Happy Holidays!

Water Park Fun

Our annual trip to Wilderness was a lot of fun.  We outran the snow storm that hit northern IL to enjoy chlorine goodness in WI.  The kids had a blast and didn't want to leave of course.

Fall Fun

 Hayrides and farm animals abound....

Dragons Love Tacos! And Halloween!

As a surprise to the boys this past Saturday, we took them to a play in the city based on the children's picture book Dragons Love Tacos! by Adam Rubin.  The play was good - Sean was really engaged. Gretchen acted like it was beneath her but I think she liked it too.  She likes the book but acknowledges that it's for "kids".  She's ten going on twenty. 

 After going to the play, we enjoyed some Lou Malnati's before heading over to Maggie Daley Park for the Inaugural Chicago Halloween Gathering event.  The kids got to be in a children's costume procession on the ribbon and then afterwards we hit the stations and played in the park.  We had time to kill before the evening Halloween parade so we went to Gretchen's favorite place in the city:  Crown Fountain. The parade was good but we had exhausted all of our energy reserves by the time to got going.  We'll have to head out later next year.  In general it was one of the busiest weekends I've planned in a while.  I need a vacation from my weekend!

Fifth Grade Music Program

The girl is playing trumpet this year in band but before she's ready for a band concert, her grade had a singing program.  Gretchen sang, danced and played a drum.

Chinatown Tour

I took Gretchen's girl scout troop to China town this past weekend through our local council.  Apparently, even though I've been to Chinatown a lot, I did not know that tours of Chinatown are a thing - something you can do as a tourist.  I shouldn't be surprised but it would be cool if every neighborhood had this!  The girls enjoyed it a lot - the tour was walking and only an hour but afterwards we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant.  I was so impressed that the kids who came with us were not picky eaters.  They mostly tried everything and enjoyed it.  It was a nice day and a great cultural opportunity.  Our council has been really good at offering things to do in the city so I try to take advantage of it as much as possible.  Next month we're going to see a play!

Besties

Gretchen's best friend from Kindergarten moved away a few  years ago to a suburb closer to the city.  We don't see her very often but Gretchen insists that she is STILL her best friend.  While I am dubious about it, I will say that whenever these girls are together they just seem to pick up where they last left off.  That is true friendship in my opinion so I hope they keep it up!  The party was ice skating which Gretchen had never done before but she was so determined to skate the whole night that she kept at it.  I was really proud of her!

I don't want to go!

The boys' Cub Scout Pack had a camp out at Camp Oakarro this past weekend.  We attended as a family for the first time (usually it's just one of us going with the boys) so the giant tent went up for Friday night.  Gretchen was pretty upset even though I told her in advance what we were doing.  She is turning into a teenager already - she asked me minutes before we are supposed to leave if she can spend the night at her friend's house.  I would have said yes if we weren't spending the entire day at camp.  She pouted for a while but by the time we went home late Saturday night, she admitted it was more fun that she thought it would be.  It helped that it did not rain for once!!!! 

School Picture Day

First Day of Fifth Grade

I can tell we're getting closer and closer to teenage years because we had a little argument about whether or not she could wear knee high riding boots with today's outfit.  I couldn't give her a good reason why not.... for now it's still "because I said no" but sooner or later, I'm gonna have to have a better reason.... sigh....

My Little TV Star

Gretchen is at camp this week and the local news crew was there to talk about summer camp.  She is one of the videos hamming it up.

Double Digits!!!

Happy Birthday to my lovely daughter Gretchen! She chose to be at camp this week as long as we had a party for her so I hope she has a great birthday at camp. I can't wait to see her!!! 

And so it begins

Dropped the girl off for resident camp yesterday.  She has three weeks of it this year (her choice). The timing is such that she will be gone a week and home a week for the next 6 weeks.  The programs she wanted weren't in June so this is how we ended up timing it.  She also chose to be at camp over her birthday.  She reasoned that if she's having a party for her birthday, it is okay to be gone on the actual birthday..... If you say so I thought.  On the way to camp yesterday she asked us if we would celebrate it without her.  Ha! We told her no but one of the letters I wrote for her this week I tell her that me and Steve ate her birthday cake.  Joking of course!

Girl Scout Highlights of the Year

A Date with Dad

G and Steve went to the annual Girl Scout He & Me Dance.  She was a fashion diva as usual....

Blowing me a kiss

How Time Flies.....

I've been really busy and haven't posted here in forever.  We had a great Christmas.  We spent the week after going down to St Louis for some family fun.  We hit their Science Center, Zoo (for Christmas lights) and City Museum.  The kids loved the City Museum so much that we're going back there soon to visit it again.  It's been a cold winter - kids have missed several days to the school being closed for "coldness".  All three kids are back in swim lessons.  Gretchen is enjoying swim a lot but has started asking about doing cheerleading again.  I'm on the fence because she hated going to the games and wearing the uniform but she loved practices and competition.  Not to mention, cheer takes over your life!  We've had a lot of fun with girl scouts this year.  We did a winter camp out (indoors) and saw a coyote.  And as many of you know, we just finished up the cookie season (may I never see another cookie....). Gretchen has started playing Minecraft which oddly enough may be good for her directionality since it forces her to use both hands (she has trouble with the midline).  All of the kids are anxious for winter to go and for spring to come!  Lots of pics on Flickr from the winter.  Check it out....