Before school started, we squeezed in a few last fun activities and outings with friends and cousins.
Our morning swimming plan with friends got rained out...
...so we played at the McDonald's play land for a few hours instead.
These goofy girls didn't seem to mind the change of plans.
We went to the Peoria zoo and had a picnic with one of Adelie's friends.
And we enjoyed the Bloomington zoo with cousins...
...followed by a cousin play date.
And the kids got to enjoy some special Daddy time the week before school started while I worked and had a week-end work conference.
They also went to the Bloomington zoo with cousins...
...because who doesn't love a zoo trip?!
And they spent a morning painting pottery.
(They also went fishing, to the Peoria children's museum, out to eat, and had dessert with every meal...because that's just how Daddy rolls!)
Briggs also got to enjoy a special day with Aunt Carrie while the girls were in school. He loved going to the zoo and playing with all Aunt Carrie's trains.
He has also had some fun play days at Uma and Papa's.
And he even got to take a little trip to Bass Pro Shop with grandpa to check out the big fish and the bear. (I think Briggs is figuring out that it's a pretty good deal being the only kid at home.)
One of our biggest August adventures was a (long) road trip to mine for geodes in far western Illinois. A friend of mine invited us to do this with her and her girls over a year ago. We finally got it on the calendar before we learned that it was 2.5 hours away. I was unsure about a day on the road for a few hours of geode mining, but we went...and I'm so glad we did! Although it was a lot of driving, we had a fun day.
Digging in the mud walls didn't hold the girls' interest for too long, but they loved finding pieces of geodes on the ground.
Adelie loved using her hammer to pound on rocks I found to determine if they were geodes or not.
We ended up filling a large bucket full of geodes to bring home.
Since I initially had no idea what I was even looking for or how to find them, I was excited by our success.
Once we got them home, Zach helped split them open and the girls spent the next afternoon cleaning and washing them.
And now we just have to figure out what to do with a bucket full of geodes. :)
While we were off mining for geodes, Briggs and Zach went to Dozer Days. Although Briggs didn't want to go in any moving equipment that Zach couldn't do with him, he still loved exploring and checking out all the big equipment. His favorite was sitting in and honking the horn of the cement mixer.
And an end-of-August highlight is always the Community Bash at Aunt Jill's church. Bouncy houses, horse rides, face painting, ice cream, a Life Flight helicopter, fire department demonstrations, hay rack rides, fireworks... It's fun, it's free, and it's always a highlight for our kids.
There's no better way to say good-bye to August than with some fun time with cousins.
We have loved our summer, and it's sad to say good-bye to August.
But now we can look forward to fall and all the fun it will bring.
