Summer Lovin'

I've been trying to write an end-of-summer post for about a week now and it's been hard. Life has certainly gotten busy here with a couple of anxious kids (and parents) getting ready to start school and all the preparation that goes into that.

Summer, where did you go?

We really had such a fun summer and tried to make the most of it. We spent a lot of time with family and friends. We put on more than just a few miles in the car as we traveled around. Plenty of hikes were enjoyed by most of us. We were able to play host a couple of times to visitors and found some new things to do around here that were pretty exciting.

Of all the fun that we've had, though, I have to admit that high on my list was our nightly meet up on the driveway to watch kids rides bikes, look for lizards, play with cars, and draw on the huge sidewalk canvas. The boys were able to be boys, dirt and all. Kelsie was in her element with a bucket full of chalk and a blank driveway. The weather was great and we enjoyed beautiful sunsets and watched as the clouds rolled in for summer thunderstorms.

I'm definitely a get-up-and-go-do-something kind of gal, but these moments when the world just seemed to be at a standstill and everyone was happy and having fun were perfect for me. We certainly made the most of our summer and will look forward to the months ahead, but for now, I think we'll go out on the driveway and enjoy it.

boyz

This summer started us out running full force! We only had a couple of down days before we had a cousin swap with our family in Denver. This is the first time that we've been able to do this since we've always lived far away from family and we were totally pumped!  It was decided that the girls would go north while the boys would stay south.  That meant that I was completely outnumbered by the male species in our home for four days.

We had a great time together, but I learned a few things about boys along the way.  Did you know that 7/8 year old boys are so giggly?  I had no idea.  These boys laugh all the time.  Now, I grew up in a house full of girls and the kind of conversations these boys are having are pretty funny.  One afternoon, for a good solid half hour, the whole conversation was about passing gas. I never knew that there was so much material concerning the subject!  And it all started with Caleb who said, "I know what rhymes with gas! Pass! Get it? Pass Gas?" {Insert giggling and laughing here}.

And the dinner conversations we had each night? Let's just say it was totally different than what I would have expected.  Some new vocabulary was defined and other curious questions answered.

Ahem.

I decided the best thing to do was to keep everyone busy.  Video games were played with restricted times and only on my terms (which surprisingly worked very well!). We spent a lot of time at the skate park while they perfected their mad skillz on the bike, scooter, and skateboard for hours.We hit the dollar movie theatre in town and they played lots of monkey in the middle all the while laughing about gas.  No joke.

We had a great time and all that giggling made me smile. I love how these boys have a special connection and love to hang out together. I think this may be the start of a new tradition. Except maybe next year, we'll have the girls. I'm pretty sure there will be just as much giggling, but perhaps a lot less gas.

Summer Begins and the End of an Era

Today was the last day of school for us.  It was actually a snow make up day from last February when a big cold front hit our area.  It was kind of a joke though, since most of the education population was out of town or just didn't show up.  Brandon's teacher wasn't even there. Oh well.  The last day is still the last day of school, right?  I thought it would be fun to compare the first day of school pictures with the last to see how much they've changed this year.  And believe me, a lot has changed for our family.

August, 2010

May, 2011

2nd grade turned out to be a pretty good year for Brandon.  His easy going personality and ability to adapt to new changes really helped him end the year just as good as he started it.  It didn't take him long at all to find new friends and also to find his place in his new classroom. 

These next pictures are bitter sweet for me.  This was Kelsie's last year of elementary school.  I really don't know where the time goes, but we're entering the exciting years of middle school in the fall.  Kelsie loved her old school in Evanston and it was a really hard thing for her to move and be the new kid again.  It was sad to see her say good-bye to her old friends, but she seemed to find her place fairly quickly here. She ended her last year of elementary school strong and ready for what lies ahead, even though she's pretty nervous about that too. Honestly, I feel like I'm not old enough to have a child this old.  My little girl is growing up faster than I want her too, but she is turning into a beautiful young woman. 

