Vacation

Eric took last week off so, although we did not do any advance planning, we ended up having a fantastic week! (Check out all the pictures in the below posts.)

Saturday was Josie's birthday party.

Sunday we took our longest trip with Josie in the car (2 hours) to Marion, Indiana (where Eric was born) and celebrated Eric's birthday with really incredible family.

On Tuesday we took the girls to hang out in downtown Indy. I have taken them many places there but not yet the place that Indianapolis is most known for and even built around- Monument Circle. The girls had a great time and we ended the trip with a walk to Mass Ave and a visit to a very cool toy store called Mass Ave Toys

On Thursday, we took an impromptu trip to Chicago! Ellie has been asking to ride a ferris wheel for a long time and, since Josie did so well on the last long car ride, we thought why not just take them to the huge ferris wheel at Navy Pier? The girls did great on the almost 4 hour drive (with stops) there.

We first did the Chicago Children's Museum on the pier. The girls' most favorite part was the water play area.
We then we did the ferris wheel. Ellie was all smiles and said it was everything she imagined it would be. :) Josie cried pretty much the whole 7 1/2 minute ride because we had to hold her to keep her from leaning out the foot wide gap between the door and the floor! She was happy again as soon as we got off and when we asked her if she liked the ferris wheel she exclaimed "YES!"

After walking around the pier a little longer, we then went out to eat at an all vegetarian (mostly vegan) restaurant! It was a dream come true for us and we ordered 5 different entrees and 2 appetizers just to try everything.

We then drove to our hotel in Schaumburg and spent the night in a great room. We took the girls swimming in the morning and then went off to Legoland! Legoland was so cool and the girls had a blast! Ellie got to see her first ever movie on the big screen (a Bob the Builder movie) and it was even in 3D. They actually called it 4D because they blew wind on you and sprayed water or bubbles on you when appropriate during the movie. Ellie was mesmerized! Josie loved the play area and went down this huge tunnel slide over and over and over.

After Legoland we went to the mall to eat and walked through the Rainforest Cafe- which has a giant animated crocodile that Ellie tried to throw pennies in it's mouth. Josie loved the tropical fish there.

After that, we were going to go to Ikea (since we were right next to it) but the girls pooped out on us and were half asleep before we even got out of the mall parking lot. We decided to just head on home. It took us five hours this time (with Friday evening traffic) and the girls lasted all but the last half hour of it without any crying or whining.

We all had a ton of fun and, all in all, I would call our first overnight family vacation a huge success!!!

Then, the night after we got home, Eric watched the girls so I could go with my mom to the American Idol concert. Kris and Adam were awesome and we got to see them both up close in person after the show!

Then, the next day (Sunday) my mom and I took Ellie and my niece Sara on another long drive (3 hours) to go to the Blueberry festival in Plymouth. It was unbelievably crowded but we still managed to have fun and browse some of the 400+ booths. Ellie got to ride her very first rollercoaster and loved it! She immediately wanted to go again. After the most amazing fireworks display I've ever seen, we made the trek back home without a single complaint from the girls. Sara spent the night and the girls played all day Monday.

It was such a busy fun-filled week and I'm so thankful to have Eric and the girls and the rest of our family in my life to create all these memories with... Hopefully Ellie and Josie will have some wonderful memories to carry on through childhood too!

Downtown Indy

Chicago

*To explain the horrible bruise Ellie has in these pictures, she tripped in the basement the day before we left and and crashed head first into the mini trampoline frame. I was actually worried that she broke her nose but she calmed down quickly and said she was fine...and she was just fine the whole trip!

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American Idol Concert

Bluberry Festival

Impromptu Day Trip

Eric is on vacation this week so at the last minute today, we decided to make a trip to Cincinnati to go to Ikea and Jungle Jim's. We have been wanting to go for awhile and with the weather being nice, it just seemed like the right time to try it. We left right at Josie's nap time and so it worked out perfect and she slept almost the entire two hour drive there. Ellie even napped a little.

I was so happy to see this building! I love Ikea and am so happy that we have one even closer than Chicago now. We ate lunch as soon as we got there and then spent another two hours looking around. Josie loved the kids area and Ellie loved pretty much everything! It was like one big play house to her. She wanted to look at, touch, open, sit on, climb on, play with etc...everything! We only bought just a few things (mostly organizational items) but it was worth going just to see everything!

Ellie playing "kitchen".

Josie trying out a crazy seesaw.


Ellie at one of the many kid's stations strategically placed throughout the store. :)

Both girls enjoying suckers as a reward for being so well behaved at Ikea!


Next we went to explore Jungle Jim's for the first time. We knew we were pushing the girls limits by going but they did pretty well. We would have liked to spend more time there than we did (about an hour) but we at least got an idea of what all it has for the next time we go. Again, we only bought a few items.

Josie and Ellie at the entrance.

Ellie with her very own beer! It even has a picture of Charlie on it. :)

A glimpse (not even half) of the amazing selection of hot sauces available. Eric was in hot sauce heaven! (The huge firetruck on top was pretty cool for the girls.)


We had a great day and this impromptu trip was a nice way for us to realize that we can be spontaneous again with children. As the girls get older, there is a lot less planning and packing involved and so we are finally starting to enjoy a little more freedom. I love our family!

Ellie's First Plane Ride (that she remembers...)

Ellie, my Mom, and I took a quick little mini vacation to North Carolina over the weekend to visit my brother and sister-in-law. We had so much fun and Ellie loved flying! She got a "First Flight" certificate (she did fly once as a baby before she could remember...) and even got to go in the cock-pit and meet the pilots. She came down with strep throat the day before we were to leave but insisted that she still wanted to go. I'm glad we did!


at the doctor waiting to see if she has strep...she doesn't look sick!


waiting for take-off and very excited!


we flew into the sunrise which was really neat


meeting the pilots


"First Flight"


in front of the plane we flew in on the way home


toy plane that she got as a souvenir from the airport