Chicago

My mom, Marni and I took a girls trip to Chicago this past weekend. Marni was running the Chicago marathon and really wanted us to go with her so of course we went. We had a great time, I was very uneasy about leaving the boys. Dave and my dad already had their annual chuckar hunting trip planned so Dave's mom offered to watch the boys for part of the time I was gone until Dave got back and watched them the last 2 days. We left Friday afternoon and didn't get home until 2am Wednesday morning due to some issues with our flight. Besides the plane issues the trip was wonderful and so much fun to go to a city I had never been. Chicago is beautiful, clean and so much fun to walk around.

Welcome to Chicago!

 

 We made it! After 2 flights we met up with Marni at the airport Saturday morning at 1am.

After sleeping for a few hours we went to a Caribou coffee shop (Carbiou coffee is my new favorite...oh so good!) had breakfast, worked out at the hotel gym and then headed to the Chicago Marathon race EXPO.

Marni picked up her bib and her swag bag and we walked around the EXPO for a couple hours.

We stayed at the Hyatt and all of the elevator doors had Chicago marathon signs on them. In fact the entire city had marathon signs everywhere we went.

The EXPO was very cool, it had a ton of different vendors and considering there were 45,000 people running the marathon it was really well organized and did not seem too crowded at all. We headed back to the hotel around 4 and then had dinner reservations at 5:30 at RPM which is an Italian restaurant owned by Bill Rancic and his wife Guiliana DePandi. The food was so good, easily the best Italian food I have ever had. We turned in early that night since we all had an early wake up call to get Marni to the marathon start.

Sunday was all about the marathon. Marni rocked this race, I hopped in with her for a bit at mile 13 and snapped some pictures of her running (I had my phone with me). The course was incredible and the crowd support was unbelievable. I don't think there was ever a moment in the entire race when people were not screaming and cheering for you.

 Showing off her marathon medal. She finished in 3:34!

After the race we showered and walked to Lou Malnati's Pizzeria for some Chicago deep dish pizza. We all agreed it was just alright, it was the perfect thing to try after a long run because we were so hungry but the deep crust and all the cheese was not my favorite.

 We finished eating and then hit the town on foot walking to Millennium Park so we could see "the Bean". The bean is basically a bean shape mirror with no seams. If you look into it as just the right angle you can see yourself and the entire skyline of Chicago in the reflection.

 There were so many people there and we also saw a lot of people wearing their marathon medals and hobbling around. Marni was not hobbling and she forgot to wear her medal (much to my mom's dismay), in fact she acted like she had not run at all that day and we walked for two hours around the city before heading back to the hotel for dinner.

That night we went to dinner at La Tavernita which was a Spanish style restaurant with a Latin influence. Also very good and different from anything we had ever had before.

Monday we stayed in bed a little longer and then went to breakfast and had some of Chicago's famous bagels. After breakfast we showered and got our walking shoes on. We were all leaving Tuesday morning so Monday was the only day where we could really explore the city and do some fun things.

We started by walking over to Soldier Field and `checking out the Bears stadium and the official Chicago Bears store.

Then we went over to Navy Pier and walked around.

Navy Pier was right on the water and was gorgeous. It reminded me of a carnival on a boardwalk. There was a ferris wheel and lots of little vendors selling cotton candy, kettlecorn, candied nuts, etc.

Next stop was Wiener Circle which is apparently famous for their hotdogs. We got  2 hotdogs and shared them between the three of us. They were good, the place was just a shack but the food was tasty.

After indulging in some not so healthy food we walked down to Wrigley Field.

After spending the entire day walking and going as fast as we could from place to place so we could see as much as possible we finally made it back to our hotel just in time to change and head to dinner.

We had our last dinner in Chicago at the 95th floor Signature Room, it was a very nice restaurant and the view was completely worth it.

We also celebrated my mom 55th birthday and Marni's 30th birthday.

What a fabulous trip! I loved getting to spend some time with just my mom and sister. It was definitely a trip I will never forget. Thank you Marni for an amazing time, I love you little sister!

Deer Hunting 2012

Deer season opened at the beginning of September (archery only), Dave goes out to my parents place where he has a couple deer stands set up and hunts out of them. Both Colt and Jax were VERY excited about going this year, this was Jax's first year going and Colt's third year. Dave took them on different days and it was something that they both talk about constantly.

 Jax got to go first, Dave said he stopped and let him pick out jelly beans as a treat while they were in the stand. He pretty much smiled the entire time but Dave said the minute the first deer game into sight Jax yells "DAD, THERE IS A DEER" and of course the deer ran away and warned the other ones and they did not see many other deer for the rest of the night. Jax did not care though, he was so excited and happy when he got home and still talks about going hunting all the TIME.

Colt understands a little better since he has gone quite a few times and Dave said he is absolutely perfect in the stand, being very quiet and looking through his binoculars for the deer. It honestly amazes me just how much these boys love to go hunting with Dave and shoot their bows. Pretty sure they are exactly the son's that Dave has always imagined having!

Colt: Preschool and Soccer

Colt started preschool last week at Betty's Preschool. He LOVES it, there were no tears from him on his first day, he was more than ready to go and that makes me all the more confident that we made the right choice in waiting to send him to kindergarten until he is 6. I think having that extra year will be great for his confidence as he gets older as well.

 I tried so hard to get a first day of school picture with all the boys, I must have taken easily 100 of them and this is the only one that turned out with everyone looking at the camera. Colt and Jax did great, Case on the other hand refused to sit still.

 This picture describes Mr. Case's personality perfectly. He is so FULL of LIFE!

Colt has a fall harvest program at his preschool and I was able to go and watch, unfortunately my camera battery died half way through so I did not get very many pictures. He did such a nice job though and he listens very well and tries hard to do what is right. We are so proud of him!

 Colt also started soccer through the Parks and Rec here in Walla Walla. He really loves playing, he has never really played much so he definitely has a lot to learn but we always just tell him he needs to just chase the ball and work hard and that is all we expect of him. It has been fun to watch him work hard and get better as the season went on.

Team picture. I love Colt's smile.

 Jax and Case came to every game, they were both good sports. Jax was his usual chill self........

.....and Case was his usual crazy self.

Back to School.

School started here right after Labor Day. I am still just teaching part time in the mornings, I am teaching Algebra 1-2 this year which is a bit of a change from what I have taught the last couple of years. The prep and planning has been a lot of work and I was really nervous about being able to balance it all and still do a good job of teaching my students. I also went back to school and have started my master's in Secondary Education, it will take me about 18 months to complete. It will be nice to have a master's when I do decide to go back to teaching full time. Dave is back in school as well, finishing up his undergraduate degree at Eastern Oregon University as well as working full time and hunting and fishing as much as his schedule allows. Then, of course, the kids have all their activities; Preschool, Soccer, AWANA, church, playdates and just being kids. It has been a busy start to our fall but I am trying to really enjoy my time at home with them and staying away from the computer as much as possible during the day. Both Dave and I try to save our school work for after the kids are in bed. Here are some random pictures from lately.

 We spend a lot of our afternoon's getting out and enjoying the nice weather before the cold weather hits later this fall.

 Case snuggling his glow-baby and milk in the morning.

 Case needs a post all of his own. He is one of a kind! I have NEVER had a boy like him but oh we LOVE him!

 Colt's favorite time of day right now : craft time. It is NOT fun doing crafts with Case but he will learn.

 Yep, he can now climb up on top of the table and likes to walk around. We have to watch him!

Dee Dee came over one day to babysit when both Dave and I had to work all day.