Summertime Events

We have been busier than ever this summer. So many little day trips to local parks and events for Isla, special get-togethers with friends, & just overall daily house chores and catching up on projects. Our first swim lesson did not go well. I had the child that cried the entire time. Especially after I dunked her in the water. We have been gone from our home so much that I spent almost three full days cleaning my house top to bottom. It was in serious need of a deep clean. That alone totally sold me on spending the money on a cleaning lady! Maybe some day!

Sadly July is almost over and one more month of summer will follow. I'm always ok with that because I am a fall fanatic, but this summer has been so special and fun that I do hate to see it go. The heat has not been overwhelming either. I cannot believe that most of July has been in the upper 70"s. That is rare indeed as its usually 20 degrees hotter!

A few things we have done include the Kane County Fair, playing at a local farm called Peck Farm, meeting Mickey & Minnie, & not to mention the countless walks to the nearby neighborhood park. Below are some great pictures that show the wonderful times we had. Always make memories. They are some of the most precious belongings you can have.

& one last ode to summer at Philips park.

The Big Bucket List

I mentioned sometime earlier in the year that I wanted to write down our bucket list. It's mostly my list, but Justin did add a few items to it. May I also mention that this is our "Traveling America" Bucket List. We are going to see Hilton Head in South Carolina and also stopping in Savannah Georgia this September. It would normally have made it on our "must sees", but since we are already heading there I decided to keep them off. 

The numerical order matters a little bit. I have it in order of the ones I really want to visit before the other. But in all honesty it doesn't matter when we see these places because a lot of it depends on the children's ages. Going to the badlands and walking around national parks will not be easy with a two and three-year-old. Sometimes you have to outweigh what they really want to do compared to what you really want to see. It has to be worth the trip! I want great memories of the children enjoying themselves instead of me being stuck in a hotel room during naptime. 

So here it is! Note that most of these are clustered together because that's how we would do the trip. We would try to see his many cities and stops as possible while in that area.

1.Boston, Cape Code, & Salem Massachusetts during Fall. 

2. Saugatuck, Mackinac Island MI, & door county WI in the fall. 

3.Napa CA and wine country in the fall or late summer. 

4.New York in the winter.

5.Cheyenne WY, Badlands, & Mount Rushmore ND in the summer.

6.Churchill downs for the derby in KY. 

7. Seattle WA in the spring. 

8. Austen TX at anytime of the year. 

9. Arizona, national parks, & Grand Canyon in the spring. Maybe even Vegas just to see it.

10. Washington DC and surrounding historical sites in the apring or summer. 

Summer deck update

We have been working hard to have the house look more and more updated. Our deck is one of the spaces we want to feel new and fresh. Despite staining the deck last year, it needs to be stained again, maybe even a few times. It weathers so quickly! 

A few things this year were added to make the space more fun, bright, & inviting. I got a HUGE umbrella from Pier 1 called a Pagoda umbrella because of its 3 tiers. I love it! The print and the tiers sold it for me.

We transplanted our other umbrella {that now feels so dinky compared to this one} to a smaller bistro table.

And then there is Isla's water table that also has an umbrella... Lol I did not plan for this many umbrellas!

It works out great though, because the deck is big and needs the shade! Especially for the little ones. One last thing I bought were these little ottoman/side tables for outside. They are super colorful and were on clearance! 

Now if only my potted plants would do better it would make the deck feel like an exotic getaway. 

Let Freedom Ring

Happy 4th of July to everyone. It turned out to be an amazing day weather wise. So nice, that my sister and I decided to do a little impromptu barbeque. The men went golfing in the early AM and despite leaving super early, they still didnt get home till about 1:00 in the afternoon. That's the one thing I just get bothered with about Justin's sports - they have to take HOURS. Why can't something just take an hour long? Why does it have to be 4 or 5 hours? ....ugh......

Anyway - we grilled out and had food ready for the guys around 1:00, but first we had to run out of gas on the grill and go make a run for more propane. This is why impromptu doesn't always pan out well haha. Other than that the food was good and so was the company. I have to laugh at myself for everything I think I want to do on the 4th of July. What I mean by that is, I pin a million ideas of food and decorating for this summer Holiday & for some reason - it just never transpires. I think it's because it is always too hot for me to care! I dream about making all sorts of fun red, white, & blue foods, games, a little at home fireworks show, etc... It seems like so much work. Especially when the weekend before is always going to be Isla's birthday party. Maybe next year!

