That night we went out for ice cream to celebrate Kyle's birthday!
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Home Again, Home Again
Brennan came in a greeting me with a big hug bright and early at 7am Monday morning! I was super happy to see both boys after being the entire weekend. I decided it would be fun to take the boys to the USS Nautilus Museum. We've been several times before. Once with just my parents, once when Brennan was a tiny baby, and once right before Bryce was born. It's a small museum, but the boys had fun running around and exploring. It was slightly challenging trying to tour a submarine with two toddlers, but we made it through! Both boys are wearing shirts I brought home from Chicago.
That night we went out for ice cream to celebrate Kyle's birthday!
That night we went out for ice cream to celebrate Kyle's birthday!
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Chicago Day 3
Day 3 was Sunday and it was our last day of our little girls trip! We got ready slowly that morning and checked out of the hotel around 9am. The hotel held onto our bags for us because our flight out wasn't until after 9pm that night, so we still had a big day of adventures ahead of us.
We started with breakfast at The Corner Cafe. It was similar to a Panera Bread and my baked French toast was super yummy!
My mom's pick for the day was to shop at Macy's. We got to the store before it even opened, so we did a little shopping at Old Navy first. I bought stuff for the boys. Of course. Then we headed right across the street to Macy's. A Macy's with 9 floors! Not my ideal of a super fun place, but the fact that my mom told my sister and me that we could each have a $100 shopping spree made it a lot better! We were in Macy's for a quite awhile since we knew we had so much time to kill and I did end up getting some super cute clothes. For myself!
After our shopping spree, we walked over to Michigan Ave and caught the bus again down to the Mag Mile. We went straight to eat lunch a Gino's. Thanks, Val, for the recommendation.
My pictures end there. After our meal we walked in a few stores, but still had about 2 hours to kill before we needed to head towards the airport, so we went to see another movie. This time we saw 22 Jump Street. It was silly, but nice and relaxing after three days of tons of walking.
After the movie, we went and got our bags from the hotel, caught the L back to Midway, and then my mom and sister flew home to Kentucky and I flew home to Connecticut. My flight landed at 1am, so it was a long day for me.
It certainly wasn't the most relaxing trip. All three of us would have loved to have had a pool to just lay by, but it was still super fun. A little getaway was just what I needed to recharge my Momma batteries!
We started with breakfast at The Corner Cafe. It was similar to a Panera Bread and my baked French toast was super yummy!
My mom's pick for the day was to shop at Macy's. We got to the store before it even opened, so we did a little shopping at Old Navy first. I bought stuff for the boys. Of course. Then we headed right across the street to Macy's. A Macy's with 9 floors! Not my ideal of a super fun place, but the fact that my mom told my sister and me that we could each have a $100 shopping spree made it a lot better! We were in Macy's for a quite awhile since we knew we had so much time to kill and I did end up getting some super cute clothes. For myself!
After our shopping spree, we walked over to Michigan Ave and caught the bus again down to the Mag Mile. We went straight to eat lunch a Gino's. Thanks, Val, for the recommendation.
My pictures end there. After our meal we walked in a few stores, but still had about 2 hours to kill before we needed to head towards the airport, so we went to see another movie. This time we saw 22 Jump Street. It was silly, but nice and relaxing after three days of tons of walking.
After the movie, we went and got our bags from the hotel, caught the L back to Midway, and then my mom and sister flew home to Kentucky and I flew home to Connecticut. My flight landed at 1am, so it was a long day for me.
It certainly wasn't the most relaxing trip. All three of us would have loved to have had a pool to just lay by, but it was still super fun. A little getaway was just what I needed to recharge my Momma batteries!
