Summertime!

Well, it's been quite a break from blogging.  I know that our family is busy during the school year, but I never realize just how busy until summer rolls along and all of a sudden I have time for all these other things like catching up on Mad Men, making a meal that doesn't involve chicken nuggets, and blogging!

Last week was our first week of summer vacation, and we did it up right!  This summer Gavin is attending summer camp two days a week with his best bud Olivia, and so far it seems like he is having a blast (it's hard to get a good read on an almost 4 year old...I'm taking the fact that he willingly goes to camp every time and leaves camp looking happy to mean that he likes it!). 

With Gavin at camp, that leaves Declan and I with some one-on-one time.  Declan and I are signed up gymnastics and swimming lessons.  Swimming didn't go very well for the first 10 minutes or so (he screamed bloody murder) but Dec finally got the hang of it and didn't want to get out of the water by the end of the lesson!  Hopefully he remembers next week that he really does like the water...

Gymnastics went pretty well.  Declan loved the ball pits, and is already trying to jump in.  But he doesn't know how to jump yet, so he pretty much takes a big step into the pit.  He wasn't crazy about circle time because it took precious seconds away from playing in the ball pit, but he tolerated it.  Dec really didn't like it though when it came to practicing "skills" (in the 18-24 month class, the "skill" this week was rolling back and forth on a log to get ready to try somersaults).

In between all the camps and classes, we found the time to get out and enjoy summer as a group of 3 as well (poor Daddy has to work!).  Last week we went to the children's museum, and it's the first time we've been there since Declan learned to walk on his own.  Dec loved it and Gavin pretty much played on his own.  Gavin is becoming more and more independent these days, and it's both exciting and a little bittersweet.

We've also spent plenty of time outside.  We play a lot in our front and backyard, whether it's splashing around in the water table or hitting tennis balls hit into the air and running after them (basically glorified catch, but the kids love it).  Both Gav and Dec love going in the wagon to the park, feeding the ducks and fish at the pond, and walking down to the library.  And Declan's favorite outdoor activity by far is "watching cars."  This means that Declan wants you to walk up and down the busy road on the edge of our neighborhood while he rides in the wagon and watches the cars go by.  He does not tire of this activity, so I get a good 2-3 miles in each time we go out!

At the end of last week we went to Libertyville Days for the kids party.  Dec and Gav got to play free games and win prizes, as well as eat their fill of donuts and suckers, all while playing with their buddies on the playground and having a picnic with friends!

Earlier this week we went to the Treehouse at Gavin's request and had a great time.  Declan loved exploring this place in more detail now that he's an avid walker and climber, but he still needs my help on most things.  Which means I got to ride down the giant slides quite a few times!

We also took another walk to the library to sign up for the summer reading program.  Gavin was really excited about signing up this summer, and spent a good 20 minutes reading by himself under the big fake tree inside the library.  Gavin has really gotten into reading on his own lately, mainly because he doesn't want to take a nap so instead he has quiet time where he sits quietly in his room and reads to himself.  He usually ends up falling asleep anyways, but either way its a win for me.

Here's some pics from our adventures so far!

Dec having a blast at the children's museum.

 Ta-da!  Gavin loves performing.  Today he would come out from behind the curtain and tell a knock-knock joke.  Gavin's idea of a knock-knock joke is to start with "why does" and then he just lists off a bunch of things he is thinking about, then he says "because" and again just rambles away.  Then he laughs and you know the "joke" is over :)

 Mmm, beans.

 Gav loves fishing in the pretend pond.

 Dec loves trucks and fire trucks are no exception.

 Not sure when fire trucks included a 90's land line phone, but it's a hit with the kiddos!

 Gavin told me that these were his robot arms.

 Gavin was very excited about his first day of camp (and his first time using a backpack!)

 Backyard fun!

 After months of only going down slides head first, Declan has finally figured out the more orthodox way to do it.

 Dec not only loves to watch cars, he also loves riding in cars, playing with cars, watching the movie Cars....

 Declan exploring a tunnel at the Treehouse.

 I love this pic of Gav coming down the twisty tube slide at the Treehouse.

Happy 3rd Birthday Gavin!

It's hard to believe it, but our first born is 3 years old!  Gavin turned 3 a few weeks ago, and had quite the birthday bash to celebrate.  We rented a bouncy house and all of Gav's toddler friends came over to help him jump and play!  Even the adults got in on the bouncing action!

But before Gav's party, he opened his present from Mommy and Daddy and had a whole day of birthday fun (Gav's birthday was my last day of summer break, so I took Declan to Miss Jeanne's so that Gavin could have a day of Mommy all to himself.  We will do the same thing for Declan on his birthdays.)

Below are a LOT of pics from Gavin's birthday fun!

Gav's birthday present from Mommy and Daddy: Tornado Golf.  A stream of air lifts the special golf balls in the air, giving Gavin a much better chance of lofting the balls into the air.  Here's a great action shot of Gav making contact.  He played with this toy for a good hour and a half in the morning, and took the golf balls with him everywhere we went for the next week.  Now he's over it of course :)  But Declan loves it (he crawls over and presses the button that lofts the balls, and then swats at the floating balls.

 Gavin and Mommy's day of birthday fun began at Panera for birthday lunch, which was followed by a trip to a new place: Make a Messterpiece.  Basically, its a big art studio for kids with lots of different art activities to do, some open ended, some more structured.  Here Gav is trying to glue foam pieces onto the paper.

