Last week we headed down to Millennium Park on Monday to see Ms. Julie sing – she was our old Wiggleworms teacher. We enjoyed a word art project and the hoola hoops, and then shared a picnic with Daddy by the Bean! Tuesday we had a playdate with Maeve’s friend from Black Bear, Sisi, at a wonderful tucked away park called Adams Playlot. The girls played in the sandbox mostly, but Maeve and I went back after lunch to beat the heat at the splash pad with a slide! Wednesday was gorgeous and we enjoyed it to the fullest – we went to the Green City Market and Farm in the Zoo with Olivia, Tessa and Sarah in the morning. Then we joined Evan and Georgia at the pool in Wilmette in the afternoon! The rest of the week included some errands and prep for Mommy’s girls’ weekend, but then Maeve and Daddy had an adventure. They headed over to Saugatuck to our friends’ cottage on Saturday to enjoy the beach. Georgia took the kids to paint pottery while the daddies went fishing too. It sounded like Maeve had a great time!

This week included the following:

Monday – trip downtown on the Metra and the water taxi

Tuesday – Oak Park to Olivia’s and a new pool that had a lazy river

Wednesday – art projects at home and bouncy fun at Pump-It-Up

Thursday – Playdate with Will (friend from Black Bear) at Family Grounds Cafe and dinner with our cousins Anne & Cole, and Katie & Ben

Friday – Playdate with new neighbors Jackson and Abby

For Labor Day weekend we are off to visit cousin Nathan, Auntie Beth, Uncle Matt, and Grandma!

Monday – Sign up for art class and preschool at the Y, lunch with mommy’s friend

Tuesday – Storytime and ice cream at Brown Cow with Olivia

Wednesday – Green City Market, Lincoln Park Zoo, Centennial Pool and dinner at Evan’s

Thursday – beach and picnic with Katie, Megan and Lucy

Friday – bowling and lunch with Gwen

Saturday – birthday party for Gaby and Ben, including rides on the el and the bus

Sunday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANNA!!! We had a wonderful outing to Lincoln Park this morning for the WTTW Fun & Run. They had many characters from our favorite PBS shows, including Cookie Monster, Elmo, Duck and Dog from Word World, Clifford, Arthur and, of course, Curious George! Maeve wanted to wait in the lines for the inflatable slides more than for the characters, and she had even more fun after we ran into our friends, the Steeves family!

i updated lots of photos today from the last couple of fun weeks.

also, the big news of this week is that we are signed up for Maeve’s 3 days/week preschool at the Y this fall!

Monday – Breakfast with our cousins wrapping up a great visit with Kaitlyn, then Aunt Katie came with us to the Art Institute and the Whealan pool

Tuesday – Bowling and lunch playdate at our house with Evan

Wednesday – Aunt Katie joined us for the Chicago Botanic Garden to visit the trains and then the Centennial Pool with Georgia and Evan

Thursday – At the Y to play and meet Maeve’s new preschool teacher (more on this exciting development below!)

Friday – We went to the library to beat the heat

This weekend we laid low, but enjoyed the gorgeous sunshine in our yard and a family outing to the pool in Wilmette. Tomorrow we sign up for art class at Horner Park and then head over to the Irving Park YMCA to sign Maeve up for preschool there. Last week we met the teacher and saw the room – we loved both and it looks like the perfect fit! I’m excited that we now know she’ll be in school M/W/F mornings. We think her schedule is complete with soccer and art so we are going to wait on Spanish til at least the winter to make sure she settles into her new school and routine.

Here’s a recap of this past week:

Monday – Whealan Aquatic Center with Mommy

Tuesday – Bowling and playdate at Evan’s

Wednesday – Wonderworks with Olivia and Lily (Brookfield Zoo was rained out), YMCA

Thursday – Playgroup reunion with Charlie, J.T. and Reilly in Arlington Heights

Friday – Centennial Pool with Evan, park playdate with Avery

Saturday – Lily’s birthday party at River Park

Our cousin Kaitlyn is here for a visit this weekend, so we will have a fun cousins’ BBQ this afternoon with Lucy!

