Sunnyside Beach

Because of the extremely high temperatures yesterday, I decided to take the kids to Sunnyside Beach. Usually, it's a little cooler by the water. On this day though, it was exactly the same. We made sure to keep ourselves cool with the lake water and wading pool water!

After the walk through High Park, everybody was ready for a picnic. (It was just Noah and I who walked; I pulled the rest of the kids in the wagon, of course. But I was very proud of Noah; it was his first time walking all the way from our home on Glenlake, to the beach and back. And he did it in what felt like 35 degree Celcius heat! Poor guy barely made it home. But everyone was revived by freezies, and of course by our lovely air conditioners. :) I think we all slept well last night.)

Anyway, back to the beach talk! We noticed a large black fish encircling a circle of rocks. We figured out pretty quickly that it was a mother protecting her eggs. At one point, I had forgotten about it, and waded maybe within a few feet of that area. Boy, did she come after me! haha Can't blame her.

The kids had a great time playing in the sand. The girls were a little grossed out by the seaweed, and wouldn't wade in the water much. Such city girls!

Marcellus loved collecting rocks and mud in his bucket. He was a happy camper.

And by the way, we checked with the life guards. The water was safe for swimming. No e-coli problems for us! ;)

My handsome Noah, nearly twice the height of the girls!

It's a tough life, running the daycare, at times like this. (But I made up for the relaxation by pulling the kids up a huge hill in scorching temperatures. That's how running a home daycare is. Moments of ease, and moments of extreme work or mini crises.)

Oh my goodness. God love him.

Noah was busy with a rock formation. I think he was actually building walls of a castle. He was very engaged with this. I love when kids can get so creative all by themselves.

This is Marcellus, attempting the impossible task of picking up two big bouncy balls at once. (Dea sparked the idea for him.)

That'll work, Marcellus!

We played a little at the playground.

But we couldn't get the idea of going to find ice cream out of our heads, so we went on our way.

Marcellus? You coming?

This was also Noah's first time climbing this dinosaur. Way to go, buddy!

Marcellus is SO sweet. He is overjoyed simply to have a ball. Always. He might be fussy and irritable, but you give him a ball and his face just lights up, like this.

You will go SO far with a smile like that, kiddo. It's amazing.

We finally made it to the ice cream truck.FYI, there is a reason why the "Cartwheel" is $5. It is massive. So even if your kid likes ice cream sandwiches, this is probably the wrong choice! I got Marcellus a Sponge Bob Popsicle like Dea, but he doesn't like holding onto the stick.

With a spoon, however, he happily helped Leila eat her huge ice cream sandwich (we all did).

Noah checks out the menu on the truck. It's always good to plan for next time.

These two passed out on our walk back through the park to go home. Amadea was very close to passing out, but perked up when we reached the High Park Zoo.

Noah understandably needed a few breaks along the way. It was an awesome trip. Thanks for the wonderful memories, kids!