Dinosaurs!!

On Sunday, we finally went to see the "Dinosaurs Alive" exhibit at Brookfield Zoo. It goes until October and we'd been waiting for Pat to go with us and avoiding it on earlier zoo visits. I was thinking the kids might be scared of them too, so wasn't too worried about putting it off before that day. Turns out Hannah and Josh were fine, and Ryan was fine for most of it until the end. He said something like I'm done now, and he wanted me to hold him. As we walked through the exhibit he kept running back to get in the wagon too. It was pretty funny. Josh and Hannah thought it was great and they were pushing the buttons to make the dinosaurs roar and move and the like. It was all pretty cute. Not a very large exhibit, but I'm glad we checked it off. :) We had a nice picnic, and only 1 runaway incident with Ryan, but all was well. It was a beautiful day too, and not too crowded when we were there, although as we left the entrance was packed.

Craft from Barnes & Noble

This morning I had to take the kids with me to go pick up Hannah's medical form from the Dr. that she needs to hand in for preschool, so I found a nearby Barnes & Noble that had storytime at 10:30 so our errand would be more than just an errand. There's a pic of the bug craft that they made in storytime since they had stories about bugs read to them.

Turns out I left a little too early, so had time to kill in between the Dr. and storytime, so we found a park over at the Wheaton Park District, really closeby. We were the only ones there so that was nice, and the weather was so nice the kids had a great time. It was a cute playground too.

More Summer Fun!

This past weekend the kids had a milestone. They all spent the night away for the first time without both mommy and daddy. Grandma and Grandpa Boyle graciously agreed to have Hannah, Josh, and Ryan spend the night with them. They had so much fun and did so well, they weren't even ready to leave when we came for them the next morning. Grandpa got them their favorite McDonald's and they watched a movie, and played. Mommy and Daddy both had a nice time too! Thanks again, Grandma and Grandpa Boyle!!!

On Tuesday night, we went to another Kane County Co

ugars game only this time it was for a Pepperidge Farm outing. The kids had so much fun and it was a really beautiful night. We got to sit in the party area that borders the outfield where they had food for us before the game, and even though we had seats to go to also, we never made it over to them and just stayed at the party deck. The Cougars did not disappoint with the fireworks either, they were great and the kids loved them. Pepperidge had given each child a goodie bag and our kids loved the glow sticks they got in them, plus they got a toy and some snacks. They also had their first taste of cotton candy that they all tried, but only Joshy liked! You should've seen the faces!

On Thursday night the kids and I went back to Splash Country for

a couple of hours with our neighbors Brenda, Jenna, and Joey since it was a hot night. It was really fun and we're sad this weekend is the last it's open :(

This morning, we had my friend Katie and her son and daughter over to play. It was great catching up since it had been awhile since Katie and I had gotten together. The kids all played well together and there was only one injury. Ryan got a little goose egg by his eye when he fell down the deck stairs-poor guy. McDonald's and fun was had by all too!

Whew...I think I too hit a milestone-for longest post!

An Afternoon at Splash Country

This afternoon we went to Splash Country Waterpark to try it out and enjoy Pat's day off outside. The weather started out well with some sun, but went downhill as the afternoon went on. It was okay tho' because we still had fun. We like lazy rivers, so we hit that up pretty quickly after getting there. The park is part of Blackberry Farm's complex, which I didn't know before today. Blackberry Farm is a historic pioneer village that we haven't visited yet. Anyway, the waterpark was fun and the kids loved the zero-depth pool and the playthings. Hannah and Pat tried to do the big waterslide, but Hannah was a little too short. Check out some pics...

Boatin' with the Maddens

We hung out with our good friends, the Maddens, in St. Joe and Watervliet for the weekend. We took our gang of kids, 7 little ones including 2 sets of twins and 6 of them 4 and under, to Silver Beach Pizza, Texas Corral, the beach, and boating. We got a few stares everywhere we went, it was funny. The weather was a little crazy like everyday this summer, but we did get a beautiful day to go on Shannon's mom's pontoon boat and everybody had a good time (even despite Ryan's tossing his cookies on Pat, and Hannah's getting bird poop on her!)

We also went to The Chocolate Cafe with mom and dad for some dessert on Saturday night...yummmmm. The kids had ice cream cones, and I had cheesecake on a stick dipped in chocolate. Pat was good and only had a coffee (and some of the kids' ice creams).

Pat turns 40!

Don't worry Pat, we've heard life begins at 40! We celebrated Pat's birthday this weekend with a big chocolate cake and family. What a beautiful day it was!!

Pics show Pat with his "Over the Hill" gifts from his parents, lighting only 24 candles since 40 wouldn't fit on the cake, and Aunt Rachel singin' and swingin' with the kids on the hammock.

Cornwell's Today

Mom and I took the kids to Cornwell's Turkey Farm today for lunch before it started raining. After lunch they played on the swings and playground stuff, then they visited the turkeys in the barnyard. Check out this video...they figured out if they screamed, the turkeys gobbled back!