Veteran's Acres

We have a local park/nature sanctuary in Crystal Lake that we like to visit occasionally. It seems like we only manage to go about twice a year even though it's only a few miles away. It has a beautiful short hike that the kids can easily manage. And there is a nice playground and picnic shelter too. Usually we start at the end that has the playground and after we fill the little one's tummies, we head out on our hike. It circles around a fairly large pond where we have to search for frogs (did not see any this time) and other wild life. (Baby ducks this time) Then we make a pit stop at the nature center where they have some wildlife in cages for our viewing pleasure. They have a couple iguanas, various turtles, bunnies, a couple ferrets, love birds. And there are also a lot of hands on activities that kids always love. The sky was a little overcast on this day, but it made for a very comfortable hike. 7-10-06

SUMMER FUN

Summer is always about playing outside. In the water, on the swings.....or just playing with rocks. Sometimes it is hard to get them out though, Harrison enjoys things with "technology" . (as he puts it) But once he gets going, he has a great time! 7-11-06

Digging for ???

We went to the Field museum to see the King Tut exhibit today (7-7-06) Harrison has been waiting for about 6 mos. for this, he was so excited! We weren't allowed to take pictures in the exhibit. These are of the kids chipping away at their suveniers. They each choose a brick like object that contained a little "artifact". The bricks were pyramid shaped and they came with a plastic chisel tool to set their surprise free. Quentin's turned out to be a sphinx and Emily got a scarab. Harrison's was actually sand and we already knew that it would be a plastic mummy for him to assemble.

More 4th pics

These are just more pics from the fourth. Cousin Emily has been staying with us this week because her parents went to Alaska for a wedding. The other little girl in the group shot is neighbor Emily. (She's Harrison's age and she is very sweet. Her and Harrison used to be best buds till, as Harrison puts it the little brat was born and stole her!)

Fourth of July

We choose to have a nice quiet day at home this Fourth. Tom grilled steaks and the kids played in the pool. The sparklers were a hit, thanks to neighbor Debbie! (We forgot to buy any ahead of time)

Crystal Lake Gala days

The "kids" had a blast at Gala days. The rides were fun, the fireworks were awesome, and our own little "taste of Crystal lake" was good too. Harrison was in the parade earlier in the day. He marched with his cub scout pack. Quentin was riveted. The only problem was we were sitting towards the end of the parade (so that we could drive a couple people back to their cars) and most of the candy throwers were out of candy! Oh well, it's not like he needed more candy!

Major Wave Pool?

Quentin and neighbor Emily had a blast trying to create a whirlpool in Quentin's little tiny pool. The best part was when he would fall out then crack up laughing. These were taken the day of
Quentin's post-op visit with his surgeon (hernia surgery) and he got the all clear for resuming all activities, including swimming! He couldn't wait to get out this little pool, so even though it was 5:00, we filled 'er up!

Quentin

Quentin is a child with many different moods. And with each mood is a different look. This is just a small sampling. You can probably guess as well as I can about what he may be thinking. But I do know for a fact that the ones on the swings were looks of trying to make mom happy (letting me take the pics) and wanting to be done. And I have NO idea what I did to deserve the "evil" look. (Taken on 6/30/06)

Flying dog

Wrigley just LOVES to play fetch. We have a toy for him that's called a "Chuck-it" and it helps to whip a tennis ball super far. As soon as he sees us scoop up the ball with it, he tears off running. And if we throw the ball straight up as high as possible, he'll leap up on the second bounce to snatch it! When he's ready for a break, he goes and lays down in a nice shady spot.