Last week of school, Hometown Days, and a solo walk

So this is a little late, but better late than never!

The last week of school was officially two weeks ago and although I loved my 19 little friends, we were all ready to say goodbye for the summer.  Everyone needed a break.  But before we said "adios," we got to see some friends!  And these friends were of the barnyard variety ;)

One of my favorite units in kindergarten is hatching chicks.  I've only done it twice, but I'm pretty good at it :)  This year we incubated 45 eggs and ended up with 27 little chicks.  While most went back to Primrose Farm in St. Charles, IL, four of our feathered friends went to live on Angie's little farm.  Angie offered to bring two of the chickies back to visit us.  The kids were pumped!

Look at how big they are!  When they left us, they could fit in your hand.

Not anymore!

Miss K with her chick

Not only were there chicks...

 Angie brought her donkey too!
To say that we were excited was an understatement!

The last week of school also meant Verona Hometown Days.  Now for all of my Geneva friends out there, this is no Swedish Days.  It doesn't hold a candle to Swedish Days, but it's all I got here.  Andrew and I walked down on the first night (that's right, no parking needed like at Swedish Days.  We live in walking distance!)  We grabbed some dinner and did a once around the carnival then headed back.  Last year I slept through the fireworks and Andrew hasn't let me forget it.  So this year, I managed to stay up past 9:30pm and see the fireworks FROM OUR DRIVEWAY. 

Obviously, the pictures aren't as good as the real thing.

The next day, Andrew headed off to Indiana on a business trip and we had a girls weekend... which included sleeping in, walking, and cleaning.  Woohoo!

We managed to walk almost 8 miles on the Ice Age Trail.  I'm sure we could have gone a bit farther, but it was just too hot.  We had many water breaks and rests in the shade.

It's so hot, mama!

A nice shady part of the trail.

Mush, mush!

This next week, Lucy and Maddie will go visit Gma and Gpa in IL while Andrew and I jet off to Florida for Dan and Brittany's wedding... in Disney World! 

Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything's right

That's right, friends.  My all-time favorite thing:
NEW SHOES!
Thanks, Mom, for instilling your love of shoes in me :)

First up, these beauties.  My new walking shoes: New Balance 850.  What I didn't realize when I ordered them was that they are the "toning" shoes.  So unfortunately, they are not good for long walks.  But I can wear them for our 3, 4, or 5 mile walks.

 Then there are my favorite type of tennis shoes: running shoes!  These are also New Balance 850 but for running.  I am in LOVE.

Both of these shoes are part of the stability line of New Balance.  My feet are not always my best friends and my chiropractor told me about 4 years ago that I have no arches. AWESOME.  So guess what I wear in my running shoes... orthopedic inserts.  Ugh, pain in the butt and not really enjoyable to have to shove into every pair of shoes you own.  NB are about the only shoes that actually support my feet and don't give me horrible shin splints.


I think the girls are excited about Momma's new shoes too because that means lots more walking and running.  They're not always the best running partners, especially when we see squirrels, but they do love it :)