Family Day in Chicago

We love living so close to a big city. Actually, two big cities, but we tend to favor Chicago. On Saturday we surprised the kids with a trip down to Chicago. We took the train out of Waukegan. It was the first train ride to Chicago for all three of our kids. They seemed to enjoy it on the way there, but on the way back we were all exhausted and just ready to be at home.

Chicago was a lot of fun.  The weather was perfect.  The city was packed!  But everyone was in great holiday spirits.  Ethan wasn't so sure of the big crowds at first.  He became pretty upset and made it very well known that he wanted to go home.  Thankfully, some delicious food from Rock Bottom Brewery seemed to calm him down and prepare him to head back out on to the congested streets. 

We did some touring around, took lots of pictures, and watched the parade.  Radio Disney was at the parade so we heard some live performances and got to see a couple Disney celebrities.  The kids thought that was pretty cool! 

After the parade there was an amazing display of fireworks. They were LOUD. The noise bounced from building to building. Ethan and Carter watched with pure amazement.  Ethan didn't even care that his hat was falling off of his head...

On the way back to the train station, Mariah and I ran in to one of the many Starbucks and grabbed some warm drinks and a couple snacks for Cory and the boys. I love Starbucks.... What a great way to end a perfect family day.

Ethan slept on the train ride home.  We were hoping that Carter would do the same, but he decided to sing loudly in a horrible crying type of way... I bounced him, rocked him, and did everything I could to keep him quiet so the other passengers wouldn't get upset.  I even resorted to feeding him cookies at 10:30 at night... I was going for anything that would work. 

We got home a little before midnight and put the kids to bed.  We thought for sure they would sleep in, but by 7am the next morning they were all wide awake.  So much for catching up on sleep, but it was worth it! 

I love family adventures! 

Camping!

We went on our first camping trip and we survived!  We have been talking about going camping for years, but I just couldn't break down enough to be okay with sleeping outdoors.  Sounds crazy, right? I grew up on a farm and used to tent camp all the time as a child, but as an adult I just had no desire to leave my comfy indoor elements overnight.  Well... before you give me too much credit for giving in and sleeping outdoors... I'll have to confess that we weren't actually camping... we were "glamping" otherwise known as glamour-camping when sleeping outdoors in a luxurious camper.  I never in my life thought I would own a camper.  Cory must have worn me down over the past five years of begging, because I finally gave in.  This ugly-lawn-ornament beauty is all ours. 

We had a lot of fun camping.  We spent the weekend at a local campsite with some great friends.  We wanted to stay close to home since we had no idea what we were doing and how to operate this large  beast.

We spent a lot of time in the water.  The pond was very clean and inviting.  There were a couple nibbling fish incidents (myself included), but as long as we kept moving around we were okay.   
 

The girls ventured off and did their own thing most of the time.  It was a very active campground with tons of activities.  Mariah and Paige spent a lot of time on the water.

Cory and Ethan went out fishing early Sunday morning.  They caught three blue gills and one sunfish.  They didn't keep any of the fish, but they had some memorable father-son time which is exactly what this trip was all about, staying connected as a family.

Our area is under a drought warning so we were banned from burning which meant no campfires for us. Being the resourceful bunch that we are, we made our own make-shift campfire using our small charcoal grill. Worked perfectly for burning roasting marshmallows. Delicious!

 

I'm glad I finally gave in to this camping-glamping-outdoor-adventure. We will definitely be taking a lot more family camping trips. I'm already working on planning our trip for next month.  We can do this!

At the Beach

Okay so not really the beach... but if you sit back in one of these comfy bright blue chairs, sip on your coffee and pretend its a cocktail, squint your eyes a bit, pretend the deck is the sand, pretend the grass and field behind us is the ocean, pretend the air is warm, well, then you are at the beach.  Ah ;-)

Oops!

It's been a while since I posted anything on my blog!  Time is flying this summer and I am holding on to every precious moment and spending very little time on the computer.  I am having so much fun at home with the kids.  We have been BUSY!  We went to the fair, spent days/weeks home alone while Cory traveled for work, we took a family vacation to MOA in Minnesota, we've spent lots of time with family and friends, and we even managed to play in our pool and do some projects around the house. Did I say BUSY?! 

Hopefully I'll get some MOA pics up soon.  We had a ton of fun in Minnesota.  We visited friends, did lots of shopping, went to the aquarium, ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, and went on some fun rides inside the mall.  We even got to experience a store lock down due to a bomb threat!  We were locked in the back of a shoe store (full of Uggs) for about an hour.  Nice thing is there was no bomb.. and we got 10% off of our shoes! 

Okay, signing off for now to go back and play with the kiddos!  I promise I'll get better at updating soon.  Just 4 more weeks left of maternity leave...

24 Weeks

Baby Carter and I have reached 24 weeks!  Can you believe it?!  6 months already!  Just 112 more days to go until we will get to hold baby Carter in our arms and smooch on him like crazy. 

We are still doing really well.  I have gained just a little weight over the past two weeks since my last appointment.  I think I am at a total gain of about 14 or 15 pounds now.  I have been feeling well and baby Carter has been continually moving around like crazy. 

We spent a fun weekend in the Dells with some friends this past weekend and I'll have to say that having a pregnant belly sure makes it hard to chase Ethan around at the water park and through the play area.  I wasn't able to climb and bend and fit through areas that I had fit through in previous years.  I may not be huge yet... but I sure can't bend!  Thank goodness for Cory and Mariah.  They helped chase Ethan around and keep him occupied at all times.  He sure is an active little guy! :-)  We are definitely going to have our hands full when Carter joins our family.  I can't even begin to imagine how much running around we'll be doing with two active little men in our house.  Click HERE for a slideshow of our trip in the Dells. 

Here I am at 24 weeks pregnant with baby Carter:

For comparison, here I was at 24 weeks with Ethan:

Chicago, Camping, Wedding, Baptism...

Yes, all of these things took place in one weekend! 

On Saturday morning Mariah left with Uncle Scotty for an over night camping trip in Iola.  They went up to see a car show and hang out with my mom and Harry, and other aunts and uncles.  Mariah had a lot of fun!  She played in the kayak, canoe, swam in mucky water without letting her feet touch the bottom, sat around campfires, and spent lots of time checking out cars at the car show.

Cory, Ethan, and I went to a combined wedding vow renewal and baptism on Saturday.  It was a beautiful day and the setting was very pretty.  It was in a park with large trees (and a great playset that Ethan loved).  Cory and I left from the wedding and headed to Chicago.  Ethan stayed with grandma Linda. 

In Chicago, Cory and I stayed at a beautiful hotel downtown.  We had a 16th story view of the lake, Navy Pier, Grant Park, Buckingham Fountain, shedd aquarium, and many other buildings.  We really enjoyed exploring the streets of Chicago.  We walked all over, ate dinner at a very nice family run Italian restaurant, and then got ready for our big ride!  The festivities started at 10pm and our 25 mile bike ride started at midnight.  We rode straight through and finished the ride around 2:15am.  We were very proud of ourselves for completing the ride and still being able to walk afterwards!  We got back to our hotel around 2:45am, celebrated our success with some mimosa's, and then slept until 9:30am. 

I have a lot of pictures and will put them on flickr within the next couple days!

WI Dells 2010

We had a great time in the Dells this past weekend.  There were 8 families that went this year!  It was hard to meet up with everyone, but it was still tons of fun.  The kids had a great time playing in the water and the 4 story play park area.  Ethan kept us on our toes and he loved every minute of the vacation!  I posted lots of pictures on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ckbartlett/sets/72157623408440821/show/. Enjoy!