Going Out when we should be Snowed In

Today we braved (I felt light headed and nauseous from worry the entire drive) the snow and drove to the Chicago Botanic Garden to see the Wonderland Express.

A designer and crew was hired to build an elaborate backdrop for model trains to run through. The first room contained four beautiful Christmas trees and two towns made from candy and gingerbread which Holiday themed trains ran through.

The next, large atrium was just spectacular. I'm not sure why we didn't take more pictures. But the backdrops were all Chicago landmark buildings and structures made from all natural materials, wood, nut shells, dried leaves, etc... Many live plants were added to fill in the landscaping. The most amazing was all of the skyscrapers near Michigan Avenue and Navy Pier. Through all of these landscapes, miniature trains ran. Oh, and I must not forget... the best part of all. There were snow machines in the atrium. So it would snow on the whole scene, and you, every once in a while.

In the last hallway, yet another naturally landscaped and built train scene was set up with landmarks from near northern suburbs.

There was also a room showing a looping film of the making of the exhibit, including a snipet from a PBS show narated by Jason's former improv teacher, Geoffrey Baer. The library had a cute exhibit of figures from childrens books, which were made of felt. And yet another area had a little cafe, gift shop and area for kid's activities. The kids (and maybe us) made "tree jewelry" for the birds to eat outside as well as paper snowflakes. The third generation of kids at the holiday party we are going to on Christmas may or may not be getting all train themed gifts. Hee hee.

It was a scary drive (for me), and Jason drove not me, but ended up being a good family event.

Party Time

I have been so lax with posting lately because I've been so busy. Now I have some interesting photos, so I will let them do most of the talking.

Ella had her 5th (really, already she's 5?!) birthday on Saturday. Friday night we had a kids party for her. It was in the evening for a couple of hours. A pajama party with pizza, cupcake decorating, games and present opening. Just a note of caution to anyone who may be interested: 13 3-4 yr olds is a LOT of kids and 2 hours harder to fill than you might think. At least when the guests are all kids.

My small project is at a bit of a halt, but I hope to pick it up soon. Again, it is mostly organizing. My big project is ongoing. Right now I am working back and forth with a graphic designer via the internet. There is a little clue for those who don't know what my big project is.

This week is Christmas parties for the kids. Getting teachers gifts finished and wraps, grab bag gifts wrapped for preschool. Adopt-a-family gifts and food delivered to the family we "adopted". Haircuts for Ella and I. Last minute gift shopping for family. I'm sure I'm forgetting something else!

Better get another load of laundry going before I have to go teach a dance class. Didn't get much laundry done because of hosting a family party for Ella all day Saturday and being completely worn out plus having to do some shopping on Sunday.

Can't wait to have more time to work on my big project soon!

Bristol Renaissance Faire

Saturday the family went up to Bristol, Wisconsin to the Renaissance Faire. My cousin Katie, who I rarely get to see works there summers and otherwise lives in Austin, Texas.

The kids had a great time and it was so good to see Katie.


Puppet hugs


Pickle on a stick


Robin Hood


Funny man and juggler, Broon.


Broon gave Miles a balloon animal (no it is not blown up)


Posing with Jane the Fool


Katie, me and the kids


Katie and the kids.

Make Yourself an Easy, Yummy, Healthy Treat

Blueberry Smoothie

1 cup plain soymilk
1 cup frozen blueberries

Blend.

Pour into your glass.

Enjoy.

Yum!

Went back to the garage sale that I mentioned yesterday this morning. The Tiffany necklace was still there. I bought it for $5! I actually wore it today, but might try to sell it on Ebay? We'll see.

Took the kids in for portraits at Pennys. They turned out real cute but we were there about 3 hours. The woman helping us choose photos and check out was training a new employ and it took 3 times as long as normal to get to us. The kids had a heyday as I promised them a cookie if they did well at their photo shoot. Good thing we left the together shots till the end. Because they weren't very good to each other then. Overall they were real good. They got to eat chicken mcnuggets, a rare occurance, both each got 2 cookies and Ella got a Hello Kitty crystal necklace and a sequin strawberry hairclip (50% off, yeah!) The sales were big time crazy. I got a really nice frame for $8, an indoor/outdoor thermometer complete with atomic clock for $10 (our current one got stuck in celcius and we can't change to farenheit, even when we flip the switch in the back to go to F, a table top clock for the guest room for half off and 2 pairs of shoes for me for $14, one pair being Keds! Good thing I didn't deliberately look for anything because I'm sure I'd find a ton more deals.

