The Windy City (Chicago)...Day One!

We decided to take a different trip of sorts to end our summer this year.

The boys had never been to Chicago and it had been twenty years (my senior trip) since I had been.

Our first stop was LegoLand Discovery Center in Schaumberg, IL.

This giraffe out front is made ENTIRELY of Legos...as is everything else in the center!

We HAD to get a snapshot of our favorite friend from Bikini Bottom...SpongeBob Squarepants.

The entire downtown area of Chicago...true to life...made up entirely of Legos!

You can see part of Navy Pier in this shot...

It lights up...

...and has moving parts...

...and the lights cause it to change from day to night...neat effects!

Next came "Jungle Expedition"!

The photo of this tiger doesn't even do it justice.  He was bigger than me, and so realistic.

The monkeys, frogs, and lizards...several of the monkeys actually swung from tree branches!

Loved this snake...I don't know how many feet long he was...this was only the front section of him.

Ev and the parrots...

We loved this little cub laying belly up playing with the dragonfly!

Me and my buddy Indiana Jones...oh and that's Ev and Nate in there too, LOL!

This 'gator was HUGE!

This spider was amazing.  A friend of mine asked if there was a giant newspaper next to it to squash it!  I told her there was a giant Lego foot to stomp it...just kidding. ;)

The ultimate...the one and only...what we'd all been waiting for...

STAR WARS!!!

Who's that peeking outta that lion's mouth?

Is that Nate?

Howdy Ev!

This was the "Dragon Ride" we went on.  I LOVED these Lego bats hanging from the ceiling!

Check out the Lego skeletons!

Besides the giraffe out front of the store...I think this dragon was the next biggest thing they had. 

Amazing.

Lego Batman!

Ev and me.

Natee going on one of the rides.

Check out this fella!

Lego Obama!

After we finished our tour at LegoLand, we stopped off for some lunch at Meatheads...a yummy burger joint next door.

We then checked into Hotel 71 right downtown...which is lovely by the way.  We unpacked, relaxed, and freshened up.  We ate dinner at a yummy place called Emerald Loop.  We got a complimentary coupon for a free appetizer from our hotel to use there...so we started off with some nachos.  Evan and I had baked french onion soup for our dinner, Nate had baked mac & cheese, and Jam had a giant burger.  We decided to go for an evening walk after dinner.

This was a lovely fountain down by the water way.

"Chicago Remembers"

It was such a neat experience seeing downtown and all the buildings lit up.  We loved walking by the water and seeing the fountains and such.

Isn't this gorgeous?

This photo didn't turn out as good as I'd hoped...this building looks rather eerie at night when lit up.  Thought it was kinda cool.

What a great first day/night.  We came back to the hotel and crashed.

This is the view from our window on the 36th floor during the day...

More tomorrow!  Stay tuned!

A new bag...

So I went grocery shopping the other day...

And ended up with a new bag, LOL!

The best part of it was...

It was regular $30.00...and I got it for $7.00!!!

I had been looking for a huge bag to put what "little" I carry...

But more than anything...

To put all the "junk" my three guys always want me to tote around in my purse.

So with over SEVEN compartments...nearly a "filing system"...I think we'll have more than enough room for everything.  This purse is SOOOOO huge and has SOOOOOO many compartments, that I couldn't even FIND the few things that I put inside of it!

My stuff was literally lost.

Jamie said to me, "Ya know, you should only use the few pockets and compartments you really need.  It's kinda like a mansion...no sense putting a few things in every room 'cause you'll never find them and you're just gonna have to clean it ALL."

Makes sense I guess.

I did tell them though...just because I now have a bag "BIG ENOUGH" for all you guys' junk...doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to always CARRY your junk!  This purse, without anything in it, IS HEAVY!!!  LOL!

Shopping with boys is so much fun...NOT.

Ok, so shopping for shoes and clothes with two boys is not the most fun thing in the world to do.  Change your shopping excursion to video games and BINGO!  Let's go have some fun!  Woohoo!
But none the less, I can't complain too much.  They were sooooooo patient today, because this really was a SLOW, AWFUL shopping trip.  No selection in styles, sizes, etc.  Very limited.
We started at JC Penney and FINALLY found Ev a pair of shoes.  But NOTHING for Nate.
Nate's at a tricky size.  Size 6-6.5 in childrens or a size 7 in mens.  And the selection was NADA at JC Penney and Kohl's for him.  We finally wandered over to Shoe Carnival...but we've never really had much luck there in all the years we've lived here.  But to our surprise they had a Buy 1 Get 1 Half Off Sale going on.  An elderly gentleman who worked there came over to help us and was SOOOOOO knowledgable about shoes, feet, sizes, styles, etc.  He had a thick accent (though I couldn't tell what it was) and he was SOOOOO sweet and SOOOOOO helpful!  He measured Nate's feet and kept bringing size after size in style after style, helping Nate in and out of shoes.  He was just a sweetheart!  We finally found a nice pair for Nate and the salesman reminded us we could get another pair for half off.  Soooooo...since no one else needed shoes....MOMMY got to get some new shoes!  I had a REALLY hard time finding some, though I don't know why!  I had pick of the litter...yet I felt guilty for spending the money, guilty for taking so much time and making the boys wait, and just nothing was really jumping out at me!  I felt out of touch with shopping too.  I'm not exactly in one of those "mommy slumps"...but I just haven't spent a lot of time shopping for myself in a long time...so it felt weird.  I finally decided on these copper colored faux alligator skin pumps.  Jamie looked at my purse and said, "Look!  They match your bag perfectly!"  Sure enough they did!  They were a bargain too.  Regular $40.00...on sale for $14.98...so I got them for $7.49!!!  Woohoo!  I think they'll look cute with jeans or skirts.  I'm anxious to try them out!  Yay for bargains for mommy!

Shame on me...

“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you”
Friedrich Nietzsche

“Trust is like a vase.. once it's broken, though you can fix it the vase will never be same again.”
Unknown

“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.”
Benjamin Spock

“When mistrust comes in, love goes out.”
Irish Sayings

“Self-trust is the first secret of success”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nater's 10th b-day celebration (early) w/ geeg & papa...

Last Saturday we celebrated Nate's 10th birthday with geeg and papa.

They came over for a day of fun at Craig's Cruisers, dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and icecream birthday cake from DQ.

Here's Natee with his gift from them!

He got a new model...

...and a check for $15.00!!!

No...I didn't make this cake with my newly acquired decorating skills.  Nate doesn't like "real" cake...only icecream cakes for our Natee!  LOL!

Smile birthday boy!

Make a wish!

Say cheese!

Cutie pie!

Blow out those candles!

Here we go!

Nate drove for the first time all by himself!

He's in the lead!

He did so good!

Go Ev Go!

Bumper cars!

What's up with those eyes Natee?  LOL!

Mommy joined in the fun too!