Carnival!

This weekend we did lots of things and one of them involved going to a carniva! Gracie LOVES carnivals so of course we had to go once she heard about it. Tickets were a rip-off as usual but it was worth it. First up was the merry-go-round. The girls hopped right on.

a so did this little dude. Maybe his little issue with bravery is improving. Then we made our way to the cars. They loved this ride the most. They drove and beeped to their little hearts' desire. In fact, Evie and Presley threw a fit when we had to get them out.

There's video at the bottom too. It scares me to death already just thinking about them driving for real though. Then Gracie rode the flying elephant! This ride will be a hit if and when we ever make it to Disney! Then Daddy and Gracie went down the fun slide. Then all of them took a ride on the choo-choo train. They all got to ride in the caboose. Then the big event of the evening happend.....Evie watched on and I think she was a little jealous. Gracie rode the ferris wheel! She said that was her favorite ride. When she got to the top, she told Chuck, "Daddy, we are like birds! We're as high as the clouds!" Here is Gracie on her very first ferris wheel ride.




And here are my kids driving.

Last Day of Hip Hop!

Gracie's last day of hip hop was the other day. It wasa short 4 week session but she had fun. She does like dance and we will be signing up for the fall again too. We just have to decide what it will be: ballet, hip hop, tap, or jazz?

Zoo!

There's no hiding the fact that we love the zoo. Although we haven't been there hardly at all this summer, we went yesterday for a few hours and it was fun as always. I know you have seen pictures like these before but it's always fun to post new ones anyways.

We had to renew our membership so that's what we did. Gracie ran up to the lions right away and begged me to take her picture. You think that she's caught on that her mama is camera happy?

Then we saw the gorilla and had to pose with him too. This trip we did make it into Tropic World. We hardly ever go in there because it's not stroller friendly but who wants to sit in a stroller anymore right?
After seeing all the monkeys and gorillas, we had to stop at every little "put-your-head-in-the-hole" thing. Even Presley got into it. And you know Gracie loves these things. Good thing we didn't go by the big wall of them this trip. After eating some lunchables, we headed off on our merry way again, only this time a little bit at a slower pace because you see who wanted to pull the wagon. He pulled them right up to the bison and then got all excited and gave up pulling. We then managed to find our way to one of our favorite animals...giraffes! And the girls specifically dressed for the occassion. It's so neat to see the little ones to into the animals. Presley didn't want to leave. I'm pretty sure he created a few scenes everytime we left an animal. Finally to pick up speed, I managed to get the girls into the wagon. Gracie threw a fit and a half though about not going to see the bats. But a merry-go-round ride made everybody happy. And guess who decided he was brave enough to ride this time? Evie rode the aardvark. Presley rode the snow leapord. Gracie rode the turtle. After only making it around half of the zoo, we decided to stop and get our plastic animals to take home. Gracie choose a butterfly. (Grandma was going to take her in the butterfly house but because of her little fit earlier, she did not get to go which in turn made the fit even worse) Presley picked himself out a Nemo fish. We watched the movie in the car. And Gracie picked a penguin for Evie. Another fun day at the zoo. Hoepfully we can make it back a few more times before winter.

A Morning at the Museum

The other day we headed out to a children's museum. This was the museum that we had Gracie's birthday party at. Gracie was going to meet up with her BFF Scotty so she was super excited. When we got there, she went straight for the big dollhouse. So did Evie and Presley.

Then Presley went digging for animals but had more fun playing with rocks.
Evie found the stethoscope to play animal doctor. Gracie and Scott discovered the fireman suits. They say in the truck. And pretended to be firefighters! Don't they look cute? Meanwhile, Presley and Evie played on the slide. Then Evie joined Jackson on the mat. Then my kids practiced dialing 911. By then, Evie and Presley were ready to take over command central. Evie was having many conversations. Soon we found some beanbags and Presley tossed them in the holes. He made some too! What an arm that boy has already! Everyone played grocery store. Gracie and Scott made lunch for everyone. But Presley found the jar of peanut butter. Jackson was interested in who was coming up the steps. Then it was Evie and Presley's turn to make lunch and set the table. But Gracie kept her own table. We played on the stage and Presley was taking pictures of me. He said "cheese." Then Evie had to have her turn as photographer. And finally before we left, everyone played with the train tables. This children's museum is a haul because it's all the way out in Frankfort but it is nice. It's smaller than the one in Naperville but if you are a member as we are, you can get in this one for free too. It wasn't nearly as crowded as the Naperville one either. It really is a great place to go.

A Visit From Rachel!

My BFF Rachel came to town this week and we got to go and hang out in her brother's pool! Gracie was so proud of herself because she got to borrow some water wings and swim all by herself!

She even made a new friend, Caitlyn. They swam for like 2 hours together!
Evie liked the pool too. Presley didn't like the pool so he sat on the side and watched. Thanks for letting us swim Rick! We might be back! Good to see you Rachel!

Pool Party!

Last week, we had our buddy Jackson over for some fun in the sun. We broke out the pool, the water table, and some bubbles. We also had fun running down the hill.