We're Back!

We actually got back late Monday afternoon but it has taken me this long to settle in. We had a great time in the Dells and the house was fantastic! We got there Friday afternoon and after checking in we headed off to find the house. It took us a while to find because it was really far out and we weren't sure of where we were going but eventually we got there. As the men unloaded the cars and the women assigned rooms the kids (all 9 of them) were going insane running from floor to floor (there were 3 floors) and room to room checking everything out. We ended up going to dinner after settling in and then the women and children headed back to the house while the men went to Super-Walmart to stock up on food. By the time the guys made it back it was time for bed so off the kids went and most of the parents ended up falling asleep with the kids so it was an early night for all.

Saturday morning we were all up early and ready to head to the water parks. We went to the first water park and for some reason, my kids hated it. They did not want to be there and whined and complained the whole time that we were there. We took them on the lazy river which they didn't seem to mind but they refused to go anywhere else. Luckily we had found some tables so we ended up hanging out there and having some snacks and eventually having lunch. After lunch Bill and I packed up our kids and headed to the second water park (the one that everyone liked best last year) and the kids liked that one much better. They had a blast going in the wave pool and splashing in the water. Hannah liked the smaller water slides and Alexander liked the Tot area and the little slide. After leaving the water park we hung out at the house and barbecued burgers and hot dogs for dinner. The kids spent the rest of the running around and watching movies in the screening room.

Sunday morning after breakfast we decided to take the kids sledding. The resort offers tubing, which we did last year and it was nice but it was also kind of crowded and a pain in the butt if you had little kids because you have to pull them up the hill and then chase them back down the hill in order for you to be there for them at the bottom. I did this last year with Hannah (Alexander was too little to go) and I refused to do it again this year. Luckily our house was just off the golf course and we were surrounded be hills so we just took the kids out behind the house to our own private sledding hill. Everyone was having fun - except for Alexander. The boy just doesn't really like snow. He'll play in it for a little while but then he wants nothing to do with it. Fortunately one of the other smaller girls was done too so the two of them went in and hung out with Willie while the rest of us finished sledding. It was lots of fun and we even got to see a family of deer wandering around looking for food on the other side of the clearing. Unfortunately I was not fast enough with our camera so I missed them.

Here is the hill that we were on - it was pretty high!

Hannah flying solo

Bill waiting for his turn

Alexander's Snowball

Some of the girls decided to make a snowman - I think it turned out pretty good!

After about and hour and a half we all headed in, had some lunch and headed back to the last water park after the smaller kids had their nap. I didn't know how my kids were going to like this water park because it's basically a giant wave pool with a tiny kids area on the side and one big water slide (I think but I've never been on that water slide so I'm not sure). We were lucky enough to snag a table and then into the water we went and the kids loved it!! I don't think I saw them this wet all weekend!

Alexander after jumping in the waves

Posing for Mommy

Having a great time

Coming down the slide

There is a huge play area/jungle gym and arcade in the hotel so after dinner and showers we took most of the kids there. I think that this was the worst part of the whole weekend. It's a very crowded area and it is very warm. I don't really like this area because it's always a madhouse and because there are multiple exits on the jungle gym thing and you never know where your kid is going to come out of. We've worked out a system with the kids that works pretty well but it's still not my favorite place. Alexander didn't like the play area so he and I went into the arcade part which was even worse then the play area. It was so congested in there and twice as hot as the rest of the place that it was hard to keep an eye on a little person even when I was right behind him! I was glad to leave when we did.

After putting the kids to bed that night we finally had some adult time. It was the first night that ALL of the adults stayed up instead of falling asleep while putting the kids to bed. It was also someone's birthday so we felt like we had to stay up and do something. We ended up playing Apples to Apples (which is a word game) - I know we're party animals! Once we got bored with that the birthday boy suggested we play a drinking game that all of us were either too old or too sober (or both) to remember. We finally figured it out and I have to say that we had a good time. Several drinks, some popcorn and some frozen pizzas later I was ready for bed. I'm not sure how long everyone else stayed up but I was done!

Amazingly enough we all felt fine in the morning. I had packed the night before so while everyone else was putting their stuff away I did one final sweep of the house,l packed up some leftover food to take home and was done. We went back to everyone's favorite water park for an hour then went back to the house grabbed our stuff and headed home after stopping for lunch. So our trip was pretty uneventful but it was a great time and I'm looking forward to next year's trip.

Why is Packing Always the Mom's Job?

Tomorrow after Hannah gets out of school we are heading up to the Wisconsin Dells with 3 other families and Willie (who is everyone's favorite "uncle") for the weekend. We went up there at the same time last year and it was a lot of fun. This year we decided to rent a cabin instead of individual rooms so that we could all be together and not have to be crammed into a tiny hotel room. I'm curious to see what this cabin is like because it sounds a lot nicer then my house - I mean it's got a small viewing room for crying out loud!!

I am excited to be getting away for a few days and Hannah can't stop talking about the waterslides. Alexander doesn't really know what we're talking about but he knows that we're going to spend the weekend with "all the kids" and is excited about that. However as happy as I am to be getting away and getting some time to just hangout and relax for a while I have one problem - I HATE PACKING!!! I never know what to bring and I ALWAYS over pack. This past October when we went to Mexico for my SIL wedding I went nuts. Half of the stuff that I brought came back unused which was annoying AND it all had to be rewashed regardless of whether or not it was used because, well because that's just how I am!

