Fun times in the Windy City

After a long, hard journey it was dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.

ummmm cheesecake............

Saturday morning we headed downtown
Soldier Field said to tell Rick and Amber HEY!

The Museum of Natural History

They were having some sort of pirate exhibition (pirates are SO in right now!).

Jack on the steps of the museum.

Jack and his mother

Sue the dinosaur (she was already named, I probably would have named her something fun like ROXIE)
She is a t-rex (I have no clue, I think all dinosaurs are a t-rex)

A flying t-rex!

Jack checking out a smaller t-rex

After the museum (fun times) it was off to lunch at Ed Debevic's

I had been there once before and my cousin Allison loves the place, so we were very excited.

We had hyped it up to Jack and he could not wait to see the servers sing and dance.

They did not disappoint!

Jack really got into it. He thought it was HILARIOUS when our waitress "yelled" at Alison.

He was SO offended when she called us boring.

I appreciated that my four year old realized that being called boring is not a good thing!

Aunt Patty
(i'm fixing her up with Mel Gibson)

Jack and our waitress getting down.

He showed her!

Even people from small town, boring ole Newton got some moves!

Jack and Alison

The world's smallest sundae

That night we went to the community center so Jack could swim.
This is their pool. I did not get pictures of the three adult size water slides and the mini lazy river.
Maybe we are boring. I think our community center has a water fountain.

This is Jack in water that was zero inches deep.
He INSISTED on wearing the floaties.

We had so much fun with Patty and Alison and have plans to go back soon!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning we headed home.

Compared to getting there, the trip home was pretty much uneventful.

It was nice to get away, but it sure felt good to be back.

This is what I had waiting for me....................

You took pictures of what?

If you read my post about the journey Jack and I took last week to visit my Aunt and see the sites in Chicago you will recall that I left a little something in the Target parking lot in Champaign.

I forgot that I had taken a picture.

ENJOY........
You think that's weird?

My husband thought these were weird.

A couple weeks ago I took these after making my first porkburger cook-out purchase of the season.

If you live in Newton, once the ice melts, pretty much every week someone is selling porkburgers around lunchtime in the KC Hall parking lot. I have never met a porkburger that I didn't like, but sometimes they are better than others.

I was fairly certain that I was in for a treat when I saw a car with the license plate "PORK" on it in the parking lot. It was the PORK PRODUCERS porkburger cook-out!!!!!! This event should be a state holiday. BEST PORK BURGERS EVAH!!!

Cliff better get over thinking these are odd, I got news for him. Porkburger pictures are going on our Christmas cards this year.

Happy Easter!!!

Easter is here.

The Lord has risen and candy takes on egg shape.
My latest obsession----Reeses Pieces eggs. Large egg shaped Reeses Pieces. So good. I only could find these at CVS. Last week when I bought a couple of large bags (one was for a friend), I thought perhaps I should purchase their remaining stock. Sadly, I did not and now they are no where to be found. If you run across any of these little egg shaped gem, could you pick me up a bag (or 10)? I will reimburse you for whatever they cost plus a finders fee.

Anyhoo, have a Happy Easter. And if you are lucky enough to get some of these in your basket, enjoy and savor them. It's another year until we will get any candy in egg shape!

Getting there is half the fun????

Last Thursday Jack and I took off on a little adventure. We headed up North to see my Aunt Patty and cousin Alison who live in Schaumberg. Even though it had been suggested to me by many that Jack and I would have a much easier time if we just took the train, I was more than confident in my driving and mothering skills. I knew that we would make it just fine.



We left Newton a little before 9 am with Harrison in tow. I dropped Harrison off at the babysitters and we were on the road by about 9:15. The GPS that my sister had loaned us told me that we would arrive at our destination in 3.5 hours. PIECE OF CAKE I thought, we would probably arrive by 1:30 at the latest. Jack was giggling he was so excited. Most of that excitement was brought on by his new portable DVD player that allowed him to watch Spongebob on the ride. He had on his headphones and was in heaven. I figured it was smooth sailing all the way.



We made it to Charleston and the polar pop that I had purchased at BP (is it still BP?) was already empty. I needed another diet coke. I went through McDonalds. Jack cried because they were not serving Happy Meals yet. Jack mentioned that his ear hurt. I assumed it was from the headphones he was wearing to listen to his DVD player and told him to take them off. Diet coke refill and we were on the road again.



Almost to Tuscola and Jack starts crying, saying his ear hurt. We pulled over at the outlet mall for me to check it out and go to the bathroom. Jack is crying, he says his ear hurts. I let him ride on one of the coin operated rides on the sidewalk hoping that would help. He is still crying a little bit but that seemed to help. We walk by the Stride Rite shoe store on the way to the bathroom and I tell Jack they have the bouncy ball shoes he had been asking for (damn you Nick Jr) so we went in to check them out. At this point he is crying again pretty hard. He still wanted the shoes. We find the shoes. He tried them on and we purchased them.





