Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for animals
The poor, mixed-up groundhog
Groundhog day is such a weird thing. I mean, people actually rely on a rodent to predict the weather? Weird. But today, it was an even weirder Groundhog day than usual. As early as 8:00 am people started posting on Facebook about the results. The first status I saw was, “the groundhog didn’t see his shadow…an early spring for us!” which was followed immediately by, “just saw the groundhog on the Today Show. He saw his shadow, so we have six more weeks of winter!” What? How can the results be so different? I’m so confused…how will I ever know what the weather’s doing now?
The truth is just about everyone’s been confused about this weather. It’s the strangest winter I can remember. We’ve only had one real snowfall, and that only lasted about a week. We’ve had temperatures in the high 50s this week, and it’s really making me nervous. I’m worried that we’re still going to get hit with some giant winter storm late, after we all think it’s on its way out. I don’t know about you, but I think that late January/early February is just too early to have spring fever. But let me tell you, when you walk out of school and it’s sunny and 58° outside, it’s pretty hard NOT to think about spring.
I’m a fan of winter and I love snow. But now is the time when I start to get sick of winter because I know that it won’t be long until the warm spring days are upon us. Let’s hope that the silly old groundhog can get his stuff together and hold off winter for just a while until spring has a chance to get here.
Back at “The Fair”
Anyone from southern DeKalb county knows what I’m talking about when I say “The Fair”. It’s the Sandwich Fair, and it’s time once again to participate in that beloved fall tradition.
Dave, the kids and I drove up to Sycamore after Ben’s soccer game yesterday. We were all excited, because we hadn’t been to Grandma & Grandpa’s for a while. We had a nice afternoon and the kids had a great evening there. The grown-ups went out together and the kids stayed with Grandma & Grandpa and played and played outside with all of the neighbor kids.
This morning we got up and didn’t waste much time there before we headed out to the fair. It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time there.
We visited the petting zoo, and then hit the rides.
It always amazes me how much fun they have just riding around in a tiny little circle on a motorcycle or car. I supposed i was just as thrilled when I was going to The Fair at their age. After riding a bit, we decided to head to the campers. We got a little sidetracked by some of the implement dealers on the way.
We all decided that we definitely need one of these. Once we got to the campers, the kids had a ball going into all of them. They loved climbing up on the bunk beds or lofts.
Every time we’d go in a big one, Ben would say, “Now I could get used to this!” It made Dave and I hopeful that we could have some big time camping trips in our future. Of course we’ll never be able to afford the ones that they liked best, but at least they were into the idea.
We grabbed some lunch and got a much-needed break sitting down for a few minutes. The kids were doing well, but were already pretty tired. Our next stop was the tractor and steam engine area inside the train tracks. We hit the pony ride on our way.
Once we had walked through the antique tractors and engines, it was time to finish off our tickets for the day. We discovered an awesome ride that we had somehow missed before.
I’m sure glad we found it, because it was both of the kids’ favorite. Even in their tired state, they ran through this thing twice. Emma especially loved the super fast slide at the end. She would come out and flop onto her tummy at the end and come up with a giant grin on her face.
Although I had a pounding headache the entire day, I was very glad that we made it to The Fair. I know this will always be a tradition in our family, because I think Dave loves it even more than I do. I don’t know how that’s even possible, but it’s true. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I don’t know how anybody can not like The Fair!
Seeing Sue
We’ve been talking about it all winter, and finally found a weekend to do it. We went to the Field Museum in Chicago today, and we all loved it. Ben got a book about the dinosaur known as Sue who permanently resides in the Field. She’s very famous mostly because it was the most complete skeleton of a T-Rex ever found. I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t really all that impressed by Sue. But it was a big deal for all of us to finally see her. Ben was definitely impressed.
The rest of the museum was really pretty awesome. I was trying to remember the last time I was there, and I honestly can’t. I think it may have been on a field trip of my own back in grade school. It was kind of like I was seeing it all for the very first time, too. They had a special deal going that day for a year-long membership, and if we purchased that it actually ended up being cheaper than buying four tickets to all of the exhibitions we wanted to see. That gave us free rein to go anywhere in the building. Our first stop was a special exhibit called “Underground Adventure”. It was so cool. You walked through a tunnel with crazy mirrors to give the perception that you were shrinking. Then when you entered the exhibit, it was like you were underground and teeny tiny 
so the roots and bugs were all huge. The kids ate that up, and they kept talking about how little we were. We were in there for a long time looking at bugs, roots, dirt, and spiders. The kids even got to climb around on some of them.
We then went through the whale exhibit, which wasn’t as big of a hit for the kids, but Dave and I really liked. They had a bunch of whale skulls and some complete skeletons. It is absolutely unbelievable to see how big some of those things really are. I can’t even imagine seeing one swimming around in real life. I mean, I’ve seen whales in the ocean before, but it would be unbelievable to see one up close under water.
