Monday, August 24, 2009
We had a giant adventure at the end of this summer. Because Nolan has to take 2 weeks off of work at Christmas, he stayed home and the girls and I headed out to see his family in Kennewick, Wa. Kennewick is in the south-east part of Washington. The first day, the girls and I drove to Ontario, Or. In preparation for the trip we bought two dvd players that were able to play from USB sticks. We put a bunch of movies on each for the girls. It is amazing how the movies like Curious Buddies, Baby Einstein and Elmo's World will keep Clara's attention but Finding Nemo will not. Must be a lot of money in research!! and it works. The only problem, at the end of the first day Lexa's dvd was having power supply problems. The next day was only a 3 1/2 hour drive to kennewick. We got there in time for church and to hear Auntie Ana play her oboe in church.
We spent Sunday thru Thursday playing with grandma, grandpa and Auntie Ana. I got to play tennis with Briana. We went swimming almost every night, at the neighbors house, the country club, and grandma clara's condo pool. It was awesome. I slept and took naps! Grandma took Lexa apricot picking and let her help canning them.
Friday we drove to Portland, Or to see our great friends the Murdocks. They were having a crazy heat wave, around 109. Their poor air conditioner was running its little heart out to keep their house at 78! That night we went and swam at a beach on the Columbia River. It was so much fun. Those Murdock boys are great swimmers! But I will admit there was sand in my bag even when I got home to Colorado. :)
The next day we all headed out to play in the public fountains in Portland. We went to three different ones. I think the one the boys liked the least, Lexa liked the most! We had a fun day exploring all the city, ending with a not so fun accident (messy pants). Well, it wasnt so fun for Bryan who was trying to clean it up in a public bathroom and having homeless men laugh and leave the bathroom. It was a little funny for Ily and I. hehe.
Before the fountains we also went blueberry picking at a farm. We got to feed apples to a horse and then pick berries. It was a ton of fun, but the kids got hot pretty fast.
Sunday we went to church then headed back to Kennewick for more fun with grandma and grandpa and auntie ana.
Tuesday Marilyn, the girls and I drove to Seattle. We stayed in Issaquah at a motel 6. That night Richard met us there. We also finally got to see Nolans aunt, uncle and cousins from Virginia. We were in Seattle to see his cousin Zac get married. He was getting married to someone from Victoria, BC and Seattle was the closest temple.
The next day grandma, grandpa, the girls and I went to the Seattle Zoo. This is an amazing place.
The day after was the wedding. On the way to the temple Lexa asked me to please bring her out a piece of cake. The sweet girl thought that everything she sees on TV weddings is what we were going to do in the temple. We explained to her that she would get to have cake later. Right after the wedding I drove to the airport to pick up Nolan. We drove back to the temple where the family was having a picnic in a park nearby. After that we drove to the ferry to get to Bainbridge Island. We went there to visit Nolans friends from growing up who just had twins, a boy and girl. They made us dinner and we walked around their little town. It was very cute and had good ice cream. That night we drove to stay at a hotel in Silverdale. We didnt pay for a room on the water, but were given one. The room was nice and I wish we could have stayed longer. :) Unfortunetely there was not a lot of parking. They were getting ready for a 3 on 3 basketball tournament in their parking lot and their was a dog show going on. Kinda crazy! People not happy about it either.
The next day we drove like crazy to make a ferry from Kingston to Edmonds, Wa then on to the ferry in Vancouver, BC to Victoria. We didnt make the same ferry in Vancouver as Marilyn, Richard and Auntie Ana (who had joined the group Wed night by tiny plane from Kennewick). But they waited for us in Victoria. The ferry was an hour and a half. It was really big and we walked around a lot. There was a part of the ship that had disney playing on tv's and a play place for little ones. The girls liked being outside the most. I got a little seasick when the ferry was going around islands, but we all made it. We ended up spending the rest of the evening in Victoria. It was Nolan's birthday! We saw a lot of beautiful buildings and had the best meal of my life. It was a shellfish thermador. whoa.
We drove to Duncan, BC about an hour north of Victoria. The next day Nolan, Marilyn, Richard, Briana and Lexa went sight-seeing. I let Clara take a nap so she would be tolerable for the wedding reception that night. We did however take a quick look around a place called the BC Forest Discovery center. It was an old lumber village. It had a train and Clara did not like the whistle.