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Chicago Day 2
Day 2 in Chicago was my birthday! I woke up early even though my kiddos weren't there! I was able to FaceTime with the boys that morning so they could sing me Happy Birthday! Since we were already up, my mom and I decided to go for a walk. We thought the Chicago River Walk was a little circular path we could take, but it turns out it's not. We walked and walked and walked and we knew we were walking around Lake Michigan and not the Chicago River anymore, but just kept walking. We finally turned around and retraced our steps. We definitely walked at least 4 miles that morning and at a brisk pace. My legs were sore the rest of the trip!
We got back to the room and all got ready and went right next door for a yummy late breakfast.
After eating, we walked to little local art shop and then walked to Millennium Park. I wanted to take my picture with The Bean for my birthday. My main observation: The Bean is super dirty!
We then hopped on a bus and rode straight down Michigan Ave to do some shopping at the Magnificent Mile. I'm not a shopper at all and of course only bought things for the boys at first. We did stop by an indoor mall called North Bridge Tower because I wanted to treat myself to some new earrings I'd been eyeing at Nordstrom. I also got a little makeover in the cosmetics sections just because.
After that we thought it would be nice to relax at a movie. I don't see movies very often anymore, so it was fun. We went and saw Tammy. It was very funny and pretty cool that some of the movie takes place in Louisville, Kentucky! After the movie we walked to go buy tickets to a fireworks architecture cruise; another birthday request of mine. The guy we bought tickets from gave us a recommendation for a pizza place so we headed there next. It was PACKED. Like 1.5 hour wait for a table packed, so we ended up going to a restaurant close to the hotel.
We were then able to go relax in our hotel room for about an hour. It was a well-deserved rest after all the walking we had done! Then it was time to go get in line for our little cruise. When we walked outside it was raining a little, but it stopped right as our cruise was taking off. The cruise was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about the buildings in downtown Chicago. We stopped down at Navy Pier and watched the fireworks show they do every Wed. and Sat. night during the summer. It wasn't anything huge, but it was fun.
After the cruise it was back to the room and that night I slept like a rock!
We got back to the room and all got ready and went right next door for a yummy late breakfast.
After eating, we walked to little local art shop and then walked to Millennium Park. I wanted to take my picture with The Bean for my birthday. My main observation: The Bean is super dirty!
We then hopped on a bus and rode straight down Michigan Ave to do some shopping at the Magnificent Mile. I'm not a shopper at all and of course only bought things for the boys at first. We did stop by an indoor mall called North Bridge Tower because I wanted to treat myself to some new earrings I'd been eyeing at Nordstrom. I also got a little makeover in the cosmetics sections just because.
After that we thought it would be nice to relax at a movie. I don't see movies very often anymore, so it was fun. We went and saw Tammy. It was very funny and pretty cool that some of the movie takes place in Louisville, Kentucky! After the movie we walked to go buy tickets to a fireworks architecture cruise; another birthday request of mine. The guy we bought tickets from gave us a recommendation for a pizza place so we headed there next. It was PACKED. Like 1.5 hour wait for a table packed, so we ended up going to a restaurant close to the hotel.
We were then able to go relax in our hotel room for about an hour. It was a well-deserved rest after all the walking we had done! Then it was time to go get in line for our little cruise. When we walked outside it was raining a little, but it stopped right as our cruise was taking off. The cruise was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about the buildings in downtown Chicago. We stopped down at Navy Pier and watched the fireworks show they do every Wed. and Sat. night during the summer. It wasn't anything huge, but it was fun.
After the cruise it was back to the room and that night I slept like a rock!
Monday, July 28, 2014
Where to Begin???
So it's been ages since I've blogged. I miss it, but just have not had the time to sit down and write out a post. So I'm going to try to play catch up over the next few days and hopefully I can get back into blogging regularly after our vacation to TN and KY!
My last blog post was on July 2nd, so I'll start my catching up with my birthday trip to Chicago. Kyle kept the boys the July 4th weekend, so I could fly and meet my mom and sister in Chicago. It was my first time being away from the boys overnight!
