Chicago vacation

The Dawgs took a quick 3-day trip to Chicago. Friends Scott and Elizabeth were nice enough to host us for 2 of those days. Erin now wants to live with their daughter Savanna...a built-in playmate who's lucky enough to have "Boy Barbies".

These are out of sequence. We went to the Shedd Aquarium, Brookfield Zoo, and Great America. This one is from the Shedd Aquarium.


Savanna and Lily, Elizabeth and Scott's adorable girls, at Brookfield. Lily is possibly the happiest baby I've ever been around (and that's saying something because Drew was incredibly easy).

Jumping around, this one is back at the Shedd.

The Brookfield Zoo parking lot!

Erin and Savanna checking out reptiles at Brookfield.

And back once again to the Shedd. We met up with a forum friend, Ann, who has 2 sons named Patrick and William (hmm, 2 boys for them, 2 girls for my other friends...). Erin is "helping" William wash his hands here:

No pictures from Great America but it was generally loved by all. Drew braved the Viper ride and LOVED it. He decided to wait on the American Eagle after seeing the large drop it makes. Erin, as usual, loved the carousel. It's a double decker at Gurnee so she got to ride on both the top and the bottom. Her only major complaint was the boat ride that splashes at the end. She didn't like the drop and most decidedly didn't like being wet on an upper 70 degree day. Otherwise--a big hit. We'll have to do King's Island next in a couple of years.

"Little School"

For about 3 years now I've been saying I wanted to run my summers like a mini-preschool. Then the reality of summer hits and I enjoy the freedom of sleeping in and doing things as the mood strikes us. Finally, though, we hit upon "little school". About every other day the kids gather around the kitchen table to hear a couple of Bible stories and learn a little. Drew's teacher gave him a rather ginormous packet of summer work (all optional, but worth a special lunch with her upon his return if completed). He's nearly done with it now. Erin has been working out of a cheapo Wal-Mart-type phonics book and is really getting the concept of initial consonants and the sounds they make. She'll likely be reading before kindergarten if she keeps it up, though we're in no real rush. To keep it interesting for them, we've thrown in the occasional science experiment, encyclopedia usage, locating on a globe, and google searching. A few weeks ago we did the quintessential volcano.

Here is Erin adding the red dye to the vinegar:


Drew gets the honors of pouring the solution:


Here we go! I know that the volcano is pretty lame (a water bottle with potting soil). The kids didn't care.

Success! Drew was stoked for a good 30 minutes afterward. He loooooves science.

Drew's baseball

For having all this time off I'm very derelict in my bloggin duties. Andrew was on the Richland Township Rockets this year. They were mostly young but improved a lot over the season. They also proved to be "comeback kids". After only winning one game during regulation, they went on to win a few tourney games and place 3rd overall!

Here is Erin with her friend Nola (whose brother was also a Rocket). I spent most of the games pushing them on swings and buying them snacks ;>p

I never got a group shot but here are two of Drew at bat. Last year it was coach-pitch; this year they graduated to a combo of team pitchers and the pitching machine. Huge difference.