Happy Belated Father's Day

Today we met my family at Brookfield Zoo for a VERY belated Father's Day present for my dad. We actually managed to get everyone minus Lindsey together, which is a pretty amazing feat! It was wonderful to see everyone, and the children had such a great time. Isaac and Caroline are so cute toddling around.
Kendall loved that Caroline was a girl cousin. She gave Caroline lots of kisses and helped her out throughout the day. I think she really felt like a big girl. Both girls loved petting the goats at the children's zoo.
Kendall also enjoyed the extra attention that she got from her uncles. She was always holding someone's hand, or vying for their attention!
My mom kept a good sense of humor about the pouring rain that happened for the first hour or so. We had cancelled the last trip due to rain. So, she decided that she was not going to cancel again. Almost everyone bought these lovely yellow ponchos. We were quite the fashionistas!
I love that my kids are always fascinated by the dolphins. I would guess this is their favorite exhibit. I think one of the reasons why they like they dolphin is because they are so close! They are also interesting to watch. I loved when all four cousins were watching the dolphins together.

All in all, another great day this summer! I can't believe that summer is quickly coming to an end.

I Have to See T-Rex!

Caleb woke up Saturday morning and immediately told me he had plans. He had to see T-Rex at the museum TODAY! I love that it is summer AND we live close enough to the Field Museum that I was able to make it happen. So, we invited my Dad who loves history to come along and off we went to Chicago. Caleb was so excited when we got to the steps leading up to the museum.
Our first stop was of course the dinosaur area. Caleb pretty much raced through the first few million years of the Earth to get to when the dinosaurs came along. He was fascinated! Caleb told me that his favorite was the Duck Billed Dinosaur, but I think he liked that one best because it had a spot where you could make their noise.
He sat and was memorized by triceratops as well. One of my favorite moments is when he laid down on the bench and noticed pterodactyl flying over head. He thought that was great! The Field has an amazing collection of fossils.
According to Caleb, his favorite part of the day was seeing "Waking T-Rex" at the 3-D theater. I have to say I was impressed with the movie. It was pretty neat and the film truly popped off the screen. It was very informative on how the paleontologist found Sue and some basics on how they get the fossils back to the museum and on display.
We also so the whale and horse traveling exhibits. By the time we got finished with these two exhibits, Caleb was done. It was a wonderful day!

Let's Slide!

They changed the rules at our public pool. Caleb is now allowed to go down the slide if he wears a life jacket. Well, to say he is thrilled does not even remotely describe his feelings. He has spent the last 3 times at the pool going up and down the slide over and over and over again! Super fun for a 5 year old! Kendall isn't tall enough yet. She is much happier in the baby pool where there is no risk of getting her hair wet by accident!

Brookfield Zoo

We decided to go out to the zoo one last time before our membership expires. I invited Michelle and her kids along. I was able to get us all in for free, which was awesome! The kids had such a fun time! We did so much walking and saw most of the animals. A great highlight was Stingray Bay. Caleb, Christopher, and I got to touch stingrays. Kendall totally freaked out and wanted nothing to do with them. It was pretty funny actually. The twins were amazing. They hung out in their stroller most of the day. My kids would have never done that! The kids were awesome. We really had no problems with them at all.
On our way out we bought some animal cookies. They were delicious! If you haven't tried Wildlife Animal Cookies you really should. They are sold at many zoos, aquariums, and even some museums. Caleb was sad that he couldn't eat them, but was happy when I whipped out a rice crispy treat. Both Caleb and Kendall fell asleep on the car ride home. Michelle's kids all stayed awake. I am very fortunate to have two nappers!

2 Toots Cafe

A few days ago my mom and I took the kids on a fun train ride to Glen Ellyn. Caleb and Kendall have only been on a train once before and they were very excited. They were also in a great mood. I couldn't believe the cute pictures I got of them!
Kendall had to have a window seat. On the way there we sat on the bottom level on the train. On the way home the kids had to give the top level a try.
Caleb and Kendall loved watching out the window during the trip. They thought it was great when freight trains went by. They also enjoyed the conductor and the tickets. I would assume it reminded them of The Polar Express, even though it was a very hot summer day!
2 Toots Cafe was very cute. There was an electric train that ran through the entire restaurant. Every table sat next to the train, and the food was delivered via train. VERY cute! Now, the food was barely okay. There were not a lot of options on the menu, and taste wise, it was okay, not great. But, the kids loved it! They thought the train delivering the food was a fantastic idea. Kendall even noticed that there were people in the train. Caleb thought it was better than McDonalds. That is amazing! I am not sure if we will go again, but it was a fun summer outing.

Kerplink, Kerplank, Kerplunk

Today we went blueberry picking. I heard about Tammen's Berry Farm through our park district. It was a little over an hour away, but the thought of reliving Blueberries For Sal was irresistible. So, I got my mom, and off we went! I probably should add that it was about 96 degrees out with very high humidity. When we got there, we got our pails, and headed for a very bumpy tractor ride.

Then the picking began. I was surprised that the bushes were so tall. I was expecting them lower to the ground because of the book. I was wrong! Some were so high I couldn't reach them.
At first, the kids had a great time. We picked and picked for about 15 minutes. Then they melted, as did my mom. We went to the water cooler. The kids drank and drank as we waited for the ride back to the car.
Here they are on the ride back. I made the HUGE mistake of allowing them to sit in the front row. The tractor wheels kicked up a ton of dirt. We were filthy by the time we arrived back. We ended up picking about 3 pounds of blueberries. Supposedly, these can be frozen. I certainly hope so! We will be eating the yummy berries for awhile! Yum!

When we got back to town, the kids happily went swimming and had their swim lessons. Terry surprised us by cooking chicken satay. YUMMY! Another fun, hot summer day.

Birthday Parties

It was a birthday party weekend. On Saturday, we went to Isaac's 6th birthday party. This was a huge party to celebrate his life before he begins his cancer treatment. It was really well done. First there was a reptile show and later there were police, fire, and ambulance cars for the kids to look out. I love this photo of the kids watching the reptile show, snuggled in the same chair. They are at such a sweet age. Caleb and Kendall hold hands together when we go out and about and are truly best friends right now. I wonder how long this will last!
Isaac was all smiles during his party. It was awesome to see, after such a rough time with his brain surgery. He was full of laughter and life. I think he will always remember this day.
Caleb loved the reptile show. He was very proud of himself that he knew that herbivores eat plants. I guess his nature classes have paid off! Kendall kept a little distance between herself and the animals. Caleb always went up and touched the animals as much as possible.
I was very impressed with the show. They did a great job talking about the animals while interacting with the kids. He had a great sense of humor. Dan, who did this show, was a childhood cancer survivor himself. He not only donated the show, but rearranged multiple other shows to be able to come to Isaac's party. That was amazing of him. I think it was great to see a survivor who is living and loving life as well. It is a great reminder that hard times can be followed by great times.
On Sunday, we went to Jayden's birthday party. The kids loved seeing both Jayden and their former sitter Heather. They had a blast playing with a slip and slide and having a water balloon fight. I think all of these parties has Kendall very excited for her upcoming birthday!