While I was putting Jake to bed the other night, he started talking about his birthday (this is not an unusual topic). Anyway, he said "So, I'm trying to decide if my party should be at Sky High or at home" and he put his hands in front of him like a scale and would raise one up at a time and say, "Sky High....Home". Then he stopped and said, "Wait, which one is the winner - up or down?". I started to explain that heavier was down and before I could get any further he said, "Whatever.....anyway, I'm going to invite so and so and...." (I'm leaving names out to protect the innocent). Then he added, "I'm not sure about xxx because he's pretty crazy". He cut me off when I was going to say something and said, "Wait, I'll see what God tells me to do". He turned around like he was praying, then turned back to me and said, "He's out".
This kid is a trip. It was all I could do to not bust out laughing at that one.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Bedtime Story
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Road Trip!
Well, the Collings crew headed to the Twin Cities for spring break this year. We drove up on Tuesday of break week and returned on Friday evening. We pulled out of our garage at 8:25 on that Tuesday morning. We were just about to get onto I-90 at 8:31 am, when Jake said - and these are his exact words - "Oh, this ride is so long."
About 7 hours later, we pulled into Bloominton, MN where we stayed at the Radisson that was connected to The Waterpark of America.
Our hotel was about a half mile from the Mall of America, so we ended up going there a few times for meals and shopping. They had a fabulous Lego Store.
And, of course the highlight was the purchase of Lego sets.
Megan's highlight was the American Girl Store.
We had lots of fun at the Water Park.
Here are the boys in the lazy river.
I like this one.
The kids called this particular attraction "The Wipe Out" area (like the TV show Wipe Out). They were pretty fast at crossing that thing after a couple of tries.
The had one big Family Water Slide that I went down with the kids while Darin was working one day. It was 10 stories high and it got going pretty fast. Megan liked it and Jake did not. We decided that this image on the wall summed up our family's experience:
And one last shot on our way out:
We were able to see my friends, Kelli & John, and their two kids. They were kind enough to have us over for dinner on Thursday night and then Kelli and the kids met us at the Children's Museum on Friday morning.
Megan found some crutches to play with in the hospital area of the museum.
This particular crane exhibit was pretty cool. Jake was really good at operating it.
When I walked down the stairs of the "Steel Mill" exhibit, this is what I found.
Megan loved this little guy:
One last bubble for the road.
We hit the road right after the museum and were back in Chicago 6 hours later.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Wrapping Up March
The last week of March was pretty full for our family. We were able to get in our egg coloring mid-week. Each kid got a dozen eggs to color. Good stuff. Here's the finished product:
Megan went from cartwheeling all over the house to handstands.
Thursday, the kids had a half day of school and that began their spring break. We went to Lou Malnati's for lunch to kick it off with the O'Donnells and Keanes. Our table was a bit loud.
The girl's side was a bit more subdued.
I was busy with church on Thursday and Friday night. On Saturday, Megan and I hit the nail salon.
Then, that evening at the Easter Vigil, she and I were both welcomed into the Catholic faith. She was pretty excited to make her first Communion. Here's me and Patti (my sponsor):
The picture I had of Megan and I, was really blurry. Bummer!
On Easter Sunday, the Cleavelands hosted dinner. We also celebrated Jenny's birthday.
Jake fell over the back on their couch onto his finger and it swelled up and bruised instantly. (This was after jamming a finger on his other hand at baseball the day before). I think I took this photo the next day:
He still has a bruise by his nail - and it's now over 3 weeks later! Never a dull moment.
