Lutheran Church Charities Comfort Dogs

Every year the village of Minooka hosts "Summerfest."  There are booths for all kinds of non-profits and for-profits, food vendors, carnival games, bouncy houses and a stage set up with various types of entertainment.  Our church has had a booth there for years.  Last year we started what I hope will be a long tradition of having the Lutheran Church Charities Comfort Dogs.  Despite the fact that we hand out free water to all those walking by, we are infinitely more popular when the dogs are present.

 This is Darlin.

 Darlin attracted a lot of attention.

 Even though the boys are convinced that we have our own "comfort dog," the boys were very happy to pet a dog who actually stayed calm the whole time.

 Our friend, Lise, and her daughter, Maggie, stopped by to see the dogs.  Darlin wanted to shake hands.  It was very sweet.

 Goldens are soft, but these goldens seem to be extra soft.  I'm sure it is because they are groomed so often.

 Kye came a little after Darlin.

 Old friends had to get reacquainted.

 This was a rare moment when no one was petting the dogs.

 Anders always has to give dogs a hug.

 These dogs are excellent with the young and the old.

 When people would see the working vests they assumed they couldn't pet the dogs.  This is true of other types of working dogs, but not the Comfort Dogs.   You can only see a bit of the gold bone to the right, but Kye was one of the dogs featured on Good Morning America.  The bone says "Good Morning American Hero".

It was an honor and a pleasure to have these dogs at our booth.  These precious dogs have done wonderful things for so many people.  They quickly respond to disaster areas such as the shootings in Newtown, CT, the tornadoes in Moore, OK, the Boston bombing, and most recently there are several dogs in AZ providing comfort to those affected by the tradgedy of the 19 firefighter lives lost.

To find out more or to support the Comfort Dogs click here.

Make-A-Messterpiece

Debbie and Pam discovered a fun, new place where they could take the boys.  Make-A-Messterpiece is awesome!  It's artsy and creative and, best of all, it lets the kids make a mess and the adults don't have to clean it up!  If it weren't so far from our house I would be tempted to get a job there.

This is the Bubbleology station.  The boys always come home with several pieces of bubble art.

 Getting ready to make a treat in the 'Creative Kitchen'.

 John's rice krispie treat was a whole lot smaller when he came home.  I'm surprised it made it home at all.

 On this visit they made dinosaur cookies.  Forget the cookie part, Gus was all in the second he saw cinnamon and sugar.

 After the kids rolled out the dough they made dinosaur tracks.

Then the staff took the cookies and baked them.  They were all set to go in bags with their names on them a few minutes later.  

 There was also a center where the kids could make dinosaur tracks.  This also a cute idea.  The museum attached tracks to the bottom of flip-flops.  The kids were able to paint the bottom of the flip-flop and then make tracks.

The also have things to climb on and a slide.

 Learning about volcano eruptions.

 Baking soda, vinegar, food coloring and a little water is all you need.

 Anders didn't think it was necessary to use eye protection.

 Love John's face.

 He loved it so much he had to do it again.  Then he roped his dad into doing it again a couple of days later at home.

 These boys look like they could be on an episode of Breaking Bad.

Make-A-Messterpiece also has a room with barrel drums topped with colored water.  It makes a fantastic mess, hence all the gear.

 The boys LOVED it.

I'm not sure Anders wanted to leave.  I'm actually surprised he hasn't tried to replicate this situation at home.

Museums

The boys just love going to museums.  It's a good think Debbie and Pam like taking them.  A couple of weeks ago Debbie handed me a disk with a TON of pictures on it from various museum visits.  It seems that, the more pictures I have to go through, the the longer I go between posts.  Sometimes it is daunting to sit at the computer and go through hundreds of pictures.  But I started the process so here you go...

I can't remember which pictures are from which museums, but I'm pretty sure they've hit every Children's Museum within an hour of Minooka.

 One of the museums let the kids color on the wall.  Anders was all about that.

 Gus just wanted to cover as much space as possible.

John takes a little more time to paint his picture.

 The boys love the bubble section of the Dupage Children's Museum.  This is suppose to make a big bubble around whoever is standing in the circle.  I wonder if Gus knows his butt kept popping the bubble.

 Anders looks little wet here doesn't he?  I believe Gus had been dumping water on his head.  This why I try to remember to pack another shirt for each boy.

 On the particular trip Debbie and Pam brought their friend Helen along.  The boys had a good time showing off for someone new.  At the end of the day, when they dropped her off, John told her the he had fun and they should do it again sometime.  He's a very sweet and thoughtful boy.

 Feel free to come visit us.  The boys would love to take any visitors to their favorite museums.