Starbucks!

This morning was supposed to be our second to last day of swim lessons.  It was cold and cloudy, but we went to the pool.  After we had compltely unpacked the car, checked in, undressed, etc. . .there was one roll of thunder that meant our lessons were cancelled.  Uggh.  Slight side note on swim lessons.  Overall, 7:50 in June was way too insanely early in the season and in the morning for lessons.  Next year, I'll aim for July around 10 or 11. :) 

We had plans to meet someone at 9 so we had to kill some time on the north side of town.  So Starbucks it was!  The kids shared a strawberries and cream frappuccino and doughnut while I enjoyed a very large latte.  What a yummy way to start the day instead of shivering in the pool!

 

 

 

lunch downtown

After church today, we decided to use a giftcard to Destihl in downtown Champaign.  It was a delicious lunch.  William's french toast was amazing and Owen's "kid" pizza was huge.  They were all looking so cute, we just had to document the time.

in front of one of the many scupltures downtown

 

not looking at the camera

the best of many tries

ladies in pink

big girl likes to be independent now!

photobomb by Daddy

Pinned It, Did It Monday {food tricks & a little bag}

What is this you say?!  Welcome back to Pinned It, Did It Monday.  Just for this week folks.  And maybe you’ll see this pop up a little more this summer as our schedule is just full of fun things!  If you’re new to the blog (welcome!) Pinned It, Did It Monday is where I share a few of the things I’ve actually DONE from Pinterest.  It’s a site that can suck you into hours of just looking at good ideas.   But I want someplace to be accountable to actually doing some of them. :)Picture I pinned:
Source: The Fastest Way to Peel Garlic from Holiday Sparkle
My review: No picture for me on this one, but you will  definitely want to click on this pin or link and follow the simple directions.  I was shocked that I literally had an entire head of garlic peeled in minutes.  It definitely worked and so simple.  I love garlic, but hate the time it takes to peel it, so I will use this over and over!As summer is upon us, we love us some good sweet corn.  But I do hate the process of shucking it and getting all those pesky hairs off.  Then I saw this idea.  And my life will never be the same.
Picture I Pinned:
Source: The Magic Corn Trick from Holm Family Cookbook
My picture:
My review: Ummm. . .amazing!!  I simply followed all the directions and in just a few minutes, and only one cut with my knife, I had perfectly cooked sweet corn with none of the mess.  It cooks in the microwave, in the husk, and then slides out with a little help.  How am I just now figuring this out.  Seriously, if you eat corn on the cob, follow these directions!!As a car-loving boy, Owen always has problems of carrying his most loved cars (of the hour) from one place to another.  We carry them from room to room and upstairs and down after nap.  So I wanted a quick easy bag for him to throw some cars in. 
Picture I Pinned:Source: Simple and Quick Tote Bag from Emmi Grace and Me
My pictures:
My review: As much as I try to stay away from licensed, commercial type things. . .he’s falling in love with the Cars movie characters, so I grabbed some fabric that reflected that.  The pattern was a good, beginning bag pattern and would be great to tweak for all sorts of fun totes.  And it’s already had a lot of use, which makes it a worthwhile project in my book.

Birthday Train Ride!

To start Owen's (real) birthday celebration, we decided to take a quick drive down to Monticello Railway Museum for a train ride!  Even though Owen's first love isn't trains, I thoughts he'd enjoy this and we'd been talking it up for a few weeks.

You drive to a train station a few miles outside of town where the actual museum is located.  There is a little gift shop, train table, and lots of trains to look at.  One large one, you can walk through and look at all kinds of things in an "old fashioned" train.  Pretty neat!

 

of course, his favorite thing is the thing we have at home

going for a wagon "ride"

 

 

We bought our tickets and had some time to look around at all the things.  And then we boarded the train.  There was only one other family riding that day (score!) so we had a whole train car to ourselves.  Owen enjoyed the fact that the conductor actually came around and punched a hole in our tickets.  We rode about 4.5 miles to the other station in downtown Monticello.  It was the perfect length for our kids.  The temperature out was wonderful, but I would not recommend doing the train in the middle of summer.  It would be HOT! 

 

 

At the stop downtown, there are some more things to check out, like a working telegraph machine, lights, and bells to ring.  Of course, there is another train table which Owen didn't want to leave.  We stayed for about 15 minutes and then boarded the train to head back the other way.

 

In general, the kids acted as I thought they would.  Ellie adored the train. She said "choo choo" repeated and bounced up and down.  Owen had to be on one of our laps the whole time. 

 

 

 

After the train, we ate downtown Monticello at the yummy EL Toro there.  All in all, a great afternoon.  Happy early birthday buddy!

park time with friends

This is a very belated shout out to Avery!  I know the girl loves her some Owen and Ellie posts and this one has a picture of her in it! :)  We got to enjoy a beautiful day with Avery, her mom and brother (and Sam) a couple weeks ago.  We had never played at Morrissey Park and it was good one!

Sam loving the sand

well, a cute one of Owen and Avery

loving the hill!

how did she get so big?

best buds!

Looking forward to lots more play dates this summer!

a random sunday

Just a random Sunday in pictures and captions:

What are you talking about?

cutie booties

 

playing at church before Sunday school

excited that Mom's working in the nursery!

snack time!

practicing his "name"

showing Aunt Jenna his boo boo

enjoying lunch with dad outside