We arranged plans for Estelle to have a night in with the Grandparents while Justin and I took Isla to her first fireworks show. We, of course, had to go to another town. {{{I say this facetiously because our small country town has now given up their fireworks show since it is too costly, yet they tax us to the point of making it hard to survive! Where is that money going? Hmmm good old America.....}}} we ended up going to St. Charles at Potowatami Park. It was packed! BUT the weather was so mild that despite the masses, it was cool and very enjoyable. We found a little spot, layed our blankets down, met up with some friends, and waited for the show to begin. Isla was very well behaved and definitely geared up. She didn't know what was going on, but knew we were getting ready for something. The show was great and she loved it of course. I never had a doubt that our wild woman would not like very loud sparkly stars in the night sky.

The worst part is always leaving places like that. A tired 2 year old in bumper to bumper traffic is never a good thing. She hung in there and ended up passing out just before getting home which was around 11:00 pm!! We were all tired. Next year we can't wait to bring Estelle. Having both girls there would make it complete. It's just not the same without Stellie! Now all the summer events are done and we can enjoy the weather and each other.

What makes our summers so sweet

This summer has been super fun so far. I mean truly enjoyable. A lot of it has to do with Isla's age. She is just such a great adventurer. Everything she sees or does for the first time is so magical to her. It's so amazing to sit back and watch her reactions to strange new animals or fun activities. Her birthday fell on Sunday this year. {She was born on a Friday}. We thought Sunday would be a perfect day to take her to Brookfield zoo. She has never been to a big zoo. She's only been to a small little petting zoo with more farm like animals. This made Justin and I so excited to see what she was going to think of all these big strange exotic animals.

We got to the zoo about 11 o'clock in the morning. Some kind stranger gave us two free passes into the zoo, so Justin and I did not have to pay for anything but parking! It was so incredibly kind of her and we were so thankful since it saved us close to $45! We got into the zoo and walked around a little bit. To our dismay most of the animals were no where to be seen. I was definitely glad that we did not have to pay to see absolutely no animals! We saw a couple big cats and then we checked out the Dolphins underwater. We decided to go ahead and eat some lunch and continue the day since we knew it would not last long. It was very hot & the stroller was not the most comfortable for the girls. Especially Estelle who is still so little yet.

Isla loves giraffes so we made sure she got to see those.  She definitely was infatuated. We were saddened to hear there were no elephants at the zoo at all. We checked out a couple more things and then started to get ready to go home. Of course we went into the gift shop. Justin and I just can't help ourselves when she's interested in something in the store. We didn't overdo it too much, we spent $50 on a few things. This was our present to her. We hadn't gotten her anything the day of her birthday party so we figured this would be it. We want to give her the gift of a memory instead of the gift of toys that she will forget about. And it is possible that she may not remember this day, but at least she will remember this stuffed animal giraffe that we got her at her very first zoo trip. Below are pictures of the fun day we had together as our little family of four.

After we got home and the girls took their nap, we headed over to my parents house. My mom wanted to have just a special little birthday dinner for Isla. It was nothing extravagant. She just grilled some hamburgers and got a simple little cake.

This is Isla yelling "stop" as we were singing haha.

All she wanted was the frosting!

After our sweet little meal we just hung out outside. We open some of her new gifts and she played out in the front yard at my parents "farm".

It was another beautiful day. The rest of the week would be kind of a whirlwind because of the holiday coming up. On Monday I did take them to the library. I needed to renew my card and it was a great chance for Isla to see what it was all about. Aside from an obnoxious little boy who kept taking all of the toys away from each child, she had a blast. I had to tell this little boy to give back her toy multiple times. And of course the mother was nowhere to be found! I was almost about to lose it until she scurried in, scooped him up, and finally left the library. I try so hard not to judge other parents, but this is clearly leaving your son alone to do what he wants without any reprimanding! Thanks lady, for creating a monster that we will have to deal with in society when he becomes an adult. Ugh so very frustrating!

On a side note, doesn't she look so grown up?!

Just some other tidbits from our summer so far -
We have just started potty training Isla today. Literally TODAY as in July 5th. We have had several accidents so far. I am following the advice from the 3 Day Potty training guide that so many of my other friends have followed with lots of success. Baby girl definitely doesn't seem to "get it", but I'm going to hang in there because according to this woman who has helped potty train 3000 kids, by day 3 it should just click.