what we did on our summer vacation (part 2)

Our second week in Illinois was just as fun as our first.  Some highlights from our stint in Daddy's hometown, where we stayed with Craig, Margaret, Matt, Ali, and Lizzy:

Clowning with cousins.  Though Madeline may have wailed when leaving her cousins in Dwight (Muh-wissa, especially), she and our other littles certainly cheered up when they realized there'd be plenty of people to play with in Kewanee, too.

What a splendid crew!  (John David should've been in bed, and doesn't particularly enjoy sitting for photographs, anyway.  But he had fun, grumpy expression notwithstanding.)

The girls (from left): Ali, Maddie, Lizzy, and Kathleen.

Yet another attempt at a group photo.  My children were just excited to have an excuse to be on the stairs...  (Well, John David would rather have been climbing on the stairs, obviously.)

I mentioned it before, but Matt and Madeline seemed to have a special connection.  She would not leave that boy alone.  And she thought that hiding in the pantry was hilarious.  Matt's a really good sport!

Another cookout, complete with the whole family, tons of tasty food, and (of course!) more basketball.  We had a truly wonderful (warm!) afternoon.  The cookout was a great chance for us to see more extended family that we haven't seen in quite a while.

Ali pulled some Indy-watch duty at the cookout.  Have I mentioned how much I loved having cousins to keep an eye on my children?  I very nearly left all my belongings behind and stuffed one of them in my suitcase instead...

The cousins have an awesome basketball hoop.  Having warmed up in Dwight, Maddie was ready to slam dunk!

But after a bit of playing, some folks needed to be carried off the court.

Tuckered out from basketball, John David (supervised here by cousin Ethan) retired to the garage for storytime with Grandma.

A gorgeous new house!   Our cousins had built and moved into a new house since we'd last been in Kewanee.  It's a beautiful home (with more than room enough for all of us to visit -- score!), but as far as our children were concerned the best thing about their cousins' new home was the field of horses behind it.

Everytime we went outside, John David would take off running across the big backyard, trying to visit the horses.  Once he got to the edge of the backyard, he'd just stand out there and sign horse.  He didn't want to be too close to those giant animals, but he certainly wanted to be nearer than the back porch.  The girls loved to visit the horses, too.

Donkey on the loose!  There was a crotchety old donkey that lived with the horses, and one day he escaped.  He was headed for the road and we were worried he'd get hurt (or someone driving would get hurt).  The owner wasn't home and wasn't answering phone calls, and though Margaret had called the police, they weren't coming very quickly.  Jim took the matter into his own hands; armed with an apple, he coaxed the stubborn animal back into his pen -- our very own donkey-whisperer!

A visit to an apple orchard.  Visiting Tanner's Orchard is practically a tradition on our Illinois trips.  We've visited with just Kathleen, and then Kathleen and Madeline, and now with all three.  Even though it wasn't quite apple season while we were there, we still indulged in some cider slushies and some apple cider donuts and took home a bag of crisp, crunchy apples, too.

Apple is one of Indy's favorite signs.  And one of his favorite snack foods, too.  He's like an apple orchard poster child.  (Of course, I might be a bit biased.)

We had tons of fun on the big playground, especially in the morning before it got too warm.

Lizzy helped John David climb up the pirate ship...

but he slid down all on his own.

Kathleen took Grandpa for a "drive" in the vintage fire truck.

Goats!  Madeline very bravely fed the goats.

John David was super-excited by the goats.  At first he tried to eat the goat food himself (much more upsetting to me than to him), but after a bit of watching the bigger kids he stepped right up and fed the goats, too!

A hay bale maze proved better for leaping and jumping over than actually wandering through.

Kathleen the superhero.

Exploring Daddy's old stomping ground.  We spent time at Jim's childhood home, too, catching up with Grandma and Grandpa, snacking, and checking out some of the toys that live at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Posing with Grandpa.

Snuggling with Grandma.

The girls tested out their tree-climbing skills on the very tree that Daddy learned to climb as a small boy.

Madeline proved fearless, as always.

We had other adventures, too, that I somehow never captured on film. We took the kids to eat at a Japanese (teppanyaki) restaurant for the first time, which was an enormous success.  Madeline was a bit intimidated by the loud noises and the bursts of flame, but she did just fine on Daddy's lap.  Kathleen and John David loved every minute of the whole thing.  And the kids and their cousins spent an afternoon playing at a big, indoor playground (an excellent choice of activity given the triple-digit heat that day).   To be fair, no photos could adequately capture all the fun we had on our midwestern vacation.  

