Truly Blessed

Kelly suggested that we focus on those blessings we have . .. share what we're thankful for, while in this time of national loss. I'd like to share in your blessings too. Let me know if I haven't seen your list (if I've not left you a comment, I haven't seen it!)

1. I'm blessed that I know God, that I Believe Him and what He'll do in my life (the peaceful blue sky and fluffy clouds .. . just seems like a message from God to me. This pic was taken somewhere between Claremore and Joplin).
2. I'm blessed that I have a husband that works hard to love and provide for our family, and therefore allows me to stay at home with the kids.
3. I'm blessed with three beautiful, healthy children. So easy to take this one for granted sometimes. . . all I have to do is take myself back to the time when we were testing Alaina for CF, etc and those times when I was terrified we wouldn't get her to the hospital before she stopped breathing and I realize again how blessed I truly am.
4. I'm blessed to have all of my family nearby, and so willing to help out with the kids during my frequent migraine episodes. How I'd make it through without them, I don't know. . . hope I never have to find out.
5. I'm blessed to have great friends like Terri (as close to a blog link as we're getting for her!), Gloria,Becky, Erin . .. and so many more. . . . who have been there for me when I've needed them. Either IRL or over the DSL lines.
6. I'm blessed by my church community. . .to have people around me who recognize and want to utilize my talents.
7. I'm blessed by those around me who desire to help me grow in the Lord. What would I do without those spectacular women from whom I've learned so much?
8. I'm blessed to be clothed, and fed, and warm, and safe.
9. I'm blessed to live in America. . . to have so many freedoms -- where to live, where and how to school my children, where to worship, what career I wanted to have, etc.
10. I'm blessed to have that group that's become known as my circle of friends who've travelled in my pocket to so many places and have helped me through many rough patches: Dianne, Shari, Bets, Connie, Nance, Spiln, Pat, and Shorty. Oh man .. . there's never been a stronger group of women. I am truly blessed to have you guys in my life. . .both as a support system, and as an awesome set of role models. God knew what he was doing when he gave me you guys.

An end of an era

So . .. flashback to February 2004. I was the butt of many a joke at that evening's bunko. Between taking a dead hamster to the vet (oh don't ask!) and apparently buying a new hamster that was pregnant (sigh, only happens to Heather! But either we'd bought the world's meanest hamster or that little one was with little ones!). They were all laughing that I might not end up taking home a prize that night, but i might have multiple ones waiting for me when I got home. ROFL . . .sure enough, I did. . .4 little hairless hamster babies. We took 'em to the vet and found out we had 2 boy hamsters and 2 girl hamsters . .. quickly seperated them so we wouldn't go into the hamster breeding business. We gave away the girls ... the mom died (another tragic story . . .) and the boy hamsters became George and Harold of Captain Underpants fame. Harold passed away about 3 months ago. .. poor thing. And George, the rebel hamster of the litter, quickly went downhill, greying overnight. I checked on the hamsters (Allie's got one too. . . Tigger) this morning and George passed away. Poor thing. The end of the litter. . . .And I know Ian's gonna want another one. ARGH . .. so don't want another hamster. {sigh} How am I gonna talk him out of it? Don't suggest another pet! I'm not a dog person . . .and I don't want a cat either. I want to be a petless household!

Nothing like getting perspective . . .

Just ignore my previous complaining . . . .

I don't watch much TV that isn't Dora or Bugs Bunny. Not even at night. . . and I hadn't seen pics of the horrible damage done in the Biloxi area. {sigh} My heart is with all the people who have lost everything they had. . . with the families who don't know if all their loved ones are okay . . . and with those who have lost loved ones.

I'm always very leery of donating after huge tragedies. . . seems like the money ends up getting used for fax machines or something instead of what it was intended to be used for. And there's only so much I can give, you know? I'd like to know it's really helping. . . not going for new office equipment!

I've been hiding. . .

It's been a week since my last post (feel like I should start that with "Hi, my name is Heather and I'm an internetaholic!"). And I'm afraid this is going to be a "things that bug me" post.

Ian's in the 4th grade, and we're again having the "I can't remember to bring home my homework" issue. ARGH! I can't deal with this until he graduates from HS! Last year we took away everything that was plug-in-able every time he did (for the day). . . didn't seem to bother him. This year, we're making him go to be 15 minutes earlier for each day of the week he forgets something, starting today. He remembered his work today. We'll see if this works.

Well, we're going to start the painting this weekend. . .. hopefully, by Monday or Tuesday, I'll have a mostly completed scraproom .. . . Here's hoping. Means the room will get worse before it gets better and the house will be torn up. UGH.

Nic, this one's for you . . .

I had to post this pic to show Nic that she could have it worse off in the kiddie hairdo department! tehehe

See what happens when you're a nice mom and you give your kiddo a little catsup for "dipping sauce"?

No, this is not one of those internet myths like the picture of the 2 kids with marker drawings all over them titled "Why you shouldn't leave dad home alone with the kids".

This is Alaina when she was about 15 or 16 months old. See that grimy little hand? See that smile of glee? She did that 'do all by herself and she was darned proud of it!

Took 3 hairwashings to get all that catsup out of her hair. And it really wasn't that much catsup to begin with . .. she just rubbed it in real well.

That was the last time I let the kids eat while I was fixing dinner for Andy and I!

Totally forgot about these pictures until today. I'll have to do something with them. Thanks Nic!

What about those Walls?

