Scavenger Hunt

I love our park district. They always have great activities for the kids to do. This year they are having a local scavenger hunt to encourage everyone to visit the local parks. There are 12 clues you have to find the answers to and 10 parks to go to. So, I thought this would be great for the kids and we started today. First we printed out the map. I always say live and learn. Next year I will be printing out two treasure maps. It was quite coveted and neither wanted to share. It was great to see them looking at the map and trying to read it!

Our first stop was at a local farm owned by the park district. It is run as a 1930's farm. It was very neat! I didn't realize that they had drop by tours. So, we ended up getting a private tour of the farm. The kids got to hold chickens. They also saw sheep, pigs, cows, and horses. We learned how they used to keep the milk cool. We also learned that farm fresh eggs will stay good up to a month without refrigeration. I guess once it is washed this drops to 1-2 weeks.
We also saw tractors that the kids were allowed to climb on. Our guide also let us into all of the barns...even the ones usually not included on the tour because the kids were so interested. We also got a tour of a summer kitchen. We ended up staying at the farm for almost 2 hours. It was so fun!

We then made the second spot at a new nature center. It was hard to find, but fun! There were lots of animals to explore. There was also this handmade wigwam. We were able to read books in there.

After this stop it began to rain. So, we have so more scavenging to do soon. It was a great time!

Uncle Micah

I can't believe how much it has cooled off! We were sweating last week and in sweaters today. This didn't stop us from going for a bike ride and playing at the park for an hour. My brother was coming over for dinner and the kids were very excited! I figured I would get some of their excess energy out before he came over.

Dinner took longer than expected and we didn't eat until 7:00. This made for some crabby children! I felt bad for Uncle Micah! The kids were so excited to see him, but were pretty emotional. We had a yummy dinner of chicken marsala and salad.

Micah had to sit at the end of the table right between both of them. After dinner we tried to watch a movie, but the DVD player was broken. So, Micah and I ran to the store and picked up a new one. We raced in and out as quick as can be. Micah then watched a movie with them until bedtime. The kids were disappointed that he didn't spend the night. Maybe next time!

End Of Year Teacher Presents

Why oh why do I struggle with this every year! For goodness sakes, I AM a teacher. I have gotten so many presents, and I know that it is truly the thought that counts. I love seeing the excitement of the kids when I open the present with them. This year I finally came up with an idea that I actually like. Instead of a card, I had both kids pick out their favorite book to add to their teacher's classroom collection. Kendall chose Corduroy. I think her Grandma introduced this book to her. Caleb chose Puff the Magic Dragon because Miss Stephanie loves books with songs. Perfect! We wrote a thank you note on the inside cover. I then put a gift card in the book as well because their teachers deserve a night out on me after all of their hard work! Now, I just need to remember this idea next year!

Chores and Fun

Today after school I realized we needed to sweep off the deck. We have two beautiful trees that flower right off of it, and all of the flowers along with some debris had fallen all over the deck. This would not be a huge deal, but everyone uses our sliding glass door to enter the house and frankly I am tired of vacuuming!

So, Caleb and Kendall decided that they wanted to help do chores. Here is Kendall sweeping. The two of them swept while I cleaned up the kitchen. It was great! I still needed to go over it, but they gave it a great start.

After we finished cleaning up, we decided once again to go out and enjoy the weather. Terry loaded both of the kids bikes into his truck along with his fishing poles and we drove over to a fun spot that offered biking, fishing, and a great playground. Caleb is now doing an excellent job on his bicycle. He is so fast and really has great balance. I bet he could do it without his training wheels, but I think we will keep them on a little bit longer. Kendall is doing a better job as well. For a three year old, I think she is doing excellent to tell you the truth. She can now pedal her bike fairly independently. She can also steer, but still prefers me to be right at her side. She needs a bunch more practice, but I think she will get it in a few weeks!

The kids had a great time watching Terry fish. He didn't catch anything, but I think he enjoyed getting out of the house and spending a bit of time with the kids. I know they were happy he was able to come! They were all smiles!

At the end of each day we do some journaling...yup that is totally the teacher in me coming out! Kendall drew her first real person picture. Up until today she was in the scribble stage. She would very deliberately scribble and talk about her great picture. Today Kendall decided to draw a picture of her Aunt Rachel and her cousin Caroline. Caleb had been talking about Rachel because she is pregnant. He has decided that the new baby should be named Meg because that is Hercule's girlfriend. I know a totally legitimate reason to name a baby! So, when Kendall drew Aunt Rachel she first first drew a head then a small circle for a belly. She then quickly decided it needed to be bigger and drew a larger circle. Next she declared that the little circle was the baby in Aunt Rachel's tummy. I then told her to add details such as eyes, ears, nose, hair, arms, and legs. I love it!

Get Out The Sprinklers!

Caleb had a great day today! His Grandma subbed at his school. He had a great day, so she took Caleb out for ice cream. That is quite the sundae that he chose!

After Caleb arrived home, the kids put swim suits on then the kids rode their bikes over to Chris's house. The kids had a great time playing in the sprinklers. The three of them worked together to move the slide so that the sprinkler hit it. Then they spent the next hour zooming down the slide. Once the water had been on for awhile, of course the mud formed.

If there is a puddle or mud, Caleb will find it. He splashed, played and loved the mud. Here is Chris pulling leaves out of Caleb's ear and hair. Now, that is a good friend!

Summer Barbeque's

Over the past 4 years we have become very good friends with our first nanny of our kids. Michelle is wonderful and her son Chris is best friends with both of my children. So, even though she is no longer sitting to us (something to do with having twins), we still get together a few times each week. Now that it is summer we have at least one weekly BBQ. It is wonderful to let the kids run and play. She has an awesome backyard that is fenced in. Today they decided to play with the wagon. All three kids piled in then rocked back and forth until the wagon would start to go down the hill. None of the kids figured out that someone needs to steer. So it would go about a foot, spin in a circle. They would then laugh and laugh!

Next they sat down for dinner. The corn on the cob was a huge hit. Each of them ate an entire cob. They must have been very hungry after playing!

Finally, they had some strawberry fruit Popsicles for dessert. It was a fun evening!