Chinatown

Grandma was off work today, and took the boys on their first trip to Chinatown~


They had a lot of fun :)

"Summer's lease hath all too short a date." ~William Shakespeare

We've been taking advantage of this near perfect weather (after some pretty torrential rains). On Sunday, Scott, Charlie and Sam caught a White Sox double header, thanks to tickets from Tina.

On Monday, we headed over to Churchill Woods for some fishing with friends. Because of the torrential rains mentioned above, the river was really high. Thankfully, our kids are very industrious, and shared one pair of boots to portage everyone from the bank to a marooned picnic table. Eventually they gave in to the call of the wild and just got wet~



Here are the same friends (with an addition, or two) this afternoon, following our Nature Hike for Homeschoolers with Ranger Kev~
Being silly~
Sam finally joined the picture when I called for bunny ears~

We'll probably be indoors at least from 1-3 tomorrow, for Homeschool Skate, but then it's back outside again to enjoy these last days of summer.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Tonight was Grandpa's 60th birthday! We celebrated by taking him to a Hungarian restaurant we've passed on our way to Loyola many times over the last year. The Epicurean was surprisingly good. It was the first time in over 15 years I ate Chicken Paprikash that I didn't make myself :) I think Grandpa will definitely be trying their lunch buffet.

Mary enjoying some langos (Hungarian garlic bread) ~
Grandpa got my gift du jour (a compilation of the #1 hits on his birthday, for every year since he was born), along with Buddy Guy's new CD.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa - we love you more than you know!

Hanging with the Big Dogs

This afternoon we spent a couple of hours at the skate park. During the school year, we usually have the place to ourselves. Today, there were a couple of (I think) college students.


We're going to try and go as much as we can before it snows!

Soccer

Sam had his first soccer game of the season today (this is his third season playing) ~




He scored one of his team's three goals! A lot of homeschoolers have this annoying habit, when describing their children, of saying things like, "Susie is in 1st grade, but she's reading at a 5th grade level." Or, "Little Johnny is in 2nd grade, but he's doing 3rd grade math." I plan to start telling people, "Sam is in Kindergarten, but he plays [insert sport] at a 4th grade level."

Rock Bottom Brewery

A couple of weeks ago, while out to dinner with some homeschooling friends, we had the idea to see if Rock Bottom would give our kids a tour. As we were leaving that day, I got the name of the guy that gave the tours, and surprisingly easily, set up a little field trip.

Today we met with Tim Marshall, Brewmaster. He was great with all the kids, and chickens...

He told us he graduated with a degree in Radio and Broadcasting, but he was waiting tables while trying to "break-in" to the business. At some point, the position of Assistant Brewmaster opened up, eventually leading to Head Brewmaster at the Lombard location. Tim is in charge of everything having to do with the actual brewing, from the flavor combinations, to the growing of the yeast, to the naming of the brews. He names them after old friends from high school, or songs he likes, even his mom and dog!
This was the first time ever that kids took a tour...
And chickens...



We got to see everything -
Here we are waiting to sample Rock Bottom's Root Beer and flavored soda - this month was "Sno Cone". Tim even gave the moms some samples of some grown up beer! Ah, homeschooling has it's privileges ;)

Did you know that all beers have only 4 ingredients? Water, malt, hops and yeast. And from the different combinations, and roasting the hops for different amounts of times, and also where the ingredients come from, all the flavor varieties are produced. Very cool! And tasty.

Sleeping Bear Dunes

For the 4th year in a row, we made our way up to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We all really love it up there, but I especially like going, because my own dad took my sister and me when we were kids. This year we knew it was going to be a bit more challenging with a 9 month old along, and Grandma had been asking to go for years, so we all crammed into the old Venture for a 6 hour drive up the "coast".

First up, canoeing down the Platte River (Sam is just left of center in this shot)~

Mary trying ice cream after waiting patiently for everyone to return from their river ride~
Sam ordered Butter Pecan, which ended up usurping Bear claw as everyone's perennial favorite~

The polar bear enjoying some mint chocolate chip while his "winter coat" grows in~

Grandma basking in the late afternoon Michigan sun~
Another of our girl~

While canoeing, Sam was attacked by a "Bleach" (that's leech/bloodsucker to the rest of you)~

At the dune climb~
Last year Sam made the entire 4 hour round trip walk to the shore - this year he stayed back and hung with the girls~



"Another picture, Mom??"

Enjoying the beautiful weather - Sam happily entertained himself much of the day~

Charlie on the sand bar~
Mary's all tuckered out~
I love my boys~

World's Best Dad - building sand castles~
and helping Mary eat an apple in the water~
Mary also ate a lot of sand this weekend (serious pica) - here I think we caught her with a rock in her mouth~
Watching the monkeys run in the water~

They ran like this for at least 45 minutes - I'm so glad they're such good friends~

Charlie called this sculpture "Root Beer Canyon" ~
Wild turkeys at the campground (we also saw a couple of deer our first night, and a muskrat while canoeing)~
Mary being silly our last night~
The family bed - camp style~
The boys also spent some time fishing (didn't catch anything) on Loon Lake, and we picked 7 quarts(!) of blueberries our last morning there. It was great fun!