Tehehe . . .Andy's figured this out. I get a project going, and I want to get it done. He's the opposite. . .took him a year to stain an entertainment center that was in our garage. He started tile floors in our kitchen and 2 upstairs bathrooms in early March . .. they're still not done (he's got the doorway transitions and a few spots where the grout needs to be patched). ::sigh:: DRIVES ME NUTS!

Now, I want to lay flooring and get paint on the walls.

I should probably mention that we painted every wall in this house except the master bed and bath (I couldn't decide on a color) in February/March. His parents came up for a couple weekends and did it all with him. I should also mention that everytime I pick up a paintbrush, I end up with a migraine . . no really, I'm not pretending! I'm not trying to get out of work. So all I'm helpful for is picking up colors and cleaning up the mess they leave in their wake.

We discovered this when I decided to do a little "While You Were Out" project when he went to DisneyWorld last January (yes, he went without us). His mom flew up and helped me and we (mostly she) painted this room (this photo doesn't even do it justice as to how dark the green was! . . and please ignore the toys. I realized I hadn't taken any "before" pics -- no I did not pic this color, we just never painted over it when we bought the house!, and snapped a couple . .. turned out fuzzy . . .pics before I got all the toys boxed up):



Didn't do such a great job on the color picking. I was looking for a lighter color. This room had been so dark for so long. Take a look at this picture. The top of the wall was the original color I picked out. . . we had to paint over it with the one I finally chose. Final color was 2 "steps" down on the paint chip. I was in a hurry to get this room painted because I had a roomful of furniture scheduled for delivery about 3 days after Andy got back from Disney . . . .and I didn't want to have to move it out of the room to paint it later.


Here's the final product. . . well, mostly final, without wall art, but with new walls and furniture:


You can see the corner of the dining room in the second picture. It's the other front room, and so I'd like the colors to blend, but don't know that I should necessarily go with the same color on the walls. All I know is I'm sick of builder's white. Which is what they painted the whole house when they painted in Feb/Mar because we thought we'd be moving this year. That's been postponed at least a year, probably more like 18-24 months. . . and by then, we'll probably have to repaint anyway. On top of that, surprise, surprise, the paint didn't go on real well. . gee, guess that's why it was CHEAP!

So now I'm trying to decide what to do with the downstairs. . .the 2 story entryway/hallway, the dining room that will now be the scrap studio, and the kitchen/nook/second living that's all 1 continuous space. I'm no darned good at interior design stuff. How many different colors on the walls are too many?

I was thinking about a sage-ish color for the dining room (Behr's Rejuvenate, Spring Hill or Mountain Haze. . . possibly . . .this is computer screen looking, not actual paint looking), then another color for the big, continuous space. . . I don't know. . . HELP!

TAG!!!

Tag! I've been tagged . .. well actually, I was tagged way back on Aug. 16th, but haven't gotten around to playing along until now. But I was tagged and I said I'd be compliant. Idiosyncrasy: structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group. Write down 5 of your idiosyncrasies. Then, tag 5 people if you want.... 1. I get up, get the kids ready for school, then go back to sleep. . . .wastes me a lot of morning time, but I do it almost every day. 2. Mr. Pibb is NOT the same thing as Dr. Pepper. . . .it didn't earn it's doctorate for a reason, right!?!?!?! 3. I'll wash and dry laundry all day long, but please, please, please don't ask me to hang it up! 4. I eat black eyed peas with lasagna . . .not on top of it or anything. . . but as a side dish. which leads me to 5. My food cannot touch. If all the dishes in our house were those little divided melamine plates we used for the kids when they were little, I'd be a happy woman! tehehe Please excuse my wierd listing abilities, or lack thereof, today . . . I can't seem to hit the return key! Anyone know what's up with that??? Okay, as for people to tag, well my other dear friend Becky, Jamie. If there's anyone else out there who catches this, LMK and I'll come and read your tagged list.

Things Learned at IKEA

Alaina and I went shopping at IKEA after a little (very little) LSS shopping and a good mexican lunch with Jamie and her younger two kids. I'm enjoying getting to know Jamie better. She's a lot of fun.
So, after stopping by a couple stores we had to return stuff to, there was still enough time to run and take a look at stuff at IKEA. Definitely came up with a list after leaving there.

Things I learned at IKEA:

-- Don't take a large shopping cart upstairs. They'll accost you if you come in the front door with one, take it away and give you a smaller one.
-- Don't got IKEA shopping with kids. Unless you will leave them at a play area manned by people you don't know. . . it's just too darned big a store for any child to enjoy. They'll whine and beg and cajole and pretend to need to go to the restroom just to get out of there.
-- Bring a honkin' big vehicle with you with lots of open space and no car seats. Good thing I wasn't planning on buying today. I guess I would've had to strap the boxes to the top of the van. The storage unit alone has 3 big boxes.
-- Don't worry about what time of day you plan on coming. . .they have a cafe there! (HUH? I was surprised!)
-- Expect very little sales help . . . as their signs say "all the information's on the tags" and "we have less sales people to keep the prices down".
-- Expect to feel like a fish swimming against the flow if you want to go look at something that's out of "order". There's actually arrows on the floor telling you where to go . . . I didn't really wanna look at all that stuff. . . and some stuff I wanted to look at twice. I was actually afraid they might send the IKEA police after me for not following them like everyone else. tehehe

At any rate. . .this is the possibles, so far. . . .sent Andy links so he could check stuff out. The only for sure is this piece, in either white or birch:One of these two desks for the kids' computer, depending on how much space we have: And these two tables for work spaces, the first one will be in white and birch, and a longer table top, (I think . . .certainly is more expensive than this one was on the website), and the second one is for the girls to work on, with a couple of benches. . .if there's room in the room .. . they're always wanting to sb too.

