Tags: 4th of July

Our family had such a great time with our summer fun list last year that we are going to try it again. Here are the activities we are wanting to do this summer.

• Go to the movies
• Go miniature golfing
• Attend VBS
• Ice cream sundae night
• Go on a family bike ride
• Summer reading program at the library
• Go to Rockome Gardens
• Get ice cream at Carl’s
• Go to the zoo
• Campfire night
• Campout in the backyard
• Go to the farmer’s market
• Family movie night
• Go to Lincoln’s New Salem
• Family game night
• Make root beer floats
• Go to the county fair
• Go to Sugar Creek Arts Festival
• Go to Sweet Corn Blues Festival
• Go bowling
• Catch fireflies
• Go to the McLean County Museum of History
• Go to Sugar Grove Nature Center
• Go to a Normal Cornbelters game

Tags: summer fun list, family time

celebrated Caleb’s 7th birthday…

watched Caleb perform in his first piano recital…

celebrated Camden graduating from preschool…

and, enjoyed Caleb’s last day of Kindergarten.

Tags: farmers market, piano recital, preschool graduation, Kindergarten

The kids packed their binoculars and a compass for our morning of exploring. We went into the nature center first and looked around at all the different exhibits and watched the birds at the bird feeders.

Then we went outside and headed to Imagination Grove, a special place designed for kids. We had to walk on a trail and over a covered bridge to get there.

The boys enjoyed hopping over the tree stumps.

Emma just stood on hers, she was too scared to hop over.

We found a hollowed out tree stump that the boys climbed in.

Their favorite part was the kids zip line. Caleb loved it and went several times.

Camden liked it too, but did get a little scared at the end.

After we were done at the nature center, we went up the road to buy some local maple syrup.

Tags: Sugar Grove Nature Center, Funk’s Grove, hiking, maple syrup

This year the costumes were a fireman (Caleb), Indiana Jones (Camden) and Tinkerbell (Emma).

We walked around our neighborhood for about an hour.

Caleb got cold and wanted to go home, so he started dancing on the sidewalk to keep warm.

Camden charged on to each house for more candy. He would have stayed out all night if people would have continued passing out candy.

Emma’s bucket was so heavy with candy she could barely carry it. But, we didn’t dare try taking it from her or she told us, “Don’t take my bucket”. She is a very independent girl.

After going through our neighborhood, we went to the grandparents for the kids to show off their costumes and get more candy. Then it was home to eat a few pieces of candy and off to bed for three exhausted children.

Tags: Halloween, trick or treating

Caleb and Camden were very excited about all of the candy that was thrown their way. We got so much we donated it to our church’s Harvest Fall Festival this weekend.

Emma was a good sport and hung out in her stroller the entire time. She had a great time waving at all the people and collecting her own bag of candy.

We were fortunate enough to run into a friend of the boys. Elijah and his family moved a couple of hours away 2 years ago and we don’t get to see them often enough. It was great for the kids to get to spend some time together.

Tags: ISU Homecoming Parade

The kids favorite part is the huge playground. They also love the cider barrel train rides.

If the weather hadn’t been so cold this year, they probably would have played longer. But, we were freezing and got inside quickly to get all of our goodies and enjoy an apple treat.

We, of course, got a 1/2 bushel of honeycrisp apples, a family favorite.

The weekend before, we went to Rader Family Farm.  It is a pumpkin farm that has expanded this year and they had some fun things for the kids to do.

We need to get back there soon to get our pumpkins for Halloween.

Tags: Tanner’s Orchard, family fun

At the beginning of the summer they opened the new Africa exhibit.

We packed some snacks, the boys grabbed their binoculars and off we went.

We saw some different animals that we had never seen before, the mandrill, the Angola colobus and the red river hog. We also saw more familiar animals, lions, zebras, rhinos, antelopes and giraffes.

There is a pathway/bridge that goes around the giraffe exhibit and leads to an observatory.

Once we got to the top of the observatory, we were looking down at the giraffes and had a great view of them. They were so close, it almost felt like we could reach out and touch them.

We also went through the Australia exhibit, where we saw a black swan. The boys liked seeing the wallaby and the emu.

We had a great time and are very fortunate to have great zoos within driving distance. We are already planning to go back and take daddy next time.

Tags: Peoria Zoo, Africa, summer fun list

It was only misting by the time dinner was done, so the boys all headed out to the back yard to do some fireworks.  Their favorites are the pop-its.  We then headed to our town’s fireworks show.

We ended up not going to the park since it had rained all day.  We parked behind an old grocery store and put the kids in the trunk of the minivan.  Caleb ended up getting out and walking around with Larry (who was taking pictures).  Camden still does not like the noise and hid out in his carseat once they started.

This was were Emma spent most of the time.  She was a scared by the noise, too.

Our fireworks show started late and so it was way past the kids bedtimes.  I don’t know how it was possible, but Emma almost fell asleep towards the end of the show.

Overall, we had a great day as a family despite the rain and cold.

Tags: 4th of July, fireworks

Our first stop was the tomb.

The boys were fascinated with all of the statues of Abraham Lincoln in the tomb. They were very good and understood the need to be quiet and respectful.

Going through the tomb did not take long and then we headed to the museum.

We went through the exhibits (photos not allowed) and saw one of the shows “Ghosts of the Library”.  We skipped the “Lincoln’s Eyes” show, since we figured shaking seats and loud noises would be too much for the kids.  After lunch we went to “Mrs. Lincoln’s Attic”, which was all for the kids.  They had a dress up area, a cabin kitchen, a dollhouse replica of Lincoln’s Springfield home and toys from that era.

The boys really liked the dollhouse and played there for quite awhile.  Caleb also enjoyed dressing up in the soldier costumes.

Emma played in the cabin kitchen, cleaning the floor and cooking in the fireplace.

We had a really great time on this day trip.

At the museum store, the boys picked out the Confederate and Union soldier sets to bring home. They have enjoyed reenacting The Civil War since then.

Tags: Abraham Lincoln Museum, family fun