go lions.

Today is the season opener for the Lions. The kids are all geared up for it!

Please, please, Lions...I beg you...have a decent season.

back to school.

Here are the annual "first day" pics of the kids.

Lincoln started school on August 21st.
The following week, he had 4 half-days due to high heat. Crazy. 

Cassidy started in the 4-year-old preschool room just after Labor Day. 

Here she is in her classroom. 

Here's to another great year of learning and growing!

the summer wind-down.

As summer came to a close, we tried to pack in some fun activities. I had promised to take the kids to a movie all summer long and we were nearing the end of August and had kept ourselves busy enough that we hadn't made it to the theater. The week before school started, we made a pact to get to the theater. The kids chose Smurfs 2. Nothing like eating popcorn and watching little blue guys for a couple of hours on a weekday morning.

Here's a quick photo rundown of more of our end-of-summer activities:

The kids sporting their summer camp t-shirts.
Both kids did camp for 4 weeks on M/W/F mornings.
Lincoln enjoyed his Sports Camp and Cassie kept busy at Fabulous 4's Camp.

Picnic lunch at the park on Grayslake, which is about 5 minutes from our house. 

Lincoln on the rock wall at the park.

Brother and sister racing down the slide together. 

 

One last visit to the splash park. 

The kids rubbing the yellow pole like it's a genie lamp to get the water running at the splash park. Apparently this really works? The water goes down to a trickle about every 15 minutes, the kids run to this yellow pole and rub the top of it and the water starts back up in full force. 

While YiaYia was here visiting, the kids got to use their Free Meal tickets at Rainforest Cafe. They earned them at the library for completing the summer reading program. We had been to the Rainforest a while back when Cassie was a toddler and she basically hated every moment of it. She had a particular fear of the large gorilla who watched over us as we ate.  We weren't sure about going again after that first experience but a good amount of time had passed. This time, the experience was a total success. Both kids loved seeing all of the animals and hearing the rainfall as we ate. It was great. 

We had a few cool days here in August and Cass enjoyed putting her hood on. I thought she looked simply adorable. 

tiny dancer.

Cassidy continued to enjoy her summer ballet class quite a bit so we decided to sign her up for ballet/tap that runs from Oct.-May, with a recital at the end of the session. Can't wait to see how it all goes!

Meanwhile, here are a few pictures from her first foray into ballet.

It's all about balance.
Here, she is balancing a Beanie Baby on her head. 

Dancing with a rainbow ribbon.

Looks like they're building their ab muscles here! 

hot air balloons.

Grayslake held their first annual hot air balloon festival in August. Sounded like a fun, family activity, so we thought we'd check it out. As anticipated, it was pretty neat seeing the huge balloons up close and personal.

Matt, Linc, and Cass watching the balloons take flight. 

 

Up, up, and away! 

 

The balloons returned to the park as the night sky fell so we got to see the balloons lit up at night as well. Sorry...no cool pictures of that.  Maybe next year I'll figure out how to take good nighttime photos.

miniature golf.

For the first time, we took the kids miniature golfing. Lincoln raved about it afterward and can't wait to go again. In fact, he won a free game at the end as he put his ball into the Plinko-like board and it fell into the "Free Game" spot! Cassidy said she had fun but I'm guessing she'll enjoy mini-golf a bit more when she's better able to get her stance down and swing her club properly. I don't expect her to join the LPGA or anything, but she maxed her score on every hole and was generally more interested in the waterfalls and "sand" traps on the course than in getting her ball in the hole.

Here are the kids on the practice hole before we began. 

Hole #1 of the Waterfall Course

Cassie, Matt, and Linc pause for a picture.

Picture time for Cassie, Linc, and Mom.
Seriously, I think this was the hole where I got a hole-in-one. Go mom! 

Of course Dad won. I want a re-match! 

When we finished our 18 holes, Matt went over to the driving range to practice some "real" golf. The kids and I hopped in the car and headed to Baskin-Robbins for a treat while Matt had fun at the driving range.

Below is a pretty typical picture of the roles big bro and little sis play. Linc is checking out the golf clubs, trying to understand which one is used for what. He needs to understand the game so he can win. Cass is off in dreamland picking at the grass likely creating a fun fairy world in her head. I love it.

sleeping beauty.

Cassidy recently found a sleeping mask that I have. I don't know that I've ever used it, but she certainly found in enthralling.

She often insists that she sleeps with her eyes open. I suggested using the mask so her eyes could rest.

She also thought Pooh bear would like to try the mask. He loved it so much that he's keeping it on all the time now! Ok, maybe it's just that the novelty has worn off for Cassie but not yet for Pooh.