I seem to have spent most of this week driving back and forth through the Northern suburbs taking Is to summer camp and trying to squeeze in as many activities with the other two until it's collection time again - a true American mom!!! I must say, though, that I have been so proud of her going off and having a whale of a time and making new friends - she knew no one when she went for the first time on Mon. She has raved about camp all week and has done so much - swimming, sport, going to a baseball game and water park. Only trouble is she's desperate to do it again now....... It will be interesting to see how the younger two get on next week, though it is much lower-key for them - E goes 5 mornings 9-1, M just Mon, Wed, Fri from 9-12 so it will be even more ferrying around. I guess it gives me more chance to go to the gym and perfect my Step moves, though.....!!

It was whilst wasting time in-between camp drop-off and pick-up that I ended up introducing the younger two to the concept of retail therapy! We have been employing a dreadful parenting technique which I may have previously mentioned - of rewarding a day's good behaviour with a dollar. This, in turn, is followed by a trip to Target which has a $1 section perfect for the kids to buy the kind of 'toot' that builds up and gets really annoying - you know, light-up pens, mini torches and the like which always require batteries costing 4 times as much as the original purchase...... Anyway, they'd both chosen their rewards and then I stumbled upon the beachwear section and for some unexplained reason decided that I really needed a boob tube so I can tan evenly without strap marks. What was I thinking??? i don't even tan anyway because I am (a) so pale that I either burn or nothing (b) I am so paranoid about skin cancer that I always wear at least factor 25 (c) I hate being in the sun so always head for the nearest shade. Need I go on..........? So, the beaches of Chicago are in for a treat this year. I will at least have a nice tanned decolletage while my white varicose-vein ridden legs are firmly hidden under the longest skirts I can find! In any case, I digress - the point of this is that, once they had seen I had a new top, both children decided they really needed new tops too and so, by the time we hit the beach later that afternoon, we were all happily clad in our new gear, feeling cheered and trendy.

Whilst you pay for the privilege, I have to say I have been won over by the private beaches - we had such a lovely time on Wed with some friends. The grown-ups sat and chatted and the kids just ran around and we essentially had the entire beach to ourselves with 3 or 4 lifeguards keeping a watchful eye on the kids, too. Because there's barely a tide on the lake, you can sit virtually on the edge of the water and not have to move all day. It's funny how quickly we have settled into life here - tonight we had 'carry out' from a local restaurant and it was so nice not to cook after a busy day. D was the perfect boss this afternoon, sending all his team home early to enjoy the holiday (but really because he fancied the afternoon off!!) so we headed up to the Botanical gardens for ice creams after picking Is up.

Looking forward to the fireworks tomorrow night - in fact we can hear loud blasts from various public displays and the downtown Chicago display is on TV. D is engrossed in his Tour De France guide so I shan't expect to hear much from him for the next 3 weeks - except perhaps bemoaning the fact that we should have been in Paris for the finale on July 27th!

No Fusion this Sun so we thought we would check out the North shore Willow Creek church - will they walk across the room to talk to us????!

Happy 4th July to you all - we will be waving our 'Stripes & Stars' flags, as E calls them!