Monday, June 26, 2017

Last week on Brandywine Drive!

We are wrapping up our time on Brandywine Drive!  Soon, we'll be moving to our new house in Schaumburg.  But, for now, we have enjoyed some fun summer days here.  We arranged a Weingart-Rodriguez swap where Hugo ended up with us and Noah was shipped off for an afternoon with Ari.  It was a fun day on both sides!

 Noah and Sam have experienced the highs and lows of more time together.  Recently, it was "take a friend to karate" week and Noah opted to take his brother.
 Sam was glued to him for the entire day, very thankful for the chance to be with his big bro!
 We took a zoo trip with Bamma and got to see the snow leopard close up!
 The gorillas didn't disappoint either.
 We did a group trip out to Tom's Farm out in Huntley to do some strawberry picking!

 Perfect berry picking conditions, it was our first time and so fun!



 A good yield!


 We enjoyed some strawberry treats and Isaac and Hattie posed for some hilarious pictures!

 We did some family tie dye action and the shirts turned out pretty awesome this time around!
 Sam went off to a solo sleepover at Bamma and Bampa's and Noah and I dashed to get in our run before the storms rolled in, Isaac was a "super" cheerleader (I say this with sarcasm, he lounged the whole way in his stroller).
 Sam enjoyed some alone time with his grandparents.  He got a new beanbag chair for the new house.
 He got to take a huge bubble bath all by himself!
 And he went out for a special sushi dinner with Bamma and Bampa!
 Meanwhile, back at our house, we watched them repave the street.
Once Sam returned, we did some coke/mentos explosions.

We upped the ante this year and did it directly in our mouths!

 Everyone enjoyed Sam's new rocker chair and beanbag chair!
 He also got a new dustbuster to help with his chores!
 We spent another fun morning strolling around Schaumburg and getting some donuts!
 Sam has fearless pattern mixing!
 Mostly, we are just enjoying some calm days spending time together!

 New lunch spot of Doctor Dogs is met with thumbs up approval!
So, now we prep to head up to the lake and the 4th of July with family!

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Hitting summer 2017 hard!

The summer is off to a great start!  I FINALLY finished my school year, just in time for this hot hot weather!  We hit the park with my 4 boys!
We also had some late nights partying it up and enjoying the summer schedule.  We had a blast over at the Townsends, enjoying the hammock, the water balloons, and the trampoline!
The boys presented Mike with an early Father's Day gift (thanks to Bamma!).  The candy cake has been slowly demolished over this last week.

The boys did enjoy their last Tuesday of the 16-17 school year with Bamma and Bampa!
Sam has been happy to have more free time to get creative with boxes and spend time on the iPad!
Noah and I started our official Mother Son Run Club!  Our goal is to run 3 times per week with the longest run on Sunday.  This Sunday we knocked out 2 miles, not too bad considering it's been in the nineties all week!
We escaped the heat by heading to Papa's pool!  Love Rodriguez fam time! And unrestricted treats from Papa!
It's so great to have all the cousins swimming around together!
 My niece, Anya, is a tough cookie but I did manage to get one smile :)

Pretty sure who the darkest Rodriguez of the bunch is...



On our run today, Noah and I came across this rather larger turtle making his way to the nearby lake...
 And our first full week of break always has to come with a 10 am trip to Oberweis for ice cream and fountains!

So, we are off and running for this epic summer of 2017!  Can't wait for adventures to Michigan, California, and moving!!!