Clayton's First Day of Kindergarten

 Clayton was so excited on his first day of school.

 Levi and Clarey were, too. They had to have backpacks, also.

 Clayton with his teacher, Ms. Witz. After we left school, Clarey cried and cried for him. She asked constantly, until lunch, for "Clayton come home!"

After his 4th day of school, I asked him, "What did you do at school today?" He replied, "Are you really going to ask me this EVERY day?" Yes. Yes, I will.

Birthday Bonanza!

 To celebrate her birthday, Clarey wanted doughnuts and chocolate milk cake. She really loved blowing out the candles. Once we finished singing "Happy Birthday" to her, she said, "Again!"

 Clayton requested sundaes with a cherry on top for his special dessert. After a seafood feast for supper, including crab legs and scallops, he played a game of hot and cold for his gift - a bike.

 He loves, loves, loves riding his bike.

 Clarey got a few essential accessories for her birthday.

 Levi, too, got a bike and was very excited about it. At least he first rode his wearing a helmet and shoes - unlike his bigger brother...

 Levi really wanted brats, corn on the cob and popcorn for his birthday supper. Let me tell ya, good corn on the cob is hard to come by this year. It was tough work for him, but he did a great job shucking it.

 And for his special dessert, he wanted ice cream cake. I covered it in Magic Shell - his favorite topping.

These two were covered in chocolate and ice cream. It was a great finish to two weeks of celebrations!

Chicago Vacation

 We decided to take a family vacation to Chicago to celebrate the kids' birthdays. One of their favorite parts was the hotel swimming pool.

 Our first day there was spent at the Kohl Children's Museum. They had a blast!

 We finished up the day at Rainforest Cafe. The boys loved it there. Clarey wasn't so sure about the moving animals around us.

 The next morning, we got ready to go to the Field Museum. This is why we came to Chicago. To see Sue. Clayton was so excited he could hardly stand it. As he told the maillady, "I've waited like 6 years to see Sue!"

 We got there a bit early, so we played outside with the life-size brachiosaurus skeleton.

 Once inside, they made a bee-line for Sue. Clayton was really interested in looking at all of her bones.

 We spent a good part of our day in the Children's Play Lab. Going on a day this was open was definitely worth it. It was quiet, there were very few people and the kids got to touch, play and explore. Levi especially loved the North American animal exhibit in the play lab. He loved dressing up as a coyote and then popping his head out when he heard the coyote howl.

 This is Sue's real skull. (It's too heavy to have on the skeleton downstairs.) What's really great about it not being attached is that we can actually get close to it. The kids were able to inspect those teeth up close.

 The next day we went to the Shedd Aquarium. While it was fun to see the variety of marine life, I was more than a bit disappointed. It was overflowing with kids' camps and school groups who had too little supervision. It was quite loud, quite crowded and difficult to enjoy. There were a few exhibits the kids really liked, especially the shark tank.

 We left the city for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. I almost nixed this part of our trip, but am so glad we went. Barely an hour from Chicago, this lakeshore is a gem. The kids had so much fun playing in the waves and the water and sliding down the dunes. We could have spent more time here.

 Clarey wasn't so sure about the waves. While the water temperature was pretty good, she didn't like the fact that the water could catch her.

It was a great trip. After nearly a week in hotels we were all ready to come home to separate bedrooms with our own beds. The kids have asked to go back to many of the places we went. Hopefully one day we can.