Happy Birthday Lily!

Our Lily is 5!

Soccer Season

We have THREE soccer players this year!

While the boys are excited to be back on the field, Lily is not so sure. Mostly she just runs next to the child who has the ball. But at least she's right there in the mix and not off twirling or something.

August...

Do you ever wonder who wins those ENORMOUS stuffed toy prizes at carnivals, theme parks and county fairs?



Well wonder no more. That's Joey on the right (and his good friend Sam on the left). Three baseballs, 3 throws 3 clowns knocked down. Ding, ding, ding! Winner! And lest you think this is a fluke, he did the same thing last year. Now, he is the proud owner of a Scooby Doo doll that is bigger than he is and this lovely banana. Do I need to explain why I am a little bit excited that we will be in Finland next summer and will probably not have the time to go to Great America?

In many ways, this was a huge summer for Joey. He attended day camp and at the end got to help as a "junior counselor." He loved every minute of camp this year. They even took the kids to a YMCA sleep-away camp for a couple of nights.



These look like pretty posh accomodations compared to what I had at sleep-away camp, by the way. But again, he had a great time.

Joey also completed his first kids' triathalon this summer. I plan to document that in a seperate post.

As I write these blogs post about our summer, it seems as if we managed to cram a lot into our summer eventhough our mission was to save money for our upcoming trip to Finland. We did try to spend more time in our yard, at local parks and playgrounds, at the beach and at other places that don't have an entrance fee.

Millenium Park is always a hit with adults and kids. Honestly, the Bean (Cloudgate) has to be one of the best sculptures in the world...





At least it's one of my favorites!



And the Crown Fountain? Genius...





Bowling is almost free in the city during the summer....



water playgrounds are always free...



and bubbles are cheap if you make them from dishsoap you have on hand (but maybe not so cheap if your child uses the Costco gallon of dish soap you had in the basement for filling up the soap bottle on the sink every month or two...) Honestly, Joey spent hours making bubbles with his friends and siblings, but we seriously did go through 1 gallon of soap.









We had a great, end-of-year, last minute trip to the Michigan Dunes. Joey had had a fever for 6 days straight (including the day of the triathalon). He woke up the Monday before school started and said "I feel great!" We literally threw bathing suits and one towel into a bag and ran out the door to the dunes. Usually, I pack extra clothes, snacks, water bottles, toys, camera, books, ugh! No wonder why summer outing exhaust me. This time, we ran out the door with our suits and one towel and we had THE BEST TIME! it was a perfect day!

Summer...in review

Yeah.

Apparently, after taking a photo a day for a few months, I really loose interest in taking pictures.

So here is a recap of the first half of our summer.

This summer...

we played (and watched) a LOT of baseball



went to camp



had a mini reunion with 4 of the 7 families we traveled to China with



watched (and marched in) a parade



climbed some fences



played on the beach





a lot...




spent time with our cousins



learned to row a boat



trained for a triathalon



became an official "Lake Monster"



relaxed...



made friends with some farm animals



checked out the Chicago skyline from one of the tallest buildings in the world







and that was just July...

Enjoying Spring

122/365 Backlighting Take Three...

My third attempt at my backlighting homework. Thank goodness the teacher extended the due date, because this kind of photo is just not my strong point!

Izzy got a bit interested in what Lily and I were doing. I also found out today that if Lily gets to hold the chocolate, or eat it while I am photographing her, things go much more smoothly. I think that's why the dog is sniffing her mouth--there's a chocolate in there!

119/365 Spring has sprung...

...at least for a day or two!

116/365 Sick Day

110/365 Blue Sky?

According to the forecasts...this is it...our ONE day of blue sky for our entire Spring Break.

We took advantage and headed out to one of our favorite playgrounds in Greek Town. It's got something for the little ones, the middle ones and the older ones too!

108/365 Spring Break and Magenta

What do you do when you stay home for Spring Break and it's really rainy and barely 40 degrees outside?

Pretend you're on the beach and go have ice cream...

This is also my contribution for this week's color "magenta" over at Project 64.



To see more lovely photos, click the link:

103/365 Natural Light...take 3!

So on my third attempt at the Natural Light assignment, I learned that you can't place your child at a bright white table in front of the window with the light source wearing a white shirt...

101/365 Nature Center

We took a short trip to the Nature Center today. We saw 8 deer, many red-winged blackbirds,a snake, and a nesting goose!

99/365 Screens

This picture frightens me...

98/365 Cousin

Cousin Mila

She spilled all the Bananagram tiles on the floor and then proclaimed my living room to be MESSY!

She picked them all up though (with a little help from cousin Lily!)