Friday, August 15, 2014
Fair Thee Well
My sister and Brett are here from Colorado for a visit with the girls and my brother is here for a visit from Taiwan--how lucky are we? And what trip to Iowa in August is complete without the state fair? Poor Zoe was sick, so it was a more limited crew on the outing, but we managed to see the animal barns, the cultural center and the midway plus the girls danced to the one man band. I tried a caprese salad on a stick, one of the new foods this year. I think my favorite thing I saw was the baby ostrich hatching out of its shell--so unusual (and huge!). Julia loved the bumper boats and the carousel.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
S'mores and Stripes
It was a low key fourth at home and my favorite part was the s'mores in the backyard at the fire pit with black snakes and sparklers. I am coming back to this idea more and more that the simplest things are the greatest pleasures in life for both kids and adults. And Julia is officially known as The Gobbler around our house for sneaking marshmallows like crazy.
My Kind of Town
The boys got to spend a week in Chicago in June and then we all went back for a glorious second week in July and I remembered all of the reasons why I fell in love with Chicago when I moved there for college. What a city! It is beautiful and continues to benefit from the planning and vision of Daniel Burnham and so many others.
So what does vacation with a 3, 5 and 7 year old look like? It was so much fun! Trust me, we had our moments, but we no longer had to bring any of the following items: stroller, pack-n-play/crib, diapers, diaper bag, bottles, etc., etc., etc. In addition, we no longer have naps (except mom!) and have everyone on the same schedule, so we were free to do so much more than we could do when we had babies and toddlers, including all of the following (I am still recovering!)
Trip to the Adler Planetarium
Beach time at Northerly Island
Picnic by Lake Michigan
Trip to the Shedd Aquarium
Chess lessons with Mr. Christmas
Concert in the Park
White Sox Game with fireworks
Visit to Evanston and Great Harvest bakery
Suessical the Musical at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Legoland in Schaumburg
A week of bridge building day camp for Davey and tunnels/canals camp for AJ
Every once in a while I will hold a baby and miss that phase (they are so intoxicatingly sweet and beautiful), but then we will get to do something like this vacation and I will feel like I am firmly in the right phase of life for me right now.
A huge thank you to my in-laws who hosted us and made everything possible, and a special thank you to Arlene who planned so much of this and accompanied us on our adventures while Joe and Gene had to work much of the week on the Seaberg move.
In terms of their favorite things about this vacation, I asked several times and the kids had a hard time choosing. The day we went to the planetarium, they said it was the coolest museum ever, but after we went to the Shedd Aquarium, the kids could not decide which one was their favorite. Both had awesome kids' exhibits that were interactive, such as a moonscape with tunnels and a simulated rocket ship with blast off at the Adler. The Shedd had sharks, whales, Nickel the sea turtle and the simulated submarine that they all have always adored. AJ directed his crew of Davey and Julia and called out "Get ready, we are going under!"
My favorite moment was probably when we decided to sit out rush hour traffic by letting the kids play in at the beach on Northerly Island. What is it about the beach that is so magical? The kids were cranky and tired, but as soon as they hit the sand, all stress melted away (until it was time to leave anyway.) And Lake Michigan is just a gorgeous place. It feels like the ocean, complete with seagulls to the kids' delight.
The kids have been so excited to visit a Legoland for months, and I had no idea that what I thought was a Lego store near the Schaumburg mall was actually a Legoland, complete with larger-than-life giraffe made out of Legos guarding the entrance. The exhibits were mind boggling, and I can understand now how it is a career to build Legos. They said the Chicago city scene alone took five designers an entire year to do and had more than 2 million pieces if I recall correctly. And that was just the first room, followed by equally impressive jungles, Star Wars scenes, and on and on. There were even some small amusement park rides in that store. We had come thinking the kids would each get to choose a Lego kit and instead ended up touring Legoland, so within an hour the kids could not take the suspense anymore and dragged themselves out of Legoland to choose a Lego kit. My favorite was when Julia chose and build a kit all by herself. I saw her pull out the instruction booklet, watch AJ to see how to use it and then turned around 10 minutes later to see she had finished the entire thing herself. That's my girl!
