Magic Springs

We recently took a day trip to Magic Springs in Hot Springs. We had not been in a while, and were pleasantly surprised with how much fun we all had! We even talked about getting season tickets next year!

There were so many fun rides for the kids to enjoy. We made a stop at the train for Carson. Christian jumped in with him too! See Christian's arm waving from the side of the picture? :)

Caylie and Christian rode the swings. Carson and I rode later in the day, but didn't get any pics. I know I must be getting old, because the swings made me feel a little sick!

We did get a picture of us riding in the plane! I was a little bit surprised that they let adults ride this ride because there was NO leg room at all! My legs were so folded up under me that I thought I would break!

I can't remember what this ride was called, but Caylie and Christian loved it! They are both very brave when it comes to rides. They never come across a ride that they don't want to jump on! Often more than once!

While Corey and the big kids were doing some wilder rides, I took Carson on the Merry-Go-Round...about 5 times in a row! He never got tired of it!

Carson went on his first log ride. We were not sure how he would react, but as soon as he got to the bottom of the big hill, and got soaked with water, he started laughing! He loved it!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Clinton Museum Space Exhibit

Today Christian and I headed out to see the temporary space exhibit at the Clinton Museum.

Part of our curriculum this semester, is the Apologia study on space, so we thought that this would be an interesting field trip.

The first stop that we made was the simulator shown below. The concept was that the "chair" Christian was strapped into hovered slightly above the floor, and after directing it over to the wall (with some help from the assistant), he was to perform a set of tasks...similar to some that an astronaut might do. Christian said that this activity was just "okay".

Next, we went into the exhibit room to see the display of various items that have actually been used by astronauts on space missions. This area was pretty interesting.

There were many fascinating displays that we read about and learned new things from.

Our last stop before leaving, was the MAT (Multi-Axis Trainer) simulator. It was a wild ride, for sure! It spun in every direction, with totally random timing. I tried to load a video, but my computer didn't cooperate, so you will just have to use your imagination!

I couldn't believe that Christian had the stomach to do it two times!

He LOVED it!

It was both a fun AND educational day! I am so happy that we are homeschooling! :)

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Carson's 3rd Birthday Party

Carson is 3!

Earlier in the week, we celebrated Carson's 3rd birthday with his 3 little buddies. Addie, Rachel and Will. They have been fun little playmates that he has really enjoyed spending time with, and their families are all friends of ours.

Mom came over and helped me quickly pull things together for his little buddies and their families to come hang out in the front yard, and have a very casual (but fun!) Sesame Street birthday party. It was a very laid back party. The adults sat around and visited, and the kids ran around and played in the yard. The main attraction was the Slip and Slide that Corey and Christian had set up!

Carson liked his fun Sesame Street birthday cake from Mickey's cake shop! Mickey's has done our family birthday cakes for years and years. There have been a very few exceptions here and there, when I have tried my hand at cake decorating, but I must say, Mickey's has me beat!

Here he is just checking it out!

Ready to dig in!

Here is the birthday boy sporting some cool shades and his whistle necklace hanging down over that cute little poochy belly. Talk about handsome! That's my little stud muffin!

While the Slip and Slide was lots of fun, the pinata was a pretty big hit too!
It was quite a battle for the kids to get it to break apart, but after many, many hits...

Christian swung the final blow, and the candy came pouring out!

Caylie did some of her photo editing on this picture of Christian breaking open the pinata!

Daddy wouldn't let a perfectly good pinata hat go to waste now, would he?

As we were winding things up, the kids played "Pin The Nose On Elmo"...some were much more accurate than others!

Our wet little birthday boy enjoyed opening up the nice cards and gifts that he was given before his friends headed home.

It was a fun evening, and when it was over, Carson was worn out from running around and playing so much!

We are so glad that you had a happy birthday sweet little Carson! You have added so much joy to our family for the last 3 years! We can't begin to imagine our family without you. You have brought many smiles, many laughs, and lots and lots of sweet cuddles and kisses! We all hate seeing the time fly by, and often talk about wanting to freeze or rewind the clock so that we can keep enjoying "Baby Carson", but at the same time, we sure love the fun little guy that you are becoming! We enjoy you so much! The next year will bring so many changes! You will be so different by the time we celebrate your 4th birthday. So here we go...it's going be a fun ride!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

That's A Wrap...We're Heading Home!

Finally, it was time to say good-bye to Chicago.

We walked across the street for breakfast, and then packed up, waved down a taxi, and headed back to Union Station around lunch time.

After getting our bags checked in, we walked down the street to get some lunch. We ate sandwiches at a table outside, and enjoyed our last sights of the great city.

Shortly before getting back on the train, we realized that we could let Carson watch some kid shows on the laptop to help him pass the time while we traveled. (Don't know why we didn't think of that on they way TO Chicago!) The only problem we had, was that we had no kid shows! We had a little bit of time to spare, so Corey and Christian raced down the street to a Walgreen's and found a couple of shows for Carson to watch...and made it back in time!