So now I'm trying to pack for myself and the kids (I don't pack for Bill, he's a big boy and can pack himself - sort of..) and am slowly driving myself insane. I constantly question myself: Should I bring short sleeve shirts? What if the kids get hot and all I have are long sleeve shirts? How many swim suits should I bring? Do I think we'll need extra pajamas? Should I pack extra sheets (FYI hotel sheets GROSS me out!)? How many pair of shoes do we really need? - the list goes on and on!! I HATE PACKING!!

I can't let Bill pack for us either - we'd have one mismatched outfit, one sock and no underwear or something crazy!! Packing for more then one person requires patience and my sweet, wonderful husband doesn't have a lot of those to spare (Sorry Honey). I wish I could hire someone to come to my house and just pack for me and hand me my suitcase as I'm walking out the door. I am going to hate it whenever we decide to move to a new house, I may have to be sedated!!! Oh well, I guess I should get back to the torture - I mean packing. I'll be back sometime on Monday with plenty of stories to tell I'm sure! Enjoy your weekend!

I am Addicted to Facebook!!!

Saturday night Bill and I went to dinner with my parents and sister. My in-laws were wonderful enough to stay with the kids so that we could have an adult night out which was totally nice of them and for which I am truly greatful.

Anyway, while at dinner the we somehow got on the subject of Facebook. My mom and sister are both members as are Bill and I and we were trying to explain the whole concept to them because they are still pretty new to it and are still trying to figure it out. For those of you who don't know what Facebook is - it's basically a way to waste time all day and it's VERY addicting!! My mom actually scolded me because I have been ignoring my blogging duties and she is one of my (very few) faithful readers - Hi mom!! It didn't really occur to me just how much I am on Facebook until she mentioned that. I mean, I am on ALL the time!!! Today alone I've been to it at least a dozen times and if you think that's bad, Bill has probably been on at least two dozen times - he's much more of a computer junkie then I am (sorry honey!). It's like I have this crazy obsession to send people drinks or throw food at them or check my scrabulous games - it's INSANE! I think I'm going to try to cut down of my Facebook time.

I wonder if there's a self help group for this? Maybe I'll start one... Anyone interested in joining Facebookers Anonymous?

I Just Wanted to Say...

I have a Million Things to do and I'm on the Computer!

Like it says above, I've got tons of stuff to do. I've got to finish making treat bags for the kids to take to school tomorrow, help Hannah finish writing out her valentine cards, bake cupcakes for Hannah's class because she has snack day tomorrow, bake cookies for Alexander's class because I volunteered to make cookies for his valentine's day party before I knew that I was going to have to make 25 cupcakes for Hannah, decorate said cupcakes and cookies (and heaven forbid they don't have frosting AND sprinkles!), attempt to finish the laundry, straighten up the house (which is a never ending chore!) and figure out how to thaw a half thawed pot roast in time to put it in the oven at 3:00pm. I'm sure that there are lots of things that I'm supposed to be doing that I'm forgetting about too! And yet despite everything I have to do I am sitting at the computer wasting time.

Sometimes my mad time management skills just amaze me!

Our First Trip to the Field Museum

Bill took the day off of work this past Monday to nurse his Superbowl hangover but he didn't overdo it and felt fine enough for us to take the kids to the Field Museum instead. We had a great time and had the museum practically to ourselves - there were times that we were the only ones in the exhibits!

Hannah had a hard time understanding that the things that we were seeing were once alive but now dead so she was a little scared a few times while we were wandering around. She did NOT want to go into the pyramid because she thought that the mummies were going to come alive and chase her (like on t.v.). After we convinced her that mummies really don't come back to life after they're dead she was fine - at least until we went to the underground adventure. UA is a temporary exhibit that gives you a view of life under the soil if you were the size of a bug. It was cool in a creepy sort of way, but again Hannah was scared. The exhibit pretends to shrink you using mirrors and cameras and she hated the idea. She wanted out of there in the worst way until we explained that it was just pretend and that we were just imagining that we had shrunk. She eventually found a touch screen computer and she was good to go. The girl LOVES computers. After the computer she was more agreeable and was even willing to touch a few things.

Our next stop was the Evolving Planet Exhibit which both kids loved. it was full of Dinosaur facts and fossil and loads and loads of dino skeletons. Hannah knew most of the dinosaurs' names, which I was surprised at and Alexander just liked looking at the pictures and pushing the buttons to hear the dinosaurs' latin names. I swear he must have hit the Triceratops button about a dozen times!

The kids sitting on a dinosaur bone

Alexander in a dinosaur footprint

Hannah in the same footprint

After lunch we headed over to the Crown Family Playlab. We had been there earlier in the afternoon and Hannah had made a painting of a frog in the art room that she wanted to pick up before we left. I think that this was their favorite place in the whole museum. They got to run around and play in the different areas and mom and dad got to sit and rest! Hannah dressed up as different animals and jumped around the pretend forest and Alexander found some buttons to push - again! Then we headed into the music room and they banged on the drums like there was no tomorrow. There were buttons to push on the walls to hear samples of different types of music from different countries and they really enjoyed those. I think their favorite one was from Chile. Finally the kids moved over to play in the pueblo where they got to harvest corn and "make" pottery.

Hannah the turtle

My corn pickin' boy


Jammin' on the drum


Drum solo

We were a little bummed because the Scientists' lab was closed but we had such a good time we figured that the kids could see it the next time we visit.

Free Fun and Learning!!

Hey Everyone! I just found out that Chicago's Field Museum is offering FREE general admission for the entire month of February!! Normally general admission is $12 for adults and $7 for kids (ages 4-11) so I think that this is a great deal. Of course, this doesn't include parking or admission to the temporary exhibits (those are still extra) but it does give you access to the new Crown Family Playlab which sounds like lots of fun. I hope that you all take advantage of this - I know that we will!