Not Always the Best of Friends

They are now aware of each other AND toys...not always a pretty sight.  Ronan pulls hair and Claire likes to pinch.  Both like to scream loudly!

Girls About Town: South Bend, IN

The purpose of our visit to Chicago was actually to deliver Samantha (my sister) to a volleyball camp at Notre Dame.  Tammy and I took the opportunity to "sell" her on our alma mater Saint Mary's College which is the sister school of ND.  So we headed off in our rented minivan bound for South Bend, Indiana.  Claire was content with her pacifier...Lauren got a little car sick.  We only had a paper bad to offer her and unfortunately paper will only hold liquid for so long....blah!

Here we are!  Big sisters and little sisters in front of Le Mans Hall at SMC.  Tammy and I both lived here during our time at SMC and loved it.  Sam and Lexi visited us a time or two for Little Sib Weekends during college.  Being on campus (which is much improved since I graduated) was very nostalgic... aaahhh good times!

Lauren offers up a "Prayer to the Guardian Angel" at the grotto at ND.  It was surreal to bring my daughters to all of these special places that I used to frequent years ago.  I can't believe I used to roller blade with a walkman from SMC to ND!  I think my freshman year in college was the very last year that rollerblading and walkmen were cool.

What a special trip!  Great sister time...Lexi was a joy, it was fun to see Sam checking out the colleges, Tammy is a hoot as always, and the little ones relished the time away from brothers I think.  When can we do it again girls??  The only thing missing was mom!  But it's okay since she was on an adventure of her own in Germany etc!

Girls About Town: Chicago, IL

Getting there was as exciting as being there for Lauren and Claire!  Lauren hadn't been on an airplane since 2007 when we flew to Dallas with a 4yr old, 2yr old and 7month old and vowed to never ever do it again.

It was fun to see Lauren get so excited about everything from putting baggage on the conveyor belt to the plane taking off.

Of course Claire waited until we were OFF the plane to crash out...

Lunch in the city at The Cheesecake Factory was a hit!

We visited the American Girl Place...part doll museum, mostly doll store.  Lauren bought a looks-like-me doll and had its hair styled to match her own for the day.  We had tea with the dolls and I must say the set up was amazing!  Little tea sets for the dolls to match the sets for the girls and grown-ups.  Claire broke hers with in 5 seconds of sitting down, but the nice waiter assured us that it happens all the time. :)

Claire liked her doll too, but was more interested in taking another stroller nap while the big girls (below) shopped in Water Tower Place.

The girls were also thrilled to be in the hotel and order some room service.

Rise and shine girls!  We are off to the Shedd Aquarium...in a TAXI!

After the traditional taxi ride, and a great tour of the aquarium, we took a WATER taxi over to Navy Pier...Lauren was absolutely in heaven with all of these new modes of transportation...I was just amazed at how easy it was to do everything with just two kids in tow!!!  Wow!

High in the air at the tip top of the Navy Pier ferris wheel we snapped these shots of the girls.  Claire with aunts Sam and Lexi, Lauren with mom and aunt Tammy.

Trying to entertain Claire (and ourselves) at a nice restaurant we started feeding her lemons...that pucker face never gets old!

We concluded our trip with a visit to the Ghiradelli ice cream parlor...look at my little piggy...I mean lady! :)

On The Hook

After checking out the pictures I realized that this post should have been named "In The Bag" instead of "On The Hook".  Connor and Thomas each bagged a couple fish with Brian at Shaddy Lakes recently.  Shaddy Lakes takes all the waiting around out of fishing.  Put in your hook, get a fish.  Some would say this takes away the true spirit of the sport...I say it takes the sport out of having to repair Thomas' broken spirit when he doesn't catch a fish!  Trust me that is a sport, a mental sport, that we are tired of playing.  Thank you Shaddy Lakes for providing our children with complete instant gratification.  A great time was had by all...patience is a virtue for another day I am afraid.

2010 Summer Fun: 2nd Edition

More summer fun!  Eating outdoors and playing in the yard afterward is one of our favorite things about summer.  Popsicles, games of tag, water table fun, swinging babies and more.   We love it!  I love that eating outdoors means the floor under the highchairs doesn't need it's nightly scrub down.  The boys even use the bathroom outside, again saving me from another inevitable clean up!  Do I sound lazy or what?!  I hope you know that I'm not lazy...just TIRED.  It continues to be non-stop around here with swim lessons, soccer camp, pool parties, day trips, movies, play dates, Isotopes games and Tuesday nights in the park (separate blog about that some other day).  It is all exhausting, but like I said...SO MUCH FUN!

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Thomas participated in Camp Invention this year and loved it.  They had to bring a broken appliance of some sort, take it apart and use the parts to create something new.  Right up his alley!  This is a picture of Thomas wearing the hat we made for "crazy hat day".

Off to Durango again, this time for Thomas the Tank Engine's annual visit.  Met up with the Williams family and had fun romping around town and then making/eating s'mores up at the cabin.  Ooooh look at those sticky hands, Con!