May, 2011

August, 2010

Indiana Dunes

Back in July, when we visited Mount Rushmore (which I still haven't blogged about, don't judge), we promised the park ranger who swore our kids in as junior rangers that we would check out the national park closest to our home.  We had to do a little research (a.k.a. ask the ranger) to find out which one it was and how close.  That's where we found the Indiana Dunes--not to be confused with Indiana Jones.  We decided it would make a great end of summer celebration and headed down there on Labor Day. 

West Beach was our first destination where we hiked the Succession Trail.  It didn't take long for us to realize that walking around in tennis shoes wasn't the easiest way to get around.  It was a lot easier walking around the sand in bare feet.  We had such a fun time hiking up and down the dunes and seeing the landscape.  I loved climbing up the big stair cases to the top and seeing the beautiful view of Lake Michigan.  We could even see the Chicago skyline in the distant (look really close in the top right corner).  

Even little Isaac had a good time.  There's nothing like being strapped to Dad enjoying the great outdoors, even if his hat makes his ears stick out.  

We climbed to the top of some very steep dunes (my calves still won't let me forget) and the kids discovered the thrill of jumping (or flipping) down the dunes. 

But I couldn't let the kids have all the fun! 

Our hike ended at the beach where the kids found the best skipping rocks I think they've ever found.  This was Brandon's face every time he successfully skipped a rock (nice bed-head, huh?):

Picking out just the right rock is not to be taken lightly though.

After spending some time on the beach, we decided to drive around to see what else there was to see.  It was a pretty popular place to be though (it was Labor Day, remember?) so finding a parking space became an issue for us.  We struck out a couple of times before we finally found some spaces at the less popular bogs.  Isaac needed to eat at this point and Caleb had fallen asleep, so Wally and the older kids went out to explore.  I figured it was a successful exploration when Brandon came back looking like this:

Boys + Sticks = Rifles?

We had a really great time exploring the Indiana Dunes and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in going.  We love finding new things to do as a family and I'm so glad the dunes were close!  We still made it back in time to have a barbeque with some friends at the end of the day.  All in all, it was a really great Labor Day.

MIA

Whew!  These last few weeks have gone by so fast here that I have barely had enough time to catch my breath, let alone blog.  Here’s a quick report of what has been going on here in our little corner of the world.

We officially have a “tween” living with us now.  We celebrated Kelsie’s birthday with a small family party this year.  And it rained most of the day.  Bummer.  She loves being another year older and got (almost) everything she wanted.

Wally spent a week away from us in Europe and had a fabulous time.  He enjoyed the time he had to play tourist in Amsterdam and Maastricht, but in the end decided that there really is no place like home.

The day after Wally got home from Europe, his brother and his family came for a visit from Iowa.  We had so much fun hanging out and playing with them.  It’s always fun to have cousins around and Caleb couldn’t get enough of his new favorite cousin, Caroline.  I also just have to mention how much more fun Chicago is in the summertime.  So.much.fun.

Since strawberry picking is on our list of things to do this summer, and since it is such a short season, we decided to drive up to Wisconsin just before the 4th of July and picked 12 quarts of strawberries.  Caleb ate the berries faster than we could pick them and everyone ended up with juice stains all over their shorts, but we had a great time and had lots of fun together.  We were even excited to get a $0.49 ice cream cone at McDonald’s before we headed home.

 

Then came the 4th of July.  It is one of my most favorite holidays, so we went to just about everything we could.  The parade was fun, even in the rain, and the fireworks on the beach were great (it stopped raining by then).  The kids had fun with sparklers, glow sticks, friends, and fireworks at the end of the day. 

 

A few days later, Wally’s parents came out to visit and watch our kids while we went down into Chicago for a couple of nights to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  We had a great time together, without any kids and they had tons of fun without the parents.  They were able to eat as much chocolate, donuts, and chips as they wanted and play as much video and computer games to their hearts content.  Just the way it should be when Grandma and Grandpa are in charge!  I have tons of pictures from our little jaunt into the city—I’ll have to post those later.

