My new motto for the kids this year has been, “Dumb it Down.”

Maybe it’s not the most flattering expression, but when I say it, Adam knows exactly what I mean.

Adam and I are both overachievers when it comes to making plans. We don’t just want to have fun, we want to pack as much fun as possible into every day as we can.

But this philosophy doesn’t leave time for the most important part of the equation for fun – down time.

So for the past two days, we dumbed our play down.

We spent an entire Saturday afternoon goofing around at one little park near our house.

It was the first time this summer we did it, and we noticed lots of changes from all of the kids.

Like the fact that a playground alone is no longer fun enough for Jack. But if you add a few balls to the equation and some open space, he is happy for hours.

Or that Ben can finally pedal a bike without having to get a starter push each time he stops.

And amazingly, if you show Sam how to do the monkey bars just one time, he can repeat it perfectly for you. 

I thought we’d only be there an hour but we ended up playing for over three hours!

The next day, we scrapped our extensive plan to drive to the suburbs to our favorite breakfast spot, then spend the day at the Botanical gardens for a short walk to the Farm at the Zoo.

Feeding the cows

petting the goats

the kids put on the play for us.

petting a bunny

In the afternoon we found a large grassy area just outside of the farm which was perfect for picnicking, playing ball, finding sticks and just enjoying the perfect weather.

picnic

if there are sticks, Aaron is happy.

Afterwards we stopped by Dairy Queen for an afternoon treat and Adam turned to me and said, “I feel like our weekend was so wholesome.” 

Maybe that’s what I should start saying instead. Keep it simple, keep it about connecting with the kids. Keep it wholesome.

This week I renewed my membership at the Chicago Children’s Museum.

I couldn’t resist after I heard they had a new Zoom Room.

It was a really cool room. We got there right when it opened to the members only and stayed until it got too crowded for Ben.

In fact the entire museum, as well as all of Navy Pier, was pretty crowded. I was worried how Ben would handle this, along with the fact that some of the room are too young for some of my kids and too old for others.

But it worked out with the help of our sitter, Camila. 

We also did a lot of things that were guaranteed not to over crowd, like the “Petite Chef” room where they teach you to cook and let you eat the food afterwards.

We made hummus boats and everyone traded what they didn’t like with the other kids for a healthy morning snack.

We also got tickets to the Art Studio, where we created our own stuffed animals. 

Besides limited seating events, we kept to the less crowded areas, like the main floor upstairs. 

Or the Skyline exhibit.

And spent a surprisingly long amount of time in the toy store!

Afterwards I asked the front desk if they always booked this many groups (there were 5 today) and she said they could add me to an email that lists how many groups would be there each day so I could plan accordingly. Thought I’d share that tip in case any of you readers have the same concerns as me…

Yesterday we celebrated the end of Ben’s long (11 month!) school year with the staff and other families at Ben’s school.

As usual, Ben’s school put on an amazing party. There was pizza, brownies, and lemonade. (I think Ben had 10 cups!)

Also they hired a crew to help facilitate games for the kids.

The kids remembered wrapping me as a mummy last year, and this year they were happy to see the tradition continue.

Afterwards, ‘mummy’ chased them around.

Welcome to summer, Ben!

One month with 4 kids is filling me with excitement and fear all at the same time…

Today we celebrated Ben’s 7th birthday with a movie themed party.

At first we were planning a Star Wars theme, including showing the first movie of the series but when Ben heard the twins would not be able to view it, he very sweetly switched to the Minions movie. But he still wanted the Star Wars cake.

We held the party at Facets.

In addition to this super cool marquee, they also popped us popcorn for the movie, had an entire theater reserved just for our party, and let us use a private room upstairs after the movie.

We were able to bring anything we wanted to supplement the party and we used the opportunity to bring box movie candy and lots of drinks.

Another sign at the entrance of the theater.

Minions was a huge success, and having a private theater where the kids could talk without being shushed was key.

Afterwards we headed upstairs to the party room for lunch and cake.

They didn’t rush us out. Sometimes these parties are very tightly scheduled and I really appreciated their relaxed attitude. 

Opening all his presents.

Facets also gave us free tickets to their film festival, which we added to these movie themed, popcorn goodie bags. (missing blow up punch balls)

We affectionately call Ben our unluckiest, lucky child and today, on his seventh birthday, he proved the title fit the boy.

We started the day letting him skip school and play hookie with the rest of his family.

Breakfast was a feast of artisanal donuts from Glazed and Infused.

Next it was time to open the presents from his brothers. Puzzles and a 5 minute stories Star Wars storybook.

Afterwards, we packed up and headed over to the Hidden Creek Aqua Park for a day of fun in the sun. For the seventh year in a row, the date of Ben’s birth had perfect weather.

We spent many hours cavorting in the water.

We were lucky to have so many grandparents with us to help celebrate!

We also spent an hour in between refueling.

When we got back in the pool, Ben got stung by a bee behind his neck.

But it was time to go anyway. We made it home in time to shower all the kids and herded them back into the car for another birthday treat of Ben’s choosing. He asked for “The sparkling dessert at Meli Cafe.”

In Ben’s speak, that is the Volcano dessert at Rainforest Cafe.

The kids checked out all the animals around the room. It was so nice to be in a restaurant that didn’t expect them to sit in their seats, restlessly waiting for their food. Plenty of moving animals to entertain them.

When Ben put on his special birthday hat he said, “I wish I could superglue this hat to my head!”

And moving animals were not the only thing. We were also visited by the balloon man who seemed to be able to make just about anything. Jack got a shark, Ben got a red bunny holding a balloon that said, “Happy Birthday” on it, Sam got a light saber and Aaron got a blue Alien with a shooter.

Rainforest Cafe’s red eyed tree frog, Cha-Cha also made sure Ben’s day was special.

Finally we got Ben’s Volcano Cake, a treat big enough to feed all seven of us! Ben ate so much dinner and dessert he actually threw up afterwards.

When he recovered, he turned to Adam with his sunburned face and said with a smile, “This was the craziest birthday ever! I got stung by a bee AND I threw up!”

The most unlucky, lucky kid ever.

Don’t ask why, but last night we found ourselves traveling across two state lines and one time zone to see the band Styx.

Before going to the show, my expectations of seeing an 70s/80s rock band were to sing a few songs from a long forgotten past. 

But I didn’t realize how much those songs would evoke memories of that forgotten past. I happy held up my modern day lighter (iPhone flashlight) and swayed along with the crowd, remembering the good old days.

The days of no responsibility, or piling in cars and riding around town chasing the next party, blasting music on our car radios or from our home made mixed cassette tapes.

Music blaring out of our boom boxes while we sat baking in the summer sun.

Or the under 21 bar we used to frequent, “Weekends” where we could wander around in circles, stopping only to break out our running man or wave moves on the dance floor.

It was good old fashioned nostalgia, blaring boldly from a bright, colorful stage filled with very talented musicians.

Last weekend Jack had his tooth extracted. His baby tooth was still firmly entrenched while the adult tooth brazenly grew over it.

It was super scary for him to go through. And it was even tougher for Adam to watch him go through it.

It was an event worthy of a great tooth fairy visit.

As soccer has been the theme of the month, the tooth fairy continued the tradition, with a soccer themed hunt.

As the level of reading improves, the scavenger hunts get more and more wordy.

Jack was like the pied piper, picking up more kids with each clue.

Finally Jack found the money. The tooth fairy tipped extra big for this difficult little tooth!