This recaps our first day there:
I flew from Providence to Midway. It has been a long time since I've flown without children and it was quite nice. Thankfully our boys are great travelers, but this was very relaxing. My mom and sister were at the airport waiting for me, so we hopped on the "L" orange line and headed to State and Lake. I love public transportation. I don't think I would want to live in a super big city forever, but I certainly think it would be fun to live there for a while. From the train stop we had a short walk to our hotel. It was very nice and super modern. We got settled in and decided to go eat at Billy Goat Tavern. We had to go underground to get there and your food isn't served on plates, but it was so yummy. And a super good value. I definitely recommend it! We even got to sit in the VIP Room, which it turned out meant Very Insecure Person. Oh well.
These pictures came from the Navy Pier and our walk back towards the hotel afterwards.
My last blog post was on July 2nd, so I'll start my catching up with my birthday trip to Chicago. Kyle kept the boys the July 4th weekend, so I could fly and meet my mom and sister in Chicago. It was my first time being away from the boys overnight!
This recaps our first day there:
I flew from Providence to Midway. It has been a long time since I've flown without children and it was quite nice. Thankfully our boys are great travelers, but this was very relaxing. My mom and sister were at the airport waiting for me, so we hopped on the "L" orange line and headed to State and Lake. I love public transportation. I don't think I would want to live in a super big city forever, but I certainly think it would be fun to live there for a while. From the train stop we had a short walk to our hotel. It was very nice and super modern. We got settled in and decided to go eat at Billy Goat Tavern. We had to go underground to get there and your food isn't served on plates, but it was so yummy. And a super good value. I definitely recommend it! We even got to sit in the VIP Room, which it turned out meant Very Insecure Person. Oh well.
After eating we walked down to the Navy Pier. Keep in mind this was July 4th and there was going to be a big fireworks show down there around 9:30pm. It was pretty crowded already at 5pm. We didn't do anything except walk the entire pier and take some pictures. We weren't up for waiting for 4 hours for the fireworks.
We passed by the Chicago Tribune building on the way to Navy Pier and the base of the building contains 120 stones from important places all around the world. I took a few pictures of those.
And that was Day 1!
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Weekend Catch-Up
Ugh! I came down with a sudden 24-hour stomach bug on Sunday, but now I am all better and wanted to document some of the things we did over this past weekend.
Friday morning I took the boys to an event at our local library to do sidewalk chalk. Brennan overhead the librarian talking about it the day before and was super excited to go. Unfortunately, once we arrived the excitement ended. He wrote his name on the sidewalk and then wanted to go inside. We made it back out once more before we left, but he just wasn't into it. Oh well. I still love that our library is offering so many fun activities this summer.
The library is doing the Fizz, Boom, Read summer reading program and I've been logging my reading time with Brennan. So far this summer we've read 270 minutes!
Since the sidewalk chalk didn't last long, we came home and shot some rockets and then set up a "car wash" in the driveway. It turned into more of a Brennan and Bryce wash of course!
Friday night we had a sitter, so Kyle and I could attend a Hail and Farewell at his new CO's house.
On Saturday morning we got up and decided we would go feed the ducks at Mystic Village. We knew Mystic Village doesn't offer duck food there anymore, so Kyle thought we'd head to Pet Smart to buy some. Thankfully he looked online first and found that only the Warwick, RI store had some. We decided we head up there anyways! Before we left, Kyle was sweet enough to vacuum out my car. We had removed both car seats the night before so friends could ride with us.
Kyle got the car all clean and the car seats reinstalled and we set off for RI. We hadn't been on the highway long when Brennan started screaming about ants in the backseat. Sure enough there were tons of them. We assume they had gotten onto the car seats while they were sitting in the driveway waiting to be put back into the car. They were crawling all over the place and even though they are just ants, to a four-year-old it's a big deal. I was trying to smash as many as I could from the front seat, but we ended up exiting the highway and stopping at a CVS so we could pull both car seats out again and try to fix the ant problem. I sat in the back in between the two car seats the rest of the ride to keep Brennan calm and kill the remainder of the ants.