Thank you, Margaret, Craig, Matt, Ali, and Lizzy!  You were great hosts and we can't wait to come back again.  (You know the girls have already been asking to go to Illinois!)

what we did on our summer vacation (part 1)

It seems a bit silly to talk about a summer vacation when your your days are typically full of swimming lessons, picnic suppers, trips to the park, and other fun.  (Well, that's what the days looked like for 80% of the family.  The other 20% actually worked.  He earned a vacation.)  And yet, we took our circus on vacation anyway.

We're crazy like that.

Of course, you have to be a bit crazy to take three kids on a plane halfway across the country, especially when one of them is a very large, very loud, very energetic 15-month-old boy.

But, like I said, we're crazy like that.

The five of us arrived in Illinois none the worse for wear.  And while no one would describe John David as a a perfect passenger, he actually did fairly well on the flight.  (There was only one brief period when I thought I'd lose my mind.  And then, with a little coaxing from the the dvd player, he fell asleep.  Praise God.)  The girls, on the other hand, were model passengers, despite their overwhelming excitement about seeing cousins.  We were really proud of our girls.  (And it made us realize -- one day, God willing, flying won't be the nail-biting production it is now.  One day.  You know, four years from now.)

By the time we'd secured our rental car, the little ones were exhausted.  That was probably a mercy, too, since there wasn't a lot of room to spare in the back of our standard rental car.  Sleeping makes for a lot less squabbling on a long-ish drive.

We spent two weeks in Illinois and the time flew!   We spent the first week with Jim's sister Katherine and her family, and then then second week with Jim's sister Margaret and her family.  (And we managed to spend a good deal of time with Grandma and Grandpa Golby and even see Aunt Annie, too!)  If I'd blogged about this upon our return, like a responsible blogger, I'd probably have broken this into a number of posts and given you all the details.  As it is,  I'm six weeks late.  In the interest of getting around to telling you anything at all, I'll give you two lengthy, photo-heavy posts instead.  I apologize in advance for the assault on your eyeballs.

Some highlights from our week with Katherine and Eric, Sarah, Ethan, and Melissa in Dwight, Illinois:

Cousins.  That probably goes with out saying, though...  The girls loved spending time with their big cousins, and so did John David.

Sarah reading to the girls.  And, as you can probably tell, she let them accessorize her, too.  She's basically a saint.  We especially felt that way when she'd just disappear outside with the children and we could sit and carry on uninterrupted conversations with other adults.  Seriously, it was a vacation.  (And I had thought that was impossible with small children.)

John David hams it up for Melissa.  The girls were devastated to leave Melissa when we moved to Margaret's house after the first week.  Madeline cried for almost thirty minutes of the two hour drive to Kewanee.  (She was distracted from her grief by lunch.  Barely.)

A cookout!  We celebrated the grandparents' anniversary and Melissa's birthday with the whole family, lots of food, a game of cornhole, some basketball, and lots of other fun.  Good times.

What a great game!  But watch out -- Grandpa Golby is a serious competitor.

Madeline gets a ride from Ali.  Katherine and family went above and beyond as hosts -- they borrowed a whole host of toys (including this little car) for our little ones!  I'm telling you, we were so spoiled.  All of us.

Madeline and Jim joined the teens in some pick-up basketball.

Katherine and Indy cheer on the players.

The whole family.  These photos are hard to get...  (Can you tell my children are maybe a little tired?  Or possibly over-stimulated?  Nah.)

Lots of swimming.  These photos are from the day of the cookout, when the Dwight cousins and the Kewanee cousins took our girls to the local pool.  But we swam a lot of other days, too.  We were more than happy to go swimming just about whenever -- the adjustment to the heat and humidity of the midwest was a bit of a shock after our really mild Northern California summer.

This was the first time Madeline had seen her cousin Matt in just about a year.  She was still a little tentative in this photo, but by the time we left Kewanee, she and Matt were practically inseparable.

A trip to the waterpark.  Next to seeing cousins, this might have been the activity our girls were most anticipating.  John David didn't know enough to anticipate it, but he sure enjoyed it!  (We got a great day for it, too.  It was a little overcast that day, so it wasn't nearly so hot.  Whew!)

Madeline loved the little slide.  It was exactly her speed.