IKEA? Pottery Barn? What should I do???

Well, we decided to turn the Dining Room into a scrap studio/second computer area so that (1) the kids have someplace to house their computer that their Aunt Brooke gave them and (2) I don't have to run up and down the stairs a million times when I scrapbook. Right now all my scrapping stuff is in my closet, AKA "Heather's Scrapbook Emporium" as lovingly called by some of my friends.

So, now it's a matter of what to do. I know I want this storage unit from IKEA. But I haven't found a workspace I really like. Anyone have any ideas? I know a lot of people go to Pottery Barn or IKEA to get it. . . I'd like something good and study and that won't wobble.. . like those tables from SAMS.

Thinking I might paint the room a sage-y green . . . will go with the paint in the living room . . . .and when we're ready to show the house, should work for a dining room, right? Hmmmm . . . . what does green do for you digestively?

So, I might become an American Idol fan before long. . .

Just got news from my MIL that one of Andy's cousins is in the running for one of the spots on AI. In the top 10 from her state. . . I don't know how this usually works, as I've never watched an episode (I know flog me now!). Is there only 1 per state?

Will be interesting to find out. Apparently supposed to know something in early September. . .live on Fox.

Hmmmm . . . .interesting.

I've said that if AI had started when I was younger and single, I would've SOOOOOO tried for it. ::sigh::

Will keep you guys updated. . .

Getting Things Back To Normal

Please, someone remind me if I ever think of doing such things again, that taking a vacation for 2 weeks right before school starts is not such a hot idea.

I'm still trying to get everything back in place, also meeting teachers, another migraine (last Friday), getting together with my family (well, everyone but my brother, who was in London), getting last minute school things, shopping with my SIL, making a 1st day of school "emergency kit" for Allie's teacher (Ian's won't start school until Mid-October, so I'll make hers a bit closer to time), and getting this week started. ::whew::

Spent the day today indoctrinating my sister into the world of scrapping. Taught her you *must* buy at least 2 sheets of every patterned paper you get. ROFL .. .also told her that even if you don't scrap in order, it would probably be a good idea to do your layouts in 2 page increments. . . so that they compliment each other in the book. ROFL . . .

We saw corny dog paper today. . .who the heck needs corny dog paper? Or toilet paper roll paper? Those papers always amaze me.

Allie's been the talk of her class this week with her pierced ears. . . boy, those 6-7 year old girls think she's brave. tehehe . . . shot to stardom, that girl has. She needed the little boost.

Tomorrow, Mom and Dad are watching all 4 of the grandkids over here so that Andy and I can go out and celebrate our anniversary (which was on 8-8). . . don't know what we'll do, but the kids will be having movie night and ravioli over here.

We're home!

We made it home. .. . we took less than 5 hours to make our trip back to the Dallas area. We stopped by mom and dad's for a visit (had to bypass our house to do that, but had to drop off a check from a car mom and dad sold in Arkansas, some tomatoes, and eat dinner). The kids were so glad to see Mimi and Dad-Dad and vice versa. And I was so glad to be HOME. I've loved the time we've had. . . .but I'm glad to be home!

We have a whirlwind 3 days to get ready for school . . ..haircuts, meet the teacher, unpack, laundry.

I'll get pictures posted to my long, yammering entries soon.

Chocolate Gravy

You wanna make me whirl back in time to my childhood in an instant? Say the words chocolate gravy. That was always one of the best parts of visiting my grandparents when I was growing up. I think all 10 of us grandchildren would agree. We were split off into 4 "sets" and we'd rotate between Nana and Papa's house, and the 2 aunts and uncles' houses that were there in town. And oh, on those mornings we were at Nana's .. . we KNEW we'd get chocolate gravy with our biscuits. Oh the feast she'd make for every meal . .. but breakfasts.. . . salavating just thinking about the chocolate gravy in that blue willow bowl.

Well, she knew she had 2 of us there that hadn't had chocolate gravy for a long time. Andy made breakfast -- biscuits, eggs, ham, bacon. But Nana added her own special touch: a big bowl of chocolate gravy. And I was transported in time 20 years. Mark and I were gracious enough to share it with everyone else. . .I gave Alaina a taste (she gave it a thumbs up!) and Allie (she liked the chocolate. .. but apparently not on the biscuit. . .too wierd for her, I guess).

We'd not met Mark's fiancee Anna before this visit. Guess she gets the kids' seals of approval. . .they wanted to entertain her all morning long. ROFL . . .after lunch she and Mark took off for the Walmart. . .I think they'd had enough kid interaction. tehehe But they both did great with them.

I snuck down the to scrapbook store in Conway . . .heard it was a good one. I *finally* found it. It was hidden on the backside of a consignment store on a street that probably only ran 2 blocks. I picked up some Wild Asparagus paper I'd been afraid to buy at Terri's . . .afraid it wouldn't make it through my 2 week trip, and I picked up some Prima flowers. I still love Terri's store way more. . .and not just because she's my Sisterchick!

