Starved Rock State Park, IL

We went to Starved Rock State Park the last Sunday of June.  We enjoyed a beautiful hike, saw lots of waterfalls and a few deer.  When we returned home I had to be rushed to the hospital and we found out I have a blood clot in my uterus!  The baby is doing great and growing as planned.  Needless to say I have been taking things very easy since this day at Starved Rock!

Brookfield Zoo

 RJ's holding up the tiger :)

 Dolphin show!  The kids love seeing the dolphins.  We've been back a few times and each time the show is a little different.

 All wet from a sprinkler stop on one of the zoo paths.

 Really pretty flower display.

 The swamp exhibit was really interesting.

 But the ape house is awesome.  The picture above is RJ's hand and below is Averly.

 Sloth - Ray still calls Skylar and myself sloth.  It was funny to see the big guy move sooooo slowly up the tree

 Baby hippo lives within the ape house.

 Since all the cages are open in the ape house it felt like you could reach out and touch the gorillas.

 Daddy kept calling the rhinoceros "dinosaurs."  They're now one of RJ's favorite animals :)

Last week we went to Hudson Crossing PARK

 I guess Averly likes the sand.

 The little girl I babysit Lizzie, loved the swings.  RJ was happy to push her too.  Have I mentioned just how wonderful he is with the girls!  He really takes care of Lizzie.

 See Saw :)

 I love these roller slides.  The kids went down the slide over and over and over again.

 I love this action shot of Averly!

Leave it to my kids to find the tiniest patch of woods.  They love hiding and looking for "bad guys". 

A few more park pictures... we LOVE our local parks

RJ's preschool end of the year celebration was at a local park

 Averly and RJ loved the bouncy horse.

 All 14 preschoolers made it to the park.  Actually, all of the preschool classes held at Boulder Hill were there.  It was a great day and a lot of fun celebrating the end of RJ's first year of preschool.  Next year (actually this September 2011) RJ will be going to school 3 days a week!  Next step is kindergarten, oh my!