Brookfield Zoo

One of the main reasons Brenner wanted to go to Nonni's house (ha!) was because he wanted to go to "Nonni's Zoo." It is by far the largest gathering of animals he can fathom (our zoo is not much bigger than their petting zoo!), so he was quite excited!

A favorite thing, as it turned out, was to take pictures by all the fake animals. :)

Grandpa Jim was quite a trooper with Caelum on this zoo excursion! They were buddies this day, as Aile and Brenner dragged me and Nonni all over the place!

Calling the info line in the ape house so he could learn about the animals and hear their various calls.

The Hamill Family Play Area was the coolest. We could've spent hours in there. The kids had a blast. Who wouldn't want to dress up like a Lemur and play with them?!

Face painting:

Here they can build their own zoo:

And the ever popular animal hospital. Aile's favorite since she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up.

Civil War Re-enactment at Naper Settlement

We wanted to do something a little different with the kids one day, so we ventured forth to Naper Settlement, a whole city block or so that continues to live in the 1800's. When I've been there before, we visited the blaksmith shop, the livery, the mercantile, the school, some homesteads, etc. But this time we hit on a weekend celebration that involved a Civil War re-enactment, and the kids were intrigued.

This is the Union Army Fort, with the soldiers preparing for battle.

Starting the battle off with some cannon fire. VERY LOUD! (We were also standing within 50 feet of some of the cannons.)

The soldiers lined up on the battlefield, facing the their Confederate enemies. The Confederates were lined up very similarly maybe 100 feet away.

Our Adventure at Nonni's House Begins

After we were done at 3ABN, we headed up to Nonni's house for a couple weeks of fun! We spent much time relaxing and playing and doing fun things...

Bath time is always a hit, no matter where we are! Here you can see Caelum's curls coming out in full force as he enjoys his splash time!

Aile loved the tree in Nonni and Grandpa Jim's front yard! She spent quite a bit of time in her treasured hang out.

Caelum was not at all scared of his big furry friend, Daisy. It's a good thing Daisy is very laid-back because Caelum was constantly climbing all over her!

From the moment we arrived at Nonni's house, this bunny was our fast friend. She lived in the bushes right next to the front door and did not seem frightened of us very much at all. She sat and watched us almost every day. The kids named her Sunshine.

The kids had a great time bonding with Nonni! They even had a sleep-over with her one night, which was a great hit! I caught them snuggling in the morning before they got up! Nice bed hair, guys! :)

At the mall play area:

Caelum exploring Nonni's "under construction" kitchen floor:

Aile showing Caelum how to stand on his head. He was a quick learner and kept doing this throughout the vacation. Pretty funny!

One of the kids' very favorite spots--the swing out on the deck!

Caelum's head-stand skills:

Kids' Time...to share Jesus!

When Aile was invited to go up to 3 Angels Broadcasting Network and record some songs for their children's show, Kids' Time Praise, we were excited!  Little did we realize what we were really getting ourselves into!   It was a lot of work!  But we practiced and practiced and headed up to the 3ABN studio feeling good and looking forward to the experience.

Unfortunately, Sean had finals on the very day of Aile's scheduled recording, so I took the kids solo on the 6-hour road trip, and met my mom and soon-to-be-step-dad there.  They took care of the boys while I took Aile to her practice and recordings sessions.  We had a lot of fun!

We really had no idea what to expect as far as accomodations when we arrived.  What a pleasant surprise it was to find our own little duplex apartment!  3ABN is out in the middle of absolutely nowhere, so it was very pretty and peaceful out there.  

The pictures of Aile on the set hardly begin to give a true picture of what it was like in the studio setting, but it's neat to look back and remember.  We were also given a DVD recording of all her songs when we left as well--complete with the bloopers and laughs!  Quite entertaining stuff...



Aile was completely taken with Miss Brenda (Brenda Walsh is the host of the Kids' Time show).  And the gentleman in the photo is Dr. Calvin Taylor, who graciously donated his time and talents to playing the piano for the kids that week.  He had his work cut out for him with us because we didn't have much of our sheet music!  What a sport!  

The man in black in this photo is Mr. Larry, the set director.  Aile needed to follow his every command--keep your hand there, remember to smile, don't scratch that itch, look at this camera, remember to smile!, now look at that camera, pat the dog on the head, remember to SMILE!, etc...  :)  I think it was all a little intimidating, and Aile's reaction was to be a little silly and giddy at some points.   But we made it through and I am proud of her efforts!  She is so excited that she got to sing songs that other kids can watch on TV to learn about how Jesus loves them!  
Maxwell the dog was Aile's close companion on the set.  I think he was very good at calming her nerves.  She really enjoyed having him near her while she sang, and she certainly gave him a lot of love!

Oh, and check out the Kids' Time website for some great fun learning about Jesus:

www.kidstime4jesus.org

Cohutta Springs

We spent a relaxing Sabbath hanging out with Oma at Cohutta Springs camp, where we enjoyed great weather and fun!

This was the first time we had tried paddle-boating, and we all loved it!  Oma and I pedaled, while Aile and Brenner enjoyed the ride.  We went searching for the big turtles, but the one we did see swam away before the kids could catch a glimpse.  Very cool though, we will definitely do it again!

Since Sean didn't get to go out on the paddle-boats, he took took a kayak around the lake!
After cooling off near the water, we stopped by the playground to get all hot and sweaty again.  A little backwards?  Fun though...