Jason put the tent up in the back yard tonight. He and Miles are sleeping out there. Ella was going to too. Until we found the holes she poked into the screen on her windows. Her punishment was that she was not allowed to sleep in the tent.

We have a pretty packed weekend ahead. So I'm sure there will be a lot to report back next week. And I still have photos in the camera to share from this week. Until then...

Hopefully More to Come

I've taken a tiny break from blogging as seasons change in the world and in our lives. The weather has been wonderful and I've been outside a decent amount of time with the kids. It would have been perfect if we had a hammock and I could have kicked back outside and taken a little snooze while the kids were napping. Instead I rested on the futon in the basement. I had the energy and inspiration to make a yummy dinner tonight too. We have been out on the paddle boat in "our" pond twice in the last two days. We love it, the kids love it. It is so wonderful having water in your backyard. We've gone to parks and played out back on the swing set. The school near us has a new play set and is so much fun for the kids to explore. We also planted some bean and tomato seeds in peat pellets today. Oh and I must not forget that we broke out the bubbles today too!

Ella goes back to preschool tomorrow after 2 weeks off.

Ahead I hope to post some pics of our Spring outdoor activities and a recipe or two with pics. I am not sure I will get to do too much on my new bag as I am feeling compelled to de-clutter and purge. I've already listed our changing table on Craigslist and have a small stack of stuff for a garage sale. I would like to clean up several other messy areas as well as our basement storage area and garage. Lots of work ahead.

I'd like to leave you with a site with a movie I found through another blog. It is about American consumerism and waste and really makes me think. Well, I've already thought about this A LOT, but it makes me think even more and want to take more action. I haven't gotten through the entire movie yet so I'm not sure how long it is in total, but plan to watch it more when I have the time. You can find the movie at the website www.storyofstuff.com.

Weekend in Wisconsin - Part Three (Sunday)

Sunday morning was spent playing at the waterpark. Here are some general pics of the place:






Some of our group:




For lunch we headed out to "The Moose Restaurant" which turned out to be actually called "Moosejaw". I asked what was so interesting about the jaw of a moose to which our Canadian friend (she now has dual citizenship) replied that Moosejaw is the name of a town in Canada. That explains some of the decor in the building. It was very "rustic" but in a very clean, mostly tasteful manner. The chandeliers were made of horns and antlers from various animals, also stuffed deer, moose and bears as well as some deer paw coat hooks which I found a little creepy. Don't ask me why I don't find the mounted animals as creepy. The kids got to wear moose hats and the food was MUCH better than the buffet the night before. Afterwards we said "goodbye" to our vacation companions and headed home. We did stop at a gas station that had a large pink elephant with glasses next to it. Weird but fun.








This is the FINAL post on our weekend trip. It was more than we expected and great to see family and spend a special trip with good friends. We really turned out to be compatible travel companions and hope to do another mini trip together again sometime! I also learned that a family of 4 can happily live in a 2 bedroom rather small apartment.

Weekend in Wisconsin - Part Two (Saturday)

We arrived at Chula Vista Water Park Resort in the Wisconsin Dells at around 11 am after an approximately hour drive from Madison. It was too soon to check in to our room, but not too soon to use the water park. And so we did. We started out on the "Lazy River". By the second time around I realized I didn't have to push the kids in the innertube, that there was actually a current in the "river" and I could just hang on to the tube. Duh. We then headed to the zero depth kids area which I pleasantly found the water to be much warmer than that in the river. Soon our friends Brad and Gail and their son James (6) arrived. We hung out with them in the "lazy river" and then Gail and I made a bee line for the hot tub with Miles. After lunch our room was ready, so we checked in. And this is what we saw (we were not expecting this)...







Yes that is a hot tub in the living area. Here is the master suite (Jason, I and the kids stayed in the other bedroom which I did not photograph. The lighting was awful). I forgot to get the amazing bathrooms, but I'm sure you'll live.




As soon as we settled in, Gail and I went to check out the gift shops, then came back and the guys went back to the water park to ride all the "big boy" slides. We stayed back with the kids. Miles napped and Ella and James took a dip in the hot tub while Gail and I discussed the suite. We decided we loved about everything except the window treatments which is funny because we both sew and make window treatments. She actually does it for a living and has much more experience than I. As for the kids playing in the tub, Gail did a great job at improvising tub toys by giving them plastic bowls, colanders, spoons and spatulas.



When the guys got back we all played Eucre! Well, Ella and James played Go Fish and Miles watched some cartoons.



Finally we all went to a buffet at the hotel. I really did not find the food all that appealing and the price was crazy as well. It did not include beverages or dessert. We still had a great time as you can hopefully tell by these photos:










Day is done...