Happy Halloween!!!!

Happy Fall Y'All!!

So far, it has been a great Fall...Except for this whole sickness thing. Here are some pictures of our adventures over the past month. My only regret...Because of all of the cooties that have been rotating around the family, I haven't been able to get Alex out to the local pumpkin patch. We'll see if we can finally get that squeezed in sometime over this crazy, hectic week!!

It's the Simplest of Things

Only about forever, Alex has wanted to visit the tanks and cannons at the local park, but we always seem to be in a hurry when we are there and he always seems to mention it as we are driving out of the park. Well, one day this past summer, Alex and I took the time to check things out. We had a great time...Imagine that...Life seems like so much fun when you actually take the time to stop and enjoy it! And, who knew it would be a sneak peak of fun that we enjoyed last weekend at Cantigny!

Monday Funday

We spent our morning on Monday just roaming around Schaumburg. We visited the park where we used to take Alex to play as a little boy. It was nice to get some pictures of Julia playing on the same playground. We spent a lot of time there with Alex and have wonderful
memories of the park and our house.
After our trip down memory lane, we headed over to the Streets of Woodfield to check out Legoland. We had considered going there and were curious about it and wanted to check out the Lego store. We were hoping to find some good buys, but no so luck so we moved on to Chicago.
We went to visit Uncle Mike and Aunt Stephanie at their new apartment in Chicago and had lunch with them at Lou Malnati's. It was neat to see how close to downtown they live...You can even see the Hancock Building just above Julia in the picture right outside Uncle Mike and Aunt Stephanie's apartment. Their apartment is pretty awesome too! We love the woodwork and the creepy basement!!!
After all that excitement, it was back to home. It was a fun weekend and we really enjoyed ourselves. Next time, we will get to the top of the Sears Tower (We're not ready to call it Willis Tower quite yet)...that is if Alex doesn't get sick on the way again!! :)

Ha!!

An even bigger HA!!!

Rolling With the Punches

We planned for a fun filled weekend in Chicago this past weekend. We figured it would be great...No school for Alex on Monday and plenty of time to do something fun and eat at our favorite restaurants...Portillo's and Lou Malnati's! Well, Alex put a kink in the plan by blowing chunks in the car on the way to Chicago on Saturday. What is it with this kid blowing chunks in our minivan? I'm going to get $0 trade in value because 'well, mam...we can tell that a kid has blown chunks in here at least three times.' But, as usual, the little stinker was 'playing,' in the bathtub just a few hours after returning home (using the jets, spraying the spray bottle, sitting in blue dye, soaring with a turtle) mind you, because I wouldn't let him play anywhere else. Plus, he kept asking if when we were going to leave for Chicago while jumping off his bed and pulling all of his army men out of his closet. And, he was still mad at me that we didn't eat at McDonald's right after blowing chunks...That's right...I asked, 'How do you feel?' and his response was 'Is it time to eat at McDonald's?' Yes, he was thinking about his next meal. Was he sick?? Yes, I would say so...Luckily, it really only turned out to be a cold virus, but of course...Because he seemed fine, we headed off for Chicago and all have been fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of the cold. So, now we are all sniffly, Julia is croupy, and Alex's cold has turned into a sinus infection (probably because he was having a hard time blowing his nose). We have paid for it, but in a sense it was worth it, because we had a wonderful time. It would have been a shame to miss out on Catigny Park!!

Catigny Park in Wheaton was our first stop after eating at Portillo's the night before, of course! I had the joy of visiting it once while living in the suburbs, but only attended a concert at the bandshell. I had no idea the wonderful gem that is Catigny Park...We barely were able to finish half of the park in our about four hour time there. We spent the majority of our time climbing the tanks in the Tank Park and visiting the 1st Division War Museum. Alex, of course, wanted to go through it twice. It was a wonderful museum and actually made you feel as though you were walking through World War I Europe, Normandy Beach, and Vietnam. The coolest part was when you went into a small theater to watch a short video on D-Day only to realize that the screen raised at the end and it was if you were coming out of the Duck to walk out onto Omaha Beach. It was creative addition to the museum! After the Tank Park and the Museum, we strolled briefly through the garden and visited the park where Julia finally passed out! It was a great day, we had tons of fun, and we can't wait to visit again.

Alex the 'Soldier'

Aunt Nonny and Julia taking a break!

Alex's favorite tank!

Watch Out! Machine Gun Fire!!

The kiddies standing in front of a replica of the Normandy American Cemetery sculpture.

A sleeping sweetie...