Touch a Truck

Another successful touch a truck event this summer.  The Village of Barrington hosted this year and we couldn't pass it up.  I had wondered walking into the event if they cleaned the garbage truck so it wouldn't be smelly.  I wasn't disappointed and the truck wasn't smelly so I took a go in the drivers seat.

A Village of Barrington tractor mower.  Jonah thought it was great fun to be in the drivers seat.

Ever since kamp, all I've wanted is a golf cart.  I'm practicing not always being the only one to drive, so I'm sharing with Anna here, but I really want to drive.  I actually have been asking mummy to buy a golf cart as I'm sure they're not that expensive and would be a practical way to get around.  If you can help strengthen my argument, please give mummy a call.

Anna had to pass a message along to a co-worker while she was in the Village street sweeper.

Splash Pad

After all of our out-of-state adventures concluded, it was time to start our in-state adventures.  There's a great splash pad/playground in Elgin that we explored with the Bohrnells.  I've come a long way with splash pads and actually had fun this time.

I had fun on the periphery of the splash pad, but Noah went for fun right in the middle by sitting on the center fountain.

After I was done on the splash pad I played on the playground.  They had these fun musical squares, where each square made a different note.  It was fun to run across the squares and make my own music.

Jonah had fun on the splash pad and then moved onto a sprinkler head.  He was quite fascinated at what happened to the water if we put a stick in front of it and was busy there for about 30 min before he was ready to move on.

Kamp Friends

Part of what made kamp so awesome was the wonderful staff that they had.  Here we are with Amy.  She started in Anna's classroom (Kowabung Kids) but was moved to my classroom (Ala Moana) as a stomach bug went around kamp and staffing levels changed.  Amy also ate many a meal with us and was really funny.  The morning that we had coffee cake, Amy helped to make sure that we had 4 plates at our table alone.  Amy is also the one who made the faux pas of talking about the awkwardness of when baby sister grows up to be interested in Rowan Smith instead of Joshua Riddle not realizing that Rowan is a girl, despite Rowan's time in Ala Moana.  Amy was great and part of why kamp was special for us.

When we arrived at kamp Maddie gave us a tour around so we knew were everything was.  She also helped throughout the week with Noah's class (Koconut Kids).  Tyler was one of the MCs for the week, and also happens to be Maddie's boyfriend, so Noah liked them both.

Cassin was our tubing boat driver.  Since Noah didn't tube or bluff jump they became quite friendly.

Jenna was the first person to greet me at Ala Moana.  She was not spared the stomach bug and as she was better I got sick, but were both healthy enough to get a good-bye in.

Kamp Adventures

Kaley took a shining to our whole family, but especially Jonah.  He loved the extra attention and would light up whenever she came around.  She was so great with us younger kids that mummy and daddy wish that she lived a bit closer to be a mother's helper.

At kamp they have a jumping pillow that was so much fun.  It's like a trampoline, but even more fun.  Since Kaley took a shining to us she was with us a lot.  She's a big adventurer and was always up for something fun like pillow jumping.

One of the theme nights was "Olympics" and here I am preparing the field for some ice curling.

"Olympics" night was also marked by Noah doing some interpretive ribbon dancing.

Kamp has this fun wobbly ladder to climb.  Once you get to the top, you ring a bell to signify your accomplishment.  I needed a little help to hold the ladder steady, but did ring the bell as did Noah.

Tubing

One afternoon at kamp we went tubing and bluff jumping.  To be clear, only daddy and I went tubing from our family and only daddy went bluff jumping, but the rest of our friends tried everything.  Because this was our first time tubing ever, our dads got to come with Ben and me tubing.  Ben may have been a bit more adventurous then me by letting go, but we both had a great time.

Theme Nights

Most nights at kamp we had some kind of theme night.  One of the nights was 60's Night.  Before daddy debuted the wig we all had to give it a try.  I think that I pull it off the best, but you can be the judge.

Mummy strikes a pose and looks really silly doing so.

Jonah wasn't sure how he felt about a mass of curly black hair being dumped on his head.

 Noah knew he wasn't excited about wearing the wig but was begrudgingly talked into it.

The Goodalls take on the 60's.

Another night was Spy Night.  We had a hard time coming up with costumes, but thought that our initial disguises where pretty good.  Do you even recognize us in these pictures?

Kanakuk

This year we joined some of our friends and trekked down to Branson, MO to attend a family camp (to be referred to as kamp from now on) called Kanakuk.  To show our Illinois spirit we all wore matching shirts.  To start our family line up we have the Tofilons above and the Roberts below.

 Our happy little family and the Riddles below

 The Kidds above (a new family of friends for us) and the Smiths below