West Coast visitors!

Well, Sam recovered from his amazing birthday weekend, just in time to get prepped for some fun visitors.  A trip to Walmart allowed him to spend some birthday money on a new shark!

Our friends the Desai-Gruenhagens were in town last week, and we really packed in the fun during their 5 days with us!  The first day we took it pretty easy, since their flight was so delayed they didn't make it to our house until 3am!  Friday night we had some friend over to visit.  Mini-ISU reunion!  

On Saturday, we walked by Legoland (scoping it out for a future trip!)

We also went to see the new Teen Titans Go movie, it was awesome!

And hit Portillo's for dinner!

Sunday morning, continuing with the gorging on special Chicago treats theme, I took the kids to Krispy Kreme Donuts!

On Sunday we also decided to actually go to Legoland for the morning, so much fun!

 Monday was our big "tourist" day; we headed into the city on the train!

 Saw the Flamingo sculpture while walking through downtown!

 First official stop was Buckingham fountain.

 We did a ton of walking, so we stopped by Lake Michigan to rest and enjoy the scenery!

We also tried out Maggie Daley park!

 And ended our big day at the Bean (aka Cloud Gate).  It was a great day in the city!

 So, after a fun time with our friends, we are back to usual summer activities, enjoying our last couple weeks until school starts up again.  Our garden has been great this year, yielding some big cucumbers!

Philie took the kids for the day on Friday, so I could help my mom out after surgery.  Seen here, she insanely took them all into Kohl's to go shoe shopping.  She is a saint!

 This weekend has been pretty relaxing, which is just what we needed.  Plenty of time for Legos and Nintendo Labo!

 Of course the HOTTEST day thus far was the day we had slated to go to Taste of Roselle.  Thank goodness they sell ice cream!

 Noah manned the karate booth for awhile and was especially hot in his uniform, but he survived!

So, off we go on to more summer fun!  Next up: the dunes and back to school prep!