Into the fire

The bad part of coming back from vacation is the reality of coming back from vacation!  You know, the laundry, the projects at work that did not magically disappear, the poor cat who felt neglected, and the school work that was left behind.  We jumped back in full speed on Monday.  It was spirit week at Cameron's school.  I guess it was technically Red Ribbon week, which is a promotion against drugs.  My Cam has a bit of a competitive nature, and so he dressed up for 'sock it to drug' day like this:

 Why yes, those are socks on his ears.  He did not win.  And so when it was "orange you glad you are not on drugs day" he went all out.  

Yep, my son spray painted his pants.  And yes, he did win.  He also had his eye brows done in orange after this photo was taken, and although you can't tell it here, he asked Mallory to paint his fingernails.  I am not sure that all of this was worth the snickers bar and pencil he got, but he can proudly proclaim he was the winner for this one day!  

We also somehow had a million appointments scheduled and I had some inspections at work.  I never mind inspection day....it is sort of fun to see the projects completed and see progress being made.  I might even say it is enjoyable.  Sort of.

Harper had an eye doctor appointment this week as well.  I have been worried that her glasses were not helping as much as they should or could be.  She seems to not be able to see objects in the distance very well, and we have the ever present issue of her tripping over steps, or unlevel places on the ground.  This appointment was the first time she really cooperated well with the doctor "reading" their stuff.  I think it gave a huge impression to me of how poor her vision is when trying to read things far off.  She will be getting new glasses and we sure hope they will be much better help to her.  I do think her vision with her glasses for close up is pretty adequate.  I guess we will see.  She was not too happy about getting new glasses, she hasn't had this pair for very long!  I think this will be a constant theme for her as she is growing.  Hopefully someday it will level off and she will go longer periods of time without having to get new glasses.  

It was also parent teacher conference week.  I will probably go down as the world's worst parent, but I just don't see the point of some of the stuff they do with these kids today.  I do not understand taking tests over things we haven't covered yet to set benchmarks etc.  Really?  You gave my kid a test of things you haven't covered yet and then tell me the score wasn't so high?  No kidding?  I pointed out that I thought this was a bit over the top in time wasting.  I was told welcome to education.  The kids teachers did tell me that they are all doing great and I was proud of the grades they have.  I am sure I am the parent that they all see coming and wish they could drink on the job!

Last one

 On Sunday, we made the 10 hour drive home from Chicago.  The kids were very well behaved....and even though it was a long drive, they mostly got along and seemed to coast in the sleeping position.

 We did see a woman at a gas station driving my dream car.  It is a tricked out hearse!  The coolest Halloween car ever!  :)

 We came home through St. Louis.  We made a promise to Preston a couple years ago when we could not get tickets to the top, that we would be back someday and that we would make sure he got to go up in the arch.  We bought the tickets over the phone and he had a great time!  One thing I love about Jim, he is always willing to do the high stuff for me!  God knew before I met Jim that I needed a partner who was willing to do these things!

 While the kids rode to the top with Jim, these girls and I walked around and enjoyed being out of the car for  a while.  We walked down the river front, and looked through the museum at the base of the arch.  

 I have to say that I really do love St. Louis.  There is something about it.  Maybe it is because it is cheap, fun and entertaining, or maybe it is nostalgia from this being the first vacation Jim and I ever took together, but whatever it is, I love it there.   Jim may or may not agree with me!  :)

We made it home and were happy to get out of the car, sad that vacation flew by so fast, and the kids were not overly excited about returning to school.  I am so happy that we had this opportunity to be together with our kids, without the distractions of every day life.  I saw so many things, not just Chicago sites, but a visual reminder of how well bonded our kids are, how much I love my husband.  Life is good!

Chicago part 3

 Saturday morning we went around the corner from our hotel to Legoland for Preston's birthday.  The stuff you can do with a Lego is pretty impressive.  Preston had a good time spending his birthday money in the store.  I wish I had invented Legos!

 We had one more ticket on our Citipass, which was a choice between the Alder Planetarium, or the Art Museum.  Since it was Preston's birthday we let him make the choice.  He picked the Planetarium.  I was super excited about this, and again was met with claims that I am a nerd.

