June 10-13 Part 2

Jared likes to be known by his alter ego - Bruce Wayne. For quite a bit of the day, we usually need to call him Bruce Wayne, or if he puts his cape on, Batman. This has been going on for probably a good six months now. Jared also loves birthday parties. Really, he just loves the birthday present aspect of it. So, lately he has been putting his two loves together and having birthday parties for Bruce Wayne.

In the picture above, he's filled his box with toys, and then we are invited to Bruce Wayne's birthday party where we have to sit around and watch him open his presents. Sorta fun, but not really after the third time that day.

Yet another art project. This time we used yarn to dip into paint and made a paint art picture. I must admit, I really got into this project!

A lot of dressing up as happened this past week, too.

We took a walk on the night of the 11th to Culver's for some ice cream. Both kids rode their bikes. Jared is so fast now that Steve had to run alongside to keep up. Steve's dad and I stayed by Alexa who rides much more slowly for now.

Alexa invented her own art project -sand painting.  It had been a fun filled week, but the whole day on Friday the 11th, I worked my butt off getting ready for Steve's cousins from Missouri to come stay with us for a few days. The kids are so very excited for their cousins to stay overnight for a few days, and Steve and I are really excited, too.

Navy Pier & Chicago Children's Museum

We started out the day, May 19th, with jumping. Well, actually flippping. The kids have a little routine down where they climb onto one couch, run across it, stand on the end table, jump and then do a flip. Alexa is actually quite good.

With all that energy oozing out of the kids, I was glad we went with Steve downtown that day. I knew his conference was downtown, but for some reason I assumed it was at McCormick Place. Turns out it was at Navy Pier. So,we hitched a ride, since the parking was paid for through Steve's work, and we went to the Chicago Children's Museum in the morning while Steve was at his conference. That was free, too, since we have a membership.

The kids didn't really want to stay at one thing that day. We've been there three times before, but I'd never been there by myself with the kids. Since our stop to the bathroom before going into the museum hadn't gone so well, (Jared wouldn't stop kicking the stall next to us, and both kids were looking underneath the stall at the person inside), I was not feeling too good about how well they, particularly Jared, would stay near me. Thank God, the morning was pretty sucessful. Just two crying sessions and two times of trying to run away. Not great, but I can live with it. For now, anyways.

So, like I said, they did a lot of flitting from one thing to the next (I think they were overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place), so be forewarned, there's a lot of pictures!

The first stop is always the firestation since it's closest to the enterance. Jared loves, loves, loves dressing up in any type of costume, so this was perfect for him.

I wish I would have taken another picture of Jared near the top of this rope tunnel, but I have great video coverage. The ladder goes up two stories. The first time Jared climbed this with Steve he was 21 months old. This was the first year he climbed on his own. Alexa didn't want to climb, which was no surprise.

Somehow they found this bench funny and facinating.

The museum puts up new exhibits about four times a year, so we headed towards the new exhibit, Dinosaur Exibition. It really was well done. The kids could put on vests if they wanted, and take large brushes to use to brush off their newly dug-up dinosaur bones buried beneath the rubber chips. They also had a few full-sized, small dinosaur skeletons.

This was a cute interactive exhibit. You get your picture taken, and then it's placed on the insect's head on the screen. Then you pick up the stuffed insect in front of you and fly him across the screen. The screen had images of Navy Pier so it looks like the insects are flying all around Navy Pier.

More dressing up...

....and game playing. I loved this large chess set. I really think Jared will love this game in a few years. They also had a large...

...bowling ball set. This went over big until Jared came over and kicked over Alexa's pins after she had spent forever setting them up. AGGGGHHHH!

So we went over to the large tic-tac-toe game, where, thankfully, there was much better cooperation.

They also liked the large hopscotch game.

We spent quite some time in the art room, finger painting. They like the different items there to run through the paint like the velcro hair curler and the combs. They basically just globbed on a bunch of paint at the end, and had a blast squishing their fingers in its gooiness.

We then visited the water room where Jared was glued to the levers and pullys.

Alexa loved playing bus driver....

...and working the car wash, while Jared...

 

...worked on changing the tires on the car.

By this time I was getting tired, and really welcomed Steve's call to meet him for lunch. We ate at Charlie's Ale House.

