A Day at the Ballpark

We met some friends and their kids for a minor league baseball game today.  It was really hot, but we were in the shade, so it wasn't too bad.

 Ready for the game to begin.

 We all got a hot dog and drink with our tickets.

 After the game, the kids can run the bases.  Here, they are waiting for it to start.

 Passing home.


 It was really hot by the end, and we were all tired.  Here's what happens when you try to get four tired children to stand together for a quick picture.

 Dorothy stood by the wall first, and we told the others to stand next to her.  I love how she is separated from the group.

 One kid is now missing altogether.

 Malcolm has been coaxed back, but still not facing forward, while the others all smile.

 Malcolm slowly starts to turn around, but we are starting to loose the littlest one.

 Malcolm is warming up, but the little one is doing her own thing, and Dorothy is watching her.

Close enough.  Next time, we should try this before the game instead of on the way out of the stadium.

It was fun, but long.  It's nice that it isn't too crowded, so the kids could get up and move around a fair bit without disturbing others.  We aren't big baseball fans, but a once a year minor league game is just about our speed.

First Day of Second Grade

Malcolm started second grade today.  He was a little nervous, but mostly excited, and I think he is going to have a fantastic year.

 He was eager to get going this morning and even was willing to stand for a couple of quick photos.

 Unfortunately, he had his eyes closed in both of the full body shots I took.  At least I got one good close up.

 Dorothy wanted to be in some pictures too, and I think it is obvious how Malcolm felt about that.

 His class, walking out for the bell ringing ceremony.  I love that he still gets excited to see me and isn't embarrassed to wave to make sure I see him.

 His classmate's little brother was picked as one of the kindergarteners to help ring the bell.

 Ringing the bell to start the new school year.

On the walk home, Dorothy literally stopped to smell the roses.

She still has about three weeks until she goes back to school and it is going to be a long three weeks.  As we were headed out the door today she asked what she was going to do today and when she would go back to school.  I better figure out some activities for the two of us to fill the time.

Legoland!

School starts for Malcolm tomorrow, and we decided to do one more fun thing before he heads back.  I took the kids to Legoland in the morning before meeting Kevin for our regular Tuesday lunch.  Luckily, Legoland is pretty close to where we needed to be and it was good choice since today ended up being cold and rainy.  We got there shortly after it opened, and it was great for a while, then several field trips showed up and it got really crowded, and I got a bit cranky.  I'm glad we went, but was also glad to leave when we did.

 This was actually taken on our way out.

 This was also on the way out, but the doorman is there to greet you on your way in.  He struck the pose without me asking.

 The first thing we did was to walk through their "mini-land," and the first section was Chicago.  It was night when we went in, and the buildings were all lit up.  By the time I got my camera out, it was dawn.

 More of Chicago.  There was lots of animation, like kids on see-saws and construction workers moving.

 Malcolm spotted Navy Pier and the tall ship and was excited since we had been there a couple of years ago.

 With Indiana Jones, the first of many characters my kids didn't know, but stood next to anyway.  One of my biggest complaints about Lego is how their choices of licensed lines doesn't match up with the ages of their demographic.

 I asked both kids to stand next to R2D2 which they did willingly.

 Dorothy wanted no part of Darth Vader.  I asked Malcolm if he would please stand next to him and he looked the statue up and down, then asked in a worried tone, "Is he going to move?"  I went and patted Vader on the shoulder and assured him that he wasn't real and couldn't move.  Just to be safe, Malcolm still wouldn't stand too close, and you can see he's keeping an eye on him just in case.

 I convinced him to look at me, but he still looks pretty worried.  As soon as I said I had it, he literally ran to put some more distance between them.

 There were several scenes from the movies, and many had little buttons you could push that would do things.  Here, Dorothy made the Millennium Falcon take off and land.

 He had no idea who Harry Potter and Hagrid were, but he humored me and stood with them anyway.  I promised that we would start reading the books fairly soon (our list of books to read is getting really long).

 Dorothy didn't like the size of Hagrid, but liked this generic brick guy.

 She was very enthusiastic about Santa and the snowman and asked me to take this one.

 They didn't just pose with giant sculptures, but it was difficult to impossible to get pictures of many of the other activities.  Here, Malcolm is building a car to race on a track.

 Dorothy, working on her car.

He was big enough to do this ride by himself, but I had to go on with Dorothy.  Malcolm rode it three or four times and Dorothy did it twice.

