summer sights

Here are some more photos from this month....

July 19th, our aster plant's first bloom: July 20th, our li'l slugger, Benjamin ~ he just loves playing sports!:
July 21st, we have lots of hostas blooming:


July 22nd, some of our purple liatris... the bees and butterflies love this stuff! : July 23rd, I walked into Em's room and found B "reading" a chapter book, just like his big sister!:


July 24th, our echinops ritro (globe thistle) plants finally started blooming: July 25th, the kids and I stopped at Crabtree Nature Center and went on a little hike. We saw Canadian geese, cormorants, ducks, sea gulls, herons, and... in cages... a turkey vulture, great horned owl and red-tailed hawk:

Then we went out for lunch with our friends Karen and David, to celebrate Karen's birthday. Here, Karen is reading a story to Ben and David:

July 26th, a busy, fun day! We started out at the Summer Celebration parade:


Then we headed over to the park for more fun! All 3 kiddos went on the big slide twice:
Em and Nick rode this:
and then Ben rode on the kiddie train:
We also saw a reptile show and Nick volunteered to help hold some snakes:


Em held a few, too:
(Ben wanted nothing to do with the snakes! LOL) We went home and played in the pool, then later headed back to the park for fireworks:
July 27th, Ben played with bubbles in the morning:

and in the afternoon, we played in the pool. Nick and Em tried out the new snorkel, goggles, and flippers that our neighbor Marissa gave them:


While in the pool, Nick rescued a cicada who landed in the water. It was kinda neat to see it up close:

a slice of life in july

Still playing catch up! Here are some of the photos I've taken this month....

July 1st, one of our many tiger lilies:
Our friends Gene and Cameron arrived on the evening of the 1st, to spend a few days with us. On July 2nd, we went to The Museum of Science and Industry. All the kids had a blast, and Ben was especially excited about the trains there:
He also liked all the fun activities in the Idea Factory:
Here Nick and Cameron attempt to lift a heavy weight, and learn about pulleys:

Emmalie, climbing: July 3rd was a big day! We started out at Lincoln Park Zoo:

Here's Nick with "his" flamingoes that our friends Steve and Karen "adopted" for him last Christmas:


In the afternoon we headed over to Millennium Park and the kids played in Crown Fountain:
Then we walked over to the lake shore and claimed a fireworks-watching spot there. We also took turns walking over to the Taste of Chicago and sampling some yummy food!:

The Chicago fireworks were awesome, as always!:

July 4th, Independence Day. George grilled us all some supper and we ate out on the patio: Then we walked over to the park for more fireworks:


July 5th, a good day for hanging out in the pool!:

July 6th, another hot day. Popsicles are a good way to cool off!: July 7th, our wonderful-smelling lavender:
July 8th, our hens-and-chicks in bloom ~ I didn't even know that they WOULD bloom!:
July 9th, one of the fun toys we bought at a garage sale:
July 10th, a big storm moved in REALLY fast:


July 11th, a cone flower:
July 12th, some white bee balm: July 13th, my favorite tv show returns!:
July 14th, one of the hardy geraniums I planted this year. It was supposed to be blue!:

June 15th, I got my hair cut! I told the hairdresser I wanted it chin-length, but I guess she has a weird idea of what that is....:
July 16th, Em, Nick, and I drove into the city to see Wicked. We LOVED it!:
July 17th, the kids and I had a campout in the backyard. It was Ben's first time camping out, and he was very excited!!:


We did an evening swim:
and then roasted marshmallows for s'mores before turning in:

July 18th, some caladium that I planted this year:
Hopefully now I'll be able to keep up with my blogging!