School's Out for Summer

Here we are a month into our summer vacation already. I can't believe we are over halfway through June. The kids and I decided to make a "Summer Fun" poster again. We did one two summers ago and it was fun to check off things as we did them. It also helps us think of something to do when we find ourselves in a rut. 

We all threw out ideas of things we like to do and then placed them on the poster. Summer and Mason decorated it a little at the top. We have added a few more since making it.

A couple weeks ago we hit McGraw Park to play a little tennis. . . 

. . . and then walked up to the splash pad to play for a little. I always forget about that park because it's kind of hidden behind Central Catholic, but it is a nice park to go to.

Kids had a lot of fun, both the littles and the big ones. And they saw the McDonalds in the distance so we decided to have lunch out. They really had to twist my arm ;) 

We've been getting out to do some other things and working on some projects, but I'll save that for another post or two.

Spring Break 2015

FYI: THIS POST WAS STARTED THE END OF MARCH & FINISHED IN JUNE. WHOOOPS!!!

The Clark family stayed in town during spring break since we had already made plans back in August to go to Disney World over Easter with a couple of my siblings, their kids and my mom.

I have to admit, we were pretty lazy the first part of break and watched a lot of television/movies and the kids played a lot of electronics. I did have the kids read most days to do something worthwhile. They also made sand creations. Big kids didn't get in the picture, but the Cubs colored cross is Noah's and the other cross is Madison's.

By mid week I was ready to get out of the house. It may have been chilly, but I needed to get out and do something. Wednesday morning I ran a few errands with Summer and then picked up Mason's friend, Caelen, to come over to play for a few hours. It turned out nicely that Madison's summer softball coach was around and met Madison and a couple other girls at the batting cages to work on hitting. He also caught for her so she could pitch a little.

Madison met a bunch of friends at the mall on Thursday to do a little shopping so the other three and I thought we'd check out the Children's Discovery Museum to see if there was anything new. Nothing new, but a favorite all the time is the climbing maze.

After the museum we decided to hit Orange Leaf. A definite favorite of the kids.

For as long as we've been in IL, we've never hit the David Davis Mansion. Noah had been there once for a school field trip. I decided it would be fun to check it out with the kids. Seemed like a great idea since the weather was still cold. It was pretty neat. I stressed a bit throughout as Mason and Summer like to touch everything in sight and we weren't supposed to touch anything in the mansion. Eeek!

As you can see, like any other tourist type place, there is a gift shop. The kids grabbed a sucker of sorts and the littles grabbed a little coloring book or something of that nature.

Overall it wasn't too bad of a break. It could've been warmer, but that's the way the Midwest works. At least we were able to hit Florida a few days after spring break!!!