It was pretty fun, but I was glad it was small enough that we were done by lunch time.

Three Oaks Recreation Area

I have heard good things about Three Oaks Recreation Area for a long time now, but we had still never been.  Kevin and I decided that we should try to squeeze in one or two more summer fun days before Malcolm starts school, and we decided to finally check it out. 

 

This is where we spent most of our time; at "the beach."  The kids loved that there were no waves like when we go to the ocean, and I liked that there were ropes marking how deep it was.  The area closest to the shore is only 3 feet deep, so they had plenty of room to roam and swim and I wasn't too worried that they would get in over their heads.  On the far left, you can just barely see the playground and splash pad area.  The building contains the locker rooms, offices, and a Culver's where we had lunch.

 In the water!  They had the best time moving buckets of water around.

 Malcolm thought it was neat how the water would push the sand out of the way and make little channels to run back down.

 Malcolm would send Dorothy to fetch water for him and she always went in really far to get it instead of just scooping it up near the shore.

 Many sandcastles were built (and destroyed).

 Kevin got in on the sandcastle building too.

 Malcolm, sculpting his castle.  He prefers the dribble method to packing the sand in to a pail to shape it.

 Running!

 They checked out the playground and splash pad for a little while, but vastly preferred the beach area.

 Dorothy had to  get a good swing in though.  She loves swinging.

 After lunch, we took a little walk around to see what else the recreation area offers.  There are a couple of little hiking trails, picnic areas, and boat rentals.  We are thinking about coming back to canoe sometime.

 This is what happens when I say, "Look at me."

 Here, I asked them to please pick a rock to sit on together.

 At least I got a good picture of them individually.

I'll try for one of them together sometime when they are less worn out.

It was a very fun day and Dorothy was simply exhausted.  Kevin said she didn't move at all when he laid her down when we got home.

Party in the Park

Dorothy's twirling class performed at a community "Party in the Park" event, put on by the park district where her lessons are run through.  She did another solo and did a great job.  It's pretty long, but here it is.  Since I was taking a video, I didn't get any still pictures of her performance.

 It was hot sitting in the sun to watch the other girls perform and both kids ended up sitting to the side of the stage in the shade.  Probably a very smart choice.

 After the show, all the girls went back up on stage for a final bow and pictures.  Dorothy was not amused.


 Once her group was all done performing, we bought the kids a few tickets and let them choose which carnival activities they wanted to do.  They both wanted face painting as their first thing. 

 It was a really long wait, but they finally got their turns.

 Malcolm, the vampire.

 Dorothy is a unicorn.  I didn't get a good picture of just her, but her paint is in the next several pictures.  Kevin and I each took a kid to what they wanted to do.  Malcolm loved the games, and Dorothy was all about the animals.

I should note that I tried to bring her a change of clothes for after her performance, but she refused.  I did bring her swimming cover-up, but she refused to wear it because she wanted to show off her costume to everyone.

 We went over to do the pony rides, but right as we got there, the ponies went on a break, so she chose the petting zoo instead.  I wasn't sure I would ever get her out of there.  She loved this donkey and fed him lots of grass.

 Llama, llama.

 She was pulling up handfuls of grass to feed the animals.

 There were several times that she was completely surrounded by sheep.  As I was watching her and taking some pictures, a sheep nuzzled up against my leg, which I thought was sweet, until he peed on my shoe.  I asked the nice ladies at the main tent if there was a hose anywhere and when I told them why, they took pity on me and gave me a bottle of water so I could at least rinse off my foot and shoe.  Luckily I was wearing sandals that can get wet/be washed.

 This poor little calf was so sleepy.

 Once we were done at the petting zoo, the ponies were running again, and I had a very happy little girl.

 What?  Don't you always ride a pony in a sequined leotard with your face painted like a unicorn?  Somehow, this is the epitome of being a four year old girl.

 There were some folks there with some really cool birds of prey, but she could not have cared less because she couldn't feed or pet them.  Here she is with a great horned owl.

She's looking at a little screech owl, and just behind her pig-tail is a Kestrel falcon.

They both had a great time at the Party in the Park, and she said it was fun twirling on a stage.  Her teacher has invited her to join the team for the upcoming year.  We haven't decided yet, but Dorothy says she wants to try it.  I don't want her to do too much too fast, but I'm happy she is having fun with it so far.