2008 Summer Pat 2

2008 Summer Part 2

Old Graue Mill – We were there three times this summer. The first time Steve and I came by ourselves and we just hung out by the river watching the ducks, and the kids did their favorite activity, throwing rocks and sticks into the water. Then we came again Father’s Day with Steve’s parents. His sister and brother in law, fresh from seven years in China and here to stay, were with us too. This time we walked the trails. The last time we were here was at the end of the summer when we met up with my mother’s brother, his wife, my cousin, her husband and their child. We had a little picnic. The kids loved running around the picnic area, and we took them down by the river to throw more rocks, their favorite thing to do.

Route 66 Car Show – This has been the second year Steve has played with the church band at the show. This year the kids were able to more fully appreciate Daddy’s concert. We didn’t go around to look at most of the cars like last year, but Alexa had her face painted, they played with balloons, had a hot dog and funnel cake, and loved being with Grandma, Grammy and Great Grandma.

Parks – I counted ten different parks we frequented this summer. They cared much more about parks this summer than last year. Favorite equipment is definitely slides and swings, although near the end of the summer, they were getting quite good at climbing up ladders, walking around swinging bridges and climbing up other equipment. They especially liked one park with a sand pit and a digger.

Cermak Woods – the wooded area is very near our house. We like to think of it as ours since we hardly see anyone there, and I don’t think we ever saw any children. This is so sad to me that parents would not utilize this source of nature more with their children since we live in a suburb without many natural areas. We love to go off the path and explore among the trees. We were really blessed to run across a family of deer that let us walk up to them within about twenty feet. We have the most wonderful video of the kids running through a flock of geese. There had to be at least a hundred of them in the field.

Church Picnic – This was the third church picnic the kids have been too. I was very disappointed they didn’t have the pony rides this year. Last year they were 15 months old and had their first pony ride. They still had a great time, though. We came after the food was over, and mostly watched the softball game, and Alexa loved going to the playground with some of the college girls.

Brookfield Zoo – We went four times this year. A definite highlight was the children’s zoo. It is small enough for them to run ahead of us a little bit, but large enough to have a variety of things to see and do. They liked petting the goats and chickens, looking at the chicks coming out of their eggs and watching some of the caged birds like the hawks, falcons and vultures.

Our Village Day – At the park they had several events going on. The kids LOVED going on a pony ride since they missed out on the one at the picnic. There was also this great petting area where the kids were surrounded by goats, llamas, chickens, sheep, rabbits and ducks.

4th of July – We went with family in the morning to a parade in Oak Park. Very disappointing. I thought it would have been much larger since Oak Park is a larger town. Still, since the twins were just 26 months old, they still enjoyed seeing some of the music, what little there was, and a group of tap dancers. Everyone came over to our home for a barbeque and later that evening we sat on the sidewalk in front of the house to watch the firework display coming from the park. I was really spectacular. We’ve driven to many different towns to watch fireworks, but can honestly say only the fireworks downtown come close to comparing to our own village’s show.