Chicago part 2

On Thursday, the kids and I went to the Children's Museum at Navy pier while Andrew worked. I was a little nervous going it alone, but this was the perfect museum to do so. The kids could touch and climb everything and even Ella had lots to do. Ty loved meeting Curious George, Ella loved splashing in the 'river' and catching 'fish', and Arick and Brianna loved building a house.

On Friday, we spent the day swimming at the hotel. Brianna and Arick practiced swimming and Ty was all over the pool with his floaties. Ella was scared at first, but after I put her in a baby float she was having a blast. In fact, she was so calm that I thought she would fall asleep.

Saturday we left for home but not before stopping at Trader Joe's for some of our favorites. The ride home was very long, but that was because I was coming down with the flu.

Chicago was so much fun and hopefully we get to visit again in warmer weather. Andrew and I miss the Chicago-style hot dogs (all beef hot dog, with onions, "nuclear-green" relish, mustard, diced tomatoes, chopped onions, a dill pickle spear, and celery salt) and Chicago-style pizza again (deep dish and stuffed), oh it was sooooo good.

*Just in case you are wondering why we visited so many museums, we did so because we had free admission (parking was another story).

Chicago part 1

We started our vacation on Monday and planned to spend the day driving the long way to Chicago. We stopped to see Louisville and visit the factory (below) but it was closed so we will have to visit another time.


Louisville Slugger Museum is Louisville Kentucky. The bat is much bigger than this.


On Tuesday, we spent the day at The Museum of Science and Industry, which is one of my favorite hands-on museums of all time. Ty LOVED getting to ride the tractors and the huge model train exhibit. I loved the Fairy Castle dollhouse which was amazing.


Andrew couldn't resist!


More hands-on fun for the boys, it was very hard to pull them away or have them share with other kids.


On Wednesday, we visited the Natural History Museum. This is Sue the famous T Rex, the most complete skeleton ever found.

Back to our regularly scheduled blogging

I know that this month was a slow month for me and I apologize, but now I am healthy and ready to spend more time on the computer. Please start visiting regularly again. A summary of our vacation to Chicago will be posted shortly.

The greatest show on Earth

When we took the kids to the circus, we kept it a surprise. Brianna figured out where we were going when she saw the trailers that said "The Greatest Show on Earth". Arick was stumped, so we asked him what he thought was the greatest show on Earth. He pondered for a moment and said, "Star Wars!" Ha! Gotta love that Star Wars addict of mine.

Happy Birthday Ty!!

Happy Birthday to Ty who turned four today. He has grown up so much, figuratively anyway, since he just hit 30 pounds at 4 years old. He is obsessed with Disney's Cars, he prefers not to be alone, he mumbles when he talks, (which can be very frustrating), he would eat cold cereal for every meal if he could, he misses Arick and Brianna while they are at school, he loves to help me clean, and he smiles at everyone which just endears him to everyone. He adds lots of joy to our home and we are so grateful to have him in our family.

To celebrate his special day, we went to the circus. Gigi and Grandpa Craig came along too to make it even better. It was a surprise for the kids and they were delighted when they realized what our plan was. Ty was pretty mesmerized, we all were actually. We saw the Bellobration tour and highly recommend this version by Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey (they have another tour as well). Bello the clown is the only clown that has made me laugh. All in all, a great place to celebrate being 4.

Food poisoning, need I say more?

I don't know what I have done to deserve this but I have been bedridden yet again, this time with food poisoning. I am not happy. The likely culprit . . . vegetables. I try to do something right, in this case eat healthy, and it hurts me.

New years resolutions

I love new beginnings, especially the start of new year. While in bed for 10 days, I had a lot of time to think about the new year and what my goals would be. I always try to come up with a physical goal, a mental health goal, and a spiritual goal. For obvious reasons, I thought a lot about my health. Since December 1st, I have spent almost 3/4 of that time sick or suffering from pain. During that time I had cut back on sleep, ran myself ragged getting things done, and indulged my taste buds way too much. Basically, I neglected myself. So my physical resolution for this year is to establish healthier habits so that I can reduce pain and get sick less.

For my mental health goal, I plan to keep studying photography and to apply for and be accepted into a special photography group. This group requires an application with about 30 photos, and it would be a nice milestone marker in my photography when I do get in.

For my spiritual goal, I plan on attending the Temple here in Nashville more and to give more service to others.

I am still working on exactly how I am going to reach these goals, but I have started to make some changes and I am even beginning to see some success.

Hello, again

So the last remnants of the flu are finally leaving our home. Finally. I still fatigue really easily and we all have a bit of a cough still. This was my first time experiencing the real flu and I never ever want to feel that way again. I will get my yearly flu shot without fail. I know that lots of people are wary about the flu shot, but when you watch your husband(who was the only smart one to get the flu sho) stay healthy while the rest of the family suffers from the flu, you 'get' that the shot works. He never even got a sniffle.

Are we still alive?

Barely. The flu (confirmed by lab tests) has taken over our house. The total body count is 4 of us, hopefully Bri and Andrew stay healthy. Oh my gosh it is sooooooooooo awful. Arick and I have it the worst. Keep us in your prayers. Arick has been crying off and on about how horrible it is.