park exploration.

While Matt's mom was here in mid-August we also visited some of the local parks. Here there are on the spider web.

Here are dad and Cass enjoying the slide!

And Dad and Linc doing some running on the soccer fields. 

 A couple of cute ones of Lincoln up high on the spider web.

While our taxes here are astronomical, at least we do see where some of the money is going -- we have tons of great parks in the area and we utilize them a lot with the kids.

Kohl Children's Museum

We visited the Kohl Children's Museum with the kids and with Matt's mom in August. What a fun place! It was like a mini city for the kids to explore with a grocery store, library, auto shop, sandwich shop, vet clinic, doctor's office, science room, music room, etc. Super fun!


Here's Linc racing cars in the auto shop. 

And here is Dr. Gough working in the nursery.

You can check out all of the pics here: Kohl Children's Museum

Five minutes in Kenosha.

As mentioned in the post below, it feels like it's 109 degrees outside today.  After visiting the dinosaur museum, we drove a couple of blocks to take a peek at Lake Michigan.  We took a 5-minute walk and then were ready to get back into the air conditioned car.

I discovered this area with a nice beach on a drive with my parents last month. Seems like a nice place to swim and relax. We just need to find a decent day to get out there.

The beach is off in the distance.

Little girl walking along the boardwalk.

A few more pics here: Kenosha, WI.

Stay cool, everyone.

escaping the heat.

With the heat index at 109 degrees, I thought it'd be a good day to find an indoor activity - whew!  We drove up to Kenosha, WI (just about 1/2 hour or so from Grayslake) to visit the Dinosaur Discovery Museum.  It was a small museum, but it was air conditioned and educational!  When I gain some familiarity with Chicago, we'll take the kids to the Field Museum to meet "Sue".  For today, though, we learned about "Little Clint," a juvenile T-Rex.  And, of course, Lincoln schooled me with dinosaur facts and amazed me by pronouncing dinosaur names with 5- and 6-syllables (Quetzalcoatlus anyone?)

The remainder of the pics are here:  Dino Discovery Museum pics

i'm kind of a big girl now.

Cassie has graduated from her crib to a big girl bed. She's doing great and is loving it!  It just kind of blows my mind that she's gotten so big.  She speaks in full sentences, does everything she can to keep up with her brother as they play outside, and does a pretty good job of it. She's amazing.

What's a big girl bed without lots of friends to sleep with? Today, we see  "yellow blankie", Hello Kitty, baby Stella, Moxie, and Dolly (pictured from left to right).

dino dig.

Lincoln participated in a Dino Dig class through the park district where dinosaur lovers ages 4-6 gathered to learn about their favorite dinosaurs and to dig for bones. 
Here, Linc is wearing the velociraptor feet that he made.

Here he is with the instructor and his brush working to uncover dinosaur bones.

Still digging.

Hey ma...I found four bones!  Don't worry, I won't give them to the dog next door, even though she might really enjoy them for a treat. 

Did you know there used to be dinosaurs in Grayslake?  Holy moly.

And here is Cassie roaming on the dino dig area (aka the sand volleyball court by the lake).

Future volleyball player?  Watch out Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh!

dad's rule.

For Father's Day this year, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to a local park to enjoy the outdoors with the kids.  The park is similar to Kensington - paddle boats, lots of trails, playground, beach, etc.  It's great. The kids played, we ate, we watched giant carp beg for food and ducks paddle in the water.  Here are a few pics from the day...