Outside of the adventures we had out west in California, there were plenty of other fun happenings for the twins before the start of 3rd grade.
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| Most importantly, turning the 'great' EIGHT!! |
It was another summer of sports. Clare played her second season of softball, this year as a member of the Lincolnwood (Northwestern) Warriors!!
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| Her batting (love the focused eyes!!)... |
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| ...and fielding improved a lot this year!! |
Clare also had the opportunity to attend softball camp at Northwestern.
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| It was pretty cool to throw... |
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| ...take at bats on the NU field... |
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| ...hang out in the Wildcats dugout,... |
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| ...and chill with some of the Northwestern players!! |
Meanwhile, Luke continued to keep up with his karate.
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| He's been attending classes weekly for the past couple of years... |
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| ...and definitely seems to like it! |
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| It helps when one of your best friends is in class training with you!! |
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| During Father's Day week, Daddy was able to attend a class... |
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| ...and grew an appreciation for the skill challenges involved. |
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| At the end of the summer, Luke earned his full green belt. We are so proud!! |
In addition to softball and karate, the twins attended a soccer camp.
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| They survived a super hot week!! |
Outside of sports, we had no trouble enjoying the Evanston area during the summer months.
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| We made our annual trek to the Baha'i Temple... |
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| Where the views... |
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| ...never seem to get old... |
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| ...and the fountains are always fun to look at... |
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| ...and dip into!! |
This year we tried something new and walked the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park along McCormick Avenue.
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| It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the walk... |
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...and learning more about each unique sculpture.
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| The twins learned about Gandhi... |
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| ...and had so much fun being with art. |
In mid-July, we went 'looking' for a puppy at Wrightway Rescue (this is where we adopted Trig in 2013)...and ended up (surprise!) bringing home Howie!!
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| Meet Howell Ulysses Knapp-Heald (Howell after Howell Park...a large open park across the street from us; and Ulysses because it was Howie's shelter name). Howie is a Treeing Walker Coonhound mix. |
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| We instantly fell in love with our new pet,... |
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| ...and it didn't take long for Howie to fall in love with us. |
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| We are so excited to have a pet again! |
On July 19, the twins turned 8!!
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| We hung the traditional birthday banner,... |
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| ...and the twins enjoyed presents from family. |
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| Grandma Steffie and Grandpa Dan came for a visit to help celebrate! |
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| And, at some point (maybe not until August...or September...) we finally got chance to take the annual 'tree pics'. |
Before the start of school we tried to pack in a couple of final adventures. We took a second summer vacation to Cape Cod and visited friends in Provincetown.
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| This year, we visited the beach,... |
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| ...hit the kid-friendly bar,... |
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| ...and got up, close, and personal with the Pilgrim Tower. |
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This year, we climbed the 100+ steps to the top...
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| ...and enjoyed the views of the ground we walked through to get to the tower! |
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| One afternoon, we decided to hike the dunes all the way to the ocean... |
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| ...which proved to be more of a challenge than we thought. |
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| Only one of us made it to this sign (that seemed like it would never appear)... |
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| ...and the beach view that came soon after. |
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| Better luck for these three amigos next time. |
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Ptown has yet to disappoint these two, and hopefully we will be back again to visit soon!
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Right before Daddy had to head back to work, we took our traditional trip downtown on the L.
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| All aboard!! |
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| They weren't impressed by the Trump Tower in the distance,... |
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| ...but they did enjoy the City Mini Golf course! |
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| It's not every day you get to minigolf through the Sears (ugh, I mean Willis) Tower... |
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| ...and the cityscape views surrounding the course sure are nice. |
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| Since we were right there, we walked over to the Bean,... |
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| ...(it's always fun to look up from 'inside')... |
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| ...and the twins took a splash (or two) in the Crown Fountain. |
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| The downtown visit was a nice way to cap off a great summer... |
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| ...and now it's on to 3rd grade at Kingsley!! |
