Sorry for the lack of blogging. I can say "I just haven't had time" but we all know that's a load of bull. I just choose not to.... I choose to use that time in other ways. People say that a lot... that they don't have the time... but the truth is, we have ALL the time we want.. we just make choices with the time we are given each day. Trust in your choices. They are the right ones. Just don't make others feel like you are any busier than they are. We are all busy. We all make choices each day.
Where that little rant came from, I do not know!
Anyway.... I have been reflecting on the summer... as Ally has already gone back to school, that is the official "end of summer" for us. Luke starts next week on Wednesday. My work days officially change to Monday, Wednesday, Friday to align with his school days. This is gonna kinda suck. Working every other day... no chunk of time off. But... it aligns with school and it means I don't have to arrange for child care any of the days. We are blessed to have this option in our lives.
As I reflect on the summer, I realize that this past summer, we packed more in than we ever had. In my opinion, we had more fun than we have ever had. I am proud of our family! We did so much. Made so many memories. Lived the crap out of life... which is all I ever really want to do anyway. LIVE!!!! Enjoy!
And live we did! Since school has been out, Ally went to two weeks (separate camps) of gymnastics camp (one a sleep away camp!), she took golf this summer, the kids went to countless days of day camp at the club, Luke took gymnastics, we made a new friend and babysitter in Jen and had tons of fun with her, we went swimming - A LOT, we painted pottery at Make It Yours twice, we went to the zoo with all our cousins, we spent some time out at Aunt Jane and Uncle Adam's family lake house, Luke got a "big boy" bike, Scott and I went away to Chicago together and went to two concerts, we watched the fireworks at Cascades for the Fourth of July with friends in a random church parking lot (HA!), we had a family golf scramble in 106 degree heat, we went to see Wicked at Wharton, we had tons of sleepovers, we enjoyed family day and Mommy and Daddy's work, we went to the Hot Air Jubilee for the first time, I went to Chicago for a girl's weekend, Ally and I had special nights out, the kids and I enjoyed some back to school shopping in Ann Arbor for a day, we watched hours of olympics together, Scott surprised me with a Jimmy Buffet concert, Ally and I had a girls' trip to Put In Bay, we took a wonderful vacation together, which consisted of a family trip to Chicago, an indoor water adventure at the Double J and Michigan's Adventure, and in the end, we watched our Aunt Mary in a horse show and saw our cousin Maggie!
WHEW! Are you tired? :-)))))) It was an awesome summer. Truly amazing. I am so glad we had it. In all that... Ally doubled the time she spend in the gym.... her gymnastics is really getting to be amazing. I am impressed every day at the gymnast she has become. Two days a week, she spent four hours in the gym. We made that happen most every week with the help of Jen.... and the flexibility of the gym. She golfed too... and she did really great. She is a true athlete, that one.... complete with a perfectionist attitude and she gets really pissed off when she doesn't do as well as she knows she is capable of. This is frustrating as a parent... but I know it will serve her well in life.
Our vacation week was awesome. It was our last hoorah for summer... and it was a great way to end it. We spent the first half of the week in Chicago. We took the train there from Niles (so we would be on the west side of the state when we returned). It was Luke's first time on a train!
The kids loved the cafe car on the train. They loved that they could walk around. The bathroom was a little scary, but at least they could GO! No one fell asleep but Mommy. ;)
As soon as we got to Chicago, we grabbed a cab (another first for Luke, Ally is an old pro, she can hail a cab) and dropped our bags at our hotel as it was too early to check in. We went to Grand Luxe Cafe for lunch, which was not the best start, I cannot lie. Luke was whiney... I was already thinking "oh crap...." But, we grabbed his stroller after and walked the Mag Mile... and things started to look up. We hit the American Girl store first thing as Ally was pretty excited to see the McKenna display and attempt to hit me up for a new doll. I stood strong (as much as I adore the idea that she still wants dolls) and we compromised on the gymnastics outfit, which she could put on any doll she already has. She handled this well. And handled it well when I told her I would not buy her the movie too. I am proud of both of us. Me for saying no when I really did want to get her the movie to, and her for being mature about it all.
Luke wanted to see the Disney Store and pick out something there.... I love this kid. $5 Eeyore was all he wanted.... and he loved the crap out of that little stuffed animal the entire trip! He is still sleeping with it today.
