Chase's First Bears Game

At home with mom, cheering on the Bears

Dylan, Charlie, Blake & Chase

Chase & Charlie

Saturday night Blake took Chase to his first Bears game. They had the whole "experience"-tail gating, seeing the players run in through the "bubble" as Chase called it, and about a million questions about all that he was seeing. Although the game wasn't much to watch, I think it was great for the two of them to begin to form the sports bond that I'm sure they'll have forever.

"Hockey" Class

Getting skates on with Dad

Being silly

At his lesson

Chase and Anthony

So after much discussion, we signed Chase up for a learn to skate class. His good buddy Anthony, from Cathy's house and preschool, was doing it too so we figured Chase would like it. This Saturday was his second week and he is doing pretty good. He's very excited to go and can stand and move down the ice better than we expected. We talked that we hope this develops a skill versus a passion, hockey is so expensive!!

Smore's with the Dolans

Trying to wrestle all of us into a picture with the dog!

The Dolan Fam

Getting the s'mores ready

Chase and Reese, could they get more serious?

This is the Luke that I know!

Last weekend we had Josh & Kim over for dinner but they brought all of the food! We had a Delicious meal from a Thai restaurant and the we headed outside for s'mores and some running races. We had a great time roasting marshmallows, seeing the kids interact together and even running a few races for the "Piston Cup"-Chase's CARS reference. Its so great to hang out with good friends and not really do anything but talk and enjoy each other's company!

Our Summer Adventures

A picnic in our "clubhouse"

So, since my first day back to school is tomorrow, I thought I would throw all of my summer pictures into one post and be done! All in all, it has been the best summer that I've spent with the boys. Don't get me wrong, we had some rough days together but a lot more good times than bad. I definitely have the back to school blues. I know it will pass and we'll get back into our school routine but I think I'll always prefer our summer routine better.

Enjoying our picnic

My future hockey player

Bath time bubbles are a MUST for Luke

When we were at my in-laws, this butterfly landed on my niece's towel,

how cool is that?

Enjoying a slide at the Riverwalk park

Chase was in a water extravaganza class through the park district

A great splash park in Woodridge

A get-a-way with my college friends. Although we were missing one of

the bunch, it was so great to reconnect with each other and see how

much ISU has changed since we've left. It was one of MY best

days of summer :)

Kidstown in Wheaton was a great place that we discovered and had a blast

at with our playgroup. The kids were very entertained by all

there was to do and play with. We'll definitely go back.

Filling up the car with gas

Chase and Jovani, one of our playgroup friends, dressed

up on the Kidstown stage!

Back to Blackberry Farm with our daycare provider, Cathy and a

lot of her kids and their moms. It was a fun day being with the kids that

Chase and Luke hang out with on a daily basis at her house.

Doria, Anthony (Chase's best buddy), Chase & Brendan

Cathy with ALL of the kids!

Hanging out watching a Kane County Cougars game

We also went with Cathy down to the Planetarium. The kids

had fun exploring space and they learned a lot. In this picture,

Chase is sitting in a rocket, about to blast off.

Chase controlling his "rover", it was very fun.

Hanging out at my friend Kim's pool

I think these 3 are going to be the 3 Musketeers. Payton and Tyler

are our neighbors and Chase can't get enough of them. Tyler also

has a little brother that is the same age as Luke. We really enjoy

the boys' parents and are so thrilled to have friends on the block.

I think these boys will be friends for life, they will all start

kindergarten next school year.

Walking with Dinosaurs

In July we took my niece and nephew to the Allstate Arena to see Walking with Dinosaurs. It was a really great show and I was surprised at how much information they packed into a show that a 2 year old was interested in. If you watch the video, you'll hear how loud and sometimes scary the roars were but the kids did great. My niece, Cassi, continued to ask, "They're just pretend, right?" It was a very fun for everyone and the airplanes flying overhead from O'Hare helped make the drive and dinner very exciting!

Lake Leach

Buddy swimming

I know that I've posted pictures of our backyard in the past but since it has been such a wet summer, we've learned a little bit more about just how wet our yard gets. To start with, the "pond" has fondly been named "Lake Leach" after our street. It turns out that our backyard is actually a retention area for one of the main streets near our house. Instead of letting it get us down, we did get to see Buddy "swim" a little, the water was almost 18 in. all of the way in the back.

Blackberry Farm with Grandma

Looking at the chicks
There were awesome train displays all day

Playing in the corn

Driving the tractor

My 2 Supermen all tired out!

My mom and I decided to go to Blackberry Farm for the day with the boys. It turned out that it was there big train show and it was packed but it ended up being really neat. There were so many different types of trains, mostly old, but they were very entertaining for the kids. There was even an entire Lego village with a Lego train, it was pretty cool. The boys loved the merry-go-round, pony rides and the train the best. I can't wait to go back in the fall!

Our Michigan and Toronto Vacations

Playing golf at Grandpa's house

Wearing Logan's tutu

The 3 Musketeers


Riding the ferry with Liz to Toronto Island

Playing drums

Logan and Luke driving

At Niagara Falls

We went on the Maid of the Mist boat up to the falls

Andrew and Chase on the boat

Luke, Payton, Logan, Alex, Chase, Andrew (baby Emeline was already in bed!)

This summer we finally took a vacation with the boys. First we headed up to Michigan to stay with my dad for a few days. We had a nice visit filled with fishing, miniature golfing, and lots of ice cream. I'm so bummed that I didn't have my camera on the boat because my dad was taking the boat close to the lily pads and the boys were catching these little fish left and right. Chase had such a great time and was so proud of himself. Blake ended up catching a few big ones and that was super exciting too. I love that the kids are excited to go visit my dad and be in nature. It's so much fun to watch them!

We then drove from Michigan to Toronto where our good friends Kris and Liz live. The drive was surprisingly smooth other than a lot of rain. We stayed at Kris and Liz's house along with our other friends that have moved to Nashville, Jeff and Jackie. The house was full of 6 adults and 7 children (5 and under) but it was such a great time. Thank goodness Kris and Liz live in a beautiful home that was able to fit all of us easily.

We planned to do cooking at their house so that we wouldn't have to go out to eat with all of the kids. It worked out great, we had great delicious meals that we made together and we had fun while doing it. The guys were able to go out for a round of golf together and the girls went shopping together. We took a ferry one day to a place called Toronto Island. It was such a great place for the kids because there were rides for children 5 and under which was perfect. There was also a splash park and a beach on Lake Huron. We tried to play at the beach but a large storm snuck up on us and we had to literally run with all of our stuff through the sand. It was comedy. I would love to go back there again, it was a place to get away in the middle of a city with skyscrapers and traffic, it was pretty cool. Chase did get stung by a bee while waiting in line for a ride. He was a pretty good trooper. I was nervous he would have some sort of reaction to the sting but he was fine.

We also ventured to Niagara Falls. Other than the falls themselves, it reminded me a lot of Wisconsin Dells because of the t-shirt stores and store/restaurant lined streets. Both the American and Canadian falls were amazing and we learned a lot of history about the falls. We did go on the boat that takes you out on the water close to the falls. The kids loved it because we got soaked although at one point I was planning my escape plan for us because we were so close to the rushing water!

The ride home was long, almost 12 hours in the car due to a 2 hour wait just to cross the boarder back into the US. The boys did amazingly well, Blake and I were more anxious and ready to get out of the car than they were. We are so glad that we finally made the venture up to Canada and know that we will go back again to see great friends. It was so great to talk and catch up with our friends that we do not see nearly enough and it was even more fun to watch our kids play togther :)