That night was a beautiful wedding reception. It was on the brides farm. They raise sheep. They roasted lamb and cooked fresh salmon they caught that week. Clara had fun chasing chickens, playing with the bubble machine and rolling in dirt. Lexa did pretty much the same and had fun feeding the sheep and goats. They had live music. We all had fun talking and dancing until really late in the night.
Next day we drove Nolan to the airport, took the ferry back to Vancouver, waited an hour to get over the US border, drove around Seattle traffic and stopped in Kennewick again, 12 hours later!!
Next day we slept in and left around 12. We drove to Ogden that night. I thought driving at night would be good because the girls would be sleeping. Not so. They were wound up and going crazy, like screaming in the car. It was pretty funny. Motel 6 again. Next day we drove all the way home. We almost went insane around Laramie, but made it.
It was a great long trip. We had a little bit of everything: seeing family, laying around and swimming, seeing friends, sightseeing and riding ferries.
I will make another post providing pictures. Not sure how to work that in to the blog right now. Maybe someone could teach me.
We spent Sunday thru Thursday playing with grandma, grandpa and Auntie Ana. I got to play tennis with Briana. We went swimming almost every night, at the neighbors house, the country club, and grandma clara's condo pool. It was awesome. I slept and took naps! Grandma took Lexa apricot picking and let her help canning them.
Friday we drove to Portland, Or to see our great friends the Murdocks. They were having a crazy heat wave, around 109. Their poor air conditioner was running its little heart out to keep their house at 78! That night we went and swam at a beach on the Columbia River. It was so much fun. Those Murdock boys are great swimmers! But I will admit there was sand in my bag even when I got home to Colorado. :)
The next day we all headed out to play in the public fountains in Portland. We went to three different ones. I think the one the boys liked the least, Lexa liked the most! We had a fun day exploring all the city, ending with a not so fun accident (messy pants). Well, it wasnt so fun for Bryan who was trying to clean it up in a public bathroom and having homeless men laugh and leave the bathroom. It was a little funny for Ily and I. hehe.
Before the fountains we also went blueberry picking at a farm. We got to feed apples to a horse and then pick berries. It was a ton of fun, but the kids got hot pretty fast.
Sunday we went to church then headed back to Kennewick for more fun with grandma and grandpa and auntie ana.
Tuesday Marilyn, the girls and I drove to Seattle. We stayed in Issaquah at a motel 6. That night Richard met us there. We also finally got to see Nolans aunt, uncle and cousins from Virginia. We were in Seattle to see his cousin Zac get married. He was getting married to someone from Victoria, BC and Seattle was the closest temple.
The next day grandma, grandpa, the girls and I went to the Seattle Zoo. This is an amazing place.
The day after was the wedding. On the way to the temple Lexa asked me to please bring her out a piece of cake. The sweet girl thought that everything she sees on TV weddings is what we were going to do in the temple. We explained to her that she would get to have cake later. Right after the wedding I drove to the airport to pick up Nolan. We drove back to the temple where the family was having a picnic in a park nearby. After that we drove to the ferry to get to Bainbridge Island. We went there to visit Nolans friends from growing up who just had twins, a boy and girl. They made us dinner and we walked around their little town. It was very cute and had good ice cream. That night we drove to stay at a hotel in Silverdale. We didnt pay for a room on the water, but were given one. The room was nice and I wish we could have stayed longer. :) Unfortunetely there was not a lot of parking. They were getting ready for a 3 on 3 basketball tournament in their parking lot and their was a dog show going on. Kinda crazy! People not happy about it either.
The next day we drove like crazy to make a ferry from Kingston to Edmonds, Wa then on to the ferry in Vancouver, BC to Victoria. We didnt make the same ferry in Vancouver as Marilyn, Richard and Auntie Ana (who had joined the group Wed night by tiny plane from Kennewick). But they waited for us in Victoria. The ferry was an hour and a half. It was really big and we walked around a lot. There was a part of the ship that had disney playing on tv's and a play place for little ones. The girls liked being outside the most. I got a little seasick when the ferry was going around islands, but we all made it. We ended up spending the rest of the evening in Victoria. It was Nolan's birthday! We saw a lot of beautiful buildings and had the best meal of my life. It was a shellfish thermador. whoa.
