Results tagged “Jack”

When the talking and giggling won't stop!

Daniel compiled a video of our trip to Australia. It is unedited (what do you expect from people who have had no sleep?).

Well, it has taken awhile for me to write about the last two days of our trip, mainly because I have been busier than an ice cream man on a hot summer's day. But that's a different blog post...maybe;)

On our last day in Chicago, we (all four of us this time) grabbed a bus and headed to the Museum of Science and Industry. We had not been able to see this on our previous trip in Chicago and had heard it was definitely the place to visit. We were particularly interested in seeing the Harry Potter exhibit.

We left our room at about 9 and ate at Houlihan's for the breakfast buffet. Awesome omelets. By 10, we were on the bus. Unfortunately, our bus had a technical difficulty on the way there (some access panel on the side hadn't been locked down, so it was popped out and posed a hazard to driving. We had to wait about 30 minutes for a supervisor to come and lock the panel so we could continue on our way. At least it gave us a chance to chat with other passengers!

We decided to see Wild Oceans, the Omnimax presentation and got tickets for the Harry Potter exhibit. Now, let me tell you, we love Harry Potter, but we were not happy when we found out that the cost of the tickets just for that exhibit were between 15 and 18 dollars each! You already pay about 20.00 for entry to the museum, and then they have several other exhibits where you have to pay extra to see them (for instance, seeing inside of the U-505 or visiting the Smart House). But all complaining aside, we really enjoyed our visit and wished we could have stayed longer, but I developed a migraine headache in the afternoon and we had to go.

Well, today we slept in a little, then we headed out at about 11:00. First we ate lunch at McDonald's, then we headed for the subway/El. It was our first time ever riding it and we were excited and nervous.

After about an hour which included figuring out how to get our passes for the subway and the ride, we arrived at our transfer point - the Rosemont Station. Then we got on a bus and headed to Woodfield Mall. And lastly, we took a trolley and were delivered to the front door of LegoLand Chicago Discovery Center.

It was really cool and you see photos of the amazing sculptures we found there by visiting my flickr page.

We saw a miniature Chicago made with Legos:

We rode through a medieval castle in a dragon car:

Yesterday we went to visit Shedd Aquarium...in the rain. Yep, we have hit some major rain here in Chicago. In fact, looks like it will be raining again today...

But, since we drove and have the Xterra, we are prepared. I have rain ponchos stored in the back! After breakfast, we found our bus stop and headed to the Museum Campus. We were delighted to be riding on a Clean Air Hybrid Bus which was recently purchased by the city of Chicago with stimulus funds...our tax dollars at work! It should make a huge difference in the air quality here in Chicago as well.

We spent the day at the Shedd Aquarium enjoying the sights of the lovely fish.

It's always fun to see the videos and get moment by moment action...so here are three from yesterday! Enjoy!

Well, we left Virginia yesterday before 8 a.m. We had a pretty uneventful drive. I drove in the morning and Daniel drove in the afternoon and evening. A highlight of the day was we took an exit looking for a promised BP station. We never did find the BP station, but we drove through a beautiful section of Kentucky and saw some amazing homes and beautiful horses. I don't believe I have ever seen such magnificent homes outside of Newport, Rhode Island.

We stopped in Indiana so Daniel could get a haircut (didn't want him looking shaggy for the conference) and we had dinner. We later stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and I tell you that staying there is a great deal for the money. Free internet. Free breakfast. Clean and comfy rooms.

Today we drove the rest of the way into Chicago. I was thinking about driving us around here for the places we are to visit. The drive in was enough to convince me to forget it. I am not qualified for city driving! After we got settled in, we are staying at the Hyatt Regency where the conference is, Daniel went to the conference, and we walked a bit south for a McDonald's (and found a food court). After lunch, the kids and I walked North up Michigan Avenue (also called the Mile with tons of great places to shop). We were headed to the Hancock Tower and saw many strange and wonderful things along the way.

I believe I enjoyed our time at the top of the Hancock building more than the Sears Tower last year. We enjoyed a complimentary cup of coffee (courtesy of our Chicago Passes) and we bought a couple of items in the gift shop and just really enjoyed learning about Chicago. We were up there for about 90 minutes, or maybe 2 hours, I wasn't really keeping track. It wasn't very crowded and the audio tour was awesome! I chose to listen to the kids version because kids' tours always give the best information.

