Elizabeths Birthday and the rest of Vacation Week!

Well we celebrated Elizabeth's 11th B-day while we were in Chicago, and I think it was a great day! We started with breakfast out and then headed to the Field Museum with Sue the T-Rex. It was a huge place and again more than we could really handle in one morning. We did the best we could and then headed back to get cleaned up for dinner at American Girl and a little AG shopping. We ended that day with a water taxi ride back to the end with our hotel and called it a very successful day!

Matthew did this lovely artwork for Elizabeth that morning at the Yolk restaurant!

The Field Museum and Sue the T-Rex!

This was a huge and impressive building even if you didn't look at all the stuff in it!

We had to cross the tracks to get to everything we went to and that day we finally saw a train going under!














We stopped at Hersheys on the way to American Girl so Elizabeth could make herself a personalized souviner, and she did. This was not it, because that bar costs $40.00!!!!!!




























Here we are at dinner in American Girl, she had a special drink called the Cherry Blossum!

Matthew had a little hot chocolate!














Elizabeth at dinner with her Hershey's Bar!














Happy birthday, we sang and had the cutest little desserts!
















































Back to the Navy Pier to catch the water taxi!














Great views from the water!
























































Soldiers Fountain, the opening of Married with Children!

Tired and done with walking around the City, he was ready for some country living!

Goodbye City Life......














We left the City the fourth day around noon and headed out to Indiana Dunes! The water was a balmy 71 degrees and the kids enjoyed cooling off.










































Once we got to Aunt Darlene and Uncle Terry's we relaxed and enjoyed a family meal, which I should have taken pictures of but didn't:( so our first pics are at the Zoo in South Bend. We had been to this Zoo a couple years earlier and the kids had enjoyed it, Matthew especially likes the train.

We also enjoyed a trip to the South Bend Chocolate Factory, we took a tour of the Factory and enjoyed their small museum that is all about their history there with chocolate. Of course we got some samples too!

Don't you love the hair nets?










































This is a zuchinni!!!!!














Matthew rode everything with wheels that they would let him ride and they both enjoyed a horseback ride, thanks cousin Kyle!!!!!











































We got there just in time for sweet corn coming in and we ate it everday and even took some home and ate it until it was gone. Thanks Uncle Terry!




























Thanks to Aunt Darlene, Uncle Terry and Cousin Kyle for housing, feeding and tolerating us for four days, we love you all and hope to see you again soon! A extra huge for Aunt Darlene for all the cooking she did for us!!!!!

Vacation Day 2

We headed out to the Musuem of Science and Industry on
our second day and it was amazing. We spent almost the
entire day there, the pictures don't even begin to show
how huge the place is. They have an entire 727 airplane,
a German submarine and a coal mine. It was all very
interactive so the kids and David and I really had a great
time. After that we headed to the overlook ledge at the
Sears Tower building(now known by some other name, but
after flying over it for years and calling it the Sears Tower
I have no need to change). It was interesting to step out
over the city and they said you could see four States, but I
only counted three, oh well. It was a busy day and we ended
it with a train ride back to the hotel, there is certainly plenty
of transportation options in that city!














Below is a train set that was huge, and had models set
up of the Chicago and Seattle, Washington skylines. It was
very impressive, and for Matthew it was heaven on earth!















































Matthew worked on making his own tornado but
there was also a floor to ceiling one, that was
quite impressive as well!



















The United Airplane was like heading back to work. It
had the insides as well and working landing gear. They
even had a real United Pilot in there to answer questions!














This was down were the submarine was, it was a game
you could play!



















Always a clown!



















This was a screen that where ever the kids touched
the things coming down would look like they
were catching in their hands. Very interesting!



















Heres the first view when we got out on the 103rd
floor and looked out!














Sitting in the glass boxes!

























































We found Chicago style pizza for dinner that night,
they were very happy about that and ate all but a
piece!














Train ride back to the hotel, of course it wasn't a long
enough ride for Matthew!

Vacation Day 1

Well, we headed out for vacation on July 24th and
had no particularly destination to reach just that we
would get to downtown Chicago the next day. The drive
went pretty smooth except for some construction delays
and the occasionally crazy driver. We ended up at a
Holiday Inn in Indiana and finished up the drive
the next day! We got down to our hotel just after noon,
and went right out to start seeing things. We started at the
Aquarium, but it was so crowded and actually a little bit
of a let down, I think having been to the one in Atlanta
we are really spoiled and everything else sort of falls
short, but the city was great! We stayed in a great
location and could walk to most of the sites or take a
taxi, train or boat! The weather was pleasant and actually
got cold that evening when we rode the water taxi back
from Navy Pier. We had gone in search of Chicago style
pizza and really had no luck that night, gave up and ate then
enjoyed a ride on the huge ferris wheel on the pier. After
that we headed back towards the hotel on a water taxis and
enjoyed the view of the city and the sunset from the water taxi.
It was a great first day. I had thought I would blog the whole
trip at once, but after looking at the pictures its just too
much. So here is day One/two since we ended up taking two
days to get there!

Let the riding begin!






































Illinois is quite green these days, both literally and
figuratively!














We arrived to a beautiful sunny day in the city!














In the Aquarium with all the other tourists in the
City of Chicago that day!














Ready for a ride on a very large Ferris wheel out on
the pier. It actually goes really slow and gives you an
amazing view of the lake and the city!










































On to the water taxi for a ride back towards the end
our hotel is on, it was a great view of the city and
the sunset/moon rising!




























Great end to a long day!

4th of July Weekend!

Well the weekend started out
great with lots of family time
and a trip to the mountains to
ride on Tweetsie 190!
We had fun there of course and
the weather was perfect, warm
and sunny during the day and
by the time the fireworks started
we had to put on sweatshirts! We
got home late on Sunday night and
all slept in, the heat was back on at
home so we decided to go to the
movies. In hind site I wish we hadn't
but, what can you say that's why they
call it hind site. My car got broken into
while we were in the movie and my
purse got taken. Fortunately my wallet
was with me and the only thing they really got was my nice handbag, cell phone, sunglasses, and at the time we thought a $100 gift card to Best Buy. We fortunately were able to use the receipt to have the card cancelled and reissued before they found it, I really think when they found no money they just tossed it, and my phone had no bells or whistles that so many others have
now(not even texting capability) so I think they tossed it first since it was off when we called it right after we saw the glass and knew what happened. It was just more emotional and stressful, because of some paper work I had in it for me than anything else. I will have my new window and side piece put in today, they used something that bent the side of the window up as well as breaking the glass out. After today I will put this all behind me as a lesson learned.
I have always been cautious about what I leave in my car(wallet with me)and I always told the kids to hid there things, even stuffed animals, but I was under the false illusion that the tinted windows lended me a certain amount of protection, and since I have no trunk in my car, there really isn't much of an option to hide anything, so..... My car has been emptied out this
week since I have no window or way to lock up, so it will probably stay that way.
Our lesson learned was leave nothing behind that you would care if it disappeared
or would cause you stress to clear up!

HOPE ALL OF YOU HAD A HAPPY 4TH, WE DID JUST WITH A LITTLE
LESSON THAT I COULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT!

Newest Tweetsie creatures, bunnies, this is Matthews hand
rubbing the one they named Oreo!

Cowgirl!

Elizabeth joined in to do some clogging!

As soon as the park closed they had the sparklers out

getting into the spirit with the rest of the crowd!

Statue of Liberty Pose!