We drove to Duncan, BC about an hour north of Victoria. The next day Nolan, Marilyn, Richard, Briana and Lexa went sight-seeing. I let Clara take a nap so she would be tolerable for the wedding reception that night. We did however take a quick look around a place called the BC Forest Discovery center. It was an old lumber village. It had a train and Clara did not like the whistle.
That night was a beautiful wedding reception. It was on the brides farm. They raise sheep. They roasted lamb and cooked fresh salmon they caught that week. Clara had fun chasing chickens, playing with the bubble machine and rolling in dirt. Lexa did pretty much the same and had fun feeding the sheep and goats. They had live music. We all had fun talking and dancing until really late in the night.
Next day we drove Nolan to the airport, took the ferry back to Vancouver, waited an hour to get over the US border, drove around Seattle traffic and stopped in Kennewick again, 12 hours later!!
Next day we slept in and left around 12. We drove to Ogden that night. I thought driving at night would be good because the girls would be sleeping. Not so. They were wound up and going crazy, like screaming in the car. It was pretty funny. Motel 6 again. Next day we drove all the way home. We almost went insane around Laramie, but made it.
It was a great long trip. We had a little bit of everything: seeing family, laying around and swimming, seeing friends, sightseeing and riding ferries.
I will make another post providing pictures. Not sure how to work that in to the blog right now. Maybe someone could teach me.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
We went camping this weekend! It was the first of the season. It seems like our summers usually get planned out from May to September! We might not get to go too much this summer but we have plenty of other things planned out.
Our favorite place to camp right now is a place called Hermit Park outside of Estes Park. When Nolan and I were dating the park was owned by HP. Nolan was doing and internship and we went camping with a few friends from work. Now it is owned by Larimer county. They are trying to keep the same feel of the park. The campsites are all spread out and you can barely see your neighbors, not like a parking lot! We got a site in one of the new areas they opened this year. The site was at the top of a hill with a lot of fun rocks for the kiddos to play on.
We headed out on Friday after Nolan got off work. Our friends the Baldwins were also coming Friday night. They got there a little before us. We have a pop-up trailer and the Baldwins have a tent. They turned around about 3 times because of rain before they decided to stay and camp. Emily made a great dinner of tacos. We had a good night of roasting marshmallows.
The next day Nolan made breakfast (sausage, pancakes and eggs). He loves camp cooking! The kids played and we were about to go into Estes Park for lunch when the Pippins showed up! They also have a pop-up trailer, much larger than ours. It was Alans parents. They had the campsite next to us but unfortunetly it was at the bottom of a large hill going up to our site. We did go into Estes for lunch at our favorite place, the Brewery.
Most of the time there was filled with kids playing in the rocks and dirt. Pippins made a great dinner of dutch oven pizzas. Baldwins went home that night because there was too much rain for tent camping. Saturday was hiking and playing. I bought tarps and rope just so we could make a large shelter because we knew it would be raining alot. Alan, Carl and Nolan kindly made me tent city!! It was awesome. My parents came for dinner on Saturday night. We ate hawaiian haystacks. Then we drove into Estes for the fireworks. We werent sure they were going to happen with all the rain, but it stopped just in time. We met Julie from the Springs with her grandma and uncle. The fireworks were very cool! Sunday we packed up and headed home.
One of the favorite parts of the trip was the first night. I wasnt feeling very good so Emily took a walk with me. We came around a corner and noticed a bunch of lights. At first I thought it was campfires through the trees. But after a few minutes we realized it had to be something different. It almost looked like animal eyes looking at us but there were way too many of them. So we went back to the fire and Nolan and Carl came back with me to see the "electric field". That is what we named it. There were thousands of twinkling lights!!! A ranger came by patroling and told us that it was fireflies!!! In Colorado!! I guess there is a wetland there and it was a combination of a lot of rain, warm, no wind, and no bright moon. I have never seen so many in my life. It was awesome! We took the Pippins the next night but the moon was pretty bright so we only saw a handful, but even that is cool, again, especially in Colorado!