The next stop was the “Evolving Planet” section, which housed all the dinosaurs. This was obviously a big hit with Ben, but Emma kind of liked them, too. The thing she liked the most was a big tub of tar they had in a clear plexiglass tube. You could pull up a handle attached to a pipe on the inside to see how thick and sticky it was. She could barely lift it, but she loved it. Not a surprise that it would be the dirtiest, stickiest, messiest thing in the museum that held her attention the most.
After walking around looking at everything for about 2½ hours, the kids were pretty tired.
We decided it would be a good idea to leave before things got ugly and we would be facing meltdowns. When we got outside, we realized that it was the perfect day to be in the museum, because it was pouring outside. Dave went and got the van for us, we all piled back in, and we headed for Sycamore to drop the kids of at Grandma & Grandpa’s for a few days. Thankfully, because of our year-long membership, we can go back anytime in the next year for free!
Outnumbered: the end-of-the-year field trip
Dave gets what State Farm refers to as an “educational” day off each year. The purpose is to give employees a chance to attend something with their kids or to volunteer in a school program and/or activity. Last year Dave used his to take Ben on his end-of-the-year field trip. The had a great day together, so they were both excited to go again this year. This year’s trip was to the Decatur zoo and children’s museum, and they even decided that Emma could go with them. The plan was for Ben’s BFF Boyden and his dad Aaron to ride with them, which made both Dave and Ben happy. Unfortunately, Aaron found out last-minute that he had to go on a work trip this week, so those plans were very quickly changed. Through a very complicated string of phone calls, texts, and emails, the group somehow completely changed to include our babysitter Danielle and three more kids.
So this morning the van took off from Tomorrow’s Promise Learning Centre with Dave, Danielle, and six kids in tow. The car seats were crammed in there tight, but somehow they all fit.
Since I wasn’t there, I could only get a second-hand account of hte trip, but it sounded like everyone had a great time. The weather didn’t totally cooperate, as it was cool and rainy for most of morning, but it did clear up pretty well, so the day wasn’t completely spoiled by rain. Below is one of my favorite pictures from the day:
I love how Ben and Emma are getting a core group of friends. It’s even better that we really like all of their friends’ parents, too. Dave also told me that our kids got along really well and that Ben seemed to be happy that Emma was there with them all. I love that she is part of his group of friends.
Although it really makes me sad that I didn’t get to go to the field trip, I absolutely love that Dave could spend that time with the kids.
Costume woes
Why oh why do I take on these projects that are too much for me?? Several weeks ago, I went to the fabric store and picked out a pattern and fabric for Emma’s Halloween costume. She wanted to be a panda bear and Ben wanted to be a tiger. I found a pattern that had both a cat and a bear on it. Perfect, I thought! I got black and white furry fabric, but couldn’t find any tiger strip fabric. To make a long story short, Ben is now being a dragon and he’s wearing a costume we bought online. But I was convinced I could make Emma’s.
Of course the supplies sat in the bag until two nights ago. I finally dragged it out and started looking through the pattern. Holy crap those things are complicated!! And they’re all folded up in some cryptic manner and printed on the thinnest paper known to man. I knew instantly that I would never have the patience to get this project finished. Luckily, I was able to get the hood done. So today, I took back all the black furry fabric and Emma the panda bear is now going to wear black pants and a black fleece with a white strip of fur sewn around the tummy section. It’s a much simplified version of the original idea, but hopefully it will look ok. Oh, she will have a custom white furry hood with black ears, of course.
I just wanted to make her something cute, because I always hated my Halloween costumes. I should have known better than to only leave myself a month. The fall is just too nuts. Next year, I”m starting this process as soon as school starts!!
A fall tradition–Tanner’s!
Last fall we made our first trip to Tanner’s Orchard. We loved it so much that we decided then and there that it would be a fall tradition to go back every year…as long as we could get the kids to go with us! Today was the day for the 2010 trip, and again, we had a great time. There’s not much more I can say than I did last year when we went, so I’m going to let the pictures tell the story of our trip.
“Hi, Mom”
I talked to the kids at Grandma & Grandpa’s tonight. Ben’s not big on talking on the phone, but tonight he was a chatty Cathy.
“Hi, Mom,” he said, “We are do so much fun things!”
“Really?” I said. “Like what?”
“Well, we went to a kite festival and we runned around a lot and then we got to make our own kites! And then, Mom did you see Facebook?”
“Yes, I said. I didn’t have a chance to say anything else because I was cut off.
“Well, you can see a picture of me petting a horse! We went to this farm and then I was petting a horse and then I drived a golf cart, too. It was really awesome. And Mom, are you proud of me for petting a horse?”
“Wow,” I said, “I am so proud of you for being brave. It sounds like you are having so much fun at Grandma & Grandpa’s house.”
“Yeah,” Ben said. “It’s really so much fun here and it makes me not even think about you.”
Ok then. Not exactly what I was hoping to hear, but I knew what he meant. I absolutely love when my kids spend time at my parents’ house. They have so much fun with their grandparents, and it’s such a treat for them to stay there. I mean, what more could you want than to sleep on the pull-out couch every night?? 
