End of summer!

Yep, here we are at the end of summer.  It was a different summer, but a good one nonetheless.  We had some sketchy weather recently and headed to the basement to take cover in our helmets.  Fortunately for us, it was not as bad here as it was for some.

We did another exploration of an outdoor spot, this time in Naperville.  It was a great day, Sam and Isaac loved walking in the DuPage River and hunting for shells, rocks and sticks!

Weekend late night resulted in a 3 man nap, if you look close in the big leather chair you'll see Isaac!

We helped the Worsts celebrate their last hurrah of summer with some donuts in the front yard!

Our garden experienced some mixed results this year.  Our carrots were too crowded, so they came out a tad smaller in size, but still good!

Cat snuggles!

Squirrel patrol is serious work!

Bamma came with a project while I headed to the dentist.  They made a cat bed!

Isaac prepped for school with a haircut - yes the rest of it came off too, this was mid-cut!

Traditional trip to Oberweis to end out the summer!

Today, we celebrated Francesca's 15th birthday!

Addie is a force to be reckoned with!

Chonky cat, aka Molly, has become quite the beggar.  She is most displeased when Mike teases her!

 So, now we head in to the unknown of the 2020-2021 school year.  The boys begin (remotely) tomorrow and I head back (in-person) on Tuesday.  Good luck to everyone for a healthy, safe, and productive school year!

Sam's birthday and more home based adventures

We have been trying to enjoy each moment of summer, while not getting too anxious about the unknowns of the upcoming school year.  Our baking projects have continued with mixed results.   Isaac seems to have the most ambitious plans and tried out a strawberry shortcake with Bamma.  It did not present all that beautifully, but it was tasty! 

Isaac is also the creator of a new game titled "Social distanced tag" which he invented on a recent park trip with the Worsts.

It basically involves pointing to someone from six feet away and hollering, "TAG!"

Our big recent highlight was Sam's 10th Birthday!  Due to safety, there was no large gathering; rather this lucky dude had a whole week of birthday fun!  He had a visitor or a special outing just about every day that week!  On his actual birthday, he enjoyed his big gift - a Pokemon Switch game and a pokeball plus!

Bamma took him and his brothers to play some mini golf!

We should all aspire to be like Sam, enjoying his life wearing monster slippers and eating donuts!Cannot believe he is 10!  What a cool kid!

The celebration continued with a trip to Papa's to swim and hang out with cousins.  It was a great day!

We wrapped up his special week with his cake - Toothless from "How to train your dragon!"

Josh and Kjersten came over to join us.  The wind was a bit much for a candle blowing outside, so we stepped inside while everyone sang thru the windows.  Definite a unique celebration to remember!

Isaac and his unique tastes!  He saw a video that mentioned the asian flavoring of "ube" which is like a purple sweet potato.  We haven't really been able to find a suitable recipe or the flavor itself.  BUT, thankfully Cinnaholic is featuring an Ube flavored cinnamon roll!  He loved it!

We found a local hidden waterfall area in Elgin, it was a great day to take a walk and enjoy the outdoors.

The cats continue to rule the castle.  We got them a little box house to put by the big picture window.  It has become a favorite spot for Molly.

Kjersten moved into her new place and we found the backyard to be a perfect layout for a slip n slide!

Sam has upped his perler bead game and has gone 3D!

We took a trip to the local spring valley nature area and found a new trail - Isaac was our navigator!

Philie came over for an early morning coffee date, sometimes it's just good to SEE a familiar face in person!  And then we got to cackle together about our ability to yard bomb a friend 2,000 miles away (you'll see).

Isaac and his big kitchen goals, this week it was a lemon meringue pie - we did it!

And, to present our yard bomb, Happy 40th to our dear friend Erin in California!  We managed to find a yard decorating company from a far and they went and set it up for her special day as a surprise.  So much fun!

So, for now we at least know we have 2 weeks of summer left to enjoy.  As to the school year, we will see what happens when it comes!