The Morning After

I guess you would call this the morning after we arrived in Chicago. There is always a little travel hangover which can for sure be cured with a bite at Blueberry Hill. I love this place and the kids do too and the stud does too. It provides us with the nourishment we need to get started every day we're in Chicago. I LOVE YOU BLUEBERRY HILL.

The kids love this aspect of it the most, of course what kids wouldn't. There is an entire treasure chest of lollipops to search in until they find just the right flavor. Then if you eat 20 of these lollipops you can get a discount on a pair of binoculars, at least that is what I was told.

Good Luck eating 20, your not doing it on my time !

After breakfast we scooted down the road to this little farmer's market. It was such a cute little place, all the berries seemed to be in season.

The kids really thought it was great. They might have evened learned something, like what is a vegetable???? Just kidding they loved this !

The variety of things was amazing. They have several different fruits up here than we do back home. They had "Sour Cherries" which I didn't know existed. They are the ones that are slightly colored like peaches but shaped like cherries.

There were miles of blueberries. I guess it's the season because they were abundant.

These were currants. I have had currant jam/jelly before but had no idea what they looked like. They are actually very small and delicate and come on a little cluster.

I also had never seen Yellow Beans.

And the homegrown Broccoli that we saw looked much more like Broccolini than regular old Broccoli.

Oh the Strawberries, they were so beautiful and perfect looking.

These are Black Raspberries. I also hadn't heard of them but they are similar to Red Raspberries.

And really I took this picture as an homage to my mom, she loved BEETS. I never quite understood, I always thought they tasted just like the dirt they came out of, YUCK !!! I miss you mom !

Traveling

I know your saying how can things be stressful when you travel with 3 of the most well behaved beautiful talented children you've ever known. Well they don't look stressful here, this is the quiet before the storm, the real deal comes a few hours into the experience.

Really I must make a note of how travel has changed since I was a young traveler. My mom and I would get pretty gussied up to go on an airplane, maybe not our finest wear but there was a whole lot more thought than "what's the most comfortable" put into it. These kid were hard pressed to wear clean clothes, I really had to convince Little Mama that it wasn't ok to wear what she had worn the entire day before !!!

So this is what we ended up with, and I love it !!!

The Rhino used to cause a little havoc on the plane but nothing really worth noting. Now he will spend the first 30 minutes staring out the window and obsessively reading the in flight procedure guide before he finally realizes that he was supposed to ask me to put on his in flight video. Not much trouble at all and yet still so handsome.

Little Mama is happy to spend the next 2 hours playing tic tac toe with her dad or the bubble game on her dads phone, either of which I think is a great use of this time.

And this looks pleasant enough but don't let looks fool you. This is trouble with a capital T just waiting to get started. He quietly lulls the neighboring passengers into thinking this might be a pleasant trip only to wait until we are all most definitely trapped before letting loose.

This is the first thing that Little Man goes for. The most obvious signal to everyone that I can't control my child. Usually by the time he has hit this I have prepared myself for public humiliation over the loud speaker. Then that familiar voice comes on to please remind everyone that the call button is only for those times when you really need something. I wanted to tell her that I really did need something, a lobotomy, and we hadn't even taken off yet. Little did she know that I was so familiar with this type of public humiliation that last time I was informed that those weren't toys and could I please stop him from pushing them. It doesn't bother me anymore.

This one causes ne a little more serious grief since it's for his own safety. It's hard to convince a 2 yr old who now has control over his own safety belt to leave it buckled. I just pray really hard that their isn't ever any unexpected turbulence, and of course I try to make him keep it on.

Oh my heavens this is so much fun it's painful. No really when he whacks himself in the head with it it is painful for him. God love him and the people who sit in the seat in front of him. I try to apologies to the people in front of us before we even sit down, but when there are body parts flying all over it's hard to keep the seat from getting jostled or body slammed, whichever you prefer. He loves to open and close this using his entire upper torso, it's great for his hand eye coordination. That could be what I tell the people in front, they could actually be contributing to the successful training of the next Ty Cobb or Earl Campbell.

This is the one that scares me to death. Luckily they won't let us get even remotely close because if they did it would be terrifying. Although this trip we did sit only one row behind the exit and while it made The Rhino happy to know we were SOOOO close to safety if we needed it it still made me nervous.

Here is the second savior for me, Jesus being my first, the movie CARS comes second. It can absorb him, suck him in, swallow him so wholly that I can't even, not even for chocolate, get his attention. CARS IS THE BEST.

I say that because CARS at naptime on the plane does this.

And really this is a good way to travel ;)

Happy Father's Day !!!

It's the man, the stud, my babies daddy, also known as Big Daddy or Rob if you must.

Isn't he handsome, isn't he the best, I really think so (ok most of the time), but especially on FATHER'S DAY !!!!

These are the reason's that we can call the stud BIG DADDY !!

Those "reasons" helped to make it a very arts and crafty Father's Day.

The Little Man loved the finger painting, although really all of them loved the finger painting.

Little Mama really got into it, she was all out painted, body and clothes, using her knees and all.

Even The Rhino had a creative experience. Maybe we should do this more often.

The paint plate.

The paint brushes !!!

Cleaning up was never so much fun, of course until they started fighting over who got to hold the hose and until someone sprayed someone with the "JET" setting on the hose. That really hurts.

Only one white T-Shirt was lost/ruined in the making of this project !!!!!

Vacation Bible School !!!

What a great experience for my kids. This was the second year that our church had VBS and my kids love it.

Our camp is Afternoons in June and it was hot, it always amazes me how much the kids don't mind the heat. They were doing another camp from 9 - 2 and then straight to Afternoons in June until early evening. They were worn out but had such great big smiles all day, the only thing tired were their cheeks from smiling all day long.

The Rhino loved the chocolate coins they handed out when you remembered your bible verse. Sounds like something he would like and something I might do !!!

The Little Man didn't attend VBS, he is still to young but he really enjoyed the dinner they served on the last night. Chick Fil A.

They had an interactive theater group that did a fabulous job. The guy here was so inspiring in his message, the way he explained God's kingdom was perfect.

This is the interactive part where Little Mama is wearing the Helmet of Salvation. This went along with the Shield of Faith as we all Sword of the Spirit followed by the Breastplate of Righteousness and the Belt of Truth. It was informative for me as well.

Singing a song.

It was great and I can't wait until the next VBS at our church !!! Praise God !!!

Rah Rah Goooo Team !!!!

Ready ! OK ! Sorry Terri I had to post these as your mother REALLY wanted to see them.
I think they are great and the whole thing made for a very entertaining evening !!!

Laughing because you are so nervous about doing a cheer in front of the kids and Rob and me?

Your so funny !!

Be careful you don't throw your hip out !!!

Or spin to fast and make yourself get motion sickness.

Good Job Hot Mama !!!

Oh to the paint store we go !!!

After trying to figure out what kind of paint I might be needing,

Then there is the question what color paint I should be getting. I always thought this would be fun but somehow it has turned into a very high stress situation. I'm feeling the pressure to get it right the first time.

Little Mama looks like how I feel most of the time when it comes to all these decisions. Although I think things will be ok, paint is easy to redo, unless you have an 18 ft room !! How are we going to change the light bulbs ?



I think I'm going to try that "A picture a Day thing" for a year. This is Mondays picture and hopefully I will be able to keep up. I have been taking them it's just a matter of posting them, I'm excited to see if I can do it.