After picking up the mounds that had accumulated on every surface so the cleaning ladies could work their magic, the kids and I went to County Donuts for brunch. Shawn was thrilled to sit on twisty chairs at the diner's counter. He and I had egg and cheese on bagels. He had chocolate milk and I had decaf coffee with a shot of gingerbread flavor - yum! Lilly made a delicious mess of a Zwieback. Afterwards, we explored a park in Carol Stream that I've seen before, but we hadn't been to yet. It was lots of fun! A gorgeous day to spend outside.

Shawn thoroughly enjoyed the tire swing (his first time on one, I think), but also spent a lot of time on the regular swings and the spring-y rocking horses. I helped him across a chain tightrope and handle-style monkey bars... a few times! He got very excited when we found an action figure knight (?) among the wood chips. He ran around asking all the kids he could find if it belonged to them; but when he couldn't find the owner, he got even more excited that he could bring it home.

We weren't ready to go home, but we were ready for another adventure, so we invited Xander and Haley to join us at Kline Creek Farm.


We practically had the farm to ourselves today! We admired some horses and cows as they grazed in their pastures. Xander cackled at the chickens in their pen. Shawn made friends with a ram and returned to his enclosure over and over again. He also took part in a cacophonous conversation with some ewes. We explored the barns and sheds, though we skipped the farm house tour. On the way out, we stopped to play at the Welcome Center - a little backwards, oops! They had wooden toy farms, a cow to milk, stuffed chickens who laid wooden eggs, and a plethora of 1880's inspired books and crafts in the gift shop. The boys had a great time playing in there until Haley and I headed towards the door at closing time. Lilly and I said hi to a work horse before we all headed home. She made it know that she was not happy about leaving; in spite of it all, Shawn fell asleep on the way home!