While at the top of the Hancock Tower, we enjoyed looking at the beautiful Lake Michigan and it was neat how small Navy Pier looked from our vantage point.

Off to the left of Navy Pier and the filtration area, there was this roundish looking building. I wanted to know what it was, but it wasn't mentioned on the tour. I zoomed as much as I could, but couldn't really get a good picture. It looked to me like a Merry Go Round out in the middle of the lake (Katrina thought the same thing, separately from me). Finally I went up to the desk to ask because I just had to know...

It is a pumping station that goes with the water filtration area. It pumps water out of the lake for the people of Chicago to drink. I like my idea better. Wouldn't it be cool to have a Merry-Go-Round in the middle of the lake that you could only get to by boat???

As we were getting ready to leave, I couldn't find Katrina (this is a frequent happening) and I about had a heart attack when I did find her...

She kept pointing that it was a long way down as she worked hard to clean those windows!

We left there and stopped in Borders (it is the first time I have been in a Borders and I was really amazed!!!!!). We picked up the newest Daniel X book, then headed to Hershey's. Well, we had to go after we ran into the Kiss out on the Mile. Then we headed to the Chicago Tribune building.

We had learned while on our tour that reporters used to bring back pieces of places they had visited (i.e. a piece of the Great Wall of China, a piece of the Forbidden Temple in China, a piece of the Berlin Wall...). And these pieces are embedded in the outside of the building. It was really cool!

So, now we are back in the room and it is dinner time. More later...I have some videos to share too:)

The last week has flown by.

My 43rd birthday was last Friday. My hubby and children sang Happy Birthday to You at midnight while we were driving from Illinois to Virginia. I slept for a couple of hours that morning, but there were birthday calls to attend to and I have a hard time sleeping during the day. So I opened loads of lovely cards that had come in the mail, enjoyed reading birthday messages on Facebook, and began the unpacking process. Katrina and I got most of the stuff unloaded from the truck, but the lock on the u-haul had become jammed during the drive here. We ended up having to get bolt cutters to deal with that particular situation.

Jack and Katrina each had a gift for me that they had sneakily won at the fair. Jack presented me with a Wonder Woman doll and Katrina gave me a cute stuffed bunny and dog. Katrina also presented me with breakfast in bed and made some toll house cookies and put a candle in one for my birthday.

Friday night, we were in bed pretty early...all tuckered out!

Saturday was movie watching day. We began watching the miniseries Taken. This is the Spielberg extravaganza from about 7 years ago. I didn't get to watch all of it when it first came out because I was too dang busy with a 6 year old and a 2 year old. So, we bought it on disk and started watching. There are 10 2-hour episodes. We finally finished watching it today. I found it very intriguing but the ending left me unsatisfied. I wanted answers. Ironically the point of the whole thing was that we are all searching for answers and that is part of life.

Sunday, we attended church in the morning, did some unpacking in the afternoon, then headed to Roanoke to meet Bruce, Ryan, Charles and Joann. Daniel took us all to the Outback Steak House in honor of my birthday. It was most yummy and Bruce gave me the beginnings of a trollbead bracelet. I hadn't heard of troll beads, but Bruce said they are the big thing in jewelry right now. If you haven't heard from them, think a new take on charm bracelets. I like these a little better though as the charms don't hang down and get caught on things. He bought me a bracelet and a two beads - one a blue bead with a gold stripe in it and the other is a lion (I am a Leo). I spent about an hour yesterday perusing their site and making a wish list of the other beads I would like to have. The guys are happy to have this help when it come to gift time!)

After we ate dinner, Charles told me he wanted to take me to see a movie on Friday and we would talk later in the week about it.

We spent yesterday morning doing school work. Then in the afternoon we went to Fairview Family Aquatic Center. This is a water park in Normal, IL. Unfortunately, they are in the midst of remodeling so the two giant water slides had been dismantled in preparation to be replaced. But the children still had a lovely time. There were slides, a diving board, two lap swimming lanes, and a zero depth pool with tons of fun children amusements. The kids liked the water slides and the diving board the best. And while there Jack taught himself how to dive. I got that on video and when I can figure out how to put it on you tube, I'll share the link.

Jack said this water slide was best
Katrina agreed.
Katrina made friends and they spent a bit of time playing with a water toy that enabled them to first stop, then pour a bunch of water onto the person waiting below. Katrina liked it when it was her turn to get water poured on her.