Vacation is also great for learning new things. Davey learned how to ride his scooter at the Concert in the Park. The city barricades off a block an the kids in the town get to bring their rollerblades/scooters/bikes and chase each other around while the adults enjoy the music. Davey previously had been hesitant about his scooter and preferred his bike, but something about it clicked that night. And both boys took two chess lessons from the very calm, patient and brilliant chess teacher, Mr. Christmas. They have been playing games against each other since we got home and both are already better than I am (not difficult!)
The Shedd Aquarium
Navy Pier with Grandma
Go, go, Go, go Whiiiiiite Sox!
So what does vacation with a 3, 5 and 7 year old look like? It was so much fun! Trust me, we had our moments, but we no longer had to bring any of the following items: stroller, pack-n-play/crib, diapers, diaper bag, bottles, etc., etc., etc. In addition, we no longer have naps (except mom!) and have everyone on the same schedule, so we were free to do so much more than we could do when we had babies and toddlers, including all of the following (I am still recovering!)
Trip to the Adler Planetarium
Beach time at Northerly Island
Picnic by Lake Michigan
Trip to the Shedd Aquarium
Chess lessons with Mr. Christmas
Concert in the Park
White Sox Game with fireworks
Visit to Evanston and Great Harvest bakery
Suessical the Musical at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Legoland in Schaumburg
A week of bridge building day camp for Davey and tunnels/canals camp for AJ
Every once in a while I will hold a baby and miss that phase (they are so intoxicatingly sweet and beautiful), but then we will get to do something like this vacation and I will feel like I am firmly in the right phase of life for me right now.
A huge thank you to my in-laws who hosted us and made everything possible, and a special thank you to Arlene who planned so much of this and accompanied us on our adventures while Joe and Gene had to work much of the week on the Seaberg move.
In terms of their favorite things about this vacation, I asked several times and the kids had a hard time choosing. The day we went to the planetarium, they said it was the coolest museum ever, but after we went to the Shedd Aquarium, the kids could not decide which one was their favorite. Both had awesome kids' exhibits that were interactive, such as a moonscape with tunnels and a simulated rocket ship with blast off at the Adler. The Shedd had sharks, whales, Nickel the sea turtle and the simulated submarine that they all have always adored. AJ directed his crew of Davey and Julia and called out "Get ready, we are going under!"
My favorite moment was probably when we decided to sit out rush hour traffic by letting the kids play in at the beach on Northerly Island. What is it about the beach that is so magical? The kids were cranky and tired, but as soon as they hit the sand, all stress melted away (until it was time to leave anyway.) And Lake Michigan is just a gorgeous place. It feels like the ocean, complete with seagulls to the kids' delight.
The kids have been so excited to visit a Legoland for months, and I had no idea that what I thought was a Lego store near the Schaumburg mall was actually a Legoland, complete with larger-than-life giraffe made out of Legos guarding the entrance. The exhibits were mind boggling, and I can understand now how it is a career to build Legos. They said the Chicago city scene alone took five designers an entire year to do and had more than 2 million pieces if I recall correctly. And that was just the first room, followed by equally impressive jungles, Star Wars scenes, and on and on. There were even some small amusement park rides in that store. We had come thinking the kids would each get to choose a Lego kit and instead ended up touring Legoland, so within an hour the kids could not take the suspense anymore and dragged themselves out of Legoland to choose a Lego kit. My favorite was when Julia chose and build a kit all by herself. I saw her pull out the instruction booklet, watch AJ to see how to use it and then turned around 10 minutes later to see she had finished the entire thing herself. That's my girl!
Vacation is also great for learning new things. Davey learned how to ride his scooter at the Concert in the Park. The city barricades off a block an the kids in the town get to bring their rollerblades/scooters/bikes and chase each other around while the adults enjoy the music. Davey previously had been hesitant about his scooter and preferred his bike, but something about it clicked that night. And both boys took two chess lessons from the very calm, patient and brilliant chess teacher, Mr. Christmas. They have been playing games against each other since we got home and both are already better than I am (not difficult!)
The boys and I have been making a list of all the places we want to go on vacation together. So far we have Florida, California, Wisconsin (from AJ's love of the Packers, of course), China, France, Washington DC, the Amazon rainforest, the great pyramids and the South Pole ("to see the penguins and the polar bears!") I can't wait to see the world with these kids.Breakfast at Grandma & Papa's
Navy Pier with Grandma
Swinging with Papa on the swing se the built 30 years ago
Go, go, Go, go Whiiiiiite Sox!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)