On Fun in the Windy City

Jul 14, 2010 | Illinois, Travel, Uncategorized, United States

Navy Pier 
Last week was spent in the windy city, Chicago!  It ended up being a fantastic summer vacation.  
The natives were complaining about the 87 degree weather and we were in heaven 
coming from over 100’s in Arkansas. 

We watched fireworks from Navy Pier (quite on accident.)  We’d walked down to check out the pier about 3 or 4, and found out when we thought about going back for a nap that the pier was closed to anyone else due to crowd control.  Anyway, we stayed and had a great time people-watching and the fireworks show was nice.  This year the city cut the show to 15 minutes due to budget cuts, I guess in the past it’s been an hour long.

Tips if you go:

  • Buy rail passes for the week at the airport (adults price was around $28, kids over 6 were $20 or so and the youngest was free.)  The O’Hare airport has a train that runs right into it, so you can ride into the city without having to get a cab.  It worked well, we were staying close to Navy Pier, so we had one transfer, but it was fine even with kids and luggage. 
  • Wear good shoes!  (You’ll be doing A LOT of walking!) 
  •  Rent bikes (almost anywhere) and you’ll have a blast.  (There are many bike trails and Chicago has so many beautiful things to see that are easy to get to by bike.  They even have segway and bike tours!) 
  Can you believe this is in the middle of the city?
  • Get a membership to your local museum before you go.  (We do this every year and just on this trip we saved over $200 in entrance fees, I think it was only $75 to join our museum as a family.  We also belong to our local Art Museum and Zoo as a family, and many of those are reciprocal.) 
 Museum of Science & Technology
  • Take lots of pictures! (I have too many, why I haven’t posted sooner.)
  • Make sure you have bathing suits or change of clothes for kids in your bag. (I didn’t on a few occasions and from the number of fountains in Chicago you can imagine…)

  • Scavenger Hunts! (Chicago has a great website for the city with scavenger hunts for various areas.  Lots of fun! Also has calendars with events. 

  • Be prepared to wait for pizza.  (Chicago deep dish takes an hour to bake so you’ll wait two hours for pizza.  You can call ahead to some famous places and they will put your name and what you want down on the list. )

  • Explore!

Reverse Applique T-Shirts

Jul 12, 2010 | Uncategorized

I wanted to get back in on 11th Heaven’s Homemaker Mondays so thought I’d give you 
the “recipe” for these Fourth of July T-shirts I made for the kids…
Kids on Navy Pier for the 4th!

  1. I bought 3 t-shirts at the hobby store for $2 each. 
  2. Looked for a striped or starred t-shirt in my give-aways but didn’t have one, so went to the thrift shop and got a t-shirt with both for $2.

 3.  I printed a star template (just did search for a star image) and printed it out,  then cut them out of  the paper.  I transferred these to some sticky iron-on paper I had, but didn’t iron them on, just used it like a sticker to place them on the shirt.

4.  Turn shirt inside out and position star however you like.  Pin in place.  I kept paper on the star, it was sort of like freezer paper (I’m sure there is a better way but this worked for me on my first try.)

5.  I used a straight stitch to sew them on.  (Be careful on points of stars. Make sure to keep needle in fabric while turning.  I didn’t know this at first and some stars were messy.) Tie off ends of fabric in knots to prevent from coming out. 

6.  Turn shirt right side out and with embroidery or small scissors carefully cut through first layer of fabric so that material on back shows through. 

It was pretty easy, but not I’m not as skilled on my machine as I’d like yet.  I want to keep making some of these to see if I get better!  The test was in the washing, and they did wash well!  YAY!

Writer’s Workshop: My Happy List

Jul 1, 2010 | Uncategorized

*I was going to write a poem, or something deep and meaningful, but this week has been crazy and I wanted to smile! 

10 Things That Put A Smile On My Face When I’m Down

    1. These Silly Faces

    2.   Doggy Hugs & Kisses
    The Muppet Show - Season One (Special Edition)
    4.  Unexpected Beauty
    5.  Good Chocolate
    6.  A Silly Song
    7. Sunsets
    8. A Cheesy Movie
    Enchanted [Blu-ray]
    or 
    Ella Enchanted (Full Screen Edition)
    9.  A Long Walk
     10.  My Best-Friend/Hubby Can Always Make Me Smile!

    Mama's Losin' It

    This week’s assignments are:

    1.) Describe someone in your life who you might not know as well as you think you know.

    2.) Write a poem about a memory you sometimes wish would disappear.

    3.) Write a list of 10 things that are sure to put a smile on your face when you are not happy.

    4.) People would be surprised to learn that…

    5.) A snappy comeback!

    Join in the fun!

    Hot Springing It

    Jun 28, 2010 | Motherhood, Uncategorized

    This weekend my eldest one had to do her SCUBA open water dives for her certification.   The big event was to be held in Lake Ouachita, so we decided to make it a weekend. 
    Me, being a moron when it comes to Arkansas weather (I know, STILL!  It’s only been like 18 yrs since I’ve lived here, right?)  decided we should camp by the lake since “it will be cooler than it is in the city.”  Ahem…
    It was NOT.  It was HOT!  And the “neighbors” in the campsite across from us let their kids stay up SCREAMING in the bathrooms until about 3am, while they drank much liquor and talked very loud.  (Needless to say the next morning we woke up to take E to catch the diveboat and proceeded to take down the tent and I started calling hotels.)


     We rented a party barge for the day and took the boys out for some fun.  Next visit I think we’ll take a boat and camp on the lake edge in the woods. 

    Leaving the Marina
     Swimming with the Fishies
    Jumping Off the Boat!
    We hit the Mid America Museum and the Pirate Cove Mini-Golf (boys’ choices.)  
     Pirate Peg-Leg Just Hanging Out
    Hole in One!

    Eat at J’s Italian Villa if you are there!  FANTASTIC!  Hot Springs is a fun place.  Lots to do for the entire family (museums, hiking, art galleries, hot spring baths, lake, race track…)  

    It’s All In My Head

    Jun 22, 2010 | Uncategorized

    Do you blog in your head? 
    I have been thinking about wonderful posts I’ve written (while picking up kids, shopping for groceries, going to the dentist) that never have materialized into anything other than blips in my brain. 

    Some wonderfully famous things I’ve “written” (in my head):

    • Letters to people who have wronged me or I have wronged (apologizing or forgiving)
    • That lovely self-help book for new moms on things your mom never told you
    • A gardening book (on what not to do)
    • A collection of recipes from my family 
    • The next 3 or 4 Broadway musicals
    • An entire album of folk/bluegrass songs
    • Books on homeschooling fun
    • Some of the most fantastic blog entries (although I can’t remember what even one of them was about.)
    • An entire series of sci-fi novels for young adults
    • A lovely picture book on growing up in the Canal Zone
    • A beautiful operetta for children
    • A ballet or two (entirely choreographed in my head)

    The list is endless…

    My good buddy over at GooseySpot mentions the problem in her blog today that the iPhone has gotten her into- how listening to music has staunched that urge to write a bit.  I can’t blame that one, I don’t know where my headphones are. (Well, they are probably in my daughter’s room at the bottom of some pile.)

    NPR had a guy on the other day discussing how one of the hardest parts of being a parent is getting “out of our heads” and into the moment.  He discussed how God is in the HERE and NOW and how if we stop to smell the roses, per se, through what he called “active meditation” that we can find bliss.  Also how our children will remember us being “present” and aware of them at this moment.
     
    I guess I need to work on that one.