Monday, July 20th, we were up at 5:30 a.m. We got ready to go and left Virginia around 6:30. Before we left, Daniel told me to drive safely...and what did I do, when backing out of the drive way, I backed into his car and knocked out his parking light (good thing I wasn't going fast)...geez!!!! I almost decided to stay at home at that point as it didn't seem like a good start to me.

As we headed towards Roanoke, I was dismayed to see ominous skies up ahead. By the time we reached Roanoke, we were in the midst of a good old-fashioned gullywasher during rush hour traffic. The rain was pouring down and up (the roads were flooded in places and when we drove through the enormous puddles, the rain came up as well as down). Had the windshield wipers on full blast and everyone was going 10-20 mph under the normal speed limit. Boy, was I glad when we drove out of that...and I was still debating the wisdom of this trip.

The rest of the drive was beautiful. We drove across West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and into Illinois without incident. We stopped every couple of hours either to eat or get gasoline or just to stretch our legs. We arrived in Bloomington at 9:30 EST. We got unloaded and of course Jack was busy trying to get his piece of home here...computer on, XBox working....you know the important things!

On July 19th, 2009, we had an amazing day of sadness and joy. Our pastor, who has pastored our church for 18 years, was giving his last sermon at our church. Pastor Tim also teaches my Sunday School class. We were able to get through the class without anyone being sad.

The service however, was a bit more difficult. Deanna presented Pastor Tim with a plaque for 18 years of service and they were both a bit wet-eyed. Then our choir director had handed out the words to the song Friends by Michael W. Smith.

The congregation sang this song for Pastor Tim and his wife Ruby while different members took the opportunity to walk up to them and give them a hug. This was a very teary and special moment.

After Tim's sermon (1 Corinthians 13) which was full of our love for one another and reminiscences, we had a baptism. There were 5 children baptized. One young man, had been baptized when he was younger, but he told Tim that he didn't really feel like he knew what he was doing at the time and he wanted to be baptized again. The other four children, including Jack, had at some point or another asked Jesus into their hearts, but for one reason or another had not gotten baptized yet.

Jack receives his bible and certificate.
Jack gets baptized.

After the service, we had a farewell meal for Ruby and Tim. They will be sorely missed. We are all looking forward to seeing what God has in store next for us and for them.

Well, another busy week has come and gone. The fence work has been going along (slower than I thought it would be, they have completed one of the four sides). Two of the sides are going to be chain link and they say those will go up in about a day. But the vinyl part of the fence is very complex. They spent all week this week working on it and setting up the posts for the chain link fence. I am ready for the puppies to go outside. Our house just isn't big enough for the two of them and I am very tired of cleaning up puppy messes.

But we have had a little fun this week. Yesterday, I took the kids to FunQuest for a homeschool skate. I really appreciated the fact that they are reaching out to homeschoolers and are trying to set up a reasonably priced fun time for the children. Jack and Katrina had fun skating, playing laser tag, and Katrina spent some time in the big playplace.

We had a wonderful time trick or treating last night. The kids got their costumes together and I took pictures as we were leaving so they would be looking their best:

First we went to the town of Bedford for Spooktacular. Something I have read about every year, but we have not gone. It is a program put on by our county parks and recreation department. There were several games for the children to play (free of charge) and depending on how well they did at the game, they would get a prize that matched their skill. Katrina's best gift was a cute stuffed bat. Jack's best gift was a pumpkin faced yo-yo. They also won lots of candy and had fun just playing the games. We were there about 45 minutes.

It was still early to trick or treat so I suprised the kids with dinner at Burger King. Then we headed over to drop in on some friends of ours to show off the kids costumes before we started walking through the streets of Bedford. Every year we trick or treat somewhere different. Living out in a rural area, it is hard to trick or treat nearby.

We walked about 3 miles in a 2 hour time period. The kids got lots of yummy candy. The thing I liked about trick or treating in Bedford were the great decorations. People there really went all out and made some beautiful displays! The other thing I really enjoyed about our evening was the great costumes and seeing so many adults joining in the fun. If we go back to Bedford next year, I will be in costume too.

I took a bunch of pictures. If you would like to see more of the kids and our Halloween fun, go check it out at
Flickr.

We got home about 8:45. The kids looked through their goodies and by the time we got to turn in, it was around 11. We had a 7 am wake up call (and I was tuckered out from all that walking, plus three wake up calls in the night from Ginger).

