Chicago Trip: Day 2; Part II

After Legoland and some lunch, we headed to the Morton Aboretum. That place is HUGE! There is a Children's Garden as well as there "park area". The rest of the Aboretum is so big that we drove through it. They have all of the trees grouped a like and labeled to be read as you drive by. We drove through on the way out. We started in the Children's Garden (it closed the earliest).The first "activity" we found was a huge ball that sat in a base filled with water and Marc could help spin it around in the water.There was a huge rope "spider web" for the kids to climb across.There was a whole series of streams that connected together that kids could walk through, or as some did, swim in.There were about 4 tree houses that had crawling nets and a bunch of neat things for the kids to explore.There were old fashion pumps throughout the children's garden for the kids to pump and play with. Marc and Daddy had fun pumping the water and having water fights......and getting wet in the hot afternoon sun.There was a huge maze made from hedges that we had fun wandering through.Since there was some really pretty scenery, we decided to take advantage of some photo opportunities. Here are the best of the bunch.This place was absolutely beautiful! We were there on a sunny afternoon so sll the trees with the back drop of the sun was beautiful!

Chicago Trip: Day 2; Part I

We decided to head to the Legoland: Discovery Center today. Marc read some reviews online that were not good reviews, but we decided to go anyway. I am so glad that we did.There are several figures for us to see as we walk in. Here is Marc with Albert Einstein.The building is divided into several different areas.It was crowded but it was amazing to see what people can build with Legos. The first area we walk into is "Miniland". They built the city of Chicago out of Legos.After Miniland, there is a Jungle Room. There are all kinds of animals from the jungle built out of Legos.After leaving the jungle room, we walk into what they call "The Hall of Fame". Here is Marc with Indiana Jones...

and with R2D2.....and with Hagrid & Harry Potter.....and Batman.....and with Darth Vader.There was a dragon ride that we went on that drove slowly through another exhibit of things built out of Legos. Samantha was fascinated!Upstairs there was a ride that, when you peddled the bike, it controlled if you went up or down.Upstairs there were a couple of "building" stations. Both Marcs built cars.......and then raced them. (Little Marc's car beat Daddy's car).There was a tour of a replica factory. Kids got to help "make" Legos.There was an area with big, foam Legos. This is the first place we could let Samantha explore.Marc enjoyed building a tower that ended up being as tall as him.
Daddy made a chair out of the foam Legos and both kids "tested" it out.As we left Legoland, a statue of President Obama made out of Legos greeted us.It really was amazing to see what can be built out of Legos. It was fun, but I am not sure we would go back.

Chicago Trip: Day 1

Last year we went to Chicago to celebrate Marc's birthday. It was a disaster! We had 2 flat tires (in the same day) and little Marc got sick. Daddy decided he wanted to try it again, to redeem the "birthday in Chicago weekend". We spent the first day just kind of "wondering" around Navy Pier. We went to a Broadway-type show of Aladdin.It was really well done. They changed it up a little to incude some jokes about the present time. For example, when Aladdin releases the Genie and is aked what his 3 wishes are, the Genie suggests a "Snugglie" or instead of him sgguesting a million dollars like in the movie, the Genie suggested 2 million "with the economy the way it is". It was really good. Marc enjoyed it a lot.
After the show a couple of the performers came out to autograph the programs. This is Marc getting Jafar's autograph.
After some more exploring and eating we headed to the Museum of Science & Industry. There is a traveling Harry Potter exhibit that is there right now. It was awesome!! They had things used in all of the movies. It was really cool to see they props that were actually used. Marc said, in regards to Harry's bed, "You mean they took the bed out of the movie to bring here to be in this museum?!" So, we then had to explain more about what movies are. We thought he understood that they were just acting and "playing pretend". We got to go into Hagrid's hut and sit in the chair that he sat in in the movies. :) We were not allowed to take picture inside the exhibit. The only thing we were able to take pictures of was the "flying" car used int he movie. (That was outside of the exhibit enterance)Going to this exhibit and seeing all of the props, got us really excited to see the new movie. We will be going to see it Saturday night. :)

