Field Museum

For quite a while now Cole has been asking to visit the Field Museum to see the Dinosaurs. We finally made it this Spring and we had a lot of fun. Cole was too busy to look at the camera most of the time, so I guess thats a good sign. We started in an underground exhibit where you pretend to shrink down to a size smaller than a bug and walk through an underground world. Cole was fascinated, and a little creeped out, but he has been talking about it for weeks now. This is him checking out a moving spider in the corner and getting brave enough to touch the giant earthworm.

One excited boy seeing "Sue" the T-Rex for the first time (as least that he remembers, we came last winter as well.)

Cole accidentally saw a news clip on TV one night right after the earthquake in Japan. The next morning while I showered he created this. He used an airport, lots of trucks and cars, all his dinosaurs, and his wooden blocks. He told me this was the "saddness" he had seen on the TV. Then he used some of his dump trucks and superheros to try and save the animals and people that were stuck in the saddness. It was really touching, and interesting to watch.

Highlights- football and waterpark

The Bears had a great run, for their last game and chance at the Superbowl Cole and Brian had a little party picnic in the basement for the game with special ball game snacks.

Waterslide fun, Cole loved being able to do a lot of the slides independently.

This is nothing compared to me today, but this is what I looked like right before New Years. I was maybe 19 or 20 weeks along at this time.

Winter Highlights

Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier. The decorations were really impresive and Cole had a great time trying out all the rides with his buddy Evan, and Evan's sister Sophie.

First "rollercoaster", carnival ride. Other children were crying, he had the biggest smile on his face. I think he has the "need for speed."

A carnival ride that would pull them up and then drop them down

Happen to see good buddies Patrick and Lucy at the arrival of Santa in Downtown Oak Park.

Hi all, I have not been too active on the blog this winter but thought I would do a few posts with some highlights from favorites events this winter. Enjoy

Blizzard 2011

Chicagoland area got around 18 inches (some less, some more) overnight. Needless to say, there was no school, no activities, no museums open, etc. Most people did not work. The Deloitte audit team, with their grand committment to deadlines forged ahead even through the snow. As a result, Cole and I had a fun snow day at home alone. Here are some pics of Cole having fun in all this snow.

For me it reminded me of winters growing up in Virginia. Its seems like about every other year we got a big snow like this, it would usually keep us out of school for at least a week because of all the country roads. We would dig tunnels through the drifts and make igloos and snow forts. We didn't get that far today, but sledding off our neighbors front steps and climbing on the drifts was fun enough for this 3 year old!

Other Christmas time activities

We were able to participate in a lot of fun Holiday activities this year, especially since I was finally feeling much better. As I mentioned before this was our first year cutting down our own tree as a family. We really enjoyed the experience and hope to do it again. Later on Cole helped us start to decorate. We had a little bit of an ordeal with our lights not working this year, but none the less enjoyed getting the house ready for the holidays.

We also went to Cole's favorite ice cream shop and had Sundaes with Santa. Here it shows Cole with a group of some of his good girlfriends who were all dressed up for the occasion. The kids got to make their own ornament, make a sundae, and visit with Santa. It was a lot of fun for all of us.

Christmas Morning

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, and yes St. Nick came. Cole had a great Christmas morning, filled with gifts and family fun. He had asked Santa for a remote control car and a Grinch for Christmas, he was lucky and got both. The day also involved our special Christmas breakfast, some sledding in the afternoon, and some good board game playing later on. All in all a great day.

Embracing Winter Activities

As an adult I have never been a huge fan of winter, outside of having a white Christmas. But the longer I live in the midwest, the more I have learned to brave our winters, and embrace some of the fun activities it can bring. This year we have done two firsts (in Chicago) already. Cole has been ice skating now at our local rink and just loved it. Although he did not stand on his own at all, he has now had one group lesson and was on his feet and pushing that walker independently for most of the time. I'm looking foward to when we can skate downtown in Millenium Park together, maybe next year.

Second, we drove out to a tree farm and cut down our own tree. It was a beautiful day, right after the snow, and very cold. We bundled up and had a nice time meeting the tractor driving Santa, seeing a donkey, and using a real saw to get our tree. So far embracing winter is going pretty well!

Buzz Lightyear

Here is our little Space Ranger trick or treating all over the neighborhood. He also loved helping give out candy to our over 600 trick or treat visitors!