Our favorite place to camp right now is a place called Hermit Park outside of Estes Park. When Nolan and I were dating the park was owned by HP. Nolan was doing and internship and we went camping with a few friends from work. Now it is owned by Larimer county. They are trying to keep the same feel of the park. The campsites are all spread out and you can barely see your neighbors, not like a parking lot! We got a site in one of the new areas they opened this year. The site was at the top of a hill with a lot of fun rocks for the kiddos to play on.
We headed out on Friday after Nolan got off work. Our friends the Baldwins were also coming Friday night. They got there a little before us. We have a pop-up trailer and the Baldwins have a tent. They turned around about 3 times because of rain before they decided to stay and camp. Emily made a great dinner of tacos. We had a good night of roasting marshmallows.
The next day Nolan made breakfast (sausage, pancakes and eggs). He loves camp cooking! The kids played and we were about to go into Estes Park for lunch when the Pippins showed up! They also have a pop-up trailer, much larger than ours. It was Alans parents. They had the campsite next to us but unfortunetly it was at the bottom of a large hill going up to our site. We did go into Estes for lunch at our favorite place, the Brewery.
Most of the time there was filled with kids playing in the rocks and dirt. Pippins made a great dinner of dutch oven pizzas. Baldwins went home that night because there was too much rain for tent camping. Saturday was hiking and playing. I bought tarps and rope just so we could make a large shelter because we knew it would be raining alot. Alan, Carl and Nolan kindly made me tent city!! It was awesome. My parents came for dinner on Saturday night. We ate hawaiian haystacks. Then we drove into Estes for the fireworks. We werent sure they were going to happen with all the rain, but it stopped just in time. We met Julie from the Springs with her grandma and uncle. The fireworks were very cool! Sunday we packed up and headed home.
One of the favorite parts of the trip was the first night. I wasnt feeling very good so Emily took a walk with me. We came around a corner and noticed a bunch of lights. At first I thought it was campfires through the trees. But after a few minutes we realized it had to be something different. It almost looked like animal eyes looking at us but there were way too many of them. So we went back to the fire and Nolan and Carl came back with me to see the "electric field". That is what we named it. There were thousands of twinkling lights!!! A ranger came by patroling and told us that it was fireflies!!! In Colorado!! I guess there is a wetland there and it was a combination of a lot of rain, warm, no wind, and no bright moon. I have never seen so many in my life. It was awesome! We took the Pippins the next night but the moon was pretty bright so we only saw a handful, but even that is cool, again, especially in Colorado!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The last few weeks have been filled with Lexa's activities. She has had Fairy Princess Camp. There they dress up, hear a story, do a craft, eat a snack and learn a dance that they perform on the last day. She also had tennis lessons and swim lessons. It has been busy. For the next few weeks she just has swim lessons. We also signed Clara up for swimming. She likes jumping in and drinking the water. We are trying to get her to blow bubbles but she ends up drinking it instead. Its pretty funny.
Hopefully this week we can finally get our flower garden in that we started in May. I am getting frustrated with the summer here in Colorado! Almost everyday has been rain and thunderstorm. Where lightening and thunder are cool, tornado warnings are not! This year in March was almost the driest March in Colorado history, now June is the second wettest June in Colorado history.
We had a great Fathers Day. Nolan did a LOT of research on getting a new grill. He finally decided on the perfect one and bought it right before Fathers Day. My dad, mom, grandma and brother came up to our house. Nolan made some great ribs, we had salmon, grilled veggies and cheesy potatoes. Then we all hung out in the backyard and watched Lexa and Clara. They are pretty entertaining.
This Friday we went and visited our good friends in Colorado Springs. Our girls dont always get along, but us moms love it anyway. We are trying to plan a long weekend there with Nolan too so that we can see some fun things in the Springs.
We have a camping trip coming up this weekend for 4th of July and maybe one later in July. End of July, beggining of August we will be heading up to Washington. We cant wait!!
Hopefully this week we can finally get our flower garden in that we started in May. I am getting frustrated with the summer here in Colorado! Almost everyday has been rain and thunderstorm. Where lightening and thunder are cool, tornado warnings are not! This year in March was almost the driest March in Colorado history, now June is the second wettest June in Colorado history.
