Chicago

In July, we drove to Chicago for the weekend.  We chose that particular weekend because we wanted to take the boys to the Cubs-Cards game at Wrigley Field.  We left in plenty of time, but hit some road construction.  After an hour or more of stop and go traffic, we made it into the city.  Unfortunately, the parking spot we had prepaid for was already taken.  We found a new spot and walked to the game just in time for the start of the SEVENTH inning!  While we would have preferred to have arrived earlier, three innings with three little ones was probably plenty.  We were happy to see the Cards win!

An attempted family photo after the game:

On Saturday morning, we took the train into the city and our first stop was Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower).

The kids enjoyed looking out the big windows and seeing the buildings, Lake Michigan, and an occasional helicopter.

 We had some amazing views of the city.

There is an observation area that is all glass.  Charlie was NOT excited about it!

After the tower, we walked to Grant Park for Taste of Chicago.  Charlie napped in the stroller.  Then we went to Millennium Park to meet up with one of my former runners.  She and her boyfriend were visiting Chicago for the weekend and going to the Cubs-Cards game that afternoon. 

We also visited the "bean" and took a few pictures there.

Jack and Patrick liked seeing their reflection (and the funny faces they made) in the bean.

 

Next, we walked to Navy Pier.

The boys were excited to ride the huge ferris wheel.

What a good-looking husband I have!!!

More good views of the city from the top of the ferris wheel.

Before we left Navy Pier, we stopped for some delicious ice cream! 

On Sunday morning, we visited my great aunt, who is a nun, in Lincoln Park.  After Mass, we went to the roof of her building where we could see more great views of the city!

"Cheese!"

We had an awesome time!  I think we did a good job of fitting a lot of things into one weekend.

Baseball

Jack played baseball this summer.  I took my camera to the final game to get some shots of him in action!

 He is ready!

They had a lot of fun!

Suson Park

One day toward the end of June we had a day with no plans.  I decided to take the boys to Suson Park in south county.  They have a farm where we got to see lots of animals.

These two are pretty sweet with each other.  They voluntarily hold hands sometimes.  I know this will not last forever, so I am enjoying it while it lasts.

 

There were lots of horses to see.

 My favorite animal at the farm was the turkey.  There were several of them and it was funny to hear them "gobble."  It surprised us the first time.  Jack brought his camera and was able to get some videos of it, I think.

 Look at the size of that pig!  Jack did a good job documenting our trip with his camera.

 After the farm, we enjoyed a picnic lunch and then played on the playground.  It was a nice day!

Roomies Reunited!

I had two fun opportunities to hang out with my college roommate and her family this summer!  At the end of June, they came down to stay with us for the weekend.  We had lots of fun, but I didn't even get my camera out until Sunday afternoon, shortly before they were leaving.

The kids had a lot of fun with the slip-n-slide and the small pool.

Someone needs to tell these kids that it is not okay to drink from the slip n slide!

I LOVE this family and we were so glad they could come stay with us.  Part of the reason we picked this particular weekend was that the Dads were going to take their 6 year olds to the Cardinals game on Sunday.  It was a 1:15 game, which would be perfect.  Well, ESPN picked up the game, which resulted in the start time changing to 7:15.  Then, just before the start of the game a huge storm rolled in.  After about two hours at the stadium, the dads decided to leave (it was late and the game hadn't even started yet).  Bummer!  Good thing the rest of the weekend was a success!

Less than 2 weeks later, I decided to take the boys to see Amy and her family for the 4th of July holiday.  We stopped at the zoo on our way out of town for a quick playdate with my high school friend, who was in from out of town, and her son.  You can tell that Charlie loved it!

We stayed with Amy's parents.  They have lots of room to accommodate us!  On the morning of the 4th, the boys entertained us with some patriotic songs on the piano.  Well, maybe they just banged on the keys, but I like to pretend they were playing some patriotic music.

We went to a nearby town for their parade.

This parade was a little different from most we've seen.  First, only one float gave candy to the kids.  I thought this was great!  Secondly, some of the floats "attacked" the crowd, as you can see here by the Boy Scouts shooting the crowd with water guns.  It was a pretty hot day and the water was much appreciated.

One of Bo's (Amy's 6 year old) favorite things is to make bow and arrows.  Jack thought this was fantastic!  They spent a lot of time making bows out of sticks and string and shooting arrows (sticks) in their backyard.

Patrick (and Charlie) enjoyed playing in the water and bounce house.

These two are about a month apart in age and get along so well!  Once again, I didn't take many pictures, but we had a fabulous time!

Camping

Almost immediately after getting back from Bonnaroo, we took the kids camping.  They love to camp (I think they mostly love the s'mores) and have been asking to go for months.  We set aside 2 nights in June for a family camping trip.  Due to weather predictions, we cut the trip short to one night.  In hindsight, that was plenty.

The boys helped Daddy set up the tent.

Charlie was in charge of choosing the best pieces of firewood.

This piece is perfect!  Now, where did I put the matches?

The Kelly Five:

One day we will need a bigger tent.  There is no way we'll fit in this tent when the boys are much bigger!

We took a short hike to check out the state park.  There were not many other people since the lake was closed to swimmers and boaters.

It didn't stop us from having a good time throwing sticks and rocks into the water.

I am not sure what is going on here, but I like it!

The next morning, we went on a long(ish) hike.  We saw lots of deer along the way and had some nice views of the lake.

Unfortunately, many areas were like this:

The tall grass was surely partly to blame for the dozen of ticks we pulled off of ourselves when we got home.  I was so glad we didn't spend a second night there because I am sure we wouldn't have found all the ticks the first night.  Yuck!  In all, it was a fun trip, but I think we all prefer camping in the cooler, fall weather.