 The kids did have fun in the Discovery Zone.....

 especially when they realized you could try out a space toilet.  We are rednecks, this is good to know.

 We watched several 3D movies as part of our citipass experience.  The one at the Aquarium was awesome, the one at the museum was good.  The one at the Planetarium.....the kids said they thought they were going to die of boredom.  Luckily, it was only 30 minutes long and I thought it was good....it was about the sun.

 We did not make it for very long at the Planetarium before we decided to go back to the hotel and swim and just hang out.

 We ordered Chicago style pizza and enjoyed being together as a family.

Happy 9th birthday Preston!!!

 Preston had a birthday on Saturday.  He is 9!  My baby boy is 9!  WOW!  I guess I should stop calling him my little guy.  We bought him some cupcakes from a grocery store next door to our hotel.  They were not good!

So I made him some homemade ones tonight.  Much better!

Preston is such a smart, sweet, compliant kid.  I love how he asks questions that are insightful, and well thought out.  I have no doubt that he will go far in his life.  We are very proud of our 'little' guy!  Sometimes it is hard to be on the young end of the boys - Colin and Cameron sometimes use Preston as their tackle dummy and they love to pick him up and throw him around.  I often have to put a stop to it, like at the hotel pool when they each had an arm and a leg and were throwing him to the ceiling and into the pool.  Of course, he loved it, but I had no desire to see how Chicago's health system works.  He is sensitive, and funny and we all love him bunches!  I hope you had a good birthday Preston, your dad and I are very proud of you and love you very much!

Chicago part 2

 On Friday, we spent the majority of the day at the Field Museum.  I loved this, and could have spent more time there looking over the exhibits.  The kids loved the dinosaurs, and some of the animal exhibits, but grew tired and somewhat bored after a few hours.  I got called a nerd, and that is ok because I really love a good museum.

 The little ones and I have been reading about Sue, the 90% complete t-rex that is on display at the Field Museum.  The kids were super excited to finally meet her!  Harper was majorly impressed.  Her story is a really cool one, and I think the little kids actually learned something!  :)

 Another hit with the kids was the mummy display.  We might have teased Preston that he and this mummy boy  have the same physique.  Preston seemed unfazed by this and still isn't eating vegetables!

 Sue's head weighs around 600 pounds, so it is too heavy to display with the rest of her body.  We decided that Sue is an orthodontist's dream!

 Harper was very interested in touching Sue's teeth and ribs.  There was one on display which had a rib that had been broken and healed in Sue's lifetime.  You could feel the difference in the bone.  Now Harper runs around feeling people's legs and arms looking for broken bones.

 I never realized that some of the displays in museums are casts of other museum's exhibits.  Sort of a copy permanently borrowed from another museum.  I found this pretty interesting.

 Apotosaurus footprint makes a good place to rest.

 Cameron was not thrilled with the plants of the world display.  He said he felt like he could die of boredom in that room!

 He had to do something to stay awake he said!

 I was happy to get to see the Lions of Tsavo.  I am planning to watch a movie about them soon.  Or maybe read the book.....haven't decided yet!  :)

 Friday we also made a little visit to the Willis Tower (formerly the Sear's Tower).  I told you, we bought the Citipass, so I forced the kids to do everything touristy in Chicago!

 Before we went up, we were warned that the visibility was 0 and that there were no guarantees on when it might clear up.  We went up anyhow, after all, Jim had squeezed the van of doom into a 2 inch parking space in a garage and we had already paid the unreasonably high parking fee.  In my opinion, it worked out good.  I can now brag that I did step out on the glass sky deck and so did the whole family.  I am relatively certain, with my tremendous fear of heights, I would never have been on that deck had I been able to see down!  Cam was a little disappointed, because this was the thing he wanted to do the most.  Colin said it was plenty scary just as it was! 

 We spent Friday evening at the Navy Pier.  The kids loved this.  Of course they did, there was nothing to read, nothing to learn about, and a carnival like atmosphere!  Some of us (as mentioned above) are not fond of heights, so Jim rode the tremendously tall Ferris wheel with the kids.  They thought it was absolutely awesome!  I am happy to take their word for it!

We ate dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp.  The food was good.  I will go on record and say that we will probably never go back there to eat again because the memories it brings up are not good ones.  Enough said.