Day Trip Frustration

Scott had some time off on Friday so we thought we would take a leisurely drive up the lakeshore. We ended up hitting horrible construction traffic and spent much of our day on the road. We did stop in Evanston which is a beautiful university town with really neat buildings and homes. We found a pretty beach to spend a quick half hour on before we had to head back into the traffic nightmare to get home.

These pictures are some shots of how our time has been spent this summer on a typical day. Our internet access is only available in the sun room, so usually you can find one of us sitting there. We only have Scott's laptop, so we all mob him when he gets home from church in the afternoon for a chance to use it. We have a 1000 piece puzzle going which gets worked on occasionally and I also found the kids playing a game together on a rainy evening the other day.

Some Updates

Many of you have been telling me that you are impressed with how much we have been doing around the Chicago area. I guess we just want to take advantage of seeing a lot while we are here. There are so many neat things here! The past few days we have just been sticking close to home. We are enjoying eating meals outside in the backyard and seeing more around Palos Heights. This week Scott and I were able to tour Elim Christian School and we will get a tour tomorrow of Trinity Christian College. We are very impressed with these local institutions. I had heard of Elim, but came to realize it is a wonderful place and resource for many people. On July 5th we did venture downtown to check out the "beach". Being from California, I guess we were not too impressed, but enjoyed the experience. Here is a hodgepodge of recent pictures.

Katie, Kam, Troy and I checked out this waterfall park near our house. Other families came to feed the ducks, but I would have no part of that!

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This is one of the beaches along Lake Michigan. These little patches of sand were packed with people trying to enjoy some summer sunshine on a beautiful Chicago day. We were amazed at how many different languages we heard being spoken as we walked along. Unfortunately, the sand was covered with trash and leftover fireworks from the night before.


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We are making good use of our host's beautiful backyard. It's been so nice to have dinner outside. We were laughing at Troy who was downing the watermelon like crazy.
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Last night we enjoyed some ice cream at the local parlor, The Plush Horse. (I still don't know the reason for that name!) Outside they have this cut-out thing to help support your team. (As I said before everyone here is either a Cubs or Sox fan.) Troy has declared his loyalty to the Cubs and Kam the Sox (as you can see by her new hat).

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July to everyone! We are missing our annual Visalia celebration at the Grimmius', but have enjoyed our day here in Palos Heights too. They shoot off fire works the night before, on July 3, so we braved the crowds and watched the city show along with many other people. The show was actually quite impressive. The problem was sitting still on our blanket for two hours waiting for them to begin. We ended up heading back to our van and had a great view from the parking lot. This morning we watched the city parade with our neighbors. Kamryn and Troy were quite agressive in grabbing the candy that was being thrown by the parade participants. They ended up with two bags full!

Go Sox!

So we have been amazed at the loyal baseball fans here in the Chicago area. One of the first questions people ask is whether you are a White Sox or Cubs fan. Scott feels that he must remain neutral, but Kamryn has decided she is a White Sox fan and Troy thinks he prefers the Cubs. (Uncle Brian will be proud!) Anyway, Scott and Katie were invited to a White Sox game last night which ended up to be a great game. (The Sox pulled through with an exciting homerun in extra innings.) We again have to thank our great neighbor Dean for this experience!

Katie and Scott before the game.
Sam, Katie and Dean

They had great seats.

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I'll also show some pictures from a local outing we took to a beautiful Nature Preserve right in our city. There is a nice 1 mile trail around a lake called Lake Katherine. The kids had a fun time looking for critters, etc. along our walk.

Exploring Downtown

This evening we decided to take advantage of the free Thursday admission to the Chicago Children's Museum. We have not yet figured out the metra train system, so had to drive downtown this time. We had a good time exploring Navy Pier and the kids enjoyed the museum. Katie is not with us because she had her last night of volleyball camp for the week and didn't want to miss that.

A shot of us on Navy Pier.

Kam and Troy by the Carousel.
Scott and Kamryn teasing me about going on this tremendously high Ferris Wheel. I think I will pass!
Some of the Chicago skyline.This is a great Children's Museum. It is quite large and I was a bit nervous about losing Troy!
Troy is happy rolling balls.
Kamryn and Troy digging for bones.
Katie was waiting for us when we got home with her Chicago Christian volleyball camp t-shirt.

Horses in Chicago?

Kamryn, Troy and Scott got quite a treat today when our neighbor, Dean, took them out to ride his horse. The kids had a great time and I hear Kamryn is quite a natural. Of course, they had to end the evening with a stop at the Plush Horse, a local ice cream shop.