Illinois State Fair

We ventured to the State Fair today.  It was a fun day!  And I'm pretty sure this might become an annual thing.  We decided that we live close enough to make this a fun summer memory for our kids each year.  We started off with the giant potato sack slide!  Since I'm quite pregnant with #3, I couldn't do any of the fun stuff :(.  Jared was the lucky one who got to go twice :)!

Check out that slide!

Ethan was the first to go.  He loved it!

Favorite picture of Jared!!

Next up...Nora.  In case you were curious, she wasn't at all scared.

Skidding to a stop :)!

After sliding, we moved on to look at some animals.  

We found some bees first.  They loved watching the bees move all over the honeycomb! And finding the queen honey bee.

Cow stalls. 

Next, we stood in line to milk a cow :).  I've never done it before and it was pretty cool.  The kids even did it (with a little help).  After milking the cow, everyone got a ticket for a free carton of milk.  Both kids chose chocolate...no surprise there!

Nora, Ethan and I getting ready

Very intense ;).

Enjoying some ice cold milk on the curb.

Now to the sheep.

I think the liked the goats the best.

Ethan having a conversation with a goat.

After the main animal barns, we headed to get some homemade ice cream!  And pictures with a cardboard cow ;).

Chocolate...as always!

And pink for the pink girl!

While making our way back towards the main gate to head home, we found a few other places to stop.

Piglets in the FFA barn.

Petting the bunny

IL State Police tent.  Ethan liked the police motorcycle.

Pig-eared kids and a 12-row combine!

1 last ride before we left.  The "Berry-Go-Round"!

As we were leaving, Ethan said "I can't wait until we can come again!!"  We will be back...next year.  I don't know if I have it in me to go again this year ;).

Squibb Family Fun

Last weekend, we went to Salem since a lot of my cousins would be there {Jared had to stay home and work :(.}  My cousin, Phillip and his family were in town from Oregon and he (or his mom) planned a family and friends get together Friday night.  It was a fun time!  And I always love seeing all of our kids play together!
Uncle Mike has some cool riding "toys" and the kids love getting picked up for rides!

Phillip taking 7 kids (including 2, 2 year olds) on a Mule ride

Mike taking 9 kids on the side by side...to the park...by himself! 

Nora got her hair braided by Libby...if you look closely, you will see a tear.  She cried pretty much the whole time.  But it looks great ;).

Friday night was the get together at the Squibb's house.  It started with some bounce house fun!

Then some playing on the driveway...

Nora driving Katie in the Jeep

And then it started raining :(.  We ate dinner in the garage and then the kids decided the rain wouldn't stop their fun...

Just putting hands out, at first.

Then some stomping.

And now, a baseball game :).

Ethan, before he was too wet.

Wet kids!

Haley, getting some rain.

And, now Ethan is soaked and riding a bike, in the rain with boots on.

Just as the rain started, the horse trailer pulled up.  There were supposed to be horse and pony rides for the kids (and adults, if they wanted to).  But the rain didn't stop soon enough and they didn't want the saddles to get wet.  There were some disappointed kids, but they did get the pony out and into the shed for kids to sit on.

Nora liked the pony! (Ethan didn't want to get on)

I couldn't get them all to look and smile, but we have Haley, Ethan, Scout, Katie, Nora and Finley- watching the horse.

I tried to get a good picture of these 2.  They were pretty much inseparable the whole time we were there.  Ethan and Scout are 4 months apart and love to play together.  This is what I got when I asked them to stand next to each other for a picture...

It was such a fun time, even if we got wet and ended the night with some crabby, cold, wet kids.

Girls Weekend!

2 weeks ago (I'm a bit behind), I kissed my kids and hubby goodbye for a fun weekend with the girls!  Erin, Emily and I (Jessica couldn't go at the last minute due to a family emergency) headed to Lake Michigan.  We went to Michigan City, IN and rented a cute little house in the Beachwalk community for 2 nights.  I've been to Beachwalk twice before with family (2010, 2012) The weather wasn't the best beach weather, but we weren't going to let that stop us.  Also, if you are unaware, there is some pretty great outlet shopping to do about 3 minutes from where we stayed!  We definitely made the most of our kid free days (and nights) shopping, relaxing, talking, laughing and eating!
Before we made it to Michigan City, we did some shopping at Oak Brook mall and made time for some pedis!

Pedicure selfie 

We took a walk down to the beach the next day and it is still just a beautiful and nice as I remember it :).

Beautiful Lake Michigan

Myself with Erin and Emily (and a couple of babies)

Beach time!! Even if we did get rained on a little and had to use our towels as blankets.

A portion of the Beachwalk community

Summer Fun

This is basically a phone dump...I went through my pictures on my phone and realized there were several I haven't posted to the blog.  We've had a great summer, and it's sad that it's winding down so quickly.  I can't believe it's the end of July already!!

July 4th Fun...
We went to the Mt. Zion fireworks (on the 3rd) this year and it was cool enough that the kids wore long pants and a jacket (once the sun went down).  They thoroughly enjoyed them :)!

Festive kids, waiting for the fireworks to start

All eyes on the sky (I think my flash was a little bright)

The next day was actually the 4th, and I picked up some snap pops for the kids at the store.  The loved them and soon, the neighborhood kids came over to join in the fun!

Action shot, throwing it down to pop! 

Nora thought they were hilarious and loved them!

"Pop-Its"!!

We've enjoyed s'mores this summer...

Lots of outside play (and sitting)...

Fishing...

Fun with friends...

We met our good friends Matt and LaToya Schroeder in Bloomington a couple weeks ago to hang out and swim at the State Farm pool.  It was so much fun.  Here are some pictures of the kids after swimming!

We went to the museum this morning and met the Koskinens...

Loving on Ronald McDonald

He didn't want to miss out.

Soren and Ethan pretending to be news anchors and weather men.  So funny and cute!  This is a picture of the screen on the outside.  They didn't know I was watching :)!

And one more of a cute girl posing in the grass...

Such a ham!!