Summer Fun!

Is it wrong to start off our blog with a complaint?  Maybe, but I am going to have to anyway.  :)   When you have two kids who are so stinking cute and get to have so many amazing experiences you HAVE to take so many pictures, which is totally fun, until it is time to review them all and pick your favorites.  To prepare for this blog I reviewed 2200 pictures.  Yep.  2200.  Oh my gosh that is a big job.  And then try to pick the best hundred or so?  Nearly impossible, but finally it is done.   I hope I have been able to collect a great sample of all of the fun we had this summer.
As in previous years we spent a good portion of the summer in Clarendon Hills/Klinger Lake.  This year Madison (the cat) and Rudy (the dog) also joined us, which added a little extra excitement, aka, stress to the summer travels.  Madison enjoyed hiding as far under the bed each at the end of each weekend when it was time to leave Klinger and Rudy lost her collar/name tag and had some altercations with the neighbor dog.  But all in all, the two of them enjoyed their summer travels.

Rory was very slow to warm up to the Klinger Lake fun this year, refusing to go into the water for the first few weeks, but once she got used to it she loved it!  It is so cute seeing her little body floating (in a life jacket) in the lake.  I would guess though, if you asked her what her favorite part of being at the lake was she might just say watching movies and eating popcorn.
Alex loved every second of being at the lake.  That doesn't surprise anyone right?  She loved collecting bugs, turtles, frogs, toads, vegetables from the garden, playing in the water, basically anything outside.  Alex made a very strong attempt at water skiing again this year and almost made it up.  I bet next year will be her year.

Paula and Rachael made it to town for their annual visit which was lots of fun!  We made our traditional zoo trip and this time added the dolphin show to the agenda.   We also had a great time playing and walking around the River Walk, downtown Naperville.  What a beautiful area that is!  The girls all had so much fun running up and rolling down a huge hill.

We all made a visit to Smitty's Michigan house one very cool weekend.  We could have really used another layer of sweatshirts for our time down at the beach, but what a great time we had anyway.  It has been so many years since our last time at Lake Michigan.  I had forgotten how big the beach is and beautiful with all of the trees surrounding it.  The girls had a great time throwing balls and sticks into the water for Vido (Smitty's dog) and Rudy.  Rudy felt like an old dog the next day though and couldn't hardly walk.  Christine, Nancy and Smitty treated us to a wonderful dinner and great conversation later that evening.  We hope to add a visit to Smitty's MI house again in future years.
Alex and Rory continued to add many additional kids to their list of friends this summer and thought it was so cool to hang out with all of the Churchill kids during the week.  They played with so many new kids and made many great new friends.

Upon our return home, we quickly started back into our play with neighbors and MOMS Club friends and discovered the fun (and sandy mess) of our community beach club.  We had a great time spending weekends at the pool and tracking sand back into the car.  :)
Both girls started school and are having a great time.  Alex is in one of 7 Kindergarten classes at her school and every-time we tell someone she is in Mrs. Dunning's class they tell us she is the best teacher.  So far we believe it.  She is everything you could possibly look for in a K teacher, sweet and loving, but seems to keep 100% control over the kids.  We are also very happy with Rory's teacher and class this year.  She is having fun playing with some of her friends from last year but has also met a bunch of new friends.

Rory celebrated a belated birthday with her friends a couple weeks ago and I would say it was a success!    The girls had so much fun decorating fairy houses and then searching the house during a fairy treasure hunt.  It was a very exciting evening for little Miss Rory!
Alex is excited for her upcoming birthday and the possibility of loosing her first tooth.  Last weekend she discovered that one of her bottom front teeth is getting ready, so the next set of pictures you see of Alex will probably be with a hole in her mouth.
Miss you all!
Caycee, Pat, Alex, and Rory