Ethan helped Kathleen figure out the waterworks.

And John David just loved the water.  (Don't say I don't love you, friends.  That's a photo of me in a maternity swimsuit.  Ugh.)

Delight.

This municipal waterpark has some fun waterslides.  Jim and Katherine tested them out.  Me, not so much.

And to my chagrin, my four-year-old insisted on trying out the waterslides, too.  I wasn't about to let her,  ("She's too small!" I thought.) but her dad was all for it.  I was terrified and she was thrilled.  She loved it!  Or, more accurately, them!  Kathleen tested out all of them.  The only one she didn't like was one that was covered and so "a little too dark."  I get such a kick out her holding her nose, though!

A date.  No photos for this one, but Katherine and company sweetly watched all three of our little people so that Jim and I could go on an actual date.  We ate dinner at a restaurant and went to a movie (Inception).  That's practically unheard of!  It was a delightful evening and such a treat for us.  (Thanks, guys.  You're amazing.)  We were all sad when we drove away from Dwight after the first week -- even though we'd see everyone again (in just a few days), and even though we had another week of fun waiting for us in Kewanee!

as summer slips away

I suppose summer's not really over.  Technically summer isn't over for a few more weeks days.  But it feels like fall -- we're well into the new routines of a new season, a season with school days and dance lessons instead of lazy mornings at the park and pool.  (Of course, in due time, those routines will all need to be adjusted, too... fitting in another little person.  We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it.)

We've felt summer slipping away for a while, though.  We've known it was fleeting, and we've done our best to make it last.  We filled our days.  And hopefully over the next few weeks I'll manage to share some of that fun here -- before I can't possibly blog for a bit, since I'll have my arms full of new little baby.

One of our favorite summertime traditions is our town's Thursday night festivals.  They're over now, but during the summer they occur about twice a month.  The main street downtown is closed off and filled with classic cars and booths from a variety of city services and community activities.

Kathleen poses (with her free coloring book from State Farm or some other insurance company) in front of her "favorite" car of the week.

An animal rescue always brings pets available for adoption.  This is one of our children's favorite booths.  Of course, our children have no idea that people can choose to bring these animals home; they think they're just there to visit.  Consequently, our children never ask for the puppies, and this omission/deception on our part suits us just fine.  In fact, while taking this photograph, a father nearby started to explain to his daughter how the dogs were for people to adopt.  Jim and I looked daggers at him, whispering under our breath, "Shut up!  Shut up!"  Fortunately for us, our children were too enamored of the dogs to listen to anyone else.  We escaped -- this time!

The park district has a booth, too.  On this visit the girls learned (or attempted to learn) to hula hoop.  Kathleen had some success.  And Madeline gave it a good effort.  (And yes, we let Madeline go out in a leotard and ballet skirt.  Some fights just aren't worth it.)

Both girls seemed to excel at sack races!

There are some produce booths, too, from local growers.  We've been known to wander around munching on raspberries or sugared almonds.  But we generally eat supper at one of the restaurants downtown during the street fair.  (I suppose that's why they have the street fairs, after all.)  We eat outside, enjoying the atmosphere, and savoring some of our favorite ethnic cuisine -- the kids happily will eat Mexican or Thai or Greek/Mediterranean with us.  Of course, the highlight of the evening is a stop at the gelato shop.  Even John David knows enough to insist on his fair share there.

Two strawberry cones, please!

A different band plays at each of the Thursday night festivals, and some of them are quite good.  One of our favorites was a geekily-attired (think Revenge of the Nerds), 80's cover band, the Spazmatics.  They were excellent and hilarious.  Dancing ensued.  (But then, dancing almost always ensues around here!)

We miss the long, warm summer evenings already!  We'll surely try to fit in a few more street festivals before we move next summer...  

scenes from the circus: summertime

Clearly, posting has been spotty around here lately. What, exactly, have we been doing that keeps us so busy that we can't even post a few measly photographs? Well, life. We did take a fun-filled, two-week trip to Illinois last month (and I promise I'll get around to posting that eventually), but otherwise, it's just the busy-ness of everyday that gets in the way of typing here. Our days are full of reading and playing and learning and errand running and laundry and when things calm down around here (read: during naptime or the evening) I'm ready to sleep just like the kids. Of course, I'm probably the only person that's surprised that a largely pregnant woman with three children under five can't get as much done as she'd like.

