Window painting

Last Saturday, Downtown Downers Grove had its annual Halloween window painting. The rain didn't deter us! There were a lot of kids there, armed with brushes, paint, and creativity.

We chose a window under a large awning, just to be safe, but while we were there, the rain slowed down. (It POURED right after we left though!)

Gavin wanted to paint several things: a pumpkin, a bat, a ghost, a cat...then we just started adding things like a moon, a mouse, cornstalks, another ghost, etc. He was excited to paint, but still very careful with his brush (and he didn't get any paint on his clothes).

He had a great time and we will definitely do this again!

Halloween Decorations

Gavin was really excited to set up Halloween decorations this year! He planned out where things should go in the graveyard and helped hang up lights! (He says he wants to help hang Christmas lights, too!)

He thinks that our yard is the spookiest one on our street. :) 

Birthday Party

This year, Gavin wanted his birthday party at Pump It Up in Lisle. It's a bouncy place, but this one is different in that we were only with our own little group the whole time. There were no other birthday parties on the jumpies with us, nor any other kids who were playing for the day. I have a lot of pictures - but since the kids were in constant motion, many of them are a bit blurry. But they all had a great time, so I can't complain!

Shedd Aquarium

Gavin loves the Shedd Aquarium, and when we went in August, the dolphin show got cancelled after just 5 minutes. The staff never said why, they just said something about keeping their animals safe. 

So this time, we were delighted to get to sit through a whole show! (I know, the dolphin show at Brookfield Zoo is considered "better" by many, but Gavin loves this one, too.)

The shark exhibit is always a favorite:

 Below - this is a weird picture, I know. It's the mouth of the "green sawfish" which was a big shark that usually sleeps in the back of the tank. It made a rare appearance and I just clicked as many pictures as I could before it hid again. It has a long snout full of teeth that stick out sideways!

Beluga whales:

Pacific white-sided dolphins:

A model submarine. Gavin could play here for an hour:

Jellyfish:

This is Gavin in the background going down the "ice" slide in the penguin play area. He could play here for an hour, too:

 We saw some neat low clouds on our trip home!

Double zoo day!

Yesterday was the last day of summer break, and we went to Cosley Zoo in the morning with Claire, Ethan, and Adam! We hadn't been there in years and the kids had a great time.

They all got to feed the ducks:

Pointing out the horses. 

This one was Gavin's favorite:

In the afternoon, just Gavin and I went to Philip's Park Zoo in Aurora. Also one we hadn't been to in years. The cougars and wolves were pretty sleepy, but we spent a lot of time watching the alligators and birds!

The blue macaw is behind Gavin:

This Burmese python was HUGE.

It was really neat getting so close to the gators, and being able to see them from all sides. He thought they looked cute...I thought they looked hungry!