September Happenings

We've kept busy the past few weeks as the school year has gotten underway.  The kids have all transitioned in pretty nicely and are enjoying seeing all their friends again.

We tried something new this month, sailing!  We have some friends who are experienced boaters, and they keep a sailboat at the local sailing beach.  They kindly took us out sailing for the day.  It's always fun to have new adventures!  And - controlling a sailboat in the wind is a huge workout!

For the past few summers, ever since we moved to this home, we have done a summertime backyard campout with neighbors on the block.  This year we rotated out of our yard and stayed across the street.  Daddy is such a champ for staying out there all night with the kiddos, and my role is sleep inside and make a big breakfast for the crew the next morning.  The kids have such a great time with this and have come to look so forward to it!

We took in a late summer Cubs game and had a fun time as always.  We rode the el downtown early to try and watch the players warm up.  We happened to have Addison Russell warming up right in front of us, so that was fun for the kids to see.  We'd also learned that they allow kids to run the bases after the game on all Sunday daytime home games, so we chose this game specifically to give that a try.  Super fun!  The kids ran their hearts out and thought it was cool to tag home plate at Wrigley.  The Cubs lost this one to the Brewers, but we still enjoyed a really fun day at the ballpark.

Wrapping up Summer - Back to School!

At the end of August, we experienced a solar eclipse!  We live too far north to have been able to see a total eclipse; what we witnessed was a partial eclipse.  The kids were excited and we got special glasses to be able to look at the eclipse without damaging our eyes.  None of us really knew what to expect (I can't recall ever witnessing an eclipse before?).  Honestly, it wasn't as monumental here in Chicagoland as I heard it was further down south, where the moon passed perfectly in front of the sun and created really neat images, and strange daytime darkness.  The first photo below is what our sky looked like - it just got a bit dimmer outside, but the sun continued to shine.  However, when I took a photo through the special glasses, you could see what was really happening much better!

On August 23, the kids returned to school!  Cassie began 5th grade (middle school!), Gavin began 3rd grade, and Tyler started in Junior Kindergarten.  It's always bittersweet; I miss being with the kids and I miss the laid-back, fun pace of summer - but it's also time to return to a nice routine (and learn some things too!).

To wrap up August, Erik and the boys joined Grandpa Brown for a Bears game!  They played the Cleveland Browns (and unfortunately the Bears got clobbered!) - but it was such a fun experience for all of them to go to Soldier Field together.  Grandpa Brown has been a season ticket holder since 1971!  Fun to keep the tradition alive. Go Bears!

Road Trip to Florida

We just wrapped up a great Florida visit!  Since it's summertime and we can be more leisurely, we decided to drive down.  We drove as far as Lexington, and stopped over for a quick visit with the Burkholders.  We loved making s'mores with them!

The next day, we drove the rest of the way down to The Villages to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Reder.  We had a great time as always, playing in the pool, sightseeing around town, doing puzzles, crafts, and sports.  We also took a day trip to Florida's Museum of Natural History in Gainesville.  It's on the campus of the University of Florida and had really amazing exhibits and interactive science areas for the kids.  They had a special summer exhibit on frogs that was especially fun to see.  We also got to be with Grandma on her birthday, hooray!  We loved celebrating and joining her for cake!

Tyler always loves seeing the sailfish that Grandpa caught.

The old photos of the catch from 1968, when Grandpa Reder was 19 and had blonde hair!

   

After a few days of visiting, we headed out for a day at Disney's Magic Kingdom.  Tyler had never been!  In the past he's always stayed back with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was so fun for all of us to see him enjoy it for the first time!  We all had a really great day.