We had a great Fathers Day. Nolan did a LOT of research on getting a new grill. He finally decided on the perfect one and bought it right before Fathers Day. My dad, mom, grandma and brother came up to our house. Nolan made some great ribs, we had salmon, grilled veggies and cheesy potatoes. Then we all hung out in the backyard and watched Lexa and Clara. They are pretty entertaining.
This Friday we went and visited our good friends in Colorado Springs. Our girls dont always get along, but us moms love it anyway. We are trying to plan a long weekend there with Nolan too so that we can see some fun things in the Springs.
We have a camping trip coming up this weekend for 4th of July and maybe one later in July. End of July, beggining of August we will be heading up to Washington. We cant wait!!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Lets see if I can get this all on one entry!
May 29th - We woke up around 6 am to get ready. We did the final packing and got the girls dressed and fed. We met my parents at the Walmart on the highway around 7:15. We picked up a few things there and headed out. My brother Caleb was also with my parents. We drove ALL day (forgot we lost an hour in the time zone). We drove all the way to Nauvoo, IL in 17 hours. Clara and Lexa did fairly well. We bought two new dvd players for them. We booked a place in Nauvoo that was a log cabin. It said it slept 6 people. There was a queen bed, single bunk beds, and a futon. It was tight but we made it work. Clara slept in her pack-n-play, mom and dad on bed, me and Lexa on the futon, Nolan and Caleb on the bunk beds. We got there around 1 am.
May 30th - Amazingly enough, Clara sleeps great in a room with people! I think sleeping with Lexa has desensitized her. Every day on the trip she was quiet and played in her crib until someone besides Lexa got up. We slept until at least 9:30 most days. We went to find breakfast. We eventually ate at a bar in Nauvoo. It was interesting. We headed to the visitors center and took a carriage ride through the country and learned about the farms and people that lived in Nauvoo. Clara fell asleep on a bumpy dirt road being pulled by horses. Then we looked at the visitors center and went to a wagon ride through the town. Clara screamed the entire time so I heard very little of the presentation. My mom went through the temple during all this. We then drove to Carthage Jail. It was a pretty special place (might have been more special had Clara not started screaming in the upstairs room). We went back to Nauvoo and ate at a really yummy buffet. We finally found Mimi and played at a local park with a merry-go-round and a teeter-totter. During this visit I convinced Lexa to let me pull her very first tooth! It was exciting. That night we saw a very good show called the Sunset over the Mississippi. It was awesome. We took turns chasing Clara until she finally fell asleep. That night the tooth fairy came, slapped uncle Caleb in the face, and left Lexa $2.
May 31- We wandered more around Nauvoo. The family living center was open and showed us how to make clothes, rope, bread, candles, etc. Nolan and Caleb saw the gun shop, we spent some time at the boot shop, went to the brick factory and to the burial site of Joseph Smith. Then we drove to Chicago. We ate dinner at the Full Moon around 10 pm.
June 1st - We had checked into a Motel 8 with two double beds. It was tight but we made it work. Clara was still great sleeping. We kind of just hung around, did some shopping during the day. In the evening Caleb, Nolan, my dad and I went to a White Sox baseball game. That was really fun. It was with Calebs school friends. And the White Sox won! Nolan bought a hat and two pink shirts for the girls.
June 2nd - I drove around looking for a salon in the morning because I was sick of my terrible hair cut! and we were dealing with humidity so it made it worse. After I found a good salon that did a great job I met the fam at Emily's pancake house. We had a huge breakfast. All meals were in shifts because someone had to be walking around with Clara so she wouldnt scream the entire time. After breakfast we went to see Caleb's school. He took us around and even showed us the cadaver lab (gross!!!). We saw the foot museum (he is at the Dr Scholl Podiatric School). We finally saw where Caleb lived. Typical college bachelor place. We made a fruit salad for a BBQ and then went to a BBQ of Calebs classmate. Clara ate about 3 hot dogs and Lexa had a great time playing bean bag toss (or corn hole in some parts of the country). After Caleb, dad, Nolan and I went to see Star Trek (Mimi did a lot of babysitting. We appreciated it!!!). It was a great movie, good concept (even though time travel drives me crazy) and we were glad we tried to watch all the old ones before we saw it.
