Troll Hunting and Monkeying Around at The Morton Arboretum

We tagged along on a work trip with Kevin last weekend.  It's kind of become our Spring tradition to join him for conferences that are close to home.  We've been to Las Vegas, Savannah, Chattanooga and now Chicago.  They were all within driving distance of where we were living at the time.

We stayed out in the Downers Grove suburbs of Chicago and had a wonderful time.  There was so much to do within a within a 20 minute radius which I appreciated since I'd be solo exploring with the kids during the days.  I'm really more of a hang out and enjoy the suburbs girl than explore a big city on my own girl.

We loved The Morton Arboretum so much that we went TWICE.

The first time we went the Children's Gardens were closed.  We spent our whole time troll hunting.  Spoiler alert: They were amazing!!  The second time I went back solo with the kids to check out the Children's Gardens.  They were filled with the most fun things for kids - climbing, exploring, learning and adventuring.

Both visits happened during discounted times.  Wednesdays are their discount days and then I went back with the kids on Arbor Day and kids were free!  We had no idea about either discount until we arrived.  What a wonderful surprise.

Let's go Troll Hunting!  Day 1:
We were able to drive through the park and find 4 of the trolls.  They were just amazing.  And hilarious.  We had the best time troll hunting.  There are six trolls total so we'll have to go back to find the other two someday.

 This troll was overlooking the beautiful daffodil grove above.

Let's explore the Children's Gardens!  Day 2:

Olive was a really great helper to me and to Fletcher.  She looked out for him and helped him all through the play structures.

It was fun to look for turtles and frogs in the pond.  The flowers were really pretty, too.

Isn't this place amazing!?!?!  We'd definitely have a family membership if we lived here.  There were so many things for the kids to do independently.  They were able to safely explore, learn and were surrounded by so many interesting opportunities.  I can't recommend this place enough if you're going to be in Chicago with your family.

4 Recipes to Use All Those Hard Boiled Eggs

Anyone else have an abundance of hard boiled eggs in their fridge right now??

We dyed a couple dozen and are slowly working our way through them.

I've got some easy recipes to share with you. 

I love hard boiled eggs.  I try to always keep them in the fridge.  I make a batch on the weekends so that I'm set for easy lunch options during the week.  These are my favorite ways to eat hard boiled eggs.  Also, my kids hate hard boiled eggs.  They think they're poison so only the adults eat these recipes at my house.

1. Spinach Salads
Add hard boiled eggs and tons of veggies to a bed of spinach.

2. Deviled Eggs
Halve eggs and remove the yolk.  Put all the yolks into a quart ziploc bag.  Add a squirt of mayo, 2 squirts of mustard, little bit of sugar (all to taste) and mush together until smooth.  Snip off a tiny corn of the bag and fill egg halves.  Sprinkle with a little bit of paprika.

3. Egg Salad
Two hard boiled eggs chopped up.  A squirt of mayo, sweet relish or chopped up sweet pickles, splash of pickle juice and stir until well combined.  I love to eat this salad with Wheat Thins.

4. Avocado Egg Salad
Remember this recipe from March??  I LOVE this easy lunch option.

What's your favorite way to eat hard boiled eggs?

Doing What She Likes

On Easter, we skipped out on the photo backdrops at church because Kevin said he had something better in mind for our Easter family picture.  I was a little skeptical because I rarely pass up a family picture opportunity.  We left church and I trusted that he had a better picture spot in mind.

Spoiler alert: He was right.

He was doing what I like.  He knows that I love a good photo op and family pictures are my favorite.  He goes out of his way regularly to make sure we take a picture or two.  Sometimes he'll tell me to take a picture and say... your readers want to see this - ha!  Thanks for the pictures, Kev.

We had a picnic lunch outside and then he said he wanted to walk through Indiana State's campus.  He'd taken a walk on his lunch break the other day.  He noticed that the campus was looking extra pretty.  We rounded the corner to the spot he picked out and it was gorgeous.  The trees smelled wonderful and it really was picture perfect.

We snapped some pictures of each other and the kids.  Then he flagged down some nice students to take our family pictures.

These are some of my favorite Spring pictures ever.

I ADORE this picture that Kevin snapped for me.  I think this might be my favorite picture of me as a mom.  It perfectly captures us right now in this season of life with littles.  They love to match.  Love each other.  Love to be close.  Fletcher still loves to be held (bless his almost 40lb self!) and Olive is full of sass.  I just love it!

 Spring in Indiana is GORGEOUS!!

 Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!  Be back next week for the link up!