Fridays at the Beach

We've had some fun Friday nights at the lake this summer. Tonight we went to the beach and I took a some pictures that I still need to go through, but here are some fun shots from a few weeks ago.

Don't let his somber expression fool you... this boy loves swimming in the lake and playing at the beach :)

This is unrelated to the beach, but Charlie's quote of the week as he pulled a toy car and a tomato from underneath the oven: "I found two stuffs!" He is a funny little guy.

Summertime at Lake Michigan. I love it.

Bike Riding

Last week Ben came home on an earlier train and we took advantage of the pretty weather by going on a  family bike ride. It was a good way to forget about the stress of that week and just enjoy time with these cute kiddos.

Except that it translated into Ben and I helping each of the boys on their bikes the entire way. :)

We had downgraded Eli to the 12" Craigslist bike (though I'm thinking he'll be fine doing the 16" again soon) after he biffed it big time on the bigger bike on his birthday. He's not super fast on either bike and it's tricky with the bumpy, uneven Chicago sidewalks.

And Charlie loves his hand-me-down balance bike (complete with pink bike bell :) But ohhh my aching back from bending over almost the entire time helping Charlie not fall over! Ben took over the Charlie balancing job on the ride home, thank goodness.                      

Once we got to the park, the kids just wanted to play games and run around the basketball court.









Love these boys! Summer is so great.

iPhone Kids Part 2

I walked by the downstairs bathroom last week and had to quickly run and grab my camera because this was too hilarious and so typical of my boys - Eli probably had been playing a game on the iPhone, then had to go to the bathroom, so he took it in with him to continue the game. Then Charlie trailed along carrying his blankie and wanting to watch what his brother was doing.




I promise this is not a regular occurrence, nor do I let my kids play on the phone all day long. And I clean my phone on a regular basis. :)

iPhone Kids Part 1

My Blackberry was dying a slow death a few weeks ago and finally got to the point where I could barely hear the person on the other end of the line and the speakerphone was dead. I had been trying to wait to replace my phone when the next iPhone comes out this fall, but the phone guy at Best Buy convinced me that the next one isn't going to be that different from the current one, and I should just do it.

So I did. So silly how it takes some goofy 19-year-old store employee to finally convince me to take the plunge. But I love it!! And so do the boys. There are so many great games and educational apps out there for them. Here are some fun shots of them playing on the iPhone together.

Rainstorm!

As I mentioned in other posts, we've had a TON of rain this year. So we've embraced the rain (when it isn't thunder/lightning/hailing) and not care if we get soaking wet playing outside.

Summer Swimming

We've enjoyed going to the outdoor pool off and on over the last few months (when it hasn't been raining... we've had record amounts of rain this summer). I still have my hands full with these two because Eli thinks he's invincible and swims too deep while Charlie doesn't want to be as deep and goes off in another direction. The city pools don't allow you to use flotation devices, so I really have to be careful and try to keep an eye on both kids. Next year will be easier when they are both swimming more independently.

They love pool toys like these dive sticks and we've managed not to lose them all (at least so far).