Fit for a Fairy

 Amelia has been diligently working on building a fairy house since the Winter.  Every chance she had, she wanted to glue items from her "nature box" to build the house.  She even found a shingle that had flown off of our roof and used it for her fairy house roof. She fitted the house with a table and even bunk beds for the fairies with a tiny pillow. I told her we couldn't put it out for them until the weather got warmer.

 This summer, she has been checking it pretty much every day, searching for signs of a fairy visit. 

Then, one day in mid-July, she noticed a trail of fairy dust all over the inside of the house!  And there was a trail of fairy dust leading all the way to the grass!  Needless to say, it was a very exciting event! Amelia was a bit skeptical though when she picked up some of the fairy dust and thought "happy things", but didn't start flying. She is still trying to figure out where she went wrong.

Chicago 2011

It's hard to believe, but I have not returned to Chicago since we moved from there in May 2007.  I think that is the longest stretch of time I had NOT been to Chicago since I met Jason.  

Since we took a Disney vacation in January, we knew we would not be taking a big summer family vacation this year. We figured we would do a long weekend in Chicago, a long weekend in KC, and try and get to DC to see my brother and his family.

So off one Thursday morning we went.  We left bright and early with a car loaded down with suitcases, toys, kids, and a cooler.  Almost immediately, Henry began to fuss.  

And he fussed and fussed and fussed until we finally stopped about halfway to Chicago and let him run around a bit at a neighborhood park.  When we got back to the car, he finally fell asleep which made for a much more relaxing trip North.

Upon arrival in the Windy City, we checked into the Palmer House, which was lovely.  While Henry and I got settled in our room, Henry and Amelia drove our car south to our old neighborhood to park it on the street so we wouldn't have to pay the $40/day to leave it at our hotel. 

While they were taking a trip down memory lane, I thought it would be a good time to lay Henry down for his second nap of the day.  Turns out, Henry had something up his sleeve.  When we weren't looking, he somehow mastered how to crawl out of the pack-n-play and decided to display his new skill in Chicago--5 hours from home in a strange hotel.

This is Amelia on the steps of our old apartment in Hyde Park.  The last time I walked through that door, she was just shy of a year old and we were moving back to St. Louis.

Jason and Amelia rode the train back to the hotel and in the meantime Henry was not napping and my eye was rapidly swelling!  Apparently, I was allergic to something in the room (presumably mold) and the hotel quickly moved us to a new room a couple of floors up.  This was not how I envisioned our first day of our family vacation!

Luckily, our new room was MUCH better and way bigger.  Jason stood guard at the pack-n-play prohibiting Henry from escaping until he became so exhausted that he gave up and fell asleep.  In the meantime, Amelia and I checked out the hotel pool.

After a dip in the pool for Amelia and a much needed nap for Henry, it was time to explore the city a bit.  Our first stop was a favorite of mine and only steps from our hotel: Millennium Park. There was a concert going on and the kids enjoyed running around on the lawn and dancing to the music.

 

During our walk to and from the hotel, my sandal broke!  And just like that, I was walking barefoot in the Chicago streets. Yuck! So, that night we stopped by Old Navy to pick up a new pair.  Plus, it was downright chilly there when the sun went down, so I bought a hoodie and Jason picked up a pair of jeans. Amelia did her best to convince us she needed a few new accessories....

The next morning while Henry napped, Amelia and Henry went to visit the Sears Tower (or the Willis Tower as it is now known).  I have never been and I'm glad I didn't go this time.  It was difficult enough seeing pictures of Amelia on the glass ledge.  Not sure how I would have handled it in person!

Later, we went to Navy Pier.  It was a bit of a walk, but the kids hung in there.  First up was the Ferris Wheel. 

Then, it was a few more rides on Navy Pier...

Henry was a bit of a handful by this time, so we headed in for a drink lunch.

I ended up taking Henry on the 1.5 mile walk back to our hotel while Amelia watched 3 shows inside Navy Pier.  She really liked the Pirate play apparently.  She wanted her picture with one of the pirates.  He said, "Let's smile really nice for your dad" and then this is how the picture turned out.

The kids had been begging to take a dip in the Millennium Park fountain.  So after naps, we suited them up and let them go.

Everyone was pretty beat by the time we returned to the hotel (or so we thought).  Henry ended up waking up around 11 pm and saw us from his bed (which he had not even attempted to crawl out of since the first day).  In an effort to keep him quiet, I went and sat by him.  Bad move!  It became a game to him and two hours later, Jason finally took him down to the floor in the hotel with all of the banquet rooms and let him run free.  He was sure that Henry was exhausted and ready for bed when they returned 45 minutes later.  But as soon as Jason put him in bed, he started screaming louder than ever.  Despite the fact that it was 2 AM, we decided we had to let him go.  I was so nervous someone from the hotel would come to kick us out.  He ended up crying for 5 (long) minutes and then fell right to sleep for the rest of the night.

The next morning, a certain adult male was extremely crabby, so Amelia (who slept through the entire shenanigans the night before) and I headed to the beach while the boys slept.  I was hopped up on lots o' coffee and practically skipped the two miles to the beach.

