Memorial Day in Chicago

Our first trip of the summer was over Memorial Day weekend. I took the kids to Chicago with my mom while Kevin stayed home to dig French drains in the yard. (More on that later.) Of course the trip was about swimming, and included Timothy O'Tooles. Here are just a few pictures! I don't think the order is correct, but I don't care.

Watching the crane working on the building next door.

The Hancock Building in the background. To the right (east) is the lake and Navy Pier.

The kids were big on Greek gods this trip. Here is Colin's trident. We also had a Sea Of Monsters in the pool.

My kids became caterpillars when they got out of the water.

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Riding the bus. The kids like to sit in the middle where the front and back connect and the seats swivel.

Waiting to take the Metra to visit the Nordgaardens. They live about a mile away from a stop, so we can get to them without a car!

Colin found a new place to sit.

Back to the drains. I get a call Monday night that Kevin hurt his back digging and we need to get home ASAP. So I took some pictures of the work he had done on his own. (He has gotten more work finished since then.)

Thankfully Pappy came over to move the rocks that were in the street into the driveway. We still have a much smaller pile left in the driveway.

BONUS PICTURE: Did I share this yet? It is from out Chicago trip over Spring Break. We thought it was a total normal picture when it was taken. It is hanging up in our house now.

Trout Lodge 2016 (Part 2)

The following morning Gwyn wanted to ride a horse (again). She was nervous and didn't want her picture taken. In her words "Technically I just wanted daddy to be by me." But she was very glad to have earned the hat!

A girl with her hat and her daddy.

Colin stomped off on his own since he was upset that there were wasps at the ranch. Luckily he knew the camp well enough to get back to the room, but he correctly headed to the arts and crafts area. There the kids picked up their painted ceramics. They got to paint two items. One for fun, and the other was earned when they climbed the wall and zip lined! (Bribery works.)

Then more swimming and activities in this gorgeous lake. At some point during the trip we went on the Boat Float, where we go for a boat ride and are served root beer floats. It was so hot out that all of us finished our floats before the boat left dock. Mine was finished before we stepped onto the boat. It was a hot ride.

Colin and I painted the CM 5000 robot (He didn't want a picture of it.) and Gwyn and Kevin painted mugs. They love these mugs. The other painted objects were four wheelers for Gwyn and Colin and a humvee for Kevin. It was fun to watch them paint. Kevin, my mom and I all got to help out a bit. (There is a small vase from one of our previous trips that Gwyn and I painted, and I keep it in the kitchen. Occasionally Gwyn will put flowers in it.)

The last full day started off with riflery. Kevin took the kids (Gwyn didn't sign up so she didn't shoot.) I don't remember what I did. I am pretty sure it was sleeping, though.

The boys were very excited to bring home and how me their targets. There is one in the bottom corner of this picture. They had fun, but I don't know if they will do it again.

Daddy got in a few shots when Colin called it quits a few shots early.

More swimming. And canoeing, kayaking and floating. It being the last afternoon at Trout Lodge, Kevin was trying everything he could out in the lake. We even went out on inner tubes to just float. (But you have to stay pretty close to the boat house, and can't go out in the middle. Gwyn even tried it as well! Neither kid liked it and as soon as I got us past the docks, I had to pull us back in. Colin was less interested in going out, and spent the majority of the time playing in the sand and with other kids. But THIS PICTURE is from after Pirate Pontoon. Pirate Pontoon is where there are two boats that go out onto the lake and circle each other. The people have water guns and just basically try to soak each other. We were hoping to get half of us on one boat and the other half on the other, but the other family was taken to one boat, and we were taken to the other. And we rocked it. The other family was quiet and friendly at first, but my family was totally into it. We were yelling and screaming like pirates, saying "Yar!" and "You're going down!" Thankfully the other boat got into it as well, and started yelling back. (Kevin's pirate for some reason sounded Irish.) Gwyn came up with an idea of putting all the guns together to make a canon, and another time Colin told the kids to hide behind the seats and jump up to attack. It ended up being a great memory and one of the most fun events of the trip.

