August 2013

IMG_1550, a photo by tracyg00 on Flickr.

This was the month of Megan (obviously her birthday is this month!). We headed back to the cottage for the first weekend of August. Brian, Damien, Ada and Scott joined us. It was the first time there for all of them. This was also the debut of our "Welcome to Corndog Island" sign.



I was glad Damien and Ada got to experience some new activities. Ada is up for just about any adventure, while Damien tends to be a little more conservative.



Megan's birthday was on that Sunday, so we celebrated with cake once we got home.



Not sure if I mentioned in an earlier post, but Jake helped me plant the garden this year. He's taken ownership of it (weeding, watering etc) throughout the season. On August 5th, he harvested his first zucchini. Look at the size of this thing!



On the 8th, we had Megan's friend party. We created a photo booth in our basement and set up a bunch of props. I'd have to say that those girls had a pretty fun time. Here's the group:



And, of course, we had to take a family photo:



We even got Mimi and Papa to participate:



On the 9th, I took Megan, Jake and Francesca to the Sox game.



We got there early enough to see the players warm up and get a couple of autographs.



I had Francesca take a pic of me with Megan and Jake. Notice Megan's blue mouth from a slushie and Jake wouldn't take his eyes off the game!



On the 10th, Megan and I, along with Aunt Jenny, Lisa and Lili, went to the Taylor Swift concert at Soldier Field. Aunt Jenny booked a limo which was awesome!



Our seats weren't great, but it was a great show and Megan can't wait to go again.



The next weekend we were back at the cottage. It was the weekend of the Lighted Boat Parade. Jake's friend, Michael, joined us for the weekend. The boat had a pirate theme this year:





The boys also got in a little fishing.



Darin and I went to Ravinia to see Journey with Erika and Matt. It's tough to take a selfie in the dark:



On the 23rd, we were able to put together another group beach outing. This was the last Friday before school started. I never did get a big group photo, but the girls all got together:



Then I got a solo of Jake (not sure where the boys all were, but there were a bunch of them).



It was a super wavy day and they had so much fun.

Our summer came to a close on the 26th, with the first day of school. Here's Megan starting 4th grade with Ms. Doyle:



Here's Jake at his 1st grade desk. I didn't get a photo of him with his teacher, but in hindsight, he's probably glad because he's not too fond of her.



Megan had soccer practice on the first day of school:



And then their first game was the very next day. Look at the size of this kid she was matched up against.



Cathy Mullen is such a good coach. Megan was nervous and she gave her a super pep talk. Whatever she said, worked, because Megan got in there and mixed it up with the rest of them.