Scott paid a visit to his favorite place too, although he didn't get a souvenir there. ;-)
We took a break for Starbucks for all - iced lattes for the grown ups, hot chocolate for Luke and a double chocolate chip beverage for Ally. Then, we made our way back to the Lego store, which we did not realize was right next to American Girl in Water Tower. As many times as I go to Chicago... I rarely do Chicago with kids. In fact, I have only taken Ally to date... and we have only done American Girl twice on the Mag Mile... we usually stay out in the neighborhoods with our friends. So, this was a different kind of trip. Fun, but more kid fun!
That night, we were all pretty pooped! We hit up the Trader Joes across from our hotel, got some wine, cheese, crackers and snacks for the kids... and went back to the room, watched the closing ceremonies of the olympics and had a little feast in bed! The kids thought it was awesome. In fact, Luke was completely amazed by the hotel room period. When we checked in, he ran around the room in awe saying things like "we have our own table! we have our own coffe maker! and LOOK mommy, you can sit in bed AND make coffee while in bed! we have our own SOAP!" OMG.... he was cracking me up. The room was nothing special and it was small (you really could sit in bed and make coffee!), but to Luke it was the coolest room ever. I love looking at things through a four year old's eyes.
Day two we met up with our friends Beth, Isabel and Eli to spend some time at Navy Pier and the Children's Museum! What a GREAT day!
After our day of fun at the museum (we never did make it out on the pier as it POURED all day), we headed to meet our friend Chelsea for dinner.... we went to an amazing little upscale pub in Boystown where kids eat free and waiters take good care of them while the adults enjoy martinis and great food! It was a wonderful night out...
The next day, we did some more walking around Chicago... enjoying Millenium Park, shopping for a new backpack for Luke and eating... walking, shopping, eating... sums up a city vacay!
That night... we went back out to Boystown to join our friends for dinner at an awesome BYOB (we brought wine!) Thai restaurant. We ate outside on an amazing patio... the kids were awesome and we caught up with our friend Tony in addition to Beth and kids.... we ate and then went to the kids' school playground to let the kids run off some steam. Another great night. A perfect blend of kid days with adult nights.
I think we are a bunch of crazy peeps... and I love it! :-)
The next day we boarded the train and instead of heading to South Haven as planned, we headed to the Double J resort on the west side of the state because the forecast called for rain, rain and more rain on Thursday. We stayed two nights there and the kids enjoyed the crap out of the water park. And, I got to be a kid for a day and ride water slides without a care in the world, with my daughter. Once I over came my fear that is. ;-) Some of those slides are NO JOKE!!! Holy crap! We had so, so much fun though......... just pure simple fun!
Our final day was spent at Michigan's Adventure.... where I learned my daughter is a coaster FREAK! She love, love, loves the roller coasters!!!! I can barely handle them anymore, but I had to be tough for her. I loved them as a kid. Adored them. Would thinking nothing of waiting in line for hours to ride the tallest, fastest, steepest coasters in the world. WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH ME? ;-) Apparently, we wise up as we age... now I just think I am surely going to die.
The absolute highlight of the day was when Ally and I were riding a giant coaster that you hang from... your legs are all dangling out there, sure to be whacked off... anyway... we were headed up the giant hill... and I have to close my eyes. I have to. I am not having a good time here... I do not want to watch! Ally yells to me.... "Mommy!? Do you have your eyes closed?" I respond "Umm... YES!" She yells back... "Well open them... cuz I'm scared as heck over here!" Yeah..... and my eyes are closed cuz I'm having a GREAT time????? Lord.....
In the end... we rode the coaster again... she loved it... we did this multiple times with coasters all over... rode them a couple times in a row if the lines were short. She is hilarious. My little fearless girl..... ;-)
Luke had a blast too. He rode lots of little rides... and we all did some family rides together. We rode go karts... we rode the carousel.... Luke got his fact painted. It was a great, great day..........
A really, really great freakin' week............. we got home late Friday.... and all slept until 10:30 the next morning. It felt great to sleep in our beds once again. We had two days to catch up on laundry and settle back into being home.... before our last week of summer started. That week will have to be another story... as this post has gotten lengthy as can be. :-)
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