#98. Scenes from the Rest of Summer '22

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.

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!!

Her batting (love the focused eyes!!)...

...and fielding improved a lot this year!!

Clare also had the opportunity to attend softball camp at Northwestern.

It was pretty cool to throw...

...take at bats on the NU field...

...hang out in the Wildcats dugout,...

...and chill with some of the Northwestern players!!

Meanwhile, Luke continued to keep up with his karate.

He's been attending classes weekly for the past couple of years...

...and definitely seems to like it!

It helps when one of your best friends is in class training with you!!

During Father's Day week, Daddy was able to attend a class...

...and grew an appreciation for the skill challenges involved.

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.  

They survived a super hot week!!

Outside of sports, we had no trouble enjoying the Evanston area during the summer months.

We made our annual trek to the Baha'i Temple...

Where the views...

...never seem to get old...

...and the fountains are always fun to look at...

...and dip into!!

This year we tried something new and walked the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park along McCormick Avenue.

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the walk...

...and learning more about each unique sculpture.

The twins learned about Gandhi...

...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!!

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.

We instantly fell in love with our new pet,...

...and it didn't take long for Howie to fall in love with us.

We are so excited to have a pet again!

On July 19, the twins turned 8!!

We hung the traditional birthday banner,...

...and the twins enjoyed presents from family.

Grandma Steffie and Grandpa Dan came for a visit to help celebrate!

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.

This year, we visited the beach,... 

...hit the kid-friendly bar,...

...and got up, close, and personal with the Pilgrim Tower.

This year, we climbed the 100+ steps to the top...

...and enjoyed the views of the ground we walked through to get to the tower!

One afternoon, we decided to hike the dunes all the way to the ocean...

...which proved to be more of a challenge than we thought.

Only one of us made it to this sign (that seemed like it would never appear)...

...and the beach view that came soon after.

Better luck for these three amigos next time.

Ptown has yet to disappoint these two, and hopefully we will be back again to visit soon!

Right before Daddy had to head back to work, we took our traditional trip downtown on the L.

All aboard!!

They weren't impressed by the Trump Tower in the distance,...

...but they did enjoy the City Mini Golf course!

It's not every day you get to minigolf through the Sears (ugh, I mean Willis) Tower...

...and the cityscape views surrounding the course sure are nice.

Since we were right there, we walked over to the Bean,... 

...(it's always fun to look up from 'inside')...

...and the twins took a splash (or two) in the Crown Fountain.

The downtown visit was a nice way to cap off a great summer...

...and now it's on to 3rd grade at Kingsley!!