Mallory

This year as usual I took the kids up to Chicago.

This is how the trip started…

Yep, I crashed the car on the way up. Luckily aside from a little stiffness in the neck and back, everyone was ok. Just a little shaken up and scared!

That thing hanging down would be the car’s computer! It still ran fine and even the automatic doors still worked after the accident!

As you can tell by the damage to the front of the car that the accident was my fault.

I looked down for a second as traffic came to a screeching halt. I didn’t halt soon enough and crashed into the back of a very nice brand new Honda Accord.

Lucky for him we both have insurance. Unlucky for me that we only had liability! Its a complete loss, but hopefully Mallory can help revive another van.

Other than that and 3 inches of snow on Saturday, we had a good time. I got to have lunch and shop with two of my closest friends who are both preggo!

Camping

We took the kids camping for the first time with some friends of ours last weekend in Southern Illinois.

Big surprise, Piper Ann is picking her nose!

The kids loved this waterfall.

4 star accommodations! I was a little nervous about the whole “no front, or door” thing. A few glasses of wine eases the nerves.

Swimming in the waterfall when its 60 degrees.

Hiking…

Cool bridge…

Roasting marshmallows…

Me in one of my hottest moments. Don’t you live the miners light on my head? They are actually very useful.

Chicago-Spring Break

We took the train downtown on Saturday. It was the last train before the St. Patty’s Day parade started. Needless to say it was great people watching!

Here’s Nathan with Unkie Ja-jo. My brother took him to the parade to help score some ladies!

My mom, Piper Ann, Oliver and I walked from the train station to the American Girl store. Isn’t the green river awesome! It matched PA’s coat!

The kids were certainly troopers during the long walk.

Here’s Piper Ann with her new “Kit” doll that Grandma H bought her. I didn’t think she needed a hundred dollar doll for “no reason.” I lost that argument, obviously. So far she loves her and takes good care of her.

Look at all the loot the guys got from the parade. Nathan said, “I had so much fun, mom!” He was a little skeptical at first!

Oliver sporting the SOX hat. Ricardo allowed it, because they are in a different league from the Cards. He would have burned a Cubs hat!

We couldn’t leave Chi-town without a trip to IKEA!

Look how excited Nathan is to be there!;)

Vacation Recap…Part 2

Here is Oliver enjoying a sucker on the plane. They were pretty good on the way there and back. Piper Ann can talk someone to death when there’s nothing else to do.

Here are the kids before the wedding. I bartered clip on ties for shorts and flip flops with the boys. I think it turned out really cute.

The fam after the wedding…Ricardo, me, Nathan, my dad, Oliver, my sister, Piper Ann, my bro, and my sister’s boyfriend.

Ricardo and I.

Nathan was a dancing machine. Here is a little air guitar for you.

We planted a couple trees at my grandma’s church in memory of her. Here are the boys standing in one of the holes we dug.

Here are the men lifting the 900 lb magnolia.

The family between the 2 trees.

Piper Ann and Oliver playing in the sand. I’m still finding in in their hair.

My bro and I.

Nathan trying to catch a wave. He absolutely loved the water. I couldn’t get him out of it! Piper Ann and Oliver…not so much.This is as close as I could get them to the water.

Nathan did one of those jumping things at Sea World. He had fun! The kids loved the Shamu show and the sea lion show.

Teacups at Disney World.

The boys with Peter Pan.

This isn’t a great picture, but these bugs were doing “it” in my empty cup.

This is sideways, but Oliver threw his blanket over his head and took a nap on the plane.

We had a good time, but its always nice to come home.

Our Chicago Trip Update

I will never be able to drag my kids home tomorrow. (In all seriousness Chicago is supposed to get 9 inches of snow tomorrow) They are having so much fun.

Yesterday we went to Woodfield mall. After a brief visit with the Easter Bunny, Nathan spotted the Lego Store. He was like a kid in a Lego store. It was so hard for him to decide what to get. He settled on some sort of Star Wars flying maching that included Anakin Skywalker and R2D2. It only took me and hour to put together. After the Lego store we passed Build-A-Bear. I put my foot down at spending $40/per stuffed animal per kid. I compromised with the Disney Store. Piper Ann got a little stuffed Dalmatian and Oliver got some little Dalmatian figurines. (The Easter Bunny brought the movie early for the trip).
After the mall we went to the greatest restaurant ever, if you’re a boy between 18 mos and 6 or so. The Choo Choo is a train themed restaurant in Des Plaines, IL. They deliver your food to you via train. How awesome is that? After a nutritious meal of cheeseburgers, french fries and milk shakes, we took a ride on the little train car (it just moves back and forth) and invested some hard earned coinage into the little vending machines. The boys got miniature ninjas and Piper Ann got a couple braceletes.
After lunch, a nap was desperately needed. The kids slept too.
Later that evening I finally got my Wayne’s pizza while my friend brought over her almost 1 year old son. My kids love babies!

Today we headed to IKEA. They have a free play area for kids who are potty trained. Oliver wasn’t too happy that he couldn’t go, but Nathan and Piper Ann were in heaven.
I got to satisfy my sushi craving for lunch. We went to Sushi Station. Who doesn’t love food served from a conveyor belt? There is a different assortment of fruit, sushi, and dessert that comes by your table. You just lift the little door and take what you want. Everything is priced by color of plate, so you have stack them up after you eat their contents. They too have amazing vending machines. Oliver got two miniature emergency vehicles. Piper Ann got 2 Hello Kitty figurines and Nathan got 2 Pokemon figurines. Luckily he got at least one of the ones he wanted.
They spent this afternoon building a fire in the firepit. They actually watched grandma do it, but had fun regardless.
Now hopefully I won’t return from vacation to find my basement full of water…again. Have you heard about the flooding in Missouri? Its not to far from my house.

Happy St. Pat’s

Well, we made it. Yes a day early. I got a wild hair up my “you know what” this morning and decided to leave today.

Most of the trip was uneventful. I came up with this brilliant idea…I rented a couple movies for the ride from Redbox. Tomorrow, I will return them here. It only cost me 2 bucks for a couple hours of entertainment!

We hit a rough patch when Oliver decided he was done with the car, and to prove it to me he threw his “nigh, nigh” (blanket) on the floor and then screamed for it. So I had to pull over and give it to him. 5 minutes later Piper Ann decided that she had to go poop, so we stopped again. Of course nothing came out.

Nonetheless, we made here safe and sound.