My uncle Laurence brought me over some tomatoes to take home. . .like enought to feed a small country for a month! ROFL he told me to sell them to the family, but I'll be giving them away on the street corner to keep them from going bad. They are delicious homegrown Romas mostly. . . . yummy, yummy. I laughed so hard because he brought them over in a tomato box from the grocery store. I told him he didn't grow them, "Senor Robert" (whoever that is) did.

We went to dinner with just about all my Conway relatives. It was really good seeing everyone and catching up with them all.

Quack, Quack

The other thing we wanted to do while in Memphis was see the Peabody ducks. They live in the Penthouse and come down the elevator each morning at 11, march down a red carpet to Souza and swim in the fountain until 5 pm. Then they head back upstairs to live in the lap of luxury until the next morning (wonder what the Penthouse is like! ROFL). Seems like waaayyyyyy back in the 3os, the general manager of the hotel had too much Jack Daniels to drink and he and his drinking buddy thought it would be funny to put his live decoys in the fountain. They were still there the next morning, the guests were delighted, and the tradition was born. They get the mallards from a duck farmer, and they live there until they are full grown and are then released back into the wild after their "Peabody Tour of Duty". I'm thinking that after living the posh life of the penthouse, they're ill equipped for the wild and are probably shot about 5 minutes later and surved to the Chez Phillippe patrons (the hotel swanky restaurant) the same day! ROFL

They let all the kids sit a the red carpet edge and have the parents sit right behind them . .. so even though there were a bunch of adults there already when we got there at 10:35, we still got excellent seats!

After the Peabody, we piled in the car, headed over the Arkansas border and droved towards Conway . . .my mom's hometown. We had family waiting for us.

We got there at 2, and my grandmother was so excited. Not only were 3 not-often seen great-grandchildren there, but my cousin Mark (from Florida) and his girlfriend Anna were also there. I knew they were coming, but apparently she didn't. They'd surprised her the night before. We sat around and talked the afternoon away, with various parts of my family that live in Conway coming up to her house to visit.

Happy Anniversary!

Although I keep trying to tell people 14 . . .it's been THIRTEEN years since we got married. Wow, we were young, and I was much skinnier (Andy only a little skinnier) then. We were still college students and boy those first couple of years were really hard.

This is the first year we've not been at home on our anniversary . .. it's odd, wierd. . . .

Andy brought me a dozen roses. Was sweet of him. I looked at him, thanked him and thought "Well, those will get forgotten when we pack up tomorrow." (and sure enough . .. they did)

We had several things to try and do while in Memphis. . . .

Go to Libertyland -- couldn't do it. They'd switched from being open every day to only on weekends on the 6th. :: sigh:: Ian wasn't happy. He was still irritated about not going to 6 Flags in Kentucky. . .never mind we have one at home!

The Pink Palace Museum . .. but the kids have museumed a lot.

We looked into the Children's museum, but it seemed like it would be a letdown after the one in Chicago (once again, Ian's not happy).

Andy had early said he wanted to do Barbeque in Memphis (didn't happen .. . and don't tell him we were right down the street from Corky's, world famous bbq .. . he knew it had to be good as there was a number that you could call and order it delivered to ANYWHERE).

Wasn't even going to go anywhere near Graceland. . .it was Elvis memorial week or some such thing. . . . the week leading up to the 15th (day he died) . . . .no way I was going near that madhouse!

We ended up going to the Memphis Zoo. Ian, 9 going on 13, was not pleased. And he let it be known . . .attitude and all. He wanted to . . . you got it. . . swim. We'd already told the kids we'd go to the zoo then come back and swim. We'd already had the conversation a million times that this was NOT a swim vacation. And I wanted to throw up my hands and proclaim it wasn't fair. . . I was supposed to have at least 3 more years before I had anyone in my house with a teenaged attitude! But I stayed calm and told him Dad and the girls were going to the zoo . . .we could go with them, or we could stay in the "room" (apartment, if you will) and wait for them to get back. I sent him off to think about it. About 5 minutes later, he came back with his decision. "I decided that *IF* this place has a reptile house, we can go." Like what, I'm going to run and build a reptile house??? I calmly reply that I don't make the decisions on what they have and can't find that out before we go. But can promise him that *IF* there is a reptile house, he can for sure go in it. He thinks it over. . .and mumbles okay. I tell him we're only going to do it if he's going to be happy about it.

And as usual, he loved it when he got there. They have pandas, one of the few places outside of China that they're on loan to right now. And they had Sea Lions who did a show. And there was a Chimp who'd had a baby 6 days before. . . .and she was cradling that little one, and there was another Chimp who was protecting them, trying not to let anyone even SEE them. And there was a Reptile house.

LeLe and YaYa the Pandas. And one of the Sea Lions showing off the he could walk on all fours, unlike a Seal. ROFL. Plus, the mama Chimp holding her baby. This one turned out foggy as they'd not cleaned the habitat since, at least, the baby was born.






We got back to the blessed Homewood Suites, went swimming, and then got the kids Chick-Fil-A for dinner. Got them in bed and got On the Border for ourselves for an anniversary meal. . .twice we got it. . . the first time they left all my fixins out for my fajitas.

Then we crawled into bed, ate mexican food, and watched Diary of a Mad, Black Woman on the hotel TV. Andy said it seemed wrong to watch it on on anniversary . . . but it was the only thing we could agree on . . .and it was funny, and sweet, and a little sad. . . and I got mad at her dh! ROFL

Can't keep this gal out of the mall!