After all that fun, we did get the duck food and then came straight back to CT to go feed the ducks. And boy were those ducks excited. It was too much for Brennan and me. But Kyle and Bryce loved it. I cannot believe Kyle was letting them jump right into his lap. So gross!
We couldn't stay at Mystic Village too long because we needed to get the boys home and fed and down for naps before we went to Southington for Madeleine's 2nd birthday party. I didn't get any great pictures on my phone, but it was a lot of fun.
The only picture I got of the birthday girl!
Sunday, Kyle had duty so the boys and I went to church alone. I was feeling a little icky all morning, but made it through church and lunch fine. I got both boys put down for a nap and tried to sleep some, but could not get comfortable. Brennan woke up and I let him play the iPad while I just laid on the couch and then the stomach bug officially hit. Thankfully it was a one and done thing. I just felt weak and achy for the rest of the afternoon and night. Kyle was able to come home from work late that night, so that was a huge blessing. Not the greatest end to the weekend, but overall it was lots of fun!
Friday morning I took the boys to an event at our local library to do sidewalk chalk. Brennan overhead the librarian talking about it the day before and was super excited to go. Unfortunately, once we arrived the excitement ended. He wrote his name on the sidewalk and then wanted to go inside. We made it back out once more before we left, but he just wasn't into it. Oh well. I still love that our library is offering so many fun activities this summer.
The library is doing the Fizz, Boom, Read summer reading program and I've been logging my reading time with Brennan. So far this summer we've read 270 minutes!
Since the sidewalk chalk didn't last long, we came home and shot some rockets and then set up a "car wash" in the driveway. It turned into more of a Brennan and Bryce wash of course!
Friday night we had a sitter, so Kyle and I could attend a Hail and Farewell at his new CO's house.
On Saturday morning we got up and decided we would go feed the ducks at Mystic Village. We knew Mystic Village doesn't offer duck food there anymore, so Kyle thought we'd head to Pet Smart to buy some. Thankfully he looked online first and found that only the Warwick, RI store had some. We decided we head up there anyways! Before we left, Kyle was sweet enough to vacuum out my car. We had removed both car seats the night before so friends could ride with us.
Kyle got the car all clean and the car seats reinstalled and we set off for RI. We hadn't been on the highway long when Brennan started screaming about ants in the backseat. Sure enough there were tons of them. We assume they had gotten onto the car seats while they were sitting in the driveway waiting to be put back into the car. They were crawling all over the place and even though they are just ants, to a four-year-old it's a big deal. I was trying to smash as many as I could from the front seat, but we ended up exiting the highway and stopping at a CVS so we could pull both car seats out again and try to fix the ant problem. I sat in the back in between the two car seats the rest of the ride to keep Brennan calm and kill the remainder of the ants.
After all that fun, we did get the duck food and then came straight back to CT to go feed the ducks. And boy were those ducks excited. It was too much for Brennan and me. But Kyle and Bryce loved it. I cannot believe Kyle was letting them jump right into his lap. So gross!
We couldn't stay at Mystic Village too long because we needed to get the boys home and fed and down for naps before we went to Southington for Madeleine's 2nd birthday party. I didn't get any great pictures on my phone, but it was a lot of fun.
The only picture I got of the birthday girl!
Sunday, Kyle had duty so the boys and I went to church alone. I was feeling a little icky all morning, but made it through church and lunch fine. I got both boys put down for a nap and tried to sleep some, but could not get comfortable. Brennan woke up and I let him play the iPad while I just laid on the couch and then the stomach bug officially hit. Thankfully it was a one and done thing. I just felt weak and achy for the rest of the afternoon and night. Kyle was able to come home from work late that night, so that was a huge blessing. Not the greatest end to the weekend, but overall it was lots of fun!
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