In between all of this we have also been doing a little bit of:

reading:

crafting:

taking care of bumps, bruises, and boils:

and getting as much play time in as we can!

Summer Survival

It’s official.  The last day of school has come and gone—the whole 1 hour of it.  Summer has begun.  Since both Kelsie and Brandon did so well and actually graduated to the next grade level this year, I wanted to start the summer off right.

I am a strong believer in long, lazy, summer days—after jobs are done, of course.  Summertime is a magical time for kids to be outside, explore, get dirty, be creative, and have lots of fun.  I’ve found that with lots of other distractions (t.v., video games, computer games, etc.) I sometimes feel like I am pushing, almost bribing them (I’ll let you have another popsicle) to play outside. 

So, on the last day of school, just when the asking about said computer games started, I presented them with their very own

SUMMER SURVIVAL KITS

The kits included all the summer essentials:

• shove and pail, beach towel, and goggles (for when we go to the beach)
• a flashlight for those late nights playing in the backyard and for when we go camping
• sidewalk chalk, mini clipboard, and a florescent pad of paper for any inspiration that may come to their minds
• first-aid kits complete with antibacterial cream and colorful band-aids for all the scrapes and falls they’ll get
• The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls
• bubbles, because you always have to have bubbles
• walkie-talkies because they’re just fun
• bug kits for catching and examining those little tiny creatures
• sparklers and poppers for the 4th of July (which have been saved for that day—don’t worry!)

And finally, homemade cards from Wally and I telling them how proud we are of all their accomplishments this year.  We really are going to have a great summer and while there is time for the t.v. and video games, I was just really happy that they spent the majority of the afternoon talking in code through the walkie-talkies and looking for bugs.

Yes, my friends.  Summer has begun.

Dear Summer

57 degrees in June is not acceptable. 

This is a mean trick to play on those of us who only made it through the winter with the promise of sun and warmth to come. 

I have been waiting, patiently. 

Until now.

I need you. 

My garden needs you. 

My kids need you. 

Please come and stay.

Thank you,

RP

p.s. we could do without the humidity for a little longer, if you would be so kind.

A Year of Plenty

We have tried in the past to heed the council of the prophets to plant a garden and to be prepared. Our first real attempt was while we were in Pennsylvania and we tried, so hard, to nourish our little tomato plants all summer long. We weeded, watered, and weeded some more. By the time they matured enough to produce the fruit, we were so excited to see a little red against the green. Unfortunately, at the bottom of those beautiful little tomatoes, they were rotten. We did however, produce a giant cucumber, but only one.

We tried again when we lived in Washington. We found what we thought would be a great place to plant a garden, but I'm not even sure those little green plants lasted more than a few days (something about uranium in those parts?). End of story.

Or maybe not?

We decided to give it a try, once again here in Illinois. 3rd time's the charm, right? We had a great little garden plot ready to go once the snow melted. After I got to know our urban farmer of a neighbor, she reassured my planning efforts of our garden. We decided on a few tomato plants, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, zucchini, and watermelon. So, we planted. And waited. And watered. And weeded. And waited a little longer.

Then, all of the sudden our tomato plants (3 in all, one being a cherry tomato plant) sprang to life. They started to grow, and grow, and grow, and wouldn't stop. The plants got so big that they overtook their cages (wasn't that the purpose of the cage?) and ended up building a bigger, and better, support system for the ginormous vegetables. Then the tomatoes came. Thousands of them. (Maybe not thousands, but lots.) Our pepper plant also came to life and started to produce. The cucumber plant started to grow huge and viney (is that even a word?) with lots of yellow blossoms on it. So far so good.

It's not like we didn't have any obstacles in our way. The rabbits tried the jalapeno once. Just once.

After a few more weeks of waiting our harvest has begun. And guess what?

This time it worked!

This is what they looked like about 3 weeks ago.

**Yes, the picture at the top of the post is from our garden.**