We realized last night we really had no clue where any churches were anywhere near our hotel . . . and at that time of night, there was no calling back to the Dallas area to ask around to our friends here. So no church. Another breakfast buffet (Ugh! I now hate, hate, hate breakfast buffets!), and Andy and I map out our day. We have been very vague about the 2nd half of our trip from the get go. We decided there was no big hurry to get out dodge, just the Embassy Suites (check out time, no problems there or anything). . . so we decide to go back to Opry Mills for a round of Glow Golf and some shopping. The kids really need school shoes and Ian has no shirts to start school in. As we're getting back with only 3 days before school starts, any shopping I can do on the road will help ME out. 9 pairs of shoes, 2 purses, 10-12 shirts, and 6 pairs of boxers later. . . and I'm not so sure Andy agrees with me! ROFL But it was an outlet mall and I got great deals on kids' shoes. . . . stride rites for $9.99-$24 and Nikes for $24, leather Keds for $23 . . . those weren't such a great bargain .. . not a whole lot off, but didn't have to do the shopping at home. Andy tells me no more shopping or we won't be able to get home!

Alaina started singing her own little made up tune: "Credit, credit, Just Use Credit!" ROFL . . . I swear I didn't teach that to her!

We Glow Golf 18 holes. For those of you who don't know. . . .this is glow in the dark miniature golf. Alaina's first 2 holes. .. a hole in 2 and a hole in 1. . . she plays better than her mother! ROFL Allie takes after her mother . . .she had a lot of holes in 10. We stopped and 10 and you drop your ball in. They had these tubes throughout to "reglow" your ball (I'm sure they just have a black light in them or something) and the kids loved those as much as playing glow golf. And they loved wearing glow bracelets. They were just so thrilled to get to play.

We had lunch at Johnny Rockets. We'd taken Ian to the Downtown Dallas one when he was our only child, but haven't been since. . . so none of the kids knew what to expect. Had no clue they were going to break out in dance when Saturday Night Live came on. Oh, and Alaina . ..that girl, she just started dancing when they did! ROFL . . .was so cute. She'll be a Johnny Rocket girl when she's 16.

Then it was time to get on the road and onto Memphis. No more Embassy Suites. We'd decided to go with the Homewood Suites (also a Hilton hotel) in Memphis. . . we were getting a 2 bedroom suite and we wanted some time alone, especially after almost 2 weeks in a double bed. . this one has a king!

We got there and it was like the first apt. complex we lived in when we moved to the DFW area. I used to think that apt. was soooo small . . .now it seems so large and spacious! ROFL perspective, huh? All the kids can have their own bed. . .Ian and Allie in the second bedroom, Alaina's staked the sofa bed as her own.

And the King bed. . . ahhhh . . .the King bed.

Subway Sandwiches and then everyone is headed for bed.

On the Road Again . . .

Hmmmm . .. just dawned on me I stopped doing those "what I learned" lists. . .guess I stopped learning when we left Chicago! ROFL . . .might have to fix that when I get all updated.

The original plan was for the guys to leave early in the morning (8:30ish) and go to the Louisville Slugger museum and leave us girls to sleep in and eat cereal and pop tarts instead of that darned breakfast buffet. I was quite sick of it by this point! ROFL

Andy swears he thought the museum didn't open until 10 .. . how I knew it was 9 and he didn't, I don't know! I think he was jealous of my sleeping in time! But they got up late and we all ended up having to go to the Slugger Museum. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Interesting facts and displays . . . got Ian a personalized bat.

We headed towards Nashville, stopping at the Cracker Barrel for lunch . . .the kids fighting over the one peg game at the table. . .but the chicken and dumplin's .. . . yummy! We bought 3 peg games (those things are CHEAP!) and got back on the road.

Got to Nashville, checked in and went to Opry Mills Mall. For you Dallas folk. . . think Grapevine Mills with many of the same stores. They have a restaurant called the Aquarium. With an 1.5 wait (unless you just stand in the roped in line that the people who've already waiting 1.5 hours get in after they've been called back . ..then apparently, they just find a table for you. @@. . . irritation set it at that point!), we cruised the mall for a while, buying a couple baby gifts for my cousin's new son and wondering around. Even though Ian had been dead set against going there (he wanted to order pizza and swim. . . again), both Ian and the girls had a great time. Who wouldn't? They have a 200,000 gallon tank that is the centerpiece of the dining room with sharks, moray eels, sting rays, and fish in it. Food was pricey, but a lot of it . . . and good. Apparently, there's one of these in either Houston or Galveston -- Brother/SIL/Niece went to one on their trip, called the same thing, and SIL said it was owned by Landry's. I didn't bother bringing a camera. . . didn't want to lug it around and we had such a hard time getting good pics at the aquarium, I just didn't want to bother.

The kids were a bit put out with us. By the time this underwater dining experience was over, it was after 10, and there was no time for a game of Glow Golf. We assured them we thought they had this at Grapevine Mills Mall and we could do this sometime back home in Texas.

Lazy Days

Well Indianapolis was just a stopover so we wouldn't have to do a honking long drive (kid-wise) to Louisville in one day. . . and was also supposed to be the perfect way to leave early and get on the road and to 6 Flags in KY. Only we didn't think to consult the weather in our plans. It rained. . . sigh. . .no 6 flags while it's lightening!