 Painting.

 Embracing the artistic process.

 This was definitely the coolest activity in my opinion.  Toddlers get decked out in raincoats, pants, boots and goggles.  Then they select two drumsticks and go inside a glass room filled with instruments that are covered in paint.  So as Gav bangs on the drum, paint goes flying everywhere!  Gavin was totally against it at first (only because of all the clothes he had to wear) but he ended up going in two separate times and loved it!

 Action shot.

 My attempt to get a good pic of the crazy outfit.  Gav just wanted to get back to making a mess.

 The glass was practically sound proof, so Gavin would drum on the door when he wanted me to let him out.

 Super excited about the tin foil "alien" that Mommy helped him make.

 Gavin's Shrek birthday cake.  Gavin is still obsessed with the Shrek and Donkey cake toppers, so obsessed that we had to make a bed for them to sleep in so that Gav would stop taking them to bed and then losing them in the sheets at 3 am (meaning a 3am rescue mission by Mommy or Daddy)

 Enjoying some pre-bouncing eats.

 Mommy and Gavin give the bouncy house a test run.

 Gav and his buddy Eli growling at the parents like bears.

 I have no idea why Gav was making this face while we sang Happy Birthday to him.

 A great pic of a smiling Gav and most of his toddler friends.

 Grandpa Gillespie bounces with Gavin.

 Such a cute pic, even if the netting makes it hard to see clearly.

 Deckers and Grandma chilling on the grass.

 With a bouncy house in the backyard, it was hard to convince Gav to open his presents, but he loved them once he finally got into it!

 One tuckered out birthday boy!

 Kids are asleep, time for the "adults" to have some fun!

 The company we rented the bounce house from didn't pick it up until 1030 the next morning, so we got in some early morning bouncing before then!  Here's Grandma Gillespie and Gavin bouncing (Gav was asking Grandma to bounce for the past 24 hours, so she finally gave in!)

Sir Gavin and Sir Declan

So, we're obviously behind on our blogging.  The beginning of the school year combined with a packed social calendar means that we're back to a busy but fun schedule!

Gav's birthday was a few weeks ago (and that blog is next on the list of to-dos), and one of the presents he received was a pretty awesome cardboard castle from Aunt Shari and Uncle Andy.  Here's some pics of Gavin and Declan checking out their new royal digs:

Sir Gavin and his royal subject Blankie ruling over the kingdom.

 Sir Declan approaches the castle gate

 Dec about to sneak in while the guard is taking a nap...

 ...oh, so close!

 Aerial view of the knights

 Declan keeps a close eye on those outside the castle

 Lovin living like a royal!

 Castle window or drive thru?

Summer Break - Santa's Village

Another blog entry devoted to a single excursion, this time its Santa's Village.  Santa's Village is, in their words, an Azoosement park.  Basically, its an amusement parks geared towards little kids, with rides similar to those you see at a carnival or county fair.  There are some more intricate rides as well, but its mainly cars/planes/boats/animals that go around in a circle and sometimes up and down, cars on a track, trains on a track, a roller coaster, a carousel, pony rides, you get the idea.  There are also animal exhibits throughout the park, including a petting zoo.  And of course, there is Santa's "summer" house, where you can visit Santa in the off season.

My parents took me here when I was little (although I think its changed quite a bit since I was a kid), so I wanted to take Gav and Dec here to check it out.  I'm glad we did because the boys had a great time and we will definitely go back.  I firmly believe in the correlation between the length of Gavin's nap and the amount of fun he had, and he took a 4 hr nap after visiting Santa's Village, so I would say it was a definite success!

Here are our pics from Santa's Village:

Our second ride of the day, the speedboats.  All four of us (me, Dec, Gav and Grandpa) rode on the carousel first, but I didn't get any pics of that.  Dec loved the carousel, even though we had to stick to the lame benches :)

 Grandpa and Declan enjoying the day.

 Self pic of Gav and I waiting for the hot air balloon ride to start.  Gavin loved this ride, which goes up pretty high, and swings around pretty fast.  Mommy and her dislike of spinny rides did not like this ride so much.  I spent the entire time looking at the floor of the basket praying that I would not be the mom that lost her cookies on a kiddie ride!

 Gav and Grandpa riding the monster truck train ride (and that devil balloon ride in the background!)

 Any ride that involves pretend driving is a hit with the Gavster.

 Self pic of Gav and I on the plane ride.

 Dec enjoying some time in the shade while we took a break for lunch.  

 Gavin driving the car with Grandpa working the gas.

 This was always one of my favorites as a kid...

 ...and its clearly a Gavin favorite as well.  Look at those smiles from both of the boys!

 I've taught Gavin not to pet animals near their heads, but apparently I should have also told him that butts are off limits too!

 Hard to capture in a still pic, but Gavin was doing a "goat happy dance" as he called it.

 I remember this from when I was a kid as well.  Its just a 2 story slide, but it is always a big hit with the kids.  The minute Gavin caught sight of this he leaped out of the stroller and said "I go on this" and didn't wait for approval before climbing up the stairs.

 Loving it!  I didn't keep count, but I'd say Gav went down this slide 12+ times.

 Gav gets a very serious look on his face when he is on any type of driving ride.  Its good to see he is such a focused driver.

 We ended our day with a trip to Santa's house.  Gavin listened very carefully to Santa, and told him "Ho Ho Ho!"