June 3rd - We headed to the Museum of Science and Industry (or industry and magic as we called it). This place was huge and AWESOME!!!!!! We could have spent a whole week there! We saw the smart house and Harry Potter special exhibit. I liked the whisper room. Nolans favorite part was the smart home. Clara liked spinning in the rotundra. Lexa liked Harry Potter, even though she has never seen any of the films because they scare her. We tried to find a place called Gino's East to eat Chicago style pizza downtown. Clara was getting hungry so the rest of the family went to Millenium Park and Clara and I ate at the Corner Bakery. Lexa had a sub on the way home and then she and I sped to the closest theater that was showing Up in 3D. We LOVED IT!! On our way home we found out that Caleb, dad and Nolan were just eating pizza finally at around 10 pm. They brought us leftovers and we loved the pizza. One of these mornings I also pulled out Lexa's second bottom tooth and the tooth fairy came again with $2 but didnt smack anyone in the face this time.
June 4th - Nolan's grandma grew up in Michigan City, In. We were staying about 1 hour north of Chicago, then Michigan City was about another hour from Chicago. We went and saw Grandma Wright's brother, his wife, and their daughter. Uncle Leonard took us to the house they all grew up in, to the park they all used to hang out at, where Grandma and Grandpa Wright met. There was a little zoo at the park and Lexa loved it. I thought uncle Leonard was going to drop on us, but he made it. We ate dinner with them then headed back to the city. We stopped by the Sears Tower (now the Willis tower) right at sunset and then drove by and saw all the lights at the Navy Pier.
June 5th - GRADUATION DAY!!!!! We had to leave our hotel room around 7 am to head downtown. The graduation for Uncle Caleb was at the Civic Opera House. Grandma Dolly arrived in Chicago the day before by plane. We sat near the back to let Clara out. She luckily fell asleep right as they started. We all got to hear the speeches. She woke up when people started cheering. Nolan stayed in the lobby with her the whole time. Nolan came in when it was time to cheer for Uncle Caleb. He was hooded and pronounced Dr Caleb Roy (wah) Baker, DPM. We are so proud and excited for him!!!!! Afterwards we ate a quick lunch at McDonalds across the street. There we met up with a good friend from the cancer camp we used to go to when we were little. We have known this friend since we were about 9 and 10. Her name is Tracy Barnes and she just happened to be in Chicago for a conference that same weekend. Funny enough the conference was about Kinesio Tape, which Caleb is dying to learn about!!! So he actually went with her to the conference and we all went to the Navy Pier. Lexa and I rode the ferris wheel. Grandma Dolly, Nolan, dad, Lexa and I did an architectural boat tour town the river in Chicago. It was really cool and we learned tons!!! Mimi and Clara played in a fountain in front of the Pier. We also let Lexa play in it. They both got soaked and loved it. We went and found Dr Uncle Caleb and ate at the Rainforest Cafe (still in shifts to watch Clara). We went back to the hotel, dropped of Clara and Mimi, then had dessert at Chili's. We thought it would be the last time seeing Dr Uncle Caleb and Lexa cried herself to sleep because she misses him.
June 6th - Dr Uncle Caleb showed up to help with making sure the parents Element (car) was working right for the drive home. Got our oil changed, packed and headed out. Grandma Dolly was flying home on Sunday and dad was helping Dr Caleb pack and move to Binghampton, NY where he will be doing his residency for 3 years before heading back to Longmont to start his own practice. Mimi and Lexa rode in the Element and Nolan and I rode with Clara in the van. Drove all the way to Omaha, Ne in 11 hours. Got in a hotel right as a huge lightning and rain storm hit the city. Clara was so exciting to be there that she just ran in circles, smiling and laughing. She has finally found out how fun having a sister is. Clara would straddle her then jump up and down and dive all over Lexa while she was in her sleeping bag. We were on the second floor so we tried to keep them quiet around midnight, but it was hard not to roll on the floor laughing.
June 7th - Drove the rest of the way to Severance, Co and Mimi to Longmont. Left Omaha around 11:30 and got home around 9 pm. Whew!
It was a great trip. I didnt know that Chicago was the third largest city in the US. I wish we had another week there to see the aquarium and other museums. I hope Nolan will take us back there again someday. Clara was a monster on the road but is great here at home. We had a good day of relaxation with a lot of laundry to do. If you actually read all this, I hope you enjoyed our great summer vacation!!!