So come back tomorrow and I'll fill you in on what we did today:)

Today, families from my homeschool group went on a field trip to the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg. My kids and I have visited this site many times and learned a lot at the variety of tours we have signed up for. Today we were very excited about the opportunity to picnic in the autumn weather, swing on the swing that hangs from the pecan tree and learn more about the cemetery.

In years past, we have learned about composting, pond life, the railroad station, the pestilence house, bats, tombstone rubbings, the Confederate Cemetery, and some of the historical markers. Today we were supposed to learn about the trees in the cemetery and some African American history.

The kids and I packed lunches, packed up for the afternoon (the children had group piano lessons after the field trip). It was overcast and cool, but we were expecting the temperatures to reach 55 and for it to be sunny without precipitation.

Last Christmas, my husband surprised us with Guitar Hero. I tried it a couple of times, but just didn't get it. The kids and Daniel enjoyed it though and played it from time to time.

Well, last night, Daniel surprised us with Rock Band 2. We like to sing Karoake as a family, but it can get a little old, so Daniel thought this would be a great way to spiff up our fun family time. Of course, my first concern was...where the heck is this stuff going to sit when not in use...we literally have no room for it. My second thought was...oh geez...I couldn't play the guitar in guitar hero, how will I ever manage this....

I have to tell you that after about 4 hours of singing and playing last night, I love this game! We had so much fun!!!!!! My favorites were playing the bass guitar and singing. I am awful at the drums. Jack and Daniel and Katrina are great with everything...I think it is because of their piano training.

I am already thinking how much fun it is going to be to play this at Thanksgiving when all of our family is here! Still don't know where I am putting the band stuff when not in use...perhaps it is time to try hanging stuff from the ceiling!

On Wednesday, we visited Liberty Lake Park in Bedford. We have been trying to get there once a week as a homeschool function, but we have had a hard time getting others to come. Not sure if it is the day or if everyone just has so much to do, they just don't need or want to do a 'park day'. Anyway...this past Wednesday, we met a new family. The oldest daughter, Melinda, had been exploring with her magnifying glass and the sun. Pretty soon, Melinda, Rebecca, Jack and Katrina were busy setting small fires.

They were not content though just to try to burn leaves and nuts, they got creative too and now I have some fun Halloween decorations!

A couple of days ago, Jack found the Lego website. He has actually been there before and ever since we bought our first Legos about 11 years ago, he has been getting Lego magazine in the mail. But for whatever reason, he got to really exploring the website this week.

And there is a lot to explore. There are games. There are movies. You can sign up for the newsletter. There is a gallery where you can see other fantastic creations and submit your own for others to see.

The thing that I think is the coolest is the Lego Factory. Go to main page, click on 'play' button, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on 'factory' button. In the Lego Factory, you can download a program onto your computer. Then you can go in and make your own Lego creations on the screen. And you can save them. And the really, really cool part is after your child designs something, it is possible to buy the Lego bricks to make their creation at home. I just think that is sooooo cool.

And being able to make creations on the computer has other added advantages. No more trying to pull the bricks apart with your teeth (not advised if you wear braces). No more stepping on stray legos on the floor. And if you are in the middle of a project, no more having your mom tell you that it has to be put away because there is simply no room for it in the house!

I just went and played one of the games...let me tell you, it was fun! So if you and your children haven't been there to check out the website, I suggest you go check it out. I think you will have fun (you might want to check it out first and you know....test it some...before telling the kids about it... after all you want to make sure that it's a good site for them, you shouldn't just take my word for it!) Happy Legoing!

Because I know the inquiring minds of my readers like knowing what I am up to (and believe me,
I have been busy, busy, busy and more news about that will be following in the days and weeks ahead). But last week, one thing on the agenda was to take Jack to have his braces put on.

Well, here are a couple of before photos...

Back in the late 1970s, a friend and co-worker of my fathers purchased land in northern Bedford County. At first he went in on the property with another gentleman, but eventually, Bob Donovan purchased the complete property for a total of 51 acres backed up to National Forest.

Bob and Dad frequently went hunting together and Bob and his family enjoyed times spent at the cabin. Bob was eventually transferred first to Ohio, then to Canada and then to ABB in Connecticut. In 1994 he was named President of ABB. During this time, Bob still found time to come back and visit his land in Sedalia to hunt. Sometimes alone, sometimes with his family, because even though he left the area, that land meant a lot to him.

Pictures are truly worth a thousand words, aren't they?