Tuesday, July 5, 2011

A Much Needed Family Vacation

Loving their time with Daddy
The boys and I met Ryan in Chicago last Thursday for a five day vacation as a family.  This was Andrew's first vacation and first time out of the state.  The boys had a blast with Ryan, as usual.  We went downtown to Shedd Aquarium and saw all kinds of neat exhibits.  We also went to Brookfield Zoo and saw more animals and even ran into a friend from here that was visiting some family in Illinois.  We spent a lot of time hanging out as a family in our hotel, or as Matthew called it, Daddy's house.  Yes, "Daddy's house" has three elevators, cool doors at the entrance, and a pool.  We swam everyday, ate lots of good food (Cheesecake Factory, Portilios, Weber Grill to name a few), saw lots of new things (Matthew loved the shopping cart escalator at IKEA), tons of cool buildings downtown, big airplanes and spent lots of time with Ryan, which is why we were there in the first place!

Matthew's favorite animals were the dolphins (at both places), the giraffes and the lion.  Andrew loved the dolphins, too.  Though he kept calling them fishies...oh well :)  They both loved the dolphin shows at both places.  We saw part of a 4D movie at Shedd (a 15 minute movie of  Happy Feet), but had to leave early because Matthew got freaked out by the moving, shaking and rumbling seats.  Andrew, on the other hand, loved it!  I think my favorite part was the jellyfish exhibit at Shedd and the lion at the zoo.  While we were at the zoo looking at the underwater viewing of the dolphins, something cool happened.  A guy took out a plastic comb and started strumming on the comb fingers at the glass.  All of the sudden the dolphins (at one time all 7 of them) came to the window trying to get the comb.  The strumming is similar to one of the sounds the dolphins use to communicate.  It was quite the site to see and the boys loved it. 

Andrew loved sleeping on his new Aerobed at the hotel and having the freedom to walk around at night and tickle our noses and mess with Matthew while he was sleeping.  We drove around Schaumburg, Barrington and Hoffman Estates and drove by my childhood house.  That brought back lots of memories of old friends.  I completely forgot that we had a lake/large pond in the neighborhood that we would go fishing at and for some reason I thought of the time that I accidentally hooked my brother in the eyelid with my fishing hook.  Sorry, Brian.

The boys were spent by the end of the trip and both crashed in the car on the ride home, a rare thing for Matthew who has not taken a nap for me in over a year!  Once we got home and relaxed, I took the boys to see the fireworks in Schoolcraft.  They were amazing, as usual.  It was Andrew's first experience with fireworks; he stayed home last year.  So, now it's back to reality and back to routines at home.  The boys are adjusting to being home and we all can't wait to see Ryan again in another five weeks.  Let's hope these next five weeks go as fast as our five day vacation!  To see more pictures from our trip, visit our photo site.
We have this exact picture of Matthew, but from two years ago
Getting ready to see the animals at the zoo
The dolphins were mesmerized  with the comb and all came to the glass
Moon Jellies
The Jellies exhibit at Shedd was beautiful
Andrew and Ryan watching the Dolphin show at Brookfield Zoo  
Matthew watching the Jellies

Isn't he gorgeous?!
Ryan and Matthew petting the stingrays

Has it really been two years?

July 2009  Matthew just turned two
July 2011  Matthew just turned four

Friday, July 1, 2011

Makin' it Pretty

I have always wanted to add to my landscaping, but never had the time or money to do it.  I finally bit the bullet this year and just started ripping out grass once school got out.  Once I started I knew that there was not turning back and I had to finish.  Well, after three LONG days of working (over the course of a week) I accomplished what I set out to do.  I don't want to look at a pick axe or a shovel for a while!

It wasn't easy having the kids around, so I had to work on the first day while Andrew was sleeping.  On the second day I took them to daycare and spend eight long hours tearing out grass.  The third day was spend with the boys playing and Matthew being a HUGE help.  Turns out he likes digging, planting, gardening, watering and playing in the dirt.  Andrew on the other hand was a bit to control, so he spend a lot of time playing in his wagon with toys on the last day.  Matthew and I finally finished after Andrew went to bed.  Here is the before and after shots of the yard.  Now we just have to wait for them to grow and fill in.  Thanks to my water boy, Matthew, a lot of the plants are already growing and it's only been three weeks!  To see more progress pictures click here.

Before

My wonderful helper!

After