A monumental day: the 30th post. So it wasn’t exactly 30 posts in 30 days, but the main idea behind the project was accomplished – I feel like I’ve gotten more consistent in posting and I’ve done a better job of conveying the everyday moments along with the more glamourous (?) ones.
So this week found us on Spring Break. The weather was beautiful early in the week, so we spent as much time as possible outside. It was a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of the school week, nowhere to be, no lunch to pack. Elena tore through some more Magic Tree House books, and we made a special trip to Jo-Ann’s to get materials we need to learn how to embroider. I’ll let you know how that endeavor goes!
On Thursday we packed everyone up for a 2 day trip to Chicago. One advantage of being here in Indy is that we are only about 3 hours away from the Windy City. On the agenda: the Field Museum, American Girl Place, and Ikea (my personal museum to cheap furniture and Swedish meatballs). As you can see above, we got to see Sue, the world’s largest, most complete T. rex. I’d post a lovely picture of the kids enjoying the museum, but there aren’t any. Not that we weren’t having a lovely time, we just suck at taking pictures while we’re sightseeing.
I took Elena to American Girl Place while Mike drove aimlessly about the city hoping Eli would nap in the car. That place is a freakin’ zoo. We didn’t do any of the special attractions (tea, lunch, show, etc), so we were basically just there to see what it was all about. Once Elena realized we weren’t there to add any more dolls to her collection of one, the aura about the place was kind of gone. She did have her picture taken with her doll, and $22 dollars later we had the photo and the commerative cardboard frame to prove it. Meanwhile, Eli took a 40 minute nap and was ready to hit the town. The plan was to stay with my cousin Robin and his family in nearby Naperville, presumably an hour’s drive (with traffic) from downtown Chicago. Nearly 3 hours later we pulled into their driveway. Thanks to the ordeal Eli now knows of the manna from heaven known as Goldfish.
We spent Friday bopping around a few of the stores I wish we had here – the Container Store, Hanna Andersson, and Ikea. We managed to head back to Indy without having to strap anything to the roof of the car. Eli is a fabulous traveler in the car. He barely sleeps (though I wouldn’t be able to sleep either if the person sitting next to me kept playing "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" nonstop), but he’s pretty jolly about it.
We wrapped up Spring Break with a trip to the movies today to see "Horton Hears a Who." After tomorrow it’s back to the business of school and lessons, and soon soccer. Plus we have the school musical coming up along with Eli’s baptism. We’ll just take a deep breath and enjoy our last day with nothing to do. Hope you have one of those kind of days up your sleeve, too.
