A Windy City Surprise!

It was my brother Spike's 50th.  A big day in any respect but this year has thrown him some pretty big challenges so his wife reached out to see if the family could gather to make it all the more special.  But, of course, we could.  Our first iteration of the trip had Spike, S, and J coming to us.  Doctors put a kibosh on that one.  The second try had us coming to their house and spending the weekend.  As much as we love Spike, we don't really love our hometown (small town Illinois leaves a lot to the imagination).  That is when my other brother had a great idea - let's all meet in a part of Illinois that has a bit more by way of things to do.  It would get Spike out of town (which was the original plan) and we would all have a good time in the big city.  The third time was definitely the charm.  And to make it all the more fun we planned it all as a surprise.  Who doesn't love a good surprise?

Thursday after school the girls and I headed off to the Windy City.  My brother C's family got in just after we did and Grampa was there waiting to chauffeur us to the hotel.  It was late so getting in without Spike knowing we were there was simple as everyone was already asleep.  And we followed behind very quickly.

The next morning the family - including Spikes step-kids and grandson were all waiting in the lobby for breakfast.  They had all come up together the night before and he thought that this was his surprise.  What he didn't expect were the 7 other people who showed up that morning.  I think he was a bit suspicious but he was happy to see us all.  And it was his actual birthday to boot!

Our hotel was on Drury Lane.  And it served muffins.  

Anyone else singing yet...

Breakfast eaten we piled into 3 cars (we were 16 after all) and headed off to the Museum of Science and Industry.  Where we promptly ran around an acted like little kids - the whole lot of us.

Uncle C and Stinkerbell.

A massive U-505 submarine.  The ONLY German sub in the U.S.  It was MASSIVE!

Trying out the doors in the sub...

And the beds...

Some fit better than others (granted, he is quite tall)

We got lost in the mirror maze (and then found again)

And checked to see if we were in proportion. (her arms are slightly longer than she is tall.  But she was happy to see that she had grown an inch).

We watched as a gyroscope top was built and personalized for us on the factory line.  Poor MadHatters didn't pass inspection the first time so she had to start over.

We watched how wind kept balls afloat (and messed up our hair)

And how electricity was attracted to us.

And so much more - we toured a coal mine, we watched a man-made tornado.  There were swirling sand dunes and lightning storms and lectures on what makes things bounce.  And then the museum closed and we needed to head back to the hotel before rush hour traffic trapped us in the city (we didn't make it).  But that's ok, it gave her time to do this...

A fabulous day well spent with family, capped off by a big Italian birthday dinner.  I hope Spike enjoyed his birthday celebration as much as we did!

Bits and Bobs

Down to the final stages of getting the backsplash in...

 Our view doesn't suck this time of year (or ever)

 Did you really think I could get through the update without a track photo?

 All those days taking photos on the track have left me with permanent "socks"...

 We visited the Temple of Time.  Built to help heal the city of Parkland after last years massacre it was opened on the first anniversary of the shooting.  It is built entirely of wood and over the past 3 months, people have covered it in messages of healing and hope.  This past Saturday, it was burned to the ground (this was always the intention) to release the anger and pain that has haunted many since that day.

 She tried to give the tooth fairy a break.  And then set a pretty rigid schedule :)

 Papa came home for the week!!!

We have a large open floorplan to our house.  It is fantastic - except when trying to watch tv.  There are two tv's on the same wall, one upstairs and one downstairs.  With a two-story entry and a two-story living room both with no solid walls, it makes soundproofing difficult.  So we enclosed the arches to solve the problem.  Now if we could just get our furniture so we could sit upstairs...

Seems a bit dangerous to me but thankfully I didn't have to do it.

 So. Much. Better.

 A bit of cleaning out of my plant beds out back.  This is only 2 plants!  They were choking my gardenia plants and not allowing them to bloom.  Amazingly, we had new blooms the very next day!

 She has been going to school early every Friday for months to prepare for this!  We were so happy Papa was in town to catch the show!

 He also got to watch MadHatter at her track meet!  And win a medal.

 Isn't this how we all watch movies?

 My smiley, happy Dulce.

 And my silly Dulce thanks to MadHatter.

Happy Mother's Day

 First and Foremost - Happy Mother's Day to mine!

They let me sleep in.  They let me laze around all day.  They made me dinner and they bought me my favorite cake (red velvet).  But most of all they took time to make some pretty incredible gifts that I will treasure forever!  I love being a mom to these two!

 My favorite may be the one she underlined!  It makes me realize I am doing ok at the job of mine.

 This one makes me smile.

 This one makes me laugh...

Hoppy Easter EveryBunny

It was a whirlwind of an Easter.  Nana and Grampa were visiting and we were in the middle of putting up a backsplash in the kitchen.  MadHatter was trying to recover from being sick for the past 10 days and still compete in a track meet.  We needed to dye eggs.  We were busy to say the least.  But we got it all done.  And I snapped a picture or 5.  Literally - it is all I took.  So here is a look at our first Easter in our new house.  The first one in the U.S. in 8 years.  And the first one without a hotel room egg hunt in many moons (which made the Easter Bunny very happy!)

Bits and Bobs

Mostly what we have going on around here lately is track practice, gymnastics, track meets and more practice.  Rinse and repeat.  But every once in a while something new pops into that schedule.  And here is proof...

We not only have the giant lizards but we also get the tiny gekkos that hang out on our back deck.

Told me she found her parking spot, now she just needs a car :)

We spend a lot of time here watching the sun set...

School Spring pictures.  Why?  Just Why?  And on top of that their cheapest package was $25.  I'd be willing to pay it if...

1. They took two seconds to make sure that my kids looked even halfway decent and not scary (or with a totally forced smile)
2. We didn't just have almost the exact same pictures taken of them at the beginning of the year.
3. I wasn't a photographer who could take better pictures than these with my cell phone.  

We spend a lot of time at track meets - like 9-10 hours every Saturday so no compilation of photos depicting our month would be complete without at least one shot of MadHatter doing her thing.  She won 1st place here with a jump of 14' 1". 

 Someone was picked by her teachers as Student of the Month!

We had an invasion of dragonflies.  There were thousands of them all over the trees and the lawns in our neighborhood. 

DIY project.  I bought all of the supplies to do this about 5 months ago and then just could never find a full weekend that I wanted to devote to it.  When Nana and Grampa came for Easter, they finally said it must be done so we got to work.  I am still not finished though as I need to find the time to seal and caulk it...Maybe in 5 more months :)