Chicago

During the weekend of June 6-9, we went to Chicago!! Jeremy had business there on Mon and Tues, so we tagged along with him for the whole weekend, and Hormel paid for a lot of the trip.

Our hotel had the coolest pool stuff for kids. Dallin was in heaven. 

 Tanner used his body floaty thing for the first time. It worked really well in the big pool, except that Tanner wouldn't let go of us to really try it out.

This time swimming, we noticed that Dallin naturally SPITS and blows away any water that gets near his mouth. Tanner naturally SWALLOWS any water that gets near his mouth. I never really believed that some kids have a knack for swimming over others, but Dallin really seems to be one of those kids that just has a knack for being in water.

We met up with the Hills at their church Fun Run. It didn't take long for Jeremy to round up a bunch of kids to play baseball. He said he was just trying to play with Tanner, and then all of a sudden other kids were begging to play, too.

 We enjoyed the Kohl's Children Museum in/near Evanston. So many fun exhibits.

We were in the music exhibit for quite a while.

 The dancing room was cool.

Man, I love how silly Jeremy is sometimes!

 I don't think the boys are supposed to climb on this one!

 We walked on the grounds of the Chicago temple. Tanner has been begging to come with us to the temple (He stays with babysitters when we go to the one in St Paul). So when we told him that he could come to the temple with us, he was so excited!

He liked feeling the stones on the temple wall.

 Tanner took this picture of us. What a good shot!

 We had homemade pizza dinner with the Hills. The kids played independently for a long time, kind of avoiding each other, it was super funny.

 But then after dinner, they started interacting with each other.

 And then they got really crazy.

 I think Tanner is pretty fond of his little friend.

 Zavoral and Hill kids!

 We ate out at some fantastic restaurants, including deep dish pizza and this Persian restaurant!

Here's my attempt at getting a picture of them in their matching shirts.

We spent an afternoon at the Museum of Science and Industry. 

We learned a lot about this U-boat that the US captured in WWII.

Another attempt at matching shirt pictures.

A tractor!

TV buddies.

All tuckered out.

We also enjoyed a day at the beach with the Hills and some of their friends! Jeremy was at his work stuff this day.

The boys played mostly by themselves. They were very content to be alone.

I tried moving them closer together for a better picture. Dallin got up and walked back to his own play area.

During the last 30 minutes or so, they warmed up to the other kids.

Sand angels!

Ready to go back to the hotel for a nap.

That night, we went to a White Socks baseball game. The boys LOVED it. Everyone got a hoot with how our boys cheered. If a great play was made, Tanner and Dallin would watch everyone cheer, completely mesmerized and amazed at how loud we all got. Then, when things were dead quiet, the two of them would scream at the top of their lungs, clap and bounce up and down. It was hilarious.

We all lasted happily for 6 innings, dinner during about two of those. We left at the first sign of discontent from Dallin, which I thought worked out nicely. Sometimes we try to tough it out the whole game, trying to get our money's worth or something. Leaving right when we could tell the kids were done made the whole experience way more enjoyable!

On Tuesday morning, I took the boys to the Bean at Millennium Park. When we first walked up to it, Tanner said, "Hey! I was here last time, Mama!" He remembered being here over 10 months ago! I thought that was pretty cool that he not only remembered it, but that he was able to articulate that he remembered it. (He was only 25 months old the one other time we were here).

Can you find us in this reflection? We're the ones with the stroller.

Dallin did not care at all about the bean, he wouldn't even look at his own reflection. He just wanted to climb things, like the stroller.

We met up with Jeremy for lunch at this yummy pancake place.

Then, we headed home! The weekend was sooo much fun. I can't wait for our next trip to Chicago. Seriously, this city does not get the attention it deserves. There is so much to see, which can be illustrated in this family pic of us all looking in different directions! Chicago, we'll be back soon!!

gardens, outings and play dates

Here are some quick photos and descriptions from May 21- June 6.

Our apple tree had tons of blossoms! That's our house in the background.

 Strawberry patch had blossoms, too!

 Our first little sprouts came up from our square foot garden.

And we've got rhubarb a-plenty! This is one of three big bushes. 

For Memorial Weekend, we spent Saturday up in the cities at the St. Paul Temple with our youth group. It was really special to be in that peaceful place with the youth and watch them happily performing acts of service there. (Tanner stayed at the Grush Farm and loved it! Dallin rode up with us and stayed with a babysitter near the temple).

 

Here's me and Dallin on Sunday after church.

 

 On Monday, we worked in the garden.

 And now we have a fence to keep the children out!!

 The boys weren't too happy about the fence getting put up. Dallin walked all around the perimeter trying to find a way in. When he realized that he was being kept out, he had a fit! We had to get out some toys to keep them entertained. Next project is to build a sand box.

 After a couple of hours in the garden, we headed to Owattanna's outlet mall to do some summer shopping. Then we ate dinner at Famous Dave's. The boys did really well with all the day's events.

 Playin' at the water table on back porch. We found these matching hats at the outlet mall.

 Main Street Summer Kick Off

 Tanner was so excited to see Sir Can-a-lot (the Knight of Spam). We got dinner first, and then we couldn't find him. Tanner kept asking, "Where is Mister Can-a-lot? Where did he go? I think he is in the bafroom." He even asked our friend, the Spam Product Manager, where he was. As soon as Sir Can-a-lot came outside for his last showing of the evening, Tanner was right there to see him. I love this picture because I wouldn't have much without these five guys in my life!

At the Main St party, my boys spent a long time playing bean bag toss with some friends from church. Dallin understood the point of the game and kept climbing on top of the board to put his bean bag in the hole and then would immediately dive into the hole to get his bean bag out again. he did this over and over and over!

 Flower shopping. We wanted to get a bunch of flowers to help attract bees to our garden (isn't it sad how bumble bees are now on the endangered list!?) We spent a long time searching and deciding and debating what to buy. I didn't realize there could be so much pressure with buying flowers! Dallin fell asleep in the shade for half of the time. Tanner only attempted to destroy a few things in the nursery, all of which were saved, so I'd call it a successful trip!

 I think we took this picture while watching a rainstorm by the front door.

 Nature Center. After the rain storm all night, I decided it would be a perfect day to take the boys to the Nature Center. Indeed it was! Not only did we have the playroom all to ourselves, we were invited to attend a live owl show and go on a nature tour with a group of kids from Head Start. We met some new families in town and explored together by the pond. We found all kinds of critters that we fished out of the water with our nets.

  Play dates! We enjoyed a couple days of having friends over to play with Tanner. It's interesting to watch Tanner interact with them. One is younger than him, and Tanner takes on the roll of leader: bossy, helpful, aggressive, decisive.  

The other friend is older than Tanner. With him, Tanner takes on the roll of follower: timid, easy to  be entreated, unsure, and lots of mimicking and copying.

These two wouldn't smile for me, so I asked for a T-Rex face.

Park Days! We are part of a group that meets at different parks in town twice a week. This is one of Dallin's first times on a park swing!

We are so excited that it's SUMMER!