We decided to hit the beach near the Planetarium.  We got there fairly early in the morning and there was hardly a soul.  It was so beautiful and peaceful and COLD!

We spent a couple of hours there that morning burying each other, making sand angels, collecting rocks, and swimming. We took our time getting back to the hotel.  I think some of the best views of Chicago are from that area.

We even stopped by to see the huge Buckingham Fountain! 

The boys were feeling better upon our return.  We ate some lunch and then ALL laid down for an afternoon nap.  Then, we headed to Michigan Avenue in hunt of the American Girl Doll Store.

On the way, we found the Disney Store (our second of the trip) and Peter Pan!

And then we finally made it to the American Girl Doll store.  This was our first experience with this type of thing and I am not sure who was more overwhelmed--me, Jason, or Amelia.  Amelia definitely enjoyed looking at all of the dolls and accessories, but we got out of there with nothing but a catalog pretty easily.  (I just had to repair the catalog last week, however, damaged from repeated viewings).

Luckily, it was pretty close to dinner time and Henry was getting squirrely, so we missed the entire second floor of the store. And I didn't have to try too hard to pry these "bitty babies" (and their $70 jogging stroller) from Amelia's hands.

After a meltdown at Chik-fil-A from Henry, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel for the evening.  He wouldn't resist a quick stop at the park one last time for a cold dip in the water for our tired feet!

In the morning, it was back on the road to St. Louis and back to this....

Sigh.  It was decided at that point that KC and DC would have to wait until Henry is a bit more tolerant of traveling. I was just telling Jason that I thought Henry had improved since the Chicago trip a month ago. And then, that night he cried the whole ten minute ride to the restaurant we chose for dinner. And cried the 10 minutes home.

Despite the fussy ride, pack-n-play debacle, broken sandal, and swollen eye, we had a fabulous time sharing Chicago with our two kids.  It was great to see some old sites from the year we spent there and enjoy some cooler weather! I'm sure we will be visiting many more times over the years to come!

History Buff

As I have mentioned before, Amelia is very interested in history.  She is constantly begging me to tell me stories about famous people and events from long ago.  I was NEVER into history as a child and was in college before I really started to take an interest in past events.  But it was when I taught at The Miriam School that I realized just how interesting history could be--especially for kids.

I had been researching books for Amelia's age about strong, famous women.  We have talked about Harriet Tubman extensively in the past, so when I was at the library I picked up the book, "Minty".  It is about young Harriet Tubman and what her life was about growing up.

When we got home from the library, we read the story.  Apparently, it greatly affected Amelia!  During "rest" time, she built her own "Underground Railroad".  She used paper, tape, scissors, her dollhouse people, her dollhouse brooms, and a pack of hair curlers. There are pitchforks she made from her dollhouse brooms and black paper. The "tall grass field" was behind the slaves. 

"Amanda" was a slave that was sent "down the river" because she tried to run away and got caught. The river was my favorite part because she took apart all of the hair curlers in the pack and snapped together all of the middle pieces to make it.  She asked for my help with the North Star, but she did the rest completely on her own.

I sometimes feel guilty about forcing Amelia to have rest time in her room each afternoon.  But, honestly some of her best creations come during that time! (Minus the Great Hair Massacre of '09).

4th of July

Well, now you can see that I am over a month behind in my postings.  Our summer has been very busy with lots of fun activities!  Here's a quick look at our 4th of July celebration:

Rain+parade+lots of family=fun

firetruck+boy=very happy boy

dollar store trip+mom+dad=patriotic parents

fireworks+late night=tired little boy and girl

Grand Old Flag

Pool Woes

We have been at the pool this summer. Like a lot.  We are probably averaging about 3 times per week.  We opted for the family pool pass again this year, so we have to make sure we get our money's worth!  It covers 3 area pools and both kids seem to enjoy going--Amelia more than Henry, really. And it is really amazing the strides Amelia has taken this year with her swimming!  Not so much from swim lessons, but from just being poolside so often.  She can tread water and actually "swim" a bit in water where she cannot touch the bottom.  It always gives me a heart attack to watch her because it isn't pretty, but she is as comfortable as can be and much prefers the deep end to any other area of the pool.

Just before the July 4th holiday, we decided to take a family trip to the quietest pool of the three our pool pass covers.  Expecting a relaxing afternoon while resting in the cool water was what I had in mind.  However, within the first 5 minutes of our arrival at the pool, Henry grabbed the sunscreen stick and began sucking it like a lollipop. After wrestling it from him, he and I had to return to the car to get my phone and call poison control (per the instructions on the sunscreen stick).  He was not too happy to be leaving the pool since he hadn't even gotten wet yet.  I ended up having to make the short trip to my parent's house to "wipe his mouth with a cotton washcloth" and "give him some milk to drink" as instructed to do by the nurse at the poison control center. We finally got some swimming in right about at the time he should have been heading down for a nap. 

I can't decide if Henry is a handful because he is the second child or because he is a boy.  My parents as teacher educator assures me that having a second child that is a boy is a double whammy.  She should know, she has one too!