Rockin' Summer

We are (finally) rolling on our summer fun to-do list and this week and weekend with little "must-do's" helped!

• Paige and Rich went on their planned movie date to see "Divergent."  She has read the entire series and both enjoyed it!  Plus, the boys and I got to meet them out for dinner afterwards at a neat new restaurant.
• We finally made and kept dinner plans with friends we have been trying to go out with!
• We made it to Starved Rock! (Well, actually next door to Matthiessen State Park).  The mud made the trek especially challenging and fun!
  
  
  
  
• The kids and I made it out to "Stephanie's Garden" - a children's garden in a forest preserve created in memory of a family friend of ours.

  

  Before poor Milo got stung by a bee.

  
  

  

  In an Indian hut.  Paige had been here for school and educated us on it.

• We are heavy into new books with our weekly library visits.

And here are some things I have learned this week:

• My boys need stricter dressing / grooming guidelines.  Outfits are worn that don't match; nasty hats are worn nice places; some things are ill-fitting, and this happens when sweaty boy meets s'mores:

  

  Just.  Wow.

• Large spiders.  There are large spiders indigenous to the Starved Rock area.
• We need to get some stamina built up in our 6-year old's legs!  Granted, I was surprised to find he is still weighing in at 43 lbs and is the smallest on his ball team, but still.  
• If ever I thought my house was all clean at once, I was terribly mistaken.  There's surely a mess somewhere.
• Our kids, though we know they are growing up everyday, will just strike me as grown up all at once and I will suddenly wonder where the time went.