Sunny Beach Vacation
Well we did it! We took our 3 children on an airplane and stayed in a hotel room for 4 nights. I was SO nervous that Will would scream on the plane and not sleep in the hotel. I was worried for nothing. He did great! And we all had such a wonderful time. Our hotel was right on the beach in Treasure Island, FL (just south of Tampa on the Gulf of Mexico). We hung out at the pool and the beach for a majority of the vacation. Dan and I built a great sandcastle. The kids helped a little!

The kids would spend the entire day in the pool if we let them.

We took the kids to a miniature golf course that had a real live Alligator exhibit. You could even buy food to feed them! The course was fun. Especially watching Alec and Lauren try to "push" their ball into the hole instead of hitting it!

<-----real alligators!

We also went to Busch Gardens for a day. I love that they have animals (especially the white tigers!) AND rides. Lauren went on 3 rollercoasters. She is my adventuress! Alec really enjoyed the kiddie rides. Both of the kids loved the water ride "Congo River", which is like a giant raft. We got SOAKED! Alec was giggling the whole time!

On the day before we left we went to Fort De Soto. it was built during the Spanish American War to protect Tampa Bay from invasion. Here are a few pictures of the kids at the Battery Laidley.

ALEC IS 4!

Alec's birthday party was a big success. We decided to save ourselves the headache and have friends and family at the same time. (I learned my lesson with Lauren's 2 parties in one day fiasco.) Alec invited 2 of his preschool friends and we also had friends from out of town. The theme was "Batman" of course. Alec has officially moved on from Spiderman to Batman. Sorry Spidey. The night before I drew a large Batman on a poster board so the kids could play "Pin the Symbol on Batman" and we also had a Batmobile pinata. Alec had begged me to get him a piranha (pinata) for his party and how could I refuse that cute little face! I was afraid of death and destruction once the candy spilled out, so I made sure the kids knew that we were going to split the candy up. It actually worked out well. They all sat in a circle and took turns counting out a certain number of pieces. Educational as well as cavity inducing! Alec got lots of summer clothes and some really cool Batman toys. He was very pleased. All in all, it was a very memorable birthday.

Weekend Fun

We planned a crazy weekend of fun in Chicago. We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel. It was beautiful! On Friday night we took the kids to see the Chicago Wolves (hockey) play at the Allstate Arena. Alec was having a ball. He kept asking all these questions. "What are they hitting? Don't they get in trouble for hitting each other? How do they get it in the goal? Why is he (the goalie) wearing those things (pads) on his pants?" It was funny! The lady in front of us turned around laughing and said she loved all his questions. Will did great. There were fireworks whenever the home team got a goal and he never cried. It was loud!

The kids went swimming with their dad on Saturday morning. Will and I watched. The water was a little too chilly for Will to enjoy.

Saturday afternoon we took them to the Brookfield Zoo. It was overcast and chilly, but we still had fun. The animals were all inside. We got to be sooo close to the giraffes! It was amazing! Alec really liked the rhinoceros.

Saturday night, Will decided to wake up at 3:00 am and not go back to sleep until 5:00. I stayed in the bathroom with him. I kept thinking if he wasn't so cute, I'd flush him down the toilet! Sunday morning the kids went swimming again and then time to check out. They went to Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt's while I went to a baby shower for my friend Jennifer. Then Dan and I took my sister Amanda and her husband Craig to a Chicago Rush football game. We had fun!

On a side note, it took me until Wednesday to recover!