Downtown Chicago 2008

We made it safely to my mom's house last night after dropping Luke off to my aunt's new house last night. The kids are sad that Luke is gone and are now begging for a new dog to replace him. We were able to take their minds off of missing Luke by taking them downtown for the day. We had a lot of fun seeing the sights and are now back at my mom's until we leave for home tomorrow. We ended up taking over a hundred pictures, but I didn't think anyone would want to sit through that many - now matter how good looking we are! Ha! So here are some of my favorites...

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Just outside of the train station. Same place, same picture, every year.

We took a carriage ride around the city. Here are my mom and Ashley.

Ryan thought Festus, the horse who pulled our carriage was pretty cool.

After our carriage ride, we walked over to the Daley Plaza to see the pretty tree outside.

We then made our way over to Macy's food court for lunch where we spent a fortune to eat. Then it was time to head on up nine levels of escalators to see the Macy's Christmas tree. But first we stopped off at FAO Scwartz so Ryan could look around and beg for toys. In fact, he's still smiling here because he thinks he's going to be able to talk us into buying something.

By the time we made it all the way up to the tree, he knew our "No's" were for real.


He was able to get over it, though.

The day was winding down but we still had some time left and none of us had been to Millenium Park yet, so we went to check it out.

The Bean is just plain awesome. We could have spent hours there having fun with our reflections.

Ryan holds up the bean.

Ryan really wanted to go ice skating, but seeing as he's never attempted that OR rollerblading/rollerskating before, I pretty much told him we'd take him to our local rink to teach him. which means I've got some pretty painful falls to look forward to in the near future.

While waiting for the our train to board, we were a little freaked out my this abandoned paper sack. I took a picture in case the train station was no more by the time we got back to my mom's.

I think it's time to see if my brother's got any beer around here...

Wii Fit = Smart A*#

I've been having a hard time finding the time to get to the gym lately and while I was at Wal-mart this morning, I happened to walk past the electronic section and almost died of excitement when I saw that they had TWO Wii Fit's in stock. I've walked by many times and there has never been one there. So I grabbed it.

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After I got home from my little part time job at school, I started setting it up.

Yep, that's the Mii I set up for my self sometime ago.

You should be ashamed asking for asking a lady how old she is! Fine, let's get started with your little pretesting, shall we?

No. I do not trip a lot. Then it tells me that my Wii Fit age is 42 years old and all of sudden my Mii becomes rounder. I almost threw the remote at the TV.

Hmm, chose a trainer? Male or Female? What do you think?

The jury was still out on how well of a work out one could get with this, but 38 minutes later I have to admit that I was a little sore and working up a sweat, but having fun at the same time. I think we'll keep it!

Homecoming Parade

This weekend is Dunlap's big Homecoming weekend! Ashley survived her first parade in the marching band and had a great time.

After the parade, we ran home to eat and change clothes and then went and cheered on the football team at the game.

Today we're off to Chicago to drop off the kids at my mom's and then it's on to my friend Emily's house for girls night out.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

After a quick lunch at White Castles this afternoon, we played a round of miniature golf over at Hollywood Park. We pretty much had to drag Ryan out of the house assuring him that he would indeed have fun. Ironically, he had more fun than the rest of us.


This conversation just took place upon returning to my mom's house:

Ryan: Uncle Dave! We're back! I'm awesome at golf!

My Mom: Dave! I had the lowest score.

Dave: You must have cheated.

My Mom: Nope, but I did keep score.

Ha. I don't think she even realized the way that sounded!

Damn Smokers

Three and a half hours later, we're finally here in Chicago at my mom's house. Three and a half hours. Ugh.

The drive here started out fairly normal until 45 minutes or so in when Ashley started feeling car sick. We pulled over to a gas station about twenty miles past Bloomington, IL and got some crackers for Ash and other yummy's for myself and Ryan.

Back on I55 again, I'm talking to my mom on my cell phone and twenty minutes have passed when I see a sign welcoming us to Bloomington, IL. What the...?! Didn't we just come from that direction? Crap! I went the wrong freaking way - and it took me twenty minutes to figure it out.

I get us back on track and am still fuming over my own stupidity. Ashley is still feeling really sick and Ryan is telling me that he has to go potty - after we've already stopped at a gas station. I sigh, put my turn signal on and pull over to the shoulder. I press the button on my fancy overhead console that magically opens the sliding door on the shoulder side of the road. Ryan gets up and stands in the doorway, does his thing and I close the door - all without having to get out of my minivan. Awesome! You've gotta love having little boys!