Jared really wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel, but Alexa wasn't having any of that. I'm afraid she inherited my fear of heights. So, us girls went on a fun caurosel ride, and the boys had a wonderful view of downtown Chicago fromn the top of the Ferris wheel.

After our rides, we took a walk along the pier, mainly looking at hundreds of school kids boarding boats for, I assume, 8th grade parties. At one of the boats, they were passing out cookies. One of the workers must have head Jared say he wanted a cookie, because he ran after us and offered us a cookie, too. Along the way, we stopped by the fun mirrors. I was surprised at how much the kids got a kick out of them.

On the drive home, the kids fell asleep in the car, and woke up to ice cream sundaes at home. Steve' job can be very stressful, and we really hate it when he travels, but days like today do make up somewhat for those rough days.

At Work with Granddad

Some of the simplest things, like eating lunch with your granddad at his work, are the greatest adventures for a kid. My father-in-law is the pastor of the church we attend, and although the kids get to see him preaching most every week, still it's not the same as time spent eating in his office, playing with his many souvenirs like the wooden animals and dagger from India or even a leftover candy canes from Christmas, and just talking.

This is the second time we've had lunch with Granddad. I especially like to visit when Steve's out of town for work. It's just a great way for the kids to spend time with family, get out of the house, and run around during the winter months.

The kids love playing in the church's gym. They dig through all the equipment, pulling out the soccer balls, hockey gear and scooters. They release a lot of pent up energy, which I like as long as it means not taking a nap in the car. Then they're up late at night, something I'd rather not have when Steve's not home and I'm exhausted.

After a fun-filled afternoon with Granddad, we made a quick stop at the library to pick up the DVD of James and the Giant Peach to watch tomorrow night (we had just finished reading the book together during our lunchtimes), and headed over to my friend's house, who had graciously invited us over for dinner. I don't have any pictures to post, but the kids had a blast playing pirates with her 23 month old son, singing, and basically making a wonderful mess.

Grand Cayman - Portofino's

Travelling with very young kids usually means giving up going to many fancy restaurants. We didn't want to go out for many meals, mainly for the sake of our budget, but also because we can't really relax well with the kids yet. They are very finiky eaters, and will not sit still at the table very long.

That's why when we pulled up to Portofinio's, an upper scale restaurant, we at first were prepared just to order and take out the food. But we soon realized that no one else was there. So, we decided to take a chance and eat there. They had a section in the back on a porch overlooking the ocean. Steve and I ordered seafood, of course, and the kids had grilled cheese sandwiches.They actually sat there for quite a while, which was a really great treat.

I would highly recommend this restaurant, especially for anyone staying on the East End. We did spend close to $100 on our meal, but it was well worth it.

Alexa had a great time taking pictures. I've downloaded several pictures she took from this restaurant and put them in the post titled Alexa's Vacation pictures, if you want to look there. Here are a few more below. I absolutely adore the sillouette of Jared.

Jared found a tree to climb below the porch area, and Steve and Alexa had some good daddy/daughter moments looking at the ocean.

Grand Cayman - Vivine's Kitchen

We were so thankful to stay in an apartment when we were on vacation. It was so easy to use the BBQ and grill, or just to cook very simple things and save so much money on food. But, it was also a great treat to check out some of the local food, too.

Vivine's Kitchen boasts some of the best local food, especially on the East End. We were very happy with out dinner. Steve ordered the curry chicken and I had some mahi mahi. It's funny because I ordered the fish because I thought it wouldn't be as hot, but it turned out that I ate Steve's dish instead. Vivine said mine wouldn't be that hot, but it's best not to ask a Carribbean what is not and what's not!

We were the only customers at the restaurant. At least on the inside. The restaurant sits right on the water, so we could have eaten outside if we had wanted, but it was HOT! They didn't have any air conditioning, but there were a few floor fans which was better than nothing.

After lunch, while Steve was inside paying, I took the kids out back by the pidgeon coop. It was just so Carribbean to me. The kids had fun watching the birds. I just had to keep them getting their finger tips bit.

I'm gonna end this post with a picture taken of a prayer wall hanging in the restaurant. I especially love the part written to women.