Life after Florida

The post vacation hangover is the worst.  We spent all of Monday going to Costco and a million other places to get caught up on life. We even skipped the first day of swim lessons. Swim lessons was at 8am and I couldn't bear to get three kids up and out the door by 7:45am. I just couldn't.  

But we made it the rest of the week.  We made it because I changed swim lessons to a more realistic time of 9:30am.  We are still almost, if not, late for the 9:30 class too.  Let's just say we are less late than we would be for 8am.  

The kids are all enjoying swimming lessons. I don't know how much they are getting out of it but I am telling myself I don't care this year. I want them to have fun and enjoy summer. I am less worried now that Miss M seems to be picking things up. They all three jumped off the diving board on the last day of class on Friday.  Miss M hasn't had (or at least complained about) any ear pain since we had the tube removed in early May. I feel relieved and also frustrated I didn't take care of the problem earlier.  

 Miss M jumping off the starting block.  

 Big Willie...going big off the board.

Cate's swimming lessons are what they are as for the most part the teacher (it's been one on one which is awesome) carries her around the pool and talks to all the other teachers.  It's 30 minutes someone else is dragging her around and she loves it.  She was kicking at this point in the picture but most of the time she just gets carried around on someones hip! Not a bad deal for her. 

There is significantly less fighting between each of the kids and myself with the kids when we don't stay home. It's a lot of work to pack snacks, extra clothes, water bottles and whatever else we might need for the trip ahead but I rarely regret not being home. I also appreciate the lack of iPad time and iPad fighting as well as the fact that my house is relatively clean still.

We found a new park area around Schaumburg.   It's relatively new. It was pretty awesome.  There were a lot of things for the kids to play on/with around the playground area and then there were walking trails surrounding.  The trails then had little playground areas throughout.  There were tree stumps set up to walk/jump around/on. Bridges to walk over. Frogs in the bog and so much more.  We could have stayed longer except I was reprimanded by an older woman about how terrible of a parent I am as well as I ran out of water and couldn't find a drinking fountain.

Willie on the grasshopper.

 BBBUUUZZZ

A stream running all along the playground perimeter. The big kids walked all over it like it was no big deal but Cater struggled with stepping on all the rocks.  They were smooth but big and awkward and sometimes slippery.  Eventually she got the hang of it and she wouldn't leave.

 She stayed by this massive rock for so long. She would get her hands wet and "paint" the rocks or throw them back in the water if she deemed them too big/small/rough/smooth/who knows.  She was so curious about all of it. It was awesome to watch.

 We found another little stream to explore on the trail.

 Trees to walk/jump on/off.

Backyard game of soccer.  This picture is a great reminder for me to not sign her up for soccer.  She's completely uninterested.

 Exploring the arboretum pond area and looking for frogs and turtles.

 After five hours of non-stop playing at the arboretum he just couldn't take anymore.  We had to go to Target for essentials so the only option was to wake him up or make him a bed out of damp pool towels and listen to one less kid "need" everything we walked by.

While at Target we bought some new games. Big Will is generally the first one up in the morning and he loves to play games.  We can get a solid 30-60 minutes of game time in before anyone else wakes up to bother us.

 We've had more tea parties lately.

 He got smart and put the digger in the sandbox. He can now do a lot more work than he was previously capable of. I am hoping this might keep more of the sand in the box and less of it everywhere else that it doesn't belong.

Cate got a new high chair for her baby so the girls played tea party with the baby.  Cate loves her babies as much as she loves the knots on her head!!