Arboretum with friends, and new shoes for Haley!

Beautiful!!!  70 degrees, cool breeze, and sunny...too bad it won't last for long.  The girls made the most of it today...

...with a trip to the arboretum with Sammy and Luke.

 It's important to stay well-hydrated.

Later, Haley picked out a new pair of shoes at the Stride Rite store.  Stephie helped.  Fancy!

Bounce house madness

Oooofff, serious sisterly tackle.  Good thing Haley is super tough. 

Slide down on your tummy!

 Cranking up the crazy:

 Airborne!

 Stephie's favorite game: standing outside the house and pushing Haley down.

 Run for it, Haley!

Sharing meals

Stephie and Haley eat ALL of their meals together.  Their latest favorite: matching personalized water bottles.

The other day Haley got to eat at the tabe like a big girl!  That is, until she threw her placemat, plate, bowl, and utensils on the floor.  Maybe not.

Happy girls!

Swim lessons

The much-anticipated (by Stephie) swim lessons have finally arrived!  Too bad the class should really be named "water play."  There wasn't much swimming going on.

That didn't matter to Stephie.  She LOVED it!

So much so that she didn't want to leave with Mommy and Haley when class was through.  And Haley was so enraged at not being able to swim that we had a double scream-fest going on.  Awesome!

Glendale Heights festival

What a night!  We braved the hot weather for an evening at the Glendale Heights festival.  That's right, kids, for $38 you too could ride a few tiny rides and buy a bag of cotton candy.  Stephie thought it was quite the bargain.

 First up: train!

 Next was the cars, one of the few rides that Haley was tall enough to ride on.

 Hey, this cotton candy is good stuff!

 Stephie LOVED this jumping ride.

 Fastest moving carousel.  Ever.  Daddy especially liked that part.

 Mommy rode on the swings with Stephie.

 A ride on the Ferris wheel capped off the night.  Stephie loved it so much that she cried when we left.  Mommy and Daddy cried from dizziness.

Visiting Daddy at work

We took advantage of a beautiful Friday to take the train downtown to visit Daddy at work.  The girls loved the train ride.

 

Here they are in Daddy's building waiting for him to come meet us in the lobby.

 He took us all the way up to the 23rd floor.

There are a LOT of hallways!

 "Daddy, what a mess!!!"

 Sharing Daddy's chair:

Last stop: splashing in the fountains in Millenium Park.  Haley especially loved this part!

After dinner playtime

First, look who finally got to try Stephie's favorite summer food!

Don't worry, Stephie got some too.

The girls love to play in the basement after dinner.  Mommy and Daddy love it too; it's hard for anyone to get injured down there.  Except if you insist on walking around with a fork in your mouth...

...or use the Sit-N-Spin in ways other than for which it was intended...

...or if you try to scale the baby's high chair like a cliff.

Maybe upstairs is safer after all!