After boarding, we let Carson break in one of his shows while we all relaxed for a while.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening playing games, hanging out in the observation room, and having dinner.

When bedtime arrived, Carson was not feeling much like sleeping, so Christian got him fixed up with a movie, to help him wind down a little bit.

While I was very thankful for a bed to sleep in, we didn't get much sleep that night. Carson was restless, and our train was scheduled to arrive back at home at around 4am. The train was running very late, so we just kept worrying that we were going to sleep through our stop.

It was around 6am when we arrived back at our train station.

We looked like a band of sleepy circus clowns trying to get all of our stuff into a normal sized taxi back to our house! (We realized the next morning that we had forgotten one of our biggest suitcases as we were getting loaded! There was NO WAY that we could have gotten it into the taxi anyway! We got it back later!)

We were thrilled to arrive back at the house, and were even more thrilled that Carson went back to bed, and let US go back to bed for a little while to recover from the trip!

Our trip to Chicago was great! We all had so much fun, and enjoyed getting to experience so many new things, and see so many new sights! Maybe someday we will have the opportunity to go again...

But as they say...there's no place like home! :)

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Navy Pier (round 2), Alladin, and Tea!

The guys woke up bright and early to hit the golf course. They had a good time, and returned in time for us to all get to the Navy Pier to see the play "Aladdin".

Since it was a play geared toward children, and the theater was full of kids, we were really hoping that it would be entertaining enough to keep Carson's attention...and it was!

Here he is right before the show started...

It was a GREAT show, and we all loved every minute of it! The singing, acting, dancing, sets...everything...was fantastic!

After the play, we all got some ice cream together, and then Corey kept the boys at the Navy Pier for more fun and games...

while Caylie and I headed out for a special treat...afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel!

Our first stop however, was at a little nail salon where we got our finger nails and toe nails polished.

We were loving life until we walked out, Caylie still wearing her ultra-flimsy pedicure sandals, and realized that it was raining, and we had to walk a couple of blocks to catch a taxi...with no umbrella! We got a little bit wet, and Caylie's poor feet were hurting, but we finally found a taxi that took us to the Peninsula!

We had such a good time! The hotel was so nice, and the food was beautiful and delicious. We both got to try some yummy new treats!

We loved having time to just soak in the nice atmosphere, visit and laugh together!

While Caylie and I are not tea drinkers, I really did enjoy my hot tea. Caylie, while not loving her tea, sure did strike a cute pose and fake it for the camera! (Gotta have pictures for the blog ya know!)

Caylie looked beautiful...and sooo grown up!!!

My sweet little Cuddle Bug is turning into such a lovely young lady!

After the tea, Caylie put on her more comfortable shoes, and we squeezed in a few more Michigan Avenue shops before heading back to the apartment! It was SUCH a fun day!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Navy Pier and Poor Little Carson

Well, I guess most trips have a "not so great" part, and ours was a sick little Carson.

In the middle of the night, Corey and I heard a pitiful little cry from the pack-n-play at the foot of our bed, and then he unmistakable sound of a sick little guy! We immediately realized that Carson was throwing up in his pack-n-play, so we rushed him to the bathroom. As we were trying to comfort him, and get him cleaned up, my mind was also spinning...we had a bed full of blankets and sheets that had to be washed, and had no washer and drier! Aaagh!

Oh well, we had more pressing things to worry about at the moment. We moved the big kids into our bed and we slept with Carson in the living room for the rest of the night. Every 30 minutes or so, until about 5 am, he got sick. Finally though, he fell asleep and rested.

When we all got up, Carson seemed to feel better, although he was kind of dragging. We already had tickets to a show and a boat tour at the Navy Pier, so we decided that we could still give it a shot, since Carson would be able to ride around and sleep in his stroller if he didn't feel like participating in the activities.

We still had the dirty laundry problem though. During the night, I had tried to wash sheets and blankets, etc., in the bathtub, but it didn't take long to realize that the bathtub was NOT going to cut it! As hard as we had tried, it is just almost impossible to get through a night with a sick child without creating a fair amount of yucky stuff, so we decided that we were going to have to get to a laundry where we could drop it off, and then pick it up after we finished with our activities of the day.

We found a taxi, and asked the driver to take us to the drop-off laundry.

I think that we flagged down the worst taxi driver in Chicago! It was like being on a terrible, never ending amusement park ride...and with a driver that would NOT STOP TALKING! Carson cried, and we ALL felt like we were going to be sick by the time we got out of that horrible car!

But, moving on, we had a fun day planned, and were really hoping to turn things around!

Here is a picture of Corey and the big kids after we finally arrived at the Navy Pier.

Can you tell that they were all still feeling car sick!?!?


We went to the show in the outdoor theatre, and although it was a good show, with lots of amazing acts, we didn't stay for the whole time. We had seen shows that were similar before, and since Carson wasn't too interested, we decided to move on, and take a look around before our boat tour.

