July - Part 1

We kicked off July with a day date while the girls were at a sleepover with Grammy and Grampy! Nate and I enjoyed a round of mini golf, followed by dinner and dessert! The girls had a blast at G&G's house as usual!

 

Nate had to work the evening of the 4th of July this year. We grilled out for lunch and then the girls played on their blow up water slide most of the afternoon. We did some poppers, smoke bombs and sparklers at home, but didn't make it out for the big Naperville show! The vote was unanimous to stay home :)

We had a fun morning at the Paddleboat Quarry in downtown Naperville. Nate and I did the peddling and the girls enjoyed spotting water snakes.

Jemma enjoyed cycling through all her swimsuits as she made her way through her swimming lessons.

Here is a little video of Jemma Jumping into the "deep end" during her first session of lessons! This was such a big step for her!

We did a fun overnight at the Great Wolf Lodge in Gurnee, IL with Nate's parents! The girls had the best time playing in the waterpark and the arcade for hours!

June

The month kicked off with some birthday celebrations for me! Some highlights were a Dairy Queen ice cream cake with Nate and the girls, a day in Chicago with my friends, and getting tickets to a Cubs game!

The seemingly never-ending school year finally ended on June 9th! What a weird school year to say the least, but I'm so proud of the girls for handling all the changes as seamlessly as they did! They were troopers for sure!

We started our summer fun with our annual strawberry picking day with Grammy! We all agreed the selection of berries was way better than last year, which made picking a little more enjoyable as we didn't have to hunt too hard for good ones. 

No surprise here, we spent lots of time at the park!

 

We recently got a Crumbl Cookie in Naperville. We had to see what all the hype was about, so we went during their grand opening week. We had to wait in line about 20 minutes, but it was worth it! We tried one of each flavor cookie they had that week! (Their flavors change weekly)

We heard Auntie Anne's was at a food truck event at nearby Whalon Lake, so on a whim we decided to check it out. Since we were already there I figured I would try the empanadas from Grumpy Gaucho! Afterward, the girls spent quite a bit of time "skipping" rocks and wading around in the lake!

We got to celebrate our #1 girl dad with a yummy Father's Day Breakfast at Honey Jam Cafe!

Also this month, the girls were busy with new camps and activities! 

Jemma began her first week of swimming lessons. I'm so proud of her bravery and the fact that she tried SO hard at each lesson. She also did a little 3 day Art Camp at our local art studio, which she absolutely loved. 

In 4th grade, students are able to learn to play an instrument and join band if they would like to. Jade expressed interest in learning to play the flute, and wanted to participate in a summer music program through school to get a jump start on learning how to play! She had a 30 minute lesson M-F for about 3 weeks! She also did a week long soccer camp, which she enjoyed a lot!