We're finally back in route and other than the standard every 10 minute, "Are we there yet?" that comes from Ryan, things seem to be going fine. We merge onto I80, excited to almost be there, when the idiot in the lane next to mine, throws his still smoldering cigarette butt out his window and it hits my windshield dead center!

If it hadn't been for all of the above events that lead us to being exactly where we were in that exact time and place, we wouldn't have been accosted by a smoldering cigarette butt. Weird. I am so glad to be a nonsmoker now! 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days y'all!

So now Ryan and my brother are plastered in front of the TV playing the Lego Star Wars game on PlayStation 3. Little does my 6'7" manly brother know that my daughter is dead serious about him doing her Dance Dance Revolution game with her. She even brought him his very own mat!

Hitting The Road Again

Today is our last day up here at my mom's house in Chicago. It's hard to believe Christmas is over and that we will soon be approaching New Years. As soon as I finish my beloved mug of Peppermint Mocha we'll be packing up and getting the kids (and ourselves) out of their pajamas and onto the road.

Any bets on whether Bret will actually let me listen to my new CD in the car - over and over and over again? It's rare when I find a CD where I enjoy listening to the whole thing.

By the way, it has now been 22 days since I quit smoking. Hooray - I hit 3 weeks yesterday and didn't even realize it. And another big perk? We got here faster without making any stops and made it through the holiday without one.

Photos

All Christmas photos are up over at Flickr.

Merry Christmas - Part Two With The S's

Christmas came and went faster than ever this year, it seems. Once again, my Grandma outdid herself with last night's Christmas Eve dinner.

Grandma, hard at work.

Ashley, having no business looking as grown up as she does this year.

My brother, David and Ashley.

Ryan and Bret.

Dave, Lori, Ryan & Bret.

Ryan gets the Imaginext Jungle set he's been begging for.

Ashley gets her long awaited boots.

He didn't really ask for this, did he? (He did.)

My Aunt nearly gave my Grandma a heart attack when she opened up her Williams Sonoma gift certificate and exclaimed, "Wow, a thousand dollars. Thank you." My mom had ordered it online with her credit card number. It gave everyone a pretty good laugh.

We got Grandma pretty good last night when she opened her last gift. She's been wanting this Bose stereo system for some time now and had no idea it was going to be hers this year.

Ryan got her pretty good, too. His new toy came with a pretend snake and he kept tormenting her with it.

So off to bed we went last night to await Santa's visit and woke up this morning to find our presents waiting for us under the tree.

I retired my scrapbooking supplies this year and went digital over at Snapfish. So much easier, plus without smoke breaks, I didn't think I could handle doing any scrapbooking yet.

Ryan was really excited about his Baseball Guys Play Set.

Ashley has a place to store her earrings now. (Which will make it easier for mom to browse, too!)

Go Cubs!

So, my buzz from my homemade Starbucks Peppermint Mocha has now worn off and I've successfully made it through Christmas without smoking. Even with family members going out all last night, I did great. Not even a single urge to join them, but I did drink two cups of real coffee last night. I've officially joined the grown up table now.

Heavenly Caffeinated

I'll have more Christmas pictures for you all when the caffeine buzz from my new Espresso Machine and Starbucks Peppermint Mocha ingredients wear off. I am very happily caffeinated right now on this Christmas morning.

Chicago Time Again

Aah, the annual "it's my birthday weekend, let's go downtown Chicago, see some Christmas trees, have lunch and shop!" The weather wasn't too bad today and the crowds weren't nearly as horrible as they were when we went on the Friday after Thanksgiving last year. The kids (ok and me, too) really enjoyed our annual trip on the train to downtown Chicago.

Ryan and the birthday girl.

While on the look out for a place to eat lunch, we came across this officer and his horse, Mahoney. Ryan was enthralled and the officer was great with all the kids that wanted to stop and pet his horse.

The kids and Grammy in front of the tree outside of the Daley Center Plaza.

Bret and I with the kids.

On our way over to Macy's to see the big Christmas tree, we made a pit stop in Old Navy and found some good deals for Ashley for Christmas. You're officially not a kid anymore when you know what you're getting for Christmas.

Ashley & Ryan in front of the Macy's tree.

All I Want For Christmas is...

...an over priced couch for $3000

...and the ugliest couch I've ever seen for $8000.

On our way back down from seeing the tree and getting sticker shock in the Macy's furniture department, we browsed through FAO Schwartz.

Well, we browsed...

($27,000 for a true to life Batman made from Lego's. My kids were instructed not to touch or their college educations would be in jeopardy!)

...but Ryan thought he was really there to shop and wasn't very happy when he was pulled out of the toy departement.

One more picture before hopping back on the train so we can make it to my Grandma's for my birthday dinner later.