While I know this week of freedom from daycare, preschool and parental responsibility will be nice for us, it will be a million times better for the kids. I can’t wait to hear more as the week progresses.
Turtle mania
We found this guy in one of our window wells last night.
I named him Snappy. He was not very happy to be stuck in our window well. When Dave tried to get him out with a shovel, he was very uncooperative and generally quite pissy. We were headed out for the evening, so we had to leave him there and worry about it in the morning.
As soon as the kids got up they were asking to go look at the turtle. They were fascinated with that thing. So we started our quest to get Snappy out of his little prison and off to a better home.
First Dave tried to get him to clamp on to a stick.
That didn’t work…he knew better than to clamp onto that thing. So next he tried using a rag.
Nope, that one didn’t work, either. But the kids did get to see a lot of snapping from Snappy that time. He went kind of nuts on that rag. I think he was toying with Dave by this point. Finally, he got a different shaped shovel and got him scooped out.
I have to admit that Snappy kind of scared the crap out of me. He was one ugly turtle, and he did not have a loving personality.
We loaded him into an empty garbage can and headed out to the country to set him free.
Dave dumped Snappy out of the garbage can, and he was home. Ben was very disappointed that he didn’t immediately walk off towards the water, but we finally convinced him that Snappy would be happy there.
By the time we got back in the van and got it turned around, Snappy was gone…presumably into the creek already.
Live long and prosper, Snappy…just don’t come back to visit us anytime soon!!
Another trip to another zoo
We again decided to take advantage of Dave’s day off with a trip to the Peoria Zoo. Ben and Dave had gone there back in May on a field trip with Tomorrow’s Promise, and Ben was anxious to take the whole family back. So we hopped in the van, threw in Ben’s new favorite movie, “Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel”, and headed West. It took us almost an hour to get there but the time flies when the kids are watching a movie. I never thought I’d say it, but I love the DVD player in the van.
Once we were there Ben instantly started running around from animal to animal. We tried to slow him down enough to actually watch some of the animals and to give Emma a chance to see anything. 
It’s very weird to me…he loves going to zoos, but when we’re there he just hurries through and never really takes the time to watch anything. I can’t figure it out, exactly. Emma, on the other hand, really seems to want to watch what the animals are doing. She likes to talk about them and seems to be in no hurry to get to the next one. I guess it’s just one of those big differences in the two.
The Peoria Zoo is pretty small, but their Africa exhibit is pretty awesome. Sadly, though, some of the animals weren’t there. Dave said that when they were there in May there were many more animals in a couple of the pens, which was really disappointing to me. Maybe it was the difference in weather…it was pretty hot today. But we did get to see some 
zebras, a giraffe, rhinos rolling in the mud, and some gigantic tortoises. Once again both kids were totally into figuring out the map. They wanted to plan with Daddy where to go next.
We got some lunch, walked around a bit more, and headed home. I think the kids had a good time, and I am glad that we finally got over there. Check off another goal for the summer!
A super cool new place to go
Last night at the Cornbelter’s game, our neighbors were telling us about the Sugar Grove Nature Center in Funk’s Grove. It sounded like a really fun place to visit, and they were headed there this morning. Dave was enjoying his first day of vacation, so we headed out with them. Little did we know how much we would love it there.
It was a nice drive out to Funk’s Grove, and we were surprised how pretty it was out there. It was a beautiful day, and as soon as we pulled up to the Nature Center we knew this was a good idea. 
We went into the building and the kids were instantly engaged with all of the animal pelts, skulls, horns, and shells that were there. Most of the items were displayed in a way that encouraged the kids to touch and handle them. 
That was nice, because it was instantly what all of them wanted to do. There was also some aquariums with various turtles and snakes in them, which were also a big hit with all four kids. For a very small building, there were LOTS of things to look at and play with.
After we had explored the center for a while, we decided it was time to head outside. After a short walk we were into the woods, and there was a clearing with some play equipment, a little play house, and a big tall tree house that the three bigger kids were instantly climbing into. It was really cool. 
There was a little stream and a place to cross it, and across the stream there was another small clearing with a really fun tire swing in a giant tree. We played and played, but then it was time to hike. Now, the term hike may be a bit of an exaggeration considering the trails were all mowed, but for kids aged four and under, it was perfect. We got a map from the nature center, and followed it through the woods and the fields for a nice walk around the property.
The boys were all excited and were running up front. They were totally into searching for animal tracks. Emma, Dave and I brought up the rear, but she was having such a good time that she didn’t really care if she was at the end of the group. Periodically she would ask Daddy to stop and show her where we were on the map. It was melting Dave’s heart.
We have wanted to get the kids out into nature more, and with Dave’s love of camping and hiking he’s been itching to include the kids in his interest. But we always worry if they’re ready for it. It would be awful to get out into the middle of a hike and have the kids melt down or something. This was the perfect place to start to these kinds of activities. The scale was just right for our young kids, and they really got to see and learn a lot. We can’t wait to go back.