Maeve spent most of her time with Nanna and Grandad, who helped us out so much! She enjoyed another trip to Greenfield Village, where they rode the steam engine train, the Model T Fords and the carousel. Maeve got to go mini golfing with her grandparents as well, and then on a boat ride to lunch and a bike ride around Wyandotte for ice cream another day! My mom and I were able to take her to a local pool, but mostly she loved playing with Duffy and Ophelia. There is a really cute video in the MobileMe Gallery of Maeve “reading” her new princess book to Ophelia!

We returned in time to stop by our block party so Maeve could go in the bouncy house and we’ve been enjoying this perfect summer weather at the local farmer’s market and pools. The Whealan pool we found today as we kicked off Altman Summer Camp this week is a perfect blend of zero depth entry, fun slides and spray toys, and the ability for Maeve to swim around with her life jacket on! We are hoping for trips to Brookfield Zoo and playdates with friends in the suburbs this week too… This weekend we are looking forward to some quality time to BBQ with our cousins!

We celebrated Maeve’s friend Mia’s birthday on Saturday at a fun storytelling party and now have a day to regroup in Chicago. But the big news is that we are excited to meet Auntie Beth and Uncle Matt’s baby boy on Monday, so next we will be traveling to Detroit to be with them as they welcome him to the world!

Please see the update to the Boat trip post below, as there are tons more photos in my dad’s gallery…

Tuesday – storytime and pool in Oak Park with Olivia, Welles Park concert with Mia

Wednesday – day trip to Janesville, pool playdate with Sierra

Thursday – Lunch with cousins, playdate with Evan at our house

Friday – Playdates with Will and Avery (school friends)

This weekend, Daddy returns from his week-long trip to DC and we are getting ready for our trip to Grandma’s. We will be at Grandma’s next week with many fun activities planned, like berry picking and a trip to the Curious George exhibit at the Children’s Museum in Grand Rapids!

So, Altman Summer Camp took a road trip hiatus to Nanna and Grandad’s boat for two weeks. This trip started off with a fun surprise party for Aunt Cinda and Uncle Bill’s 40th Wedding Anniversary! We met up with the Foley family in Charlevoix, MI at the end of June. We stayed with Nanna, Grandad and Duffy on the boat and saw members of the Foley, Anderson, Fitzpatrick, Arms and Thompson families for the special occasion.

On Monday after the party, Nanna, Grandad, Duffy, Maeve and I embarked on our boating journey (Daddy had to head back to Chicago for a week of work before his vacation could begin). Our journey that day was not ideal, with waves bigger (and more side to side) than we expected. Maeve did not enjoy “going up and down!” But we arrived safely in Leland, MI and spent several days in that marina, exploring the cute surrounding town and parks. Gail and Linda came to visit for dinner one night and we found some yummy jam and cute stores while we were there.

On Thursday of that week we traveled across Lake Michigan to Sturgeon Bay, WI. We were excited to make it to Wisconsin so that Chris could join us on the weekend and we could explore Door County. We had so many fun experiences there and didn’t even see/do it all in a week! We highly recommend the area and have specific dining and outing recommendations to share, especially if you have kids.

Here are some of the highlights of our Door County leg:

iPad – Maeve discovered Nanna’s newest Mac toy and did some amazing art work in both Doodle Buddy and Brushes.

Duffy – Maeve has reached a point where she is stronger and bigger than Duffy, so she requires more supervision to ensure that she is gentle with him as he grows older. But, she loves him dearly and lays on him and “doctors” him whenever she can!

Swimming – Maeve started the week by trying out her life jacket in the pool and found by the end of the week that she could float, jump in by herself and swim all the way to the ladder at the other end of the pool.

Dinghy – Maeve only had one outing in the dinghy this trip, and did so with Daddy and Grandad. She enjoyed touring around the marina and under the big bridge nearby, and visiting the tugboats in the area. She got to drive in circles and practice her skills for a bit as well.

Sturgeon Bay, WI – we stayed in Centerpointe Marina with its great heated pool and nice families. There were stores, restaurants and parks to walk to from here and it’s a cute little town to explore.

Door County – We had really good restaurant and excursion recommendations from family and friends who had been there. We took a day trip on the ferry to Washington Island and visited a neat rock beach. We also went to mini golf at Pirate’s Cove (Maeve loved it and went twice!) and a fish boil at the White Gull Inn. Two of Maeve’s favorite meals were at a bakery with a play area and a restaurant that delivers its food on a choo choo train! Of course, we all loved the old fashioned ice cream parlor in Ephraim with its chocolate malts.