I'll do a separate posting on that later, but here he is pulled to a stand "helping" load the dishwasher.   

 Visiting with our Friends
My friend, Carrie, and her family visited with us for a few days.  We all had a blast!

 Speaking of Milestones, here is Luke's 1st haircut. 

Before

 After

So stinkin cute!

Camping
Evan really wanted to go camping in the backyard this summer.  He and Rick had a night all planned out, until it started to rain.  He was just as happy to sleep in the tent in our family room instead!