Chicago/Wisconsin Dells Vacation 2012

                             

We took off early Sunday morning on the 29th and headed straight to Shedd Aquarium. There was about a 1/2 hour wait to get in, so the kids and I explored while Adam waited in line. They were very impressed by the “ocean!” (Lake Michigan)

 

Diver in the tank feeding the fish

 

The jellyfish were my favorite!

 

My friend Lindsay was out of town and offered to let us stay in her condo while we were in Chicago. It was PERFECT! Only a 1/2 mile from Wrigley and 1/2 block from the train station. The kids enjoyed breakfast on the balcony.

 

First ride on the “El!” They were pumped! It was full of commuters on the way there and Brevin couldn’t get over why no one was talking  Not everyone was giggling with glee to be on the train!

 

The afternoon at the beach turned out to one of the best of the trip. We could have spent even more time there. Adam and Brevin played catch in the water and Jaeley and I built sand castles.

 

Trip to the Willis Tower- high point in the United States. Eeek! I couldn’t go out on this ledge. Actually, I think Adam did convince me to stand on it for the picture…see my feet in the corner?

 

Then came the big event- and the really reason for the Chicago detour….the kids’ first Cubs game! Here Adam and Brevin stay busy marking the score card, while Jaeley gets to work on a bag of peanuts

 

On to Wisconsin Dells where we stayed at The Wilderness. It was a kid’s (and Adam’s) dream! We did nothing but waterparks for 4 days straight. And this was the only pic I got-Brevin’s feet splashing into the water.  Show’s how much fun we had

 

We stayed with Nailors, which was probably the best part of the trip! The kids got along so well- Brevin and Jaeley even started called Copper, Maggie, and Wesley their cousins. Olympics were on, so the adults stayed up and watched that after the kids went to bed. Great trip with great friends.

 

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An afternoon at Lake Michigan

A life changing day

May 22, 2012- the day that a prayer had been answered and our family is going to GROW!  Joy, thankfulness, and shock all rolled into one moment. 
Here are the events leading up to seeing the little plus sign.
May 19- Mom and Dad and us load up in our van for a trip to Alex’s graduation. My apple tastes a little funny on the way down and I get a little carsick when we get to the hills of Kearney but so does my mom so I write it off.
May 20- Day 28- feeling very crampy with backache and a stomach twinges.
May 21st- Take a pregnancy test mid-day and think I see a tiny blue speck where there would be the positive vertical line, but other than that it looks negative. Mad at myself for thinking I was pregnant. Report to Adam that I took a test that may or may not have had a little positive speck on it. He emphatically states that I am not pregnant and there is no such thing as a slightly positive test.
May 22nd- Pregnancy test first thing in the morning. I watch and wait. Not immediately positive. Bury head in hands and ask myself why I keep wasting money on tests. Look up again and see a plus sign!!  Wait until Adam is out of the shower and then tell him that I need help reading this one, because I must not be very good at it.  He takes it, looks, drops jaw, looks at me, looks at test, looks at me, looks at test. “You ARE pregnant!”


Trusting in God means trusting in His timing. I love these mirror cards that hang in my bathroom and this one was staring me in the face this morning- it’s soooo true! Thank you for this HUGE blessing and for answering our prayers, always within your divine timing and plan.

Remember this…

In the interest of using this blog as a place to permanently capture memories and stories, I have two things I wanted to get down tonight before bed.

First: the kids and I spent another afternoon at the Adel pool today- and they both had new tricks. They insisted on spending the majority of their time in the deep end with the big kids…Jaeley diving over and over, and Brevin doing flips off the side. This follows a trip to the Hampton aquatic center this summer where Brevin went off the high dive a few times. Wow! B and J- consider it “on the record” that you were little fish at ages 4 and 5…and Jae announced during a break that she was going to be a lifeguard when she grew up and Brev concurred. Time will tell:)

Second: A story from last spring (April/May 2011)

Jaeley had been having trouble at daycare. She had been hitting and yelling at friends when she got upset. She even bit someone. My hunch was that she was feeling left out because she was the the part-timer there and didn’t feel like she was fitting in. I had used up all my counselor tricks- including starting her on a behavior chart. We were at our wits-end and didn’t know what to do about it!  One day after dropping Brevin off at school, she was looking out the window of the van on the way home and said matter of factly, “Mommy, God talked to me in my dream last night.”  I waited, not wanting to lead her, but she didn’t say anything so I prompted “Yah? What did he say?” 

Jaeley answered, “He gave me a hug and telled me he loved me and not to be mean.”

All I can say is that she didn’t have any problems the rest of the year, and that I’m in awe of God’s ability to get through to such a little person. Bet it would help a lot of people to get a hug and be told they are loved:)