So we left Indianapolis, got to Louisville, found out Embassy Suites. . . so far from downtown it seemed like it was in the country. Found a Chili's had some lunch, spent the afternoon swimming, then had pizza, popcorn and a movie (Madagascar) in our room. While waiting on the girls to finish showering, we flipped on the TV for Ian, and what happened to be on? The Dukes of Hazzard. . . he's now *sure* it's the best show on TV! ROFL

Part of me is glad it was raining. . . was a much more relaxing day this way.

There's been progress in technology???

Well, this morning we checked out of the place closest to home and started the second week of our trip. Was hard, as I knew we had a string of hotels and a house in the next week . .. living out of suitcases for the remainder of the trip.

As we headed out of Chicago, we stopped at the Museum of Science and Technology, of the last 2 places we had Citypasses for. If you're travelling and going to do a lot of museum kind of things, you ought to check and see if they have them were you're headed to. . .you can skip a lot of the long lines and save a lot of money in ticket prices too. The only one we didn't use was the Hancock observatory (heck, think we could get Ian up a tall building?).

We got to the parking garage and should've known the day was going to be a rough one when the machine that you're supposed to pay your $8-12 for parking wouldn't take our payment! Should've known and just turned around then! ROFL . . .noooooo . . .we had to try again! Ian is our science kid and we wanted him to see all the cool things we *knew* they had inside. Plus they had this video game exhibit (can you believe they have PONG in an exhibit?) that Ian and Andy really wanted to see. So we tried again . . .thank goodness it took it that time.

We walked into the lobby area of the museum and there must've been 1000 people waiting in line. I really don't think I'm exaggerating here! I looked at Andy and said "Thank goodness for the Citypasses! Let's find that line." and pulled on some kid's (my child, at least) hand. We found it, but I'm not sure the line was much shorter. I never did figure out where the front of it was or how long it really was. After waiting about 15 minutes and the only movement being the woman and 2 children in front of us leaving in frustration, I asked Andy to find out what was going on.

Seems that there was a technological problem at the Museum of Science and TECHNOLOGY. The ticketing system was down and they were writing all the tickets by hand . . .egads! I felt for those ticketing agents. They did decide to let the citypass holders in without having to exchange the passes for tickets . . . as long as they didn't want any additional tickets (aka, the video game exhibit tickets). Ian immediately said "I don't need to see that exhibit". ROFL . .. guess not waiting in line was worth it.

We did get to see some baby chicks just as they finished hatching at the chick hatchery. The kids loved that. The girls loved the farm exhibit, especially "driving" the tractors. Andy took Ian to an energy exhibit while they did that. They had some colored lights in the circus area that when you crossed the light beams a tone would play .. . kinda like the big keyboard thing Tom Hanks played in Big, except it was done with colored lights. They got a kick out of that. They were all paranoid about the real plane that was in there. My poor non-flying kids. And we ran into this guy that showed them all this cool stuff with magnets. . . they were all mesmerized. Unfortunately, a lot of the exhibits didn't work. .. which I'd been told was often the case there. . . such a shame. You'd think at the TECHNOLOGY museum, they'd have the technology. . . you know. . . figured out.

We left there after lunch and drove on to Indianapolis, getting there about dinnertime. Stayed right around the corner from Andy's office there. . . and the race track. In fact, I think there might've been a tunnel entrance to the race track from our hotel! ROFL . . .I'm not a car person, what do I know? Apparently there was supposed to be some NASCAR race there that weekend. . .lots of folks there. We walked to the TGI Fridays at some other hotel. . . at which time 2 things happened. . . #1, I told Andy I was SICK of eating out (I know. . .I've shocked most of my readers) and #2, we spotted the wienermobile. ::sigh:: and here was Heather without a camera. . . because we were just going to dinner.

Heading back to the Embassy Suites, having just gotten over my disappointment over no wienermobile pics, and all of the sudden I see the General Lee driving down the street! I start laughing and point to it and tell Andy to look. And following it. . . .The Sheriff of Hazzard County car. ROFL . . . and again, no camera. We start talking about the Dukes of Hazzard and now Ian thinks it must be the world's greatest TV show if Mom and Dad are both talking about it. ROFL

Museums, Part Deux

There you go, Miss Erin . .. French! I think the only word I know! ::wink::

Woke up with a full fledged migraine this morning and a full day planned. Took a Relpax, but knew I was going to need the 2-3 hours for it to take effect. Such is the life you live with this migraine thing. So we went to breakfast, then we came back and I slept for awhile while Andy kept the kids occupied in the living room. Slept until the maid came in to clean the room next door and turned on that radio. @@ Got up, grabbed the pain pills and hoped I wouldn't have to use them.

Back to the Museum Campus. . .by bus this time. There was no way I was walking today. Not with the ankle thing AND a migraine! We went to the Planetarium. Started with lunch, that's how late we got there. We did a star show. . .basic constellation one. There was one about the past and into the future, but I figured that was a bit advanced for a 4 and 6 year old. . .not to mention possibly the star-loving 9 year old, and there was one about wizardry. First of all, had no clue how that had anything to do with stars.. .and figured Ian would be the only kid (HP loving him) who'd like it.

Alaina hated the constellation show. She didn't like the machine that cast the stars on the domed ceiling, and she didn't like the man telling all about the stars. She covered her ears and whined. I was afraid he'd stop his speech and say "would the parent of the whiny child please leave now!" I rocked her back and forth until she ended up falling asleep. I feel asleep shortly after.