PS I will probably put most of the pics up on Facebook or on www.steffandnols.com . Sorry, Havent figured out how to post them here yet. Our camera died in Chicago so pics will have to be gathered from phones, Dr Calebs camera and Mimi's camera.
May 29th - We woke up around 6 am to get ready. We did the final packing and got the girls dressed and fed. We met my parents at the Walmart on the highway around 7:15. We picked up a few things there and headed out. My brother Caleb was also with my parents. We drove ALL day (forgot we lost an hour in the time zone). We drove all the way to Nauvoo, IL in 17 hours. Clara and Lexa did fairly well. We bought two new dvd players for them. We booked a place in Nauvoo that was a log cabin. It said it slept 6 people. There was a queen bed, single bunk beds, and a futon. It was tight but we made it work. Clara slept in her pack-n-play, mom and dad on bed, me and Lexa on the futon, Nolan and Caleb on the bunk beds. We got there around 1 am.
May 30th - Amazingly enough, Clara sleeps great in a room with people! I think sleeping with Lexa has desensitized her. Every day on the trip she was quiet and played in her crib until someone besides Lexa got up. We slept until at least 9:30 most days. We went to find breakfast. We eventually ate at a bar in Nauvoo. It was interesting. We headed to the visitors center and took a carriage ride through the country and learned about the farms and people that lived in Nauvoo. Clara fell asleep on a bumpy dirt road being pulled by horses. Then we looked at the visitors center and went to a wagon ride through the town. Clara screamed the entire time so I heard very little of the presentation. My mom went through the temple during all this. We then drove to Carthage Jail. It was a pretty special place (might have been more special had Clara not started screaming in the upstairs room). We went back to Nauvoo and ate at a really yummy buffet. We finally found Mimi and played at a local park with a merry-go-round and a teeter-totter. During this visit I convinced Lexa to let me pull her very first tooth! It was exciting. That night we saw a very good show called the Sunset over the Mississippi. It was awesome. We took turns chasing Clara until she finally fell asleep. That night the tooth fairy came, slapped uncle Caleb in the face, and left Lexa $2.
May 31- We wandered more around Nauvoo. The family living center was open and showed us how to make clothes, rope, bread, candles, etc. Nolan and Caleb saw the gun shop, we spent some time at the boot shop, went to the brick factory and to the burial site of Joseph Smith. Then we drove to Chicago. We ate dinner at the Full Moon around 10 pm.
June 1st - We had checked into a Motel 8 with two double beds. It was tight but we made it work. Clara was still great sleeping. We kind of just hung around, did some shopping during the day. In the evening Caleb, Nolan, my dad and I went to a White Sox baseball game. That was really fun. It was with Calebs school friends. And the White Sox won! Nolan bought a hat and two pink shirts for the girls.
June 2nd - I drove around looking for a salon in the morning because I was sick of my terrible hair cut! and we were dealing with humidity so it made it worse. After I found a good salon that did a great job I met the fam at Emily's pancake house. We had a huge breakfast. All meals were in shifts because someone had to be walking around with Clara so she wouldnt scream the entire time. After breakfast we went to see Caleb's school. He took us around and even showed us the cadaver lab (gross!!!). We saw the foot museum (he is at the Dr Scholl Podiatric School). We finally saw where Caleb lived. Typical college bachelor place. We made a fruit salad for a BBQ and then went to a BBQ of Calebs classmate. Clara ate about 3 hot dogs and Lexa had a great time playing bean bag toss (or corn hole in some parts of the country). After Caleb, dad, Nolan and I went to see Star Trek (Mimi did a lot of babysitting. We appreciated it!!!). It was a great movie, good concept (even though time travel drives me crazy) and we were glad we tried to watch all the old ones before we saw it.