The Navy Pier has a lot to see, places to eat, and fun things to do.

After walking around and checking things out, it was time to get on the boat. Carson had fallen asleep in his stroller already, so he got some rest, and we all enjoyed the interesting boat tour.

After the boat ride, Corey, Caylie and Christian rode the big ferris wheel, and I hung out with Carson, who was still sleeping in the stroller.

Since Carson wasn't at his best, we decided to spend the rest of the day taking turns in the apartment with Carson. Caylie and I did a little more shopping, and they guys hit ESPN zone again.

By the end of the day, thankfully, Carson was bouncing back.

After a pretty good night of sleep, we had another fun day planned...

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Chicago...Squeezing A Lot Of Fun Into One Day!

Our next full day in Chicago began with a short walk down our street to the Lake Michigan shoreline. I guess we wore Carson out the previous day...see how he is walking and holding his back like an old man?!?

Here is Caylie posing by the water...

It was funny to see the sand and water, and then to see huge skyscrapers in the background! That is NOT how we are used to experiencing the beach!

Me and my sweet girl...

Next, we decided to walk to Millennium Park. On the way, we passed this huge statue. I don't know what the significance of it was, but it was big and cool, so we stopped for a picture!

Below, Caylie and Christian posed for me on the Millennium Park sign. Millennium Park is a big attraction in Chicago. There are often free evening concerts held here. If we had been in town longer, we would have tried to attend one.

The park is also home to this famous piece of art. The Bean. It is a smooth, shiny sculpture that beautifully reflects the surrounding skyline. We really enjoyed getting to see it.

A typical tourist shot...waving to our own reflections in the bean!

The park also has a great fountain area that children enjoy playing in. We didn't have a swimsuit for Carson, but we stripped him down, and let him have at it!

He ran and played...loving every minute of it!

After playing for a while, we coaxed him out, dried him off, and re-dressed him.

Next stop...

Lego World!

Carson is a BIG Lego fan. He thought that this little Lego boy was pretty cool!

And he was so fascinated with the big, colorful wall of Lego pieces!

Caylie did some graphic work on a few of our Chicago pictures (you can probably pick out which ones), and I love what she did with them!

Here, she played around with a picture of Christian helping Carson fill a cup with Legos! The deal was that you pay a certain amount for the cup, and then fill it as full as you can...these boys got the cup VERY full!

With his special purchase in hand, Carson went to sit in Caylie's lap and visit with a BIG Lego Man!

We decided to have lunch at the Italian Village. It was an interesting little place. We enjoyed our meal, and then set off for the next spot on our agenda...

Chinatown!

Caylie had wanted to visit Chinatown to shop for a good deal on a purse. She found both a purse and a wallet that she really liked, and was happy with the price. Her purse was her favorite purchase of the trip! I think that it is so cute that I have been regretting not buying one for myself! Maybe next time!

Still plugging along, the next attraction in the lineup was the Field Museum.

We had not even gotten through the admission line before Carson checked out! Caylie and I were exhausted too, so we pushed Carson into the cafe, and sat down to relax a for a few minutes. Corey and Christian took that time to check out the museum, and then traded off with Caylie and me. Carson's nap didn't last long, but it did make things at the museum a little bit easier while it lasted!

There was an incredible, temporary exhibit about pirates on display while we were there. We knew that we were on borrowed time with Carson, so we had to keep moving, but if I hadn't had a time restriction, I could probably have spent 2-3 hours in that exhibit alone!

The museum was huge and fascinating! We were not able to do it the way that it should have been done, but you could easily spend hours and hours there!

In one part of the museum, the focus was "the soil". It sounded boring, and I wasn't very interested in checking it out, but it surprised me. The displays made you feel as though you had been reduced to the size of a bug by making everything around you appear so large. From that point, it taught you about your new surroundings.

Here are the kids posing beside a huge penny!

Christian is hanging out with the bugs...see all of the roots growing into the ground around him?

After we left the museum, we were all wiped out! We went back and took a late nap, and then took a short walk down the street for dinner.

Corey and Christian offered to take Carson and let Caylie and me do some after dinner shopping in exchange for a trip to ESPN Zone when we returned! We took 'em up on it!

We first headed to a store that Caylie had been dying to visit...Urban Outfitters.

She bought some sunglasses that she really liked, so here she is showing them off!

Next, we were off to a huge Forever 21! It was 2 sprawling floors of stylish, reasonably priced clothes. Caylie was eating up every second of it!

While we were there, we received a special delivery...Carson! He was great though. We kept him with us as the guys headed out to ESPN Zone.

When we finally left and started our walk home, we were so tired that we wanted to crawl! I don't know when we have been so tired! We should have just taken a taxi, but didn't for some reason!

The guys had beaten us back, and came down to help us carry the stroller (and Carson) up the winding stairs.

We all crashed into our beds, but it was not going to be a peaceful night...more about that in the next post...

Writing the Waves,
Christi