Chicago Vacation

Our Travel Bin 

We took Kaylie to Chicago this last weekend. We were going to Zach's Cousin Morgan's wedding so we decided to make it into a family vacation.

Lincoln Park Zoo

We started out on Friday morning around 6 a.m.; Zach, Kaylie & I were in our car and Zach's parents & sister were in another car. We grabbed breakfast and headed on our way. Kaylie was great in the car, probably because we were very prepared. I took some advice from Pinterest and made a travel bin. I got things from the clearance and $1 bins at Target. I got a notebook & crayons, a beach ball, pool toys, a Duplo set, ColorWonder Markers & pad, Mickey books, and we made sensory bottles. I then wrapped a few of them so that she had something to open up. She loved this and she has gotten good and unwrapping presents...she will be ready for Christmas I am sure. Zach also got our tablet set up with Mickey & some Disney movies. She loved this!

Napping with Daddy

We ate lunch in Elgin, IL around 11 a.m. and headed on our way. We got to the hotel about noon and got checked in. Once we were checked in we headed downtown Chicago. We decided to start our trip out at the Lincoln Park Zoo. It is a free zoo so we thought it would be fun to check it out. At first, all the animals were hiding, but we finally got to see them. Kaylie loved the animals even though she was very tired because she only got a 45 minute nap.

The Everman Family

Mickey!

After the zoo, we decided down to Navy Pier. It was an interesting experience since it was rush hour on Friday night in downtown Chicago. We parked down at the Pier and walked down the Pier for a little bit. Bubba Gump's was our choice for dinner that night. It was good, Kaylie feel asleep on me so I had a hard time eating. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and went to bed pretty earlier. Kaylie slept the whole night in the hotel without waking up...first time ever.

Dancing at the wedding

Saturday morning, we woke up and ate at the hotel. We then decided to take Kaylie swimming for a little bit. After that Zach, Ashley, Kaylie & I went to the mall that was just down the street. We went to the Disney Store and got Kaylie a Minnie Doll & little Princesses. Kaylie didn't seem to be feeling well so we got her back to take a nap, which she ended up taking on daddy. We got ready and headed to the wedding. It was a gorgeous day for an outdoor wedding. We had a great meal and got to dance a little. Kaylie had a blast even though she seemed to have a stomach bug.

The Bean!

Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early and ate at the hotel. We packed up and then headed back into town again. We decided that Willis Tower was the first stop so we parked down by the tower and headed there. It was quite fun and Kaylie was fearless of course. She sat out on the sky deck and didn't want to leave. I was happy that Zach finally got to see the city from the Tower. We then headed to Millennium Park and saw the bean. Kaylie loved this because she kept seeing the baby in it. It was lunch time so we ate at the cafe there at the park. It was pretty good and Kaylie finally was feeling better and ate all of her hot dog.

Zach & I at the Fountain

 After lunch, we headed to the Buckingham Fountain which was on the way to the Shedd Aquarium.We were all starting to get tired so we didn't stay very long; we continued on  to the Shedd. We walked along the Lake which was beautiful. We got to the Shedd and there was a huge line because was a little scary. Luckily, we had a stroller so we got to skip the line. The Shedd Aquarium was an amazing place and Kaylie loved it. She loved the Aquatic Show the best, which was my favorite too because there were Dolphins. They are my favorite! We then headed back to our car, Kaylie finally feel asleep on the way to the car. We then headed on our way, it took us about 45 minutes to get out of Chicago because we ran into traffic. Kaylie did great on the trip back again, she played with her toys and watched movies. I turned the tablet off right around 8 p.m. and she feel asleep shortly after and slept all the way home.

At the Aquarium with Papa!

Willis Tower...our fearless child!

We had a great trip and it went much better than we thought it would have. It was harder to take a trip with a 1 year, but it was a lot of fun too.

All Day Playdate with Luke

Playing with my cousin!

Snack time!

 Last Thursday we had my nephew Luke for an all-day play date. Kaylie really loved having her cousin there to play with and we had a fun filled day. The morning we spent just playing around...my clean house got pretty messy quickly. It is amazing what two little 1 year olds can do to a clean house. Since my sister forgot to bring his high chair so we had our snack picnic style. I think the kids really enjoyed being able to sit on a blanket and eat their snacks.

