Lake County

Last Thursday the kids and I hopped in the car and headed north to visit Katie. We had planned to visit a local forest preserve, but took a few detours on the way.

Our first stop was this very cool conservation community with its own farm, school, beach, and town hall. The houses were painted in a beautiful palette of wildflower hues and the setting was idyllic, but almost reminiscent of Stepford.

Next we stopped at Ten Thousand Villages, a fair trade store staffed by volunteers that sells handicrafts from around the world. In the same small shopping center was a chichi baby boutique filled with fun toys and organic cotton clothes, and an adorable independent bookstore.

We stopped for an alfresco lunch at a lovely cafe that served organic, fair trade coffee, juices, and delicious sandwiches on artisan bread. I had an excellent roasted red pepper and goat cheese panini, and the twins ate the majority of a freshly baked baguette with raspberry jam.

The waitress looked at me a little funny when I told her that the baguette was for the twins. I don't think she believed that they could actually eat the whole thing. They proved her wrong.

Finally we made it to our original destination. The park was amazing. There were tons of trails for hiking and biking, a snack shop, a cafe, green fields to picnic and run around in, wildflowers to admire, and a fantastic fully enclosed playground with climbers for both younger and older kids, a cave to explore, and a rock wall to climb. They even had comfortable tables and chairs for the parents to sit back and read a book in while their children played.

By the way, I think Katie is going to be a great mom! I can't wait to see her in action with her own sweet girl!