J.A.M.

J.A.M.
J.A.M. > Julia, Ava, and Matthias

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

At the Brookfield Zoo in the Tropic House

The nine little monkeys sitting in front of the monkey mountain

Up close and personal with the polar bear

A fun day the zoo with Grandpa and Grandma Thanepohn


On our last day in IL, we all went to the zoo. It was the perfect weather for a zoo trip. We got to see lots of animals!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Otter Cove Splash Park


Epic battle between Marilyn and Leah!

Why play in the water, when you can play in the sand!!
Best Face Ever!!

This is the way that Ava plays at splash parks,
she stays to the very edge of the action!

Peck Farm Butterfly House

Julia with the "Julia" butterfly, look carefully in the middle of the green plant for the orange and that is the Julia butterfly. She is so proud that there is a butterfly named after her!!

Ava was just as interested in putting her hands in the water as
she was in looking at the butterflies

Matthias blended right in to the butterfly garden in his bright orange. We even had to shake out the stroller to make sure no butterflies tried to come home with us.

All the big girl cousins!



Grandma Thanepohn had heard about the butterfly house at Peck Farm in Geneva and thought that it was a perfect trip for all these girly-girls. They had a great time watching and looking for all the different types of butterflies.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Sarah from the City becomes Sarah from the Suburbs!!

My college roomie, Sarah Green, and her family just moved to Wheaton, IL from Chicago. When Julia was little, and still now, we nick-named Sarah "Sarah from the city." Julia and I even took the train into Chicago to visit her when Julia was just 20 months old and we rode the "L" and even a city bus. What a fun day that was. Now whenever we visit my parents in IL we try to make a stop in the city to see Sarah and her daughter, Charlotte. These visits just got easier because... city-dwellers Matt and Sarah Green sold their Chicago townhouse and moved to Wheaton, IL only 30-40 minutes from my parents!!

We had lunch at 2 Toots, a diner style restaurant where they serve your
food off a little toy train track.

Charlotte and Matthias looked so cute sitting up at the counter in their booster seats!

Enjoying our lunch at the counter at 2 Toots!

We tried several times to get a group shot but it never really worked out, but we did get a picture of Julia reading to Charlotte. She and Charlotte have always been good buddies when we get together. Julia is so cute with her.



This visit Chris gave Sarah and me the best gift: We got about an hour and a half of uninterrupted conversation. He took our girls swimming at their complex pool and the little ones napped. Sarah and I can't remember the last time we had the chance to talk without
little friends interrupting us!
Over all we had a great time visiting with the Green ladies and we are very excited that we will get to see more of them the next visit to IL. Maybe next time we will even get to have an overnight at their new house.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

At the Kendall County Fair!

Matt spent his time at the fair in his stroller, eating his sandals!


"Milking" the cow was the girls' favorite thing at the fair. They had a great time learning all about the farm in the FFA exhibit.
Julia would have loved to take a bunny home with us, we don't think Tucker would have appreciated the addition to the family!

Each of the girls picked one ride to ride and Ava picked the "horsies!!!"
Julia picked the Tilt-a-Whirl

Ava also loved looking at the bunnies!

Swimming at Great Grandma and Grandpa's

Julia has learned to jump in the pool with no fear and no floaties! She was a non-stop jumper at Great-Grandma and Grandpa's Thurow's pool.
We picked up Marilyn to swim with us but left Matt back home with Grandma to take a nap.
The three girls!
These two are so funny together, not quite sure what's up with Ava's silly face!

Grandpa and Grandma love when the kids come to swim, I think we are pretty good entertainment! We are so grateful for a great place to swim and enjoy the water.