The New Adventure of Samantha

A couple of days ago, Samantha has begun climbing into one of our white chairs in the living room. The first time she did it I thought it was a flook. She did it several times again after that. She does it as least 4-5 times a day. I think she feels like a big girl. She will climb in it and sit and play, watch tv. watch Marc, or just sit and chill out.She gets in much easier than she gets out. We have tried to show her to roll over onto her belly and slide out of the chair that way, but she won't do it that was. Sometimes she manages to get one leg over the edge and her foot on the floor and then somehow, I'm not sure how, she figures out how to get the other one down too. Sometimes she takes a header out of the chair and lands face first on the floor. She doesn't seem to be too bothered by it though. It is truly amazing to watch her a she grows and develops ever day. Enjoy!

Messy Girl!

We decided, and had time, that it was time to let Samantha explore using a spoon to feed herself. We gave her some applesauce after she finished her dinner last night. She didn't know what to do at first. I helped her and then she actaully did pretty well. After some time using the spoon the correct way, she decided to turn the spoon around and try and use the end of the spoon. She got a lot of it on her face, but that was expected.I hope you have as much fun watching the video as I had watching her figure it out. :) Enjoy!

Furture Computer User?

Back when Marc was little he always tried to bang on our keyboards. We had an old keyboard laying around the house, so we decided to cut the cord off and let him play with it, hoping to divert his attention away from our keyboards. We were pleased to see that it worked! :)

Well, apparently Samantha is going to follow in her big brother's foot steps. Samantha just loves to bang on our laptops. So, we brought the old keyboard, back from Marc's days', to let Samantha play with it. We will see if it works as well with her and it did with Marc.

Super Yummy!! :)

When I was a little girl my Grandma used to make home made strawberry jam. Her back has been too bad for the last several years for her to be able to make it. Last year Marc and I decided that we would take on making the jam. We have decided that will be part of our 4th of July tradition. Last year was the first year we did it so we didn't let Marc help us. We wanted to make sure it turned out good first. So this year he helped a little with each step.
1st step - smush the strawberries2nd step - stir smushed strawberries and sugar together3rd step - cook mixtureThe only part Marc didn't not help with was to pour the jam into the jars. It was too hot for even me to do. That is a Daddy responsibility. ;)
Now, the best part.....to eat it! Yummy!! :)

Happy 4th of July!!

We had a long, busy, fun day today. We started the morning out my Marc making from scratch french toast. Yummy!
Next we went to Sand Lake for the afternoon.
We watched a parade. I have always liked parades and little Marc has become just as big a fan as me. :)After watching the parade we decided to "splurge" and let Marc ride more than 1 ride at their carnival. The first thing he chose was the slide on the burlap bag. One this ride 1 parent could go free with a child. So we decided to take advantage of it and both Daddy and I went with him (he was excited that he got to go twice).Next Marc chose the house of mirrors. After some time trying to figure out how to get out, and walking into a mirror, they found their way out.The was a twisty slide to get out of the house of mirrors. Marc tried to "catch" Daddy when he came down the slide.After the slide, Marc and Samantha went on a train ride.After the train ride, Marc and Daddy drove bumper cars.There was a kids roller coaster there that Marc LOVED! He actually chose to ride that one twice instead of something else.Daddy saw a concession cart that sold deep fried Oreos. He decided that he needed to try them. The thought of them was revolting to me (way too sweet), so Marc and the kids tried them. He said they "weren't bad".After lots of fun in Sand Lake, we headed home for awhile. (See next post to see what we did with that time)
After some dinner, we headed to Rockford for fireworks.
We had about 45 minutes to wait so Samantha spent the time playing with some of her toys.
Rockford has a "Blues on the River" concert series going on all summer. Marc enjoyed dancing to the music as we waited for fireworks.A cute picture of Marc and Daddy.
Happy 4th of July!! :)