Carver's First Zoo Trip

August 3:  We were excited for the Shinkeys to come for a day to meet baby Carver.  Unfortunately, Sadie & Kinnick were camping with Ms. Jennifer this weekend so they missed out on the fun.  We had a fun day taking Carver to the zoo for his first time.

 

 

July Misc.

A few more fun things we did in July...

 

We made ice cream in a bag.  We did vanilla but I want to try chocolate too.  It was YUMMY!

We painted marshmallows for a fun snack...

Mommy gave Carver Lots of snuggles...

We went to Baskin Robbins for $1 scoops...

Kinnick liked to match his clothes to Carver whenever possible...

We enjoyed LOTS of lazy mornings and snuggling in bed with mommy in the morning...

We cleaned out our car (a few times)...

Slammers

31:  The kids earned tickets to a Slammers game as part of their summer reading program.  We love going to support our local team--Joliet "Slammers" baseball during the summer.  It's a great family outing.  We invited Sarah & Eli to join us and our friends Brian & Michelle also came (with their 4 kiddos!)  We had a great time cheering on the Slammers, playing at the playground, hanging with our friends, and enjoying some yummy treats...

 

Kinnick and his buddy Lucas

Sarah & Eli with Macey & Carver

Sadie & baby Elizabeth

Carver's first baseball game!

Splash Station

29:  Splash Station is a small "waterpark" in Joliet.  We got to go once for Sadie's Spy Kidz party but I thought it would be fun to spend a day here... So I purchased some groupons at the beginning of summer.  I decided to wait until after Carver was born so I could do some water slides with the kids... however July did not have a lot of hot days.  We had a free weekend at the end of July but it was FREEZING.  Marc didn't want to take off work and I knew I couldn't take all 4 by myself so I invited my friend Sarah to go with us.  It was still a cool summer day (I think the temp got up to mid 80's) but the kids had a blast and the sun shined.  Kinnick LOVED this waterpark because if you are not tall enough for the slides you can take a swim a test.  He was able to pass the swim test and thererfore got to do all the slides (good thing because I think it will be at least 2 more summers before he's tall enough!)  The kids loved playing in the giant sand box, had a fun time swimming, and enjoyed riding the slides.  We even took Carver on the lazy river!

 



Yeah for lazy, summer, sun-soaked days!

Family Hiking Trip

27:  I was really wanting to have a family beach day but because Saturday, the 27th was unseasonably cold for July we decided to go hiking instead.  We packed a lunch and headed to one of our all-time favorite hiking spots--Matthiesan State Park.  We loved our day of hiking, climbing, and exploring: