Summer Memories Made

Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, SUMMERTIME!

This post (quite lengthy in its entirety!) is to blog about some more of the fun things we did this summer (in no particular order) with a memory tagged to each! At times this summer felt a bit like a whirlwind of events, but with school starting in just a few days I'm glad we did all that we did because the season of fun in the sun is just too darn short!

*Navy Pier- Aka "Home of the Chicago Children's Museum"! My memory of this year's walk along the pier is how magical a place it really is. Even at such a young age I could tell that the girls could sense the excitement! The ferris wheel, the boats, the vendors, the music- it's just a great place where people from all over come to enjoy the fresh air and Chicago's skyline together!

*Train rides to the "Big City"- A train ride into the city is always an adventure when you have kids climbing aboard too! Despite having to sit still for anywhere from half an hour to over an hour, the girls LOVE riding the choo choo train. My memory from our rides this year is that it made another "first" for Peyton. We're so lucky to have a train line right next door for the girls to be able to learn and experience the fun of riding one and to have such adventures awaiting them at the end of each ride!

*Chicago Children's Museum - This was our second time visiting this museum and the memory I have is how much fun Peyton had doing the same things we remember Kylie doing there just a few years ago! Kylie also got to do a lot of things she was too little to do the first time around which is why every visit to this museum is always a new adventure!

*Naperville's Riverwalk- The place where great summer memories are bound to be made! From the walking trails to the bell tower, the duckies to the playground, the beach to the paddleboats, my fondest memory is that of big smiles & laughter on our many, many summer day visits here.

*2009 Taste of Chicago- The yummy, annual event we're still crazy enough to attend each year! It's what summer in Chicago is all about! From a sandwich at Ricobenes to chocolate covered fruit from Diane's, we always seem to pick the same treats and enjoy them even more each year. There's a tie for my fondest memory of this year's trip: how happy Kylie was to be able to ride the HUGE ferris wheel with Grandma B. and how much Peyton enjoyed sampling all of the fare!

*Brookfield Zoo- A tradition we're trying to keep "alive" each summer with this year's featured exhibit being "Dinosaurs Alive"! This year we visited during the free kids days celebrating the zoo's 75th anniversary with my good friend DeAnna and her little ones Ava & Brennan. The memory I'll carry with me of our day is of both girls riding on the carousel- it was one of their happiest moments together all summer long!