But, without further ado, some scenes from our circus:

I recently noticed that someone had seen fit to rearrange our mishmash of commissary and farmer's market fruit into a more, well, aesthetically pleasing arrangement.

Just imagine if they could move furniture. Who knows what our house would look like?

:: :: :: ::

I suppose I should qualify that last statement. The children can move furniture. All the children.

A few days ago I'd made lunch and was carrying it out to the girls, who were eating at the picnic table in the backyard. While I was getting the girls settled, John David snuck into the kitchen, pushed a chair up to the counter, and hauled himself onto it. Here's what he found on the counter:

(That's peanut butter and honey for Kathleen, peanut butter and jelly for Madeline, and cream cheese and jelly for John David.  I don't normally make three different lunches, but I was feeling generous that day.  John David must have sensed that.)

And here's how I found him:

He tried to drink the jam.  Nice. Of course, I suppose I should be happy I didn't find him sucking on the industrial-sized honey bottle.

:: :: :: ::

I'm 31 and a half weeks pregnant with Flash. All seems to be going well (though he's measuring big -- 34cm at 31 weeks!), but this fourth pregnancy is catching up with me. More than ever before, it seems I have "pregnancy brain." And I don't just forget things; I really forget things! One day after swimming lessons I apparently re-dressed Madeline in a dress and panties without ever taking off her swimming suit bottom. In a cooperative mood, Madeline never mentioned my oversight. I only discovered it when I picked her up at naptime and found her little rear rather damp. Sorry, little girl!

And one afternoon I looked down when we were out and saw this:

John David's shoes were on the wrong feet. Now, this often happens with Madeline; she frequently mixes up her shoes. But I put Indy's shoes on! Whoops!

:: :: :: ::

Here's how Kathleen dressed herself for swimming lessons a few weeks ago. "Mom," she exclaimed, "No one will know it's me! I'm all hidden!" And now she knows what incognito means.

(The crowd at swimming lessons got a real kick out her attire. Only a few people said anything, but there were lots of chuckles.)

:: :: :: ::

My frazzled moments aren't isolated to instances when the children are getting dressed.  One Sunday, the kids and I went to service alone (Jim had an obligation for school).  Our church meets at a junior high school, and though we park near the babies' nursery (for easy last-minute drop-off!), where we park is actually comparatively far from where we fellowship after service.  On that particular Sunday, I gathered everyone up after fellowship and we walked to the car.  When we were just a few yards from the car, I realized that we were missing a backpack, so we turned and walked back to the fellowship area.

With help from one of Kathleen's little friends, we quickly found the backpack and headed back to the car.  My little people were hot and a little whiny, and we were all anxious to get home for some lunch and (more importantly to me, at least) some naps.  I was buckling John David into his car seat when Kathleen pointed out that we were missing her "everyday cup" -- that is, the water bottle we use for her, well, everyday.  Reluctant to abandon yet another cup/bottle (they're not cheap and no matter the vigilance, they seem to disappear), I knew we'd have to go back again.  I felt on the verge of tears until Madeline intervened.

"Hohww-eee God," she intoned in a loud, serious voice, "Only You can help us."

Her prayer sort of lost steam after that, but it did its job.  I finished loading everyone in the car, drove around the front of the building, snatched the cup (without unloading the crew), and headed home.

Out of the mouths of babes.

:: :: :: ::

Early on in our swimming lesson adventure, Jim and I were talking with Kathleen about what she was learning and what she liked.  She quickly and enthusiastically told us that her favorite part was when she went under the water and came right back up.

She paused, looked slightly perplexed and then said, "You know what that's called?"

And Jim and I said that indeed we did -- that was called a bob.

"No" she replied, "it's called a bub.  My teacher calls it a bub."

Jim and I had to turn away from her to avoid laughing out loud because her Russian-born instructor's pronunciation of the word bob sounded exactly like bub!  (Since she's now had three different swimming instructors, she knows it's called a bob.  But you certainly couldn't have convinced her of that then!)

:: :: :: ::

John David's a busy little guy.  He's happiest when he's running or climbing or whatnot.  In fact, when we're out strangers often make unsolicited comments like, "He's a busy!" or "He doesn't stop, does he?" or "You'll have your hands full!"  (All those statements are true, by the way.  Very true.)  And for a while, we had a really hard time getting him to sit still long enough to eat a meal. More accurately, he wouldn't sit long enough for anyone else to be able to eat a decent meal -- it seemed that no sooner than we'd strapped him into his high chair, he'd be wailing to be let out.  He was somehow getting enough nutrition to keep up his chunky toddler physique, but he was doing it in well under five minutes!

