Naperville's Finest

One of Naperville's friendly police officers visited out street last month, and the neighborhood kids got a kick out of the squad car:

Grandpa's new hip

Grandpa Cordes had a hip replacement one week ago!  Everything has gone well so far and he's out of the hospital and in a rehab place. (Marion Joy Rehab Hospital in Wheaton - it's really nice!)

Gavin and I went to see him this weekend.  We brought our wooden United States puzzle and worked it two times.  Grandpa was disappointed that his Green bay Packers lost, but he had visitors to cheer him up!

Heat Day

Gavin, Francis and I all got a cough/cold bug last week.  I kept Gavin home on Monday, then the temperature shot up into the 90's and stayed there through Wednesday.

Gavin's school is not air-conditioned, so the district cancelled school for all buildings without AC.  Luckily Gavin felt better, and we had a play date with his friend Claire and her brothers.

It may have been the last time to play outside in the water for the rest of  the year!

Cantigny

We had a spontaneous playdate at Cantigny Park with Gavin's friend Claire.  There was a Revolutionary War reenactment going on, but the artillery was too loud for the kids.  

But they had a ball climbing on the tanks - especially the tiger:

 Strategizing on the Abrams tank:

 

Family Museum

More pictures from our trip to Moline...across the Mississippi in Bettendorf, IA, there was a great family museum.  Gavin had a blast!!

I thought it was pretty cool to cross the big river.

The museum had a lot of educational, interactive things to play with. There was one machine / exhibit that showed corn (or course) being harvested and put into cans the kids could take to the pretend grocery store.

There were mats to climb on:

A fire truck:

We got Gavin these macaw wings in the gift shop. He loves them!

We actually went to this museum twice - that's how much Gavin enjoyed it!

Niabi Zoo

I have more vacation pictures...it will take me a while to post them all.  So here's the next installment.

Near the Quad Cities is a neat little zoo called the Niabi Zoo.  I have to admit, I was not expecting much from a zoo "in the middle of nowhere.":  But I stand corrected.  They had jaguars, lions, zebras, giraffes, a petting zoo, and an elephant (which Brookfield Zoo no longer has), and more!

This first picture is Gavin, Annie, and Sam in the "secret room," off the hotel lobby.  It was only big enough for two couches and a coffee table in between, and glass doors that the kids could shut.  They thought it was so neat to hang out in there and watch Gavin's iPad with the door shut.

This was the coolest part.  You could FEED the giraffes two pieces of lettuce!!!  You can't do that at Brookfield Zoo!  At feeding time we all lined up at the "Giraffe Terrace" and took our turns:

Gavin also loved the aviary, since he loves blue macaws (thanks to "Rio") and scarlet macaws (thanks to a "Diego" episode).  This zoo had six or seven of them, all different colors.  We spent quite a while in their building!

John Deere Museum

For the long Labor Day weekend, we drove west to the Quad Cities and hung out with our good friends, the Florys.  We stayed in Moline, IL, and there are MANY family friendly things to do there.

One HUGE hit was the John Deere Museum, which was right across the street from our hotel and was free!

Sam and Gavin had a blast climbing into the tractors.  I was amazed at the size of these machines.  You just don't get the sense of scale by looking at them far off in a field, or in a book.

Gavin was bored, waiting in line to get into this one, so he climbed the tire.  Why not, the treads are as big as ladder rungs!

Gavin and Sam being silly:

Francis, Mark, and Gavin being silly:

I have many more pictures to post from our weekend! Stay tuned!!