Chicago

I have a good friend who moved from St. Louis to Chicago 3 years ago.  She has boys exactly my boys ages, and she still comes back to visit her family here, so we see them every few months.  She offered for us to come up and visit them in Chicago, and we actually took her up on it. 

It sounded a bit nuts...a few weeks after we got back from Florida I would take all 4 boys by myself to Chicago to stay at a friends house and do some sightseeing.  A bit intimidating.  But I know my boys, and I was pretty sure that it would all work out fine.  It was a gamble I was willing to take.  And besides, Z had been talking about LegoLand NONSTOP...and there is a Legoland in Chicago.  Can't take that away from him.

We drove up after lunch and made it in time for dinner...just under 5 hours, and we didn't have to stop once!  The kids watched Cars and napped for a bit and played for a bit.  Made it with a bit of trouble with the tolls (by the grace of God had some change for the first one that didn't have a person manning it!). 

The kids ate well and were polite at Kirsten's house.  They didn't make huge messes (more so than her 2 kids already did).  They played happily in the basement and weren't totally out of control and didn't have any huge fights, and there weren't screaming matches (like there are here).  Joe has a trundle bed, so Z slept in with him and they did wonderfully (up late the first night, but fine after that).  In short, they were on their BEST behavior at Kirstens, and I was incredibly proud of them.  Kirsten actually said (and I will treasure this always!), "You're not going to believe it, but you guys are the easiest houseguests!"  Wow.  That literally might be the one of the best compliments I have EVER received. 

The first day we went to LegoLand Discovery Center, which Z has been talking about FOREVER.  It really is pretty lame, but he loved it.  It was a very busy day the day we went (according to a worker, their busiest day all summer...swell).  The little boys stayed close to me and obeyed, and Z was just happy to see all the Legos.   

Bob Builder?  Bob Builder?!  Then, singing: Bob Builder, Fix it?! Yes, CAN!!!"

Love this face!

This cracked me up:  Z:  AWESOME MOM!!!!!!  YODA!!!!
And that is what happens when kids hear about things (Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc) and have never seen them and have no clue.  It is cracking me up as I type this ;)

The next day we went to Navy Pier and to the Chicago Children's Museum.  Kirsten had never taken her kids, and I took Z when we visited Jenny when she lived in Chicago 3 years ago (so Z was the boys age the last time we were there). We got stuck in some morning traffic, so get there about 1030.  I took the wagon to get us thru Navy Pier, but didn't haul it around the museum.  We played for awhile, then we got McDonalds (the kids sat so well on stools!), then went back in to play for awhile longer.  We figured we would go until someone started melting down since 4 of the 6 were missing naps.  And that never happened.  We finally left about 3, then wandered down Navy Pier and looked at the boats and the lake and all of the fun stuff around there, and got in the car by 345.  The littles all passed out, but that was perfect...the 45 minute nap was enough to get them through until bedtime. 

Yup, there is an extra little in this picture...but who is counting?

I LOVE that I happened to catch this expression on L's face. It is a silly face he makes a lot and I doubt I'll ever catch it on film (ok, digitally) again. 

All the boys LOVED this building section.  It was the last thing we did and they were all totally enthralled with it.  It was one of my favorite parts too because I could actually almost SEE the wheels turning in their heads as they figured it out and worked with the tools and built structures.  Amazing, the gift that it is to watch that. 

This was a monster face that Z asked me to take a picture of. 

After the long day at the museum, the big boys got to go to a White Sox game!  Dan had won some tickets at work and offered to take the boys.  Z (apparently) did fine, and was happy with the "lemonade, hot dogs, peanuts, and pretzel" they got, and he even got to keep the Miller Lite BobbleHead ;) (carrying a "backpack" with "soda").  He had a great time. 

We also went to a few parks in the area just to let the kids run around a bit and play at new parks...no pictures of that.

Kirsten and I had a fabulous time just chatting, too.  It is so nice to have friends who you can sit down and talk with for hours on end...as we did when the kids were in bed.  We are on the same page with parenting, so it is good to share ideas with her.   

And we made it home safely too...only had to stop twice:  once for Z to pee out the door (the joy of having a boy!) and once because C had managed to get his arms out of the carseat....argh.  I was pretty wiped out, but totally willing to do it again.  It is nice that our boys are at an age now where we CAN do stuff with them.  It still is exhausting, but totally doable.  And, man, I have good boys.  They are so good.  And I am so proud of them.  :) 

Friends

There is a group of girls and their kids that we have been getting together with off and on over the past 5 years.  In those 5 years we have gone from 4 kids (one each), where we could sit and chat and nurse our kids and eat lunch together, to 15 and 1 in utero (4 each), where we just try to control the chaos!  One of the girls is moving, so we have tried to get together a bit more often this summer than we typically have been able to. 

 Here are all the kiddos...it looks so nuts.  It really is, kind of...and then kind of mind blowing to see all the sweet blessings given to us. 

And I love this picture....only when we go to play at girls houses can I get a picture like this!  :)

We went out tonight and got pedicures and ice cream.  Love these girls!

Museum of Transportation and the Magic House

We have not gone to the Museum of Transportation in a long time...in fact the last time I went Z was younger than the boys are now.  But the little boys LOVE trains, tractors, and trucks, so they LOVED this place.  We went with our good pals again.  They have 3 boys (and just added a girl!), so wow, do we have a group of boys when we take out all the kids. 

The big boys loved sitting in the back with the engineer...they felt like such big stuff. 

And then riding in the special seat on the tram...Z was pretty pumped. 

This picture alone is enough for me to consider a membership here.  Not only are there trains and cars and stuff to look at and climb on, the Creation Station has fun toys and a CRAFT AREA.  There is a woman who mans the Creation Station but mostly hangs out in the craft section, and Z was more than happy to keep her busy.  And if he is keeping HER busy with crafts, it gets ME off the hook :) 

This kid is too cute for his own good...and he knows it...

We went to the Magic House a few days later, and it was NUTS.  I have a pretty high threshold for stress (kind of have no choice), but it about put me through the roof.  It was so crazy and full.  The funny thing was that before I even met Rachelle (and Erin, but her kids aren't in this pic), I ran into 3 women and their kids that I knew from 3 separate parts of my life...so random.  Another random thing was a woman asking me and Rachelle if we ran a daycare (as we watched our 8 kids plus 1 of Erin's).  Um, no.  This is our offspring.  All ours :)