Lots and lots of little cards/signs to read and buttons to push, etc. Takes 3 times as long with 3 kids who want to do them all. And I was impatient that day and ready to move on.

We watertaxied it back to the Pier. The guy hawking tickets laughed that I walked no further than I had to and sent Andy on to buy tickets. I told him "I'm not used to this." He said "I know, it's hot." "I'm from Texas, heat isn't the issue." I replied. "Oh the humidity." The poor man was trying to understand me. . .but did he think it doesn't get humid here? ROFL "Not that either. It's this walking! Back home, we drive from door to door." He laughed and agreed. I'm sure he was thinking, "gee, if you weren't so darned fat lady . . ."

We went to the Children's Museum at the Pier. I'd had several online friends suggest it as a great place for the kids. . . and boy where they right. They LOVED it. Especially the waterworks area (where they could build dams and do all sorts of things playing with water) and the big backyard (they had the shadow screens that were so cool!).














We did another overpriced dinner on the pier. . . at Riva's Cafe. Kids were not impressed with the way they made Quesadillas. Who would've thought someone could mess up something so easy as cheese quesadillas!?!?!?! Then we walked around the mall area waiting on the nighttime cruise we had tickets for. . . bought fudge, gummy worms and turtles at a candy shop and some postcards at another place. I had the kids dictate postcards for both sets of grandparents to send before we left.

We did a fireworks cruise. .. they shoot fireworks every Wed and Sat. off a barge in the middle of the lake and our little boat "parked" within, I'd guess, about 200 yards of the barge. . .so close I *couldn't* use my 75-300 lens for fireworks pictures. It was lightly drizzling as we left the pier, but as we got out on the lake it was clear and a perfect night for a spectacular show. And the best fireworks pictures I've had so far.


We had a taxi ride back to the hotel from a weird, weird cabbie. . . I was in the back memorizing his cab # and the phone number to call and report him . . .he was WEIRD! ROFL. . .but all's well that ends well.

Oh, and the migraine did go away. . . I think it was that second nap at the planetarium.

Things I learned on Day 4 in Chicago:
- Man, I'm thankful for Relpax (not good I've used it 4 times, and we haven't been on the road for a week yet)
- Your kids always sound louder (especially to you) in the dark
- Taking time out to do stuff like this is so important. . . and we've sooo been lacking in this area
- Watching fireworks on a boat. .. far superior to watching fireworks in your frontyard

Facing Fears

Okay . . . .finally back on, and going back and giving more details.

Today, the plan was to see how many museums we could hit. There were 3 on what they call the Museum Campus -- the Field Museum (Natural History), the Shedd Aquarium, and the Planetarium.

Took us a bit of time to get started this morning. While playing Aggrevation the previous evening, Andy and I had noticed some weird red rash on my left leg . .. so we took some shots of it with the DRebel and sent them off to my sister, the PA, to have her take a look at them and see if she could DX them over the internet. ROFL . . .oh the wonders of technology and the internet. I didn't want to waste 1/2 a day going to some doc in the box if it was some weird allergy. She sent it to a dermotologist PA that she'd worked with and told me to go on about my day. . .she'd call me when she knew more.

So, we went onto the Field museum. . . .by this point I can't tell you how we got there. .. subway, I think. Over the span of our time in Chicago, we did the subway, taxis, water taxis, walking, and the bus. ROFL . .. the kids got all forms of transportation in. Yep, it was the subway . . .because I remember that we got off that day and walked, and walked, and walked to the campus. . . .and I thought I was gonna die by the time I got there! ROFL We got to the Field, finally, and I told Andy we'd walked so much, I didn't wanna walk in the museum. But we did . .. the girls faced their fears. . .and looked at Sue, the T-Rex. And they loved her, and wanted to see everything that was there about her. They wanted to look at all the Gems (or Jor-rey, as Alaina calls it) .. . heck, Diamonds are a girl's best friend, right? We wondered around and saw a lot that they had there, but wanted to get onto the next place.


Here's a picture of the kids with Sue. . .see, they're all smiling. ::smirk:: I once again had to give the "Should we all just turn around and go straight back to Texas?" lecture as they got grumpy with me about me wanting to take a picture. ARGH!
















Headed onto the Shedd Aquarium. . . did an overpriced lunch there, saw all the sites. Did the Dolphin show . . . had a good time with that. The dolphins behaved, unlike, we later learned, the ones in San Antonio's Sea World where my brother, SIL and neice were. Those dolphins weren't in the mood. But the Chicago dolphins, they were in the mood and put on quite the show. The aquarium was good and had a nice variety, but frankly for the price, it wasn't as thrilling as the Dallas World Aquarium, with the exception of the dolphin show. The variety wasn't as wide, the exhibits weren't as nice (well, okay, so the Shedd is a lot older. . . .). But the 2 compare in price. But Ian loved seeing the sharks.

Before we left there, Mom reached us via cell phone and said my sister and the dermotologist guy both thought I probably had some vein thing where my veins weren't pushing through enough blood. That it wasn't anything I needed to see a dr. about immediately (put on list of things to do now that I'm home. . . go see dr.), but that I should keep my feet up when I could and use a steroid creme, in case it was a rash and not this other thing. Well, I didn't get all that from Mom . . .I got the treatment plan; had to call Brooke later to find out the rest. So we took a water taxi back to Navy Pier and Alaina passed out before we got 5 minutes into the ride . . .and Allie was asleep before we got to the other side.

