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.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Road Trip!
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.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
One more for today
Yesterday, Jake brought this home with his school work. When I asked him what he was doing in this picture, he got a little embarrassed and then said, "Pie. I'm giving him a pie."
More March
Well, the month is almost over and it's been another busy one! Between birthday parties, scout activities, sports practice and church commitments, the Collings' have a month of overload! This pic is of Megan and her friend, Rita selling girl scout cookies at Happy Foods on March 9. That same day, the scouts had a pizza party at Lou Malnati's - hosted by a dad of one of our scouts.
Miscellaneous school activities seem to creep into our schedule as well. This is a leprechaun trap that Jake and I put together on the 12th.
We went to the Brady's St. Paddy's day party on the 16th and the girls found make up and perfume. Yikes.
Megan has really been enjoying gymnastics at the Park District. She had her "End of Session" show on March 18. I didn't get any photos at the show because I was capturing it on video (Darin didn't make it home from Kansas City in time to catch the show), but I did snap a photo of her cartwheeling through the family room. This happens to be her current form of transportation - seriously. There is no more regular walking. If there is space available, cartwheels are the way to go.
Megan also joined track this year. Her first practice was on the 14th. They practice 3x week for an hour and a half. I'd say they're getting in some good training. I got recruited to help coach since I happen to be a runner. This photo is from one of our Indian Runs - known to the kids as "Bozos", which is probably more PC.
Since I happen to be a little heavy on the Megan updates in this post, I have to add a little something about Jake. This kid really says the funniest stuff. When he was going to bed the other night, we were talking about magic and how TV can make something look real. He said "How do dragons breathe fire?" And, before Darin or I could answer, he said, "I know......green screen". Seriously where does he get this stuff? He also doesn't refer to someone as "overweight". His term is "out of weight". As in, "Wow, that girl is really out of weight".
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
SNOW DAY!
Yesterday we got an automated call from school at 6:00am stating that school would be closed. Funny, because it hadn't even started snowing at that point. The kids could not have been happier! It was like Christmas morning when they got up and we told them. We got an invite from the Marinos to go sledding at Devon & Milwaukee and when we got there, there were lots of other kids from QAS. There was also a nice layer of ice under the fresh snow, which made the sledding nice and fast. The kids had a great time.
And, what a bonus to have the hill be filled with all of their school friends!
Monday, March 4, 2013
More skiing and other stuff
We went back to the Grand Geneva for more skiing on the 16th. This time, Darin and I also got lift tickets so that we could get them up the hill. They warmed up on the bunny hill and then Jake was the first one to brave the lift.
Megan saw that he made it up and down without incident and decided that she would give it a go as well. Although, she decided it would probably be safest to go with Dad.
Pretty soon, they handled the lift like little pros. At one point, Megan even did it by herself! Here are some top of the hill photos:
We got there at about 10:00am and other than a break for lunch and cocoa, they stayed out there until 5:00! We drove home to Chicago that same day because I had an RCIA obligation. I went to the Holy Name Cathedral on Sunday for the Rite of Election. That is a pretty impressive building.
There was no school on Monday due to President's Day, so we ended up at the mall. Megan got her ears pierced (this wasn't planned).
Since it hurt, we got her a Shamrock Shake to help ease the pain afterward!
The following weekend, we had a guest. Jake's class bear (Brynn Bear) joined us for the weekend. We were supposed to take photos of our activities with the bear throughout the weekend and then Jake put them into the class journal and wrote about their adventures. He started out with the two of them making a little music.
Then we went for a hike on the Forest Preserve trails.
After that, we loaded up the car and headed back to Wisconsin for more skiing! We got out on the hill at around the same 10:00 hour. We brought Brynn Bear up in a backpack so that we could get a skiing photo.
Here's Jake at the top.
I was able to get a family photo before the boys called it a day.
For some reason, Jake was a little tired so he watched Harry Potter in the car while Megan and I stayed out there for the afternoon. Darin came out to snap a few photos.
Megan had a blast. It was actually a little tough to get her out of there, but Jake and Darin had already been done for almost two hours. I think she would have kept on going if I had let her! I don't think she realized how much energy she used out there because she ate like a champ once we got off the hill and got dinner!!
It was a great end to the month!
