2013/05/17 Friday: Make A Wish

My kids are contributing to the dandelion problem by blowing dandelion clocks and making wishes.  I did not teach them this, but it is cute to watch.

We had dinner at a resident friend's house.  It was nice to see the Mt Sinai crew, some of whom are graduating this year.  Henry got to play with my phone, and this is what he spent his time doing.

2013/05/16 Thursday: Crime & Punishment

A couple of days ago, I was upstairs folding laundry and the kids were in the family room.  All seemed well with the world.  Then I went to the kitchen for a drink, and discovered that the children had drawn all over the carpet in the living room and stairs with a blue crayon.  And when I say all over the carpet, I mean ALL OVER.  They used wide, broad strokes to cover as much square footage as possible.  There was a major time out penalty incurred.
  It was cheap crayon the kids got at National Train day, which meant it was not washable.  None of the tips of how to get crayon out of carpet worked.  It did not iron out.  But then the delightful Lindsay Moss came over with her spray bottle of Goo Gone.  She sprayed the crayon and scrubbed with a microfiber cloth.  It made a huge difference.  I then rented a carpet cleaner from the home depot, and things were back to just having the gross carpet we started with.

I found a used Shark costume for J since he is obsessed with sharks.  We had a little fun with it here too.

2013/05/15 Wednesday: Yard Work

 

2013/05/14 Tuesday: Freddie's for Lunch

Our bucket list of Nick's research year included eating at Freddie's in Cicero.  Today, we took Nick to lunch there and can finally cross it off.  It's only the second time I've been there, and I still feel like I must have missed the orientation video because I have no idea whats going on.  You order in line inside of an Italian Market, you don't know what they have or how much anything is.  It is fun, and the food is delicious.  We sat outside near the door, and Gigi saw every person that was coming out with gelato or Italian ice and screamed "Ice Cream!", so we ended our meal with some Italian ice, and Nick got Oreo gelato.  Nick made the best choice.

2013/05/13 Monday: The Doctor Will See You Now

Nick snuggled with a sick and teething Gigi before he headed to work, a little late.

2013/05/12 Sunday: Out for a Ride

 

2013/05/11 Saturday: National Train Day

We learned a few things from last years National Train Day experience.  So this year, we drove and parked nearby for $12 instead of the effort of taking the train to the train festivities.  We arrived before it started so we could get in line for tickets to the Amtrak excursion.  Next year, I will know to take the second train excursion instead of the first, because by the time you get back from the train ride, some exhibitors had run out of stuff.


Gigi was despondent when we checked our stroller to go on the train.  She thought that the coat check ladies stole it, and kept crying, "my stroller, my stroller!" as if it were her child.

Eventually on the train she was able to enjoy herself, a little.  Henry was, of course, having a great time the whole time.

 

You can tell by his face that this was one of the best days of his life.
The train ride was fun, largely because we were able to see things you wouldn't normally have a chance to, such as the maintenance shed.  I really liked riding along the river, where you were able to see the train level and the "sky rights" level of Chicago at the same time.

After the ride, we played in the area sponsored by Chuggington.  They had been giving away train toys to the kids, but had run out a few minutes before it was our turn.  We did get a DVD of the show, and the kids were really excited about that.  It's so funny to me that in a metro area of nearly 10 million people, we ran into some people we knew there, the Salmons.
We picked up lunch at a famous beef sandwich place near UIC that I don't remember the name of.  Overall, a fun day for the whole family.