Lately, though, we've been having almost peaceful meals.  It turns out, the child will eat almost anything if you give him a fork.  Dinner's then a slightly more time-consuming game, which he loves.  And some nights even mom gets to eat sitting down!

a splash

We've been making a bit of splash this summer.  Not around this blog, obviously, but at swimming lessons, at least.

We dove into swimming lessons at the end of June.  The lessons were recommended by dear friends and took place at their community swimming pool.  To our girls' delight, they and their best friend were enrolled in the same session.  (At least for the first two sessions.  We got split up by the third session.  But the first two were such fun!)

Our girls had never taken swimming lessons before, so they started at the very beginning.  They loved it.  Well, to be fair, Madeline wasn't completely sold on the idea at first.  She'd never been to a class without one of us before, so it was a bit of an adjustment.  Fortunately, Madeline loved her instructor, a Russian exchange student called Natalia.  And she warmed up to the water just as she warmed up to Natalia.  In no time at all she was kicking and splashing and jumping and floating.

Madeline stayed in the first level for all three sessions, but Kathleen moved up after the first.  Consequently, Kathleen had a number of different instructors.  Fortunately her love for the water has little to do with her teacher.  She also seems to think that he swimming skills have little to do with her teacher.  She would try to "learn more swimming" when she was supposed to be hanging on to the wall. (The teachers earned their money with her!)  I guess all the kicking and "arm-circling" and jumping and diving wasn't enough...

And on the off chance you were concerned about John David feeling left out, since he was too small for these lessons, let me assure you that he did not suffer.  (Mommy and me lessons are offered at a separate time and we couldn't swing every day childcare for the girls, so Indy will have to wait until he's older...)  We'd hang out, watching the girls in the water, reading books, playing with a toy car, blowing bubbles, and eating snacks.  When all those diversions would fail, I'd go ahead and stick him in the baby pool. He didn't seem to mind.

And occasionally, when even the water wouldn't hold his attention, he'd rearrange the deck furniture. The child knows no limits.

Lessons finished up just yesterday, and we celebrated with a special lunch out. We're sad to see the end of swimming (let's not talk about summer ending, okay?), but we're excited for all that's coming this fall -- dance lessons (for the girls, not John David!), a new brother, and even school.

a mini vacation: at the park

We really lucked out with our mini vacation. We had a great room (two rooms and two bathrooms, which meant that even Indy got his own space.  A bathroom, but still). We loved the beach. And the kids loved the park.

We developed a bit of a morning routine. Indy would wake early, and Jim and took turns running with our not-so-quiet boy in the jogger while the girls continued to sleep. Then the girls would wake and we'd all get ready. Eventually everyone would be presentable and we'd head to breakfast. Once the kids had had their fill of pancakes and bacon and fruit and yogurt (they didn't discover the fruit loops until the last day), we'd grab a to-go cup of coffee and take a walk to the park.

We had only to walk a few blocks (though it didn't even seem that far, since we followed a nice trail along the beachfront) to get to the park. We had no idea what a great park it would be.

We could tell as we approached that our little people would be pleased -- we spied swings and slides and a giant turtle.

It wasn't until we walked around to the other side of the park and looked back that we could really appreciate its clever design. Two pirate ships! And a dragon!

The girls were really excited about the dragon. It was a perfect element -- Jim and the girls had been reading My Father's Dragon. They couldn't get enough of the book (in fact, they finished it on the second day of our trip) or the dragon at the park.

The slides and swings were -- as always -- a hit with our little people.  But there were these fun, new-to-us spinny things that the kids simply couldn't resist.  Everyone had a turn.  (They had similar things that had actual seats; even mom and dad tried those out.  They had us laughing out loud.)

Coming off one side of the larger pirate ship was a rocky ledge.  The girls called it "a plank" and insisted on walking it.  And, obviously, jumping off the end.

Since we didn't let Indy walk the plank, he simply tried to climb up alone.  I think this photo captures the chaos of our crew at a park... jumping, climbing, lovely chaos.

Not surprisingly, the park was our last stop before heading home.  I wonder if there's some sort of database we can search when we decide to take another vacation so that we can narrow our destinations to those with great parks!