Made a deal with Ian. . . I'd already missed the Arch, really wanted us all to go on the world's slowest Ferris Wheel . . .aka the one at Navy Pier. It makes 1 revolution in 7 minutes time. You load on and off while it's still moving. 6 People fit in a basket (or car or cage or whatever they call it!). So I made a deal with him that we'd go in this funhouse he'd spied, all of us. . . .as much as I hate them. . . if he'd do the ferris wheel. He wasn't happy about it, but he did it. And then we did the fun house. Which the girls weren't pleased about. We may never get them to do anything with the words "fun" and "house" strung together again!

You can see here how thrilled Ian was with the ferris wheel at the beginning of the ride. Alaina, on the other hand.. . she was the one I was afraid was going to find a way to stick her head out of the cage trying to look out. That child's not afraid of heights. . . . just fun houses.










We did dinner at someplace on the Pier called Billy Goat Cafe. . .sandwiches and chips. . . overpriced sandwiches and chips. I think everything on the Pier is overpriced. ::vbg:: Except perhaps the Children's Museum we visited on Wednesday.

We walked back to the hotel . . .man, that seemed like about 6 miles. . . grabbed some steroid creme and ice cream at the Walgreens nearby and settled in for the night.

Things I learned on Day 3 in Chicago:
- We don't have enough kids for the Navy Pier Embassy Suites. Seems like almost all the families there had 4 and 5 kids! We were beginning to feel cramped in our room with 2 doubles, a fold out couch and the 3 kids. . . I can't imagine putting more kids in that room.
- THESE feet aren't made for walking! Man, this gal is OUT OF SHAPE! Well, we all already knew that, but when it causes mystery rashes when you walk too much. . . oh, that's bad!
- Bribery . . .still a good thing with kids! ::vbg:: would've never gotten Ian on that ferris wheel without it.

A Room With A View

So here I am, using the window ledge as my computer desk . . . snoring from behind me. Catching up on blog posts. . . I did one for each day so far, so if you've been checking in and have seen nothing, scroll down below this post, there's more (rambling) posts. So I'm using this ledge and there's so many lights still on, even at 12:30 am. Kinda cool, but I'm glad all I have at home is the one street light across the street from out house that's on all night. If any of these migraines actually happened (had to take a 3rd Relpax at 2:30 this morning. . . sigh . . .only have 2 left to last me the rest of the trip . . .hoping I don't need 'em), the lights would be torture.

Today, we did the Art Institute of Chicago. Started off in the Kid Area. Went to see all the Rooms done in miniature. As a child, I used to dream of having a miniature house, and remember looking at my dad's National Geography that had the tiny scaled models of Buckingham Palace and being in awe. . .so I loved this exhibit. Thought the kids would too. Iand and Alaina did. . allie was bored after about the 5-6 one and started looking for the dome "from Beauty and the Beast" and horses in each room. ROFL

Saw Caldecott art, went through the kids' section.

Knew we weren't going to get to see all of the art museum. Andy wanted to see the armor room. We thought Ian would like that. . . wrong. All the kids bored. I said on a bench and gave the kids a talk about how we didn't come to Chicago to make this a "kids' wonderland" for them, that we wanted to see a few things too, and this was one thing dad wanted to see. They got better. . . Ian and Allie went with Andy and listened to the docent talk about armor. Alaina walked and looked at glassware with me. . by the end of it, she could name what was in a display case "beaker, drinking glass, drinking glass, beaker, beaker, drinking glass. . . ."all I can say, is they must've been thirsty, those drinking glasses were HUGE!

Then we went to the impressionist area. I love Monet (ROFL . . .I originally typed Money . . .I enjoy that too . . .however, it wasn't on display in the impressionist are), and Renoir, and Degas (the dancers. . .love 'em). I wanted to see the Monet exhibit because it's one of the largest perminient displays outside of France. I'd seen a travelling Monet/Manet exhibit about 7-8 years ago in Dallas (or maybe Ft. Worth actually), but hadn't seen anything since. Talking impressionist art with the kids and they were interested until Allie got hungry. But Ian did notice that Monet painted the same haystack, or bridge, or lilies, multiple times. Here's my Favorite Monet, and Jamie. . . isn't this the painting that you have the print of in your house?



















Did lunch (Bennigans), then caught the Subway (another first for the kids and I), and went to the Hershey store (they have this "machine" where the kids can make up a bucket of chocolates. . . basically a money making deal, and photo op),














Borders, the Lego store, the Sanrio store. .. and someplace called Ethel's Chocolate Lounge. . . YUMMY! Chocolate fondue. This lego guy was on a bench outside the lego store. . . we had to wander around for quite awhile before we got to take a series of pics with the kids and him. Some older woman needed the bench more than we needed pictures. And I guess you could say Allie enjoyed the fondue. ::vfg:: . . .all the kids did.



Exhausted today. Not sure I'll be online again until who knows when . . possibly the 11th, but check back.. . .

Things learned in Chicago, day 2:
-- Stand your ground, trips are for you too
-- If you can hook the kids in somehow, they'll like "adult" art too (no, not ones sans clothing, just the stuff andy and I wanted to see!)
-- Wear them out enough and you can talk them out of swimming
-- Walking with a not quite 4 year old in Chicago without a stroller = not such a great idea.

Future plans: planetarium, natural history museum, aquarium, museum of science, children's museum, Navy Pier, boat cruise (doing this during the fireworks wednesday night) . .. .then we're off to Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Memphis and Conway, Ark.