That night was Medic Ball. It is basically dodge ball but there is a medic that can get people back in the game. (You need to hit the medic.) We played last time and loved it. When we got to the (unairconditioned) gym, we were 5 of the 8 guests who showed up. I kind of felt bad since the counselors could have left if we didn't show, but we were in for about 40 minutes of play. And it was HOT. I will say that Gwyn was a great medic, as was Colin. And there were a few games where the boys or Kevin (3) were the last ones out. My husband hit the same counselor twice in a row really hard, the first time in a spot that took him down and caused a break in play, then came back to hit him in the face. I laughed so hard when one of the counselors was made fun of for being hit with the "slowest-moving ball ever," which was a ball I threw.  We took a picture when we returned to the room as a memory of the hottest game we have played together, and we tried to look miserable to show it.

The next morning (Tuesday) we drove home. Here are the plates that we saw along the way!

Trout Lodge 2016 (Part 1)

This past weekend we all returned to Trout Lodge. This is the 3rd time we have been there. (Here are here are the posts about our first time visiting.) We drove up Friday afternoon and returned Tuesday morning. It was one of the best trips of my life! The kids had fun, and they all tried new things. Here is my best retelling with MANY pictures.

The camp fire was our first night. The councilors encourage you to get up and sing and dance to all the songs. Colin was not very interested that night, but he sang the songs the rest of the time there!

He was very pleased with the s'mores that ended the camp fire.

Sleeping arrangements the first night. My mom (Downtown Grandma) slept in the loft where we took the picture. Neither Kevin nor I got a good night's sleep since we rolled into each other.

We tried to do something new each day, as well as swimming. Archery was Saturday morning. Everyone tried it. Colin did not like it, and didn't want his picture taken. Here is the leftie Kevin. He was debating whether or not he was left-handed or right-handed. He should write left-handed, and does every thing else left-handed.

We talked Gwyneth into this by telling her she was going to do the same thing as Merida.

After archery we spent the rest of the morning and the afternoon on the lake. Kevin spent so much time in the kayaks and funyaks. (Kayaks went out onto the lake. This is the smaller funyak.) He wanted to go out on the lake on innertubes (he didn't like), canoes (he liked), and kayaks (he loved) over and over again. Colin tried this smaller one, which was only on the smaller, blocked-off area next to where we swim. It probably got to about 15 feet deep, and started at the beach. He went out once, yelled and screamed, and never tried again.

Saturday night was the luau. There were different activities and slushies.

Gwyn played catch with a water balloon. They got out the first round.

The evening ended with some epic games of tetherball, which of course turned into American Ninja Warriors for Colin.

Sleeping arrangements night #2. Again, not good nights of sleep. Apparently, Colin elbows people in his sleep, and Gwyn flipped somehow and ended up with her feet in my armpit. She kicked me hard enough to wake me up 3 times.

Sunday morning was zip lining and wall climbing. Kevin was excited to try both things. This is his face when he sees what zip lining looks like.

The hardest part was that we had to climb this pole to get up to the zip lining. Kevin just looked up and kept going. (This part scared me the most.) But once at the top he freaked out and said he wasn't doing it. The amazing councilor calmed Kevin down and told him that he either had to climb down or zip down, and climbing was way more terrifying. So he zipped!

He did it. Although he didn't smile for a few hours.

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Daddy checking the harnesses.

Next up - wall climbing. He was much more relaxed for this one.

Kevin struggled with the little hand grips. I did as well.

Before

During climbing. Colin got a bit higher than this and wanted to stop.

Gwyn before.

And during. She said she would only climb if I climbed next to her. She really didn't get much higher than this, but she tried it!

And then daddy made it to the top in about 20 seconds.

Back to the lake! The water slide was open for a bit and Gwyn loved it. Neither boy liked it. Kevin wouldn't even try since the water was not clear.

Gwyn went down the slide every time it was open until we left.

Then she went out in a canoe. A lot of the time was spent splashing each other with lake water using the oars.

When it got super hot we headed to the arts and crafts center to paint ceramics.

After dinner we played games. Catan was played. I won.

Night #3 sleeping arrangement.

I will finish more later!