HERE ARE JACK'S COOL NEW BOUNCY BALL SHOES--they have bouncy balls in the soles.

After a trip to the bathroom, deducing that Jack does not have fever and loading up the crying boy into his car seat we were on the road again. I figured he would go to sleep and all would be good.

Almost to Champaign. Almost to the exit that would take you to the mall and Jack proceeds to vomit and vomit good. He's crying, asking for water. I take the exit, look for a gas station or McDonalds and then see Target (i love you Target). I pull into the parking lot and use an entire container or wipes to try to clean Jack up. I threw every single one of the used wipes onto the ground of the Target parking lot (please forgive me Al Gore). Jack is crying for water. He is disgusting. His car seat is disgusting. I put him in a cart and take him in. Get Jack his water. Realize I should have brought in clothes to change him. Buy him new clothes and more wipes and head to the bathroom and clean him up the best I can. Go back to the car. Use the new wipes to clean the car seat the best I can. I am getting closer to being able to get back on the road and realize I can't find my keys. The Target employee who was rounding up carts (and staring at the huge pile of wipes I had left on the ground) was nice enough to use her walkie talkie to call into the store and send someone into the bathroom to look for my keys. My keys were in my pocket. She LOVED me.

Jack seemed better so I decided we would still try to make it. I think it was 11ish at this point. It still looked like we could make it by 2 or so.

Jack fell asleep and all seemed ok.

I was out of diet coke but did not stop for another one for fear of waking Jack. I was so thirsty that I had to drink water.

All seems well. We were getting closer. Out of Kankakee and the traffic picked up. Getting into the city, more lanes to drive in, a little scary. Jack wakes up. The GPS begins to give me directions. We are getting much closer, 26 miles to our destination. Then it happens. I listen to the GPS, sometimes it says stay right, sometimes it says exit right. Not sure if those are two different things. The GPS would route me back around. I went through the same toll booth three times. I made sure to go through different lanes, I would hate for the toll booth operator to notice me and figure out what an idiot I was. At this point I hate the GPS and I am fairly certain that it hated me. I could tell that it was mocking me by suggesting I make U turns in places that a U turn was not possible. Jack is mad and still does not feel good. He hates the GPS as well and asks me to "turn that left and right thing off". We are getting closer only 10 miles to go. The gas light comes on. I make some bad non GPS endorsed choices and we are now 18 miles away. I stop for gas. I somehow manage to get us (or so the GPS says) about 5 miles from my Aunt's house and I call her to tell her we are almost there. She asks where I am. I am not in the right place, she tried to get me back on a main road. The GPS is now my mortal enemy. I hate her so much yet I still need her. Jack does not feel well. Pull into a grocery store parking lot just as Jack pukes a little more and I am on the verge of tears.

I call my Aunt and turn the GPS off and she gets me to her house.

FINALLY WE MADE IT.

Is is now 10:30 p.m. ..............

NOT REALLY, it was about 4:00

When we got out of the car I felt like I had just got off the ship from my tour of duty in WWII and wanted to kiss the ground!

A couple hours later and Jack was fine, we ended up having the best time! I suppose we could have made it by 1:30 like I had originally thought we would, but how boring would that have been? What kind of story would that have left me to tell and would there have been any cool bouncy ball shoes?

Pictures of our weekend coming soon.....

What year is this???

Have you heard about this?

Pirates took over a US Naval Ship in Somalia.

They continue to hold the captain hostage.

What the???

What do they want?

Is there gold on the navy ship?

Do you think any of them wore an eye patch or had a wooden leg?

Perhaps a parrot on his shoulder?

I gotta give it to the pirates. They certainly are taking things back old school style.

I can't imagine what could happen next.

Perhaps a stage coach hold-up?

DID YOU............

VOTE on Tuesday!!!

This Tuesday is election day in Jasper County.

Holly Farley is running for a seat on the Jasper County School Board and I know that she would appreciate your vote.

Holly is one smart gal and would make an EXCELLENT addition to the school board.

Rick Lindemann is running for a seat on the Newton City Council.

If you live in Ward One, please show Rick and the city of Newton your support by casting your vote for him.

Tim K. Farley is running for the seat he already holds on the City of Newton's Zoning Board of Appeals.

Please support Uncle Bob with your vote.

If you are a resident of Newton, IL PLEASE vote this Tuesday.

This city election is VERY important.

Every vote will matter, every vote is needed.

Slumdog Millionaire

Have you seen it? I watched this weekend with my Aunt while Jack and I were away on our little adventure (more on that to come). If you have, what did you think?

I am still thinking about it. I may need to watch it again. One thing that I now know for sure. India is a VERY dirty place.

FOOLISH