GRIZZLY JACK'S GRAND BEAR RESORT

We took a little mini-vacation this past weekend and drove to Utica, Illinois to an indoor waterpark called Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort. We spent most of the weekend at the waterpark playing........

This pool that Jeff & Cameron are in turns into a wave pool about every 15 minutes. Cameron LOVED it when the waves were going. As soon as the waves ended he was waiting for them to start back up again.......

While Cameron was waiting for the waves there was plenty to keep him busy. We must have all gone down this slide a couple hundred times.....

The kids also liked this little pool and slide. The pool was only 1 foot deep and was really warm........which I liked while watching them play!

Rena and Maleah were big fans of the hot tub. I was more than happy to sit and relax with them except that it made the other pools extremely cold when they decided they were ready to go play again!

We stayed in one of the resorts "villas" which was not connected to the hotel. To get to the waterpark we could walk, drive or ride this little train from our unit. It only took Rena one ride on the train and she decided that she did not like it -- so we all walked most of the time, but Cameron, Maleah and I did ride it another time or two while Jeff and Rena walked.

We had a fun time even when we weren't at the waterpark -- here's the kids in our unit being silly.....

And, on Saturday we took a break from the waterpark and went to a couple different state parks that were nearby. Rena and Maleah slept through one park where Jeff & Cameron went on a little hike, but everyone was awake when we got to Starved Rock State Park. It was a nice day and a nice place for a hike. Jeff got Cameron this hiking stick at the park where the girls were asleep so he spent half of the hike at Starved Rock looking for sticks for the girls. They eventually each got their own sticks and were happy........(and they used them for about 5 minutes until they all gave me their sticks to carry!).

It was definitely a fun place for all of us to spend the weekend. By check-out time on Sunday everyone was tired and ready to go home -- but everyone was ready to start planning our next trip to the waterpark! :)

YUMMY

This last Saturday we drove out to Tanners Orchard in Speer, Illinois (about a half hour drive from us) to pick some apples. It was a beautiful day and we all had a lot of fun.

Everyone picked some apples -- except when our hands were full taste testing them......

And there was a fun play area at the farm for the kids.....

Just another fun day in Illinois! :)

CRAZY HAT DAY

Today was "crazy hat day" at Cameron's school. We didn't have anything really crazy to choose from, but here were Cameron's choices this morning:

He could be a pirate............

Or he could be on a safari.........

Or he could be a cowboy..........

Or he could just wear his plain ole' baseball cap backwards and call it crazy.....

.....which is exactly what he did!

CRAZY SOCK DAY

This was as crazy as Cameron wanted to go -- bright orange Halloween socks!

Check back again tomorrow........it's crazy hat day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STACY

Today my MUCH OLDER sister is celebrating her 38th birthday....and I'm not there! :(

This would be the first time I have not celebrated her birthday with her in person in 36 years. I haven't always celebrated with her right on the 13th, but I have always been with her a day or two later for a birthday celebration.

Since I'm not there with her I decided to take a stroll down memory lane -- here are some of Stacy's birthday celebrations that we have had in the past.....

2007

2003

2001

1991 - 21 years old!

1982 - 12 years old

1973 - just 3 years old. The coat was a birthday present from Grandma and Gaggie and the doll, Dressy Bessy, was a favorite!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STACY! HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT DAY!

WE HAVE A SOCCER PLAYER

Cameron had his first soccer practice/clinic last night. I was late finding a league for him to join so everything happened yesterday -- I registered him yesterday morning, went to the sporting goods store to buy supplies yesterday afternoon and made it to the first practice at 6:30 last night. Cameron was so excited about all of it and had a great time. Now he's looking forward to the next game and getting his own team jersey.

RENA IS A DANCER AGAIN

Before we ever left Washington I promised Rena that as soon as we got to our new home in Peoria we would sign her up for a dance class. Well, I made that promise before I knew that there weren't any summer dance classes that I could get her in to. So, now, after 3 months of waiting Rena is dancing again! She had her first class today and will have class once a week for one hour. During the hour she gets to do ballet, tap and tumbling and she LOVES it! On the way home today she was already talking about next weeks class!!

PRESCHOOL - DAY #2

Today was the big day -- the girls first full day in preschool. They both got up early and excited. They had their clothes picked out the night before and were ready to learn first thing this morning!

Things went pretty well -- until we got to the school.....

Rena - the one that I wasn't worried about - didn't want me to leave. She did some begging and some crying to get me to stay, but after a quick hug and kiss I was out the door and she was just fine. She ended up having a great morning and is ready to go back tomorrow.

Maleah, on the other hand, had no problem with me leaving. She gave both Cameron & I hugs and kisses, said good-bye and started playing. Unfortunately a few minutes after we left she realized that we had really left and that she was there by herself. The teacher said that she got very sad and didn't want to do anything.....including eat fruit snacks - which if Maleah doesn't want to eat fruit snacks something is definitely wrong! :) The teachers spent the rest of class walking around carrying Maleah. She wasn't crying, she just didn't want to do anything or be left alone. She doesn't have class tomorrow, but hopefully Monday will be a better day for her!

RENA & MALEAH'S FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

Today was Rena and Maleah's first day of school at Redeemer Lutheran Preschool......sort of. It was actually an orientation day where the parents and students went together, met the teachers and checked-out the classrooms. Both of the girls were very excited this morning -- Rena got up at 5:30am and came downstairs with her new purple dress in-hand to get ready for school.

Rena was really sad when it was time to leave today and is already excited to go back tomorrow. Maleah had a great time today, but kept telling me that she was glad I was there with her -- hopefully she'll have a great time tomorrow also, but without me!

Maleah's backpack is bigger than she is!

OUR LONG WEEKEND

We had a good weekend this last weekend with a little bit of fun and a little bit of work (luckily more fun than work - for all of us except Jeff)!

Here's some of the fun:

We turned the slide in the backyard into a water slide.....

We set-up the little sprinkler to help us stay cool.....

We made some mud soup with the neighbor, Joey.....

And we took a little bit of time to rest.....

And water the plants while resting.....

Now for the work part of the weekend:

Underneath our deck in the backyard we have one big weed/mud/throw anything storage area. Jeff completed step #1 of the clean-up this weekend. He dug out, cemented and laid bricks to create a border around the grass. It was a lot of work, but turned out great and got us ready for the next couple of steps -- cleaning, leveling and spreading rock.

Here's a section of completed step #1.....