Safe and Sound

The weather when we set out yesterday was beautiful, and we decided we wanted to take advantage of it while it lasted. We kept checking in with our "people" in Denver and in Chicago who were keeping tabs on the weather for us. The reports remained discouraging, so we decided to continue to press forward as long as we were able. We had mostly dry roads until we hit northern Colorado, and the snow was coming down hard and straight sideways. We didn't want to get stuck, so we decided to keep ourselves up and go all the way home. We got here about two a.m. and beat the blizzard. And then we woke up this morning and discovered a small skiff of snow. The streets were barely wet. Some blizzard. At least we're home, and watching general conference in our own warm abode in our sweats. I'll take it.

Travelogue, Day Six (Friday)

As I type, we are back in the car headed west towards home. I'll post tonight or tomorrow when I have internet access again. Saying goodbye is always the hardest part of the trip, especially with kids. Ours are old enough to understand that they won't see Nana and Papa for a while, but young enough to be absolutely heart broken when we go. We left Chicago with heavy hearts and teary eyes, but we had a wonderful week. We were planning to split the trip into two days again and spend the night in Nebraska, but we'll see. The weather reports from Colorado aren't good, with six to twelve inches of snow forecast and a blizzard warning in effect. So, we are going to drive as far as we can and see what happens. We might try to keep driving to beat most of the storm. We'll let you know.

Travelogue, Day Five (Thursday)

Out trip is quickly drawing to a close. It never ceases to amaze me how fast the time goes when you are on vacation! I wish I could slow it down and enjoy every last minute. Thursday began with a little shopping trip so the kids could finish spending their special trip money. Hunter is coming home with three new baseball caps to add to his already immense collection, one from the Lincoln Park Zoo, one for the Bulls, and one for the White Sox. Lily bought a shirt and hat at the zoo, and then found a White Sox t-shirt today. Sophie also bought a stylin' hat at the Zoo complete with matching scrunchie, and then spent the rest of her money on a Cubs t-shirt to make Nana proud.

After naps we ventured back downtown to go to Navy Pier and visit the Chicago Children's Museum. The kids could have stayed for hours. The museum was a madhouse, so poor Sophie spent the evening seeing the sites with her friend, "the monkey on her back". For the uninitiated, it's the friendly version of two year-old on a leash. You may think it's cruel, but we'd rather come home with Sophie than without her, and she wouldn't think twice about bolting. Anyway, there was so much to do at the museum that we couldn't even visit all of the exhibits, but the ones we did see were fantastic.

We got to play with shadows butterflies and the "rain" in the Big Back Yard exhibit.

This rain was so cool. It was projected onto a big screen on the wall, but when you would put an arm out or put up an umbrella, the rain would go around it.

Sophie loved "Kids Town", where she shopped for groceries, cooked in the kitchen, drove a bus, washed and filled up a car, and did many other important jobs around town.

Hunter and Lil loved the climbing schooner. They got to get on the deck of the "schooner" on the second floor and climb the nets through up to the third floor and across to the other side.

We also got to go digging for dinosaur bones and meet a T-Rex up close.
Hunter had a great time in the Inventing Lab. He got to design an airplane, and then send it up to the ceiling on a pulley system and release it to see how long it would stay in the air. He also got to make an invention on the computer, and play on the musical slide.

Sophie also loved playing in the Nature area, where she got to go "fishing". Of course, in true Sophie fashion, she had half the pond on her shirt by the time she was finished.

Before we left, Lily and Hunter spent time building with wood, nuts, and bolts. It was so fun to watch Lily and Papa working on their contraption together.


Of course, the very best part of the outing was spending all that time with Nana and Papa with smiles on our faces. It was a true joy to watch my kiddos with Nana and Papa, who they adore, making memories and having fun together.

Travelogue, Day Four (Wednesday)

Wednesday was a downtown kind of day. It was pretty chilly down by the lake, but we had a great time and packed in a lot of action. Our first stop was a premier picture spot. This is Lake Michigan behind us and the Chicago skyline.

Our next stop was a rally for the Chicago's MLS team, the Fire. Here's the kids with their mascot Sparky. We all got to try our hands (or our feet!) at kicking a soccer ball into this huge net to win a prize. We all know how athletic and how coordinated I am, but the fam talked me into giving it a try anyway. I stepped up, took a kick, and ....won myself a Chicago Fire t-shirt on the first try! Yeah me! I was so shocked, but Hunter thought I was pretty cool at that moment. It was fun.

Next we walked down to Millenium Park to see "The Bean". This thing is so cool! It's shaped so that you can walk all the way around it and see the Chicago skyline reflected in its entirety. It's really quite fascinating.

After Millenium Park we went to Al's Roast Beef for lunch, a Chicago specialty. If you haven't had Al's Italian Beef, you are missing out!

Our last stop on our downtown tour was Lincoln Park Zoo to visit some furry friends. Here's the kids riding a hippo.

I know Hunter feels misunderstood sometimes!

Of course, we had to visit my favorite friends, the giraffes.

Needless to say, we were pretty tired out on the way home, but everybody had a great time!

Travelogue, Day Three (Tuesday)

IKEA. Need I say more? Tuesday was a day for me. I had my very first visit to IKEA. Now I guess I know what all the fuss is about.

I could've wandered through that enormous store all day long. Especially since Hunter and Lily were in the play area being supervised FOR FREE! We even had lunch at the IKEA Cafe - thanks Nana! Yummm....swedish meatballs. Shopping, lunch, babysitting, all in one place! What a store!

Travelogue, Day Two (Monday)

Monday was a day for new friends. Aunt Tonya is a nanny for four young kids, and they got to spend the day playing together. I love the way that kids make new friends, it comes so easy to them. They had so much fun. They started out in the backyard on the trampoline, another one of the fun things at Nana and Papa's.

Then we went for a walk to the park down the street, where we slid on the slides...

swung on the swings...

climbed the rock walls...

and generally played and had a great time.

One of the highlights of the day was visiting Colonial Cafe for FHE dessert. Aunt Tonya treated us to a "kitchen sink"!

Monday ended with a relaxing dip in Nana and Papa's hot tub. We could get used to this!

Travelogue, Day One (Sunday)

Sunday dawned bright and cold. Even though it was snowing outside, the girls donned their Easter dresses a couple of weeks early, and we headed off to church with Nana and Papa. The kids also discovered a wonderful new thing at Nana and Papa Monson's house: the player piano.

Sophie tried her hardest just to reach the pedals to turn the drum to play the music. Even with her short little legs, she insisted on doing it herself. It turns out that Lily is surprisingly adept at playing the (player) piano! She would sit on that bench and work those pedals all day long. I think we heard "Climb Every Mountain" at least ten times today, but hey, she was happy! This piano used to belong to Tyler's grandma and they used to love to play it when they visited her in Colorado. I love that the piano that Ty grew up loving at his grandma's house is now something that my kids are learning to love at their grandma's house. What a wonderful family tradition.