One, Last Summer Hurrah!

Summer is quickly coming to an end, so Hubby and I decided to squeeze in one last summer hurrah before the cooler weather unrelentingly descends. While trying to pick what we should do, we sorted through several possibilities but, in the end, we decided to keep it fairly close to home.

Beach Day:
One of the great things about Chicago is that it borders Lake Michigan. Along the lake, there are several beaches that are open to the public. We picked one and drove on over.

It was the perfect day for it! Lots of sun, but not too hot; and since we went on a Friday morning, it wasn't at all crowded either.

first tentative, shoe-less step onto the sand

Still, Lake Michigan is chilly!! We didn't jump in too far, just a little wading and sandcastle building.

Then, over to the playground to round out the morning (then home again for naps).

Hiking Day:
The next day, we drove out of the city and found some trees to go exploring in. We found a Nature Center with a website that talked about some kid-friendly trails, so we headed north to check it out.

Turns out, they had a really nice visitor's center with some exhibits on animals and also some live ones too, plus some hands-on things especially geared toward little ones:

It was all so cool that it took a little while to convince Townshend that we should head outside. However, eventually we herded him out and took a walk along one of the short trails near the visitor's center:

we brought along a picture scavenger hunt and found most of the things listed while we walked

It was a fun weekend! Both places are definitely ones we'll have to revisit sometime soon. Yay for exploring in your own neck of the woods!