The Filapek Family: Fun Summer Outings

During the last couple weeks of summer, we managed to cram in a whole lot of fun!

The kids and I headed downtown Chicago for a day (my 3rd time in 2 weeks, if you're counting!) We went a little off the beaten track (at least for us) and decided to do something different this time. After taking the train in, we headed toward the lake and bought tickets to ride one of the hop on/hop off big double decker touring buses. Connor and Juliana both really enjoyed sitting up top and seeing a good deal of the city! It was a fun way to travel and we hit a lot of different areas.

Since it was a free day at the Field Museum, we decided it would be a good time to try it out (since we weren't sure the kids would like it!) It's a good thing it was free, because we were there only about 30 min before the kids were trying to drag me out the door (but not without a big tantrum from my oldest because I wouldn't buy her something!) We saw Sue and visited the Hall of Dinosaurs and the hall of gems, but that was about all we saw. The kids spent more time right at the beginning searching the floor for fossils with magnifying glasses!

We headed back on the bus and it wound us back through the city up toward Navy Pier, but the kids decided to stay on. We ended up at Water Tower Place (even though we hadn't planned on it!) and had a quick bite to eat and visited the American Girl Place and the Lego store.

By this time, we (meaning I!) were pretty tired, so we took the bus back downtown and headed to the train station. We just barely caught our train and made it back before having to turn around and head out again an hour later!

We also made use of our free Six Flags Great America park tickets. The kids and I get them every year for school reading programs, but it was the first time the kids had ever used theirs! We talked Grandpa Giese into coming with us. The weather wasn't the greatest (a little chilly and it did rain for a bit), but the park was pretty empty! The kids found a lot of rides they enjoyed, and my dad and I even managed to go on a couple of bigger coasters (my dad more so than me!) Juliana and Connor both liked the Whizzer, which we went on twice in a row. (It was a good thing we did it early because it ended up closing later when the rain came and it never reopened!) Juliana and Connor were both contemplating doing the Demon, but they were a little scared because it would be their first upside down roller coaster. Due to a completely nonexistant line, they didn't have time to convince themselves to do it, and they both chickened out in the morning. However, later on, we finally got Juliana on it (I had to push her on, crying, because I knew she was stuck in that loop in her head where she wants to but gets too scared to take the leap!) She was crying most of the ride, but then came out smiling and did it again later! Way to go,Juliana! So proud of you for doing it! Connor decided to wait, but that's fine because he JUST barely would have made it. Next year!

I had to ride the Demon alone:(

There's Grandpa on Batman-our first ride of the day with no wait!!

Grandpa was CRAZY enough to try Goliath....do you SEE that drop?!

The stupid Buccaneer ride where I got SOAKED!!!!

Grandpa couldn't resist getting back at everyone!

See? I was mad at the kids for taking me on that ride on a cold day:(

waiting out the rain in line for The Justice League ride--our longest wait of the day!!!!

ready to fight the bad guys

I can't do this!!!!

See? Not so bad!!!

We also used the kids' free tickets to Raging Waves waterpark in Yorkville. The Barones came with us, and we had a blast (despite plenty of drama, LOL). We were glad to take a break from setting up our classrooms and have one last hurrah with the kids!

cooling off with a little ice cream

notice the difference between the girls and the boys...

Juliana flipped out about going on a big waterslide, but we pushed her to go, and she ended up loving it despite her tears! The kids really loved the wave pool and the lazy river. It was super crowded that day, though, and we didn't have any luck getting tubes to float along in.

Other fun summer events:

Spotlight held an end-of-summer bash at the Batavia Quarry. It was freezing, but Juliana had fun playing with all her Spotty friends.

I just love this picture because of the photobomb guy!!

Of course, there were also several days spent at Grandma & Grandpa's pool (Katie's pool too sometimes). Connor went off the diving board for the first time...no fear!