June 3rd - We headed to the Museum of Science and Industry (or industry and magic as we called it). This place was huge and AWESOME!!!!!! We could have spent a whole week there! We saw the smart house and Harry Potter special exhibit. I liked the whisper room. Nolans favorite part was the smart home. Clara liked spinning in the rotundra. Lexa liked Harry Potter, even though she has never seen any of the films because they scare her. We tried to find a place called Gino's East to eat Chicago style pizza downtown. Clara was getting hungry so the rest of the family went to Millenium Park and Clara and I ate at the Corner Bakery. Lexa had a sub on the way home and then she and I sped to the closest theater that was showing Up in 3D. We LOVED IT!! On our way home we found out that Caleb, dad and Nolan were just eating pizza finally at around 10 pm. They brought us leftovers and we loved the pizza. One of these mornings I also pulled out Lexa's second bottom tooth and the tooth fairy came again with $2 but didnt smack anyone in the face this time.
June 4th - Nolan's grandma grew up in Michigan City, In. We were staying about 1 hour north of Chicago, then Michigan City was about another hour from Chicago. We went and saw Grandma Wright's brother, his wife, and their daughter. Uncle Leonard took us to the house they all grew up in, to the park they all used to hang out at, where Grandma and Grandpa Wright met. There was a little zoo at the park and Lexa loved it. I thought uncle Leonard was going to drop on us, but he made it. We ate dinner with them then headed back to the city. We stopped by the Sears Tower (now the Willis tower) right at sunset and then drove by and saw all the lights at the Navy Pier.
June 5th - GRADUATION DAY!!!!! We had to leave our hotel room around 7 am to head downtown. The graduation for Uncle Caleb was at the Civic Opera House. Grandma Dolly arrived in Chicago the day before by plane. We sat near the back to let Clara out. She luckily fell asleep right as they started. We all got to hear the speeches. She woke up when people started cheering. Nolan stayed in the lobby with her the whole time. Nolan came in when it was time to cheer for Uncle Caleb. He was hooded and pronounced Dr Caleb Roy (wah) Baker, DPM. We are so proud and excited for him!!!!! Afterwards we ate a quick lunch at McDonalds across the street. There we met up with a good friend from the cancer camp we used to go to when we were little. We have known this friend since we were about 9 and 10. Her name is Tracy Barnes and she just happened to be in Chicago for a conference that same weekend. Funny enough the conference was about Kinesio Tape, which Caleb is dying to learn about!!! So he actually went with her to the conference and we all went to the Navy Pier. Lexa and I rode the ferris wheel. Grandma Dolly, Nolan, dad, Lexa and I did an architectural boat tour town the river in Chicago. It was really cool and we learned tons!!! Mimi and Clara played in a fountain in front of the Pier. We also let Lexa play in it. They both got soaked and loved it. We went and found Dr Uncle Caleb and ate at the Rainforest Cafe (still in shifts to watch Clara). We went back to the hotel, dropped of Clara and Mimi, then had dessert at Chili's. We thought it would be the last time seeing Dr Uncle Caleb and Lexa cried herself to sleep because she misses him.
June 6th - Dr Uncle Caleb showed up to help with making sure the parents Element (car) was working right for the drive home. Got our oil changed, packed and headed out. Grandma Dolly was flying home on Sunday and dad was helping Dr Caleb pack and move to Binghampton, NY where he will be doing his residency for 3 years before heading back to Longmont to start his own practice. Mimi and Lexa rode in the Element and Nolan and I rode with Clara in the van. Drove all the way to Omaha, Ne in 11 hours. Got in a hotel right as a huge lightning and rain storm hit the city. Clara was so exciting to be there that she just ran in circles, smiling and laughing. She has finally found out how fun having a sister is. Clara would straddle her then jump up and down and dive all over Lexa while she was in her sleeping bag. We were on the second floor so we tried to keep them quiet around midnight, but it was hard not to roll on the floor laughing.
June 7th - Drove the rest of the way to Severance, Co and Mimi to Longmont. Left Omaha around 11:30 and got home around 9 pm. Whew!
It was a great trip. I didnt know that Chicago was the third largest city in the US. I wish we had another week there to see the aquarium and other museums. I hope Nolan will take us back there again someday. Clara was a monster on the road but is great here at home. We had a good day of relaxation with a lot of laundry to do. If you actually read all this, I hope you enjoyed our great summer vacation!!!
PS I will probably put most of the pics up on Facebook or on www.steffandnols.com . Sorry, Havent figured out how to post them here yet. Our camera died in Chicago so pics will have to be gathered from phones, Dr Calebs camera and Mimi's camera.