 We then decided to meet Uncle Zach for lunch at Pump Haus. Kaylie really enjoyed it because she got to sit in a booster seat for the first time. Luke took a nap through lunch; which was good because he takes a morning nap and he didn't get it that morning.

Getting ready for lunch!

Playing at the water table!

Kaylie feel asleep on the way home from lunch so it was just Luke and I for about an hour and a half. He is a lot quicker than Kaylie; can't imagine what he will be like when he is walking better.

After both kids had a nap and a snack of course; we went outside to play on Kaylie's water table. They both had a great time. My sister thinks that she might have to get one now.

Kindermusik fun!

We are happy right now!

They splashed around for awhile and then it was time for Kindermusik. It was a lot more diffcult taking two little ones, but it was fun. Kaylie loved it as always, except when mommy had Luke on her lap. Luke doesn't didn't seem impressed, but if he went more often he would probably get used to it. Kaylie loves it so much that now she dances whenever she hears music. Side note: she will be taking another summer camp of Kindermusik and hopefully she will be enrolled in the Fall semester too.

What a mess!

Taking a nap!

When the kids and I got home we decided to take them for a bike ride and have a picnic. Luke and Kaylie did awesome on the 3 miles out to the picnic spot. They both fell asleep it was pretty cute! We ate our dinner and played a little. Then it was time to head back and Luke started crying when we put him in the trailer. We stopped to try to get him calm, but it didn't work so we decided we just needed to get home. Kaylie then was not happy we are pretty sure because he was upset so she was upset. Once we got home we ran over to Grandma & Grandpa's and both kids were happy. Then it was time for Luke to go home with his mommy.

Overall we had a great day and we hope Luke enjoyed our chaos! We hope he will come to visit again!

Where has our baby gone...15 Months

After Kaylie's 1st birthday I decided that I would blog every three months about what she is doing.

Movement: Kaylie started walking just before her birthday and she has gotten really good. She is now running almost every where. She doesn't let us carry her very much which is usually okay unless we are in a store or parking lot. We have to watch her very carefully because she doesn't like to hold hands. She is quite independent! 

Eating: Kaylie eats almost anything we put in front of her; some her favorites are BBQ chicken, Mac & Cheese, Ramon Noodles, Spaghetti M & M's and fruit snacks. She eats 3 meals a day and 2 snacks. She usually drinks milk, but she likes juice and water with Mio in. 

Teeth: Kaylie currently has 5 teeth. Teething has been too bad yet, but we will see how the rest go. 

Sleep: She is a wonderful sleeper....she goes to bed 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. and sleeps until 6:45 to 7:15 a.m. Kaylie only takes one nap a day now and it is usually from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Thank you daycare for getting her on a pretty set schedule!

Voice: Kaylie loves her voice very much and she is becoming quite the talker. Here are her new words:
Uh-Oh
Baby (BaBa)
Ball (Ba)
Shoes
Hi 
Buh-Bye
Yea 

It is getting so great because she now answers our questions, she almost always answers them with a "yea". So we aren't quite sure that she knows what we are saying, but it is still a lot of fun. We can't wait to hear all the new words she is going to start saying. 


Favorites: Her water table, she loves to play in the water and would probably play all day if she could. 
Her new bike, we got Kaylie her first bike and she loves it. She doesn't quite know how to ride it, but she will get there. Daddy wants to have her riding by herself by the age of 2. She loves to climb, she can climb up on a lot of things. She also thinks it is great to climb up the slides at the park which makes her mommy nervous.

Diapers/Clothes Size: Size 3 Diapers & she is mainly in 18 month clothes...she can wear 12 month dresses still. 





Nicknames: Bubba, Bug-a-boo, Miss Kaylie

Relay for Life 2012

On Friday June 15th, we participated in our first Relay for Life. My sister and I decided to do this in honor of our sister-in-law, Diane. She went in for her routine mammogram in March 2011 and had a biopsy for a suspicious mass. They determined cancer was present, so they decided to do surgery in April. After getting a deep cough with no flu/cold symptoms in November, they found out it had spread to the lungs. She just found out this month that the cancer has now spread to her brain and spinal cord.

On Friday afternoon, mom, my brother Jeff, Kaylie and I went over to Hawkeye Community College to get our camp set-up. It was very hot, but we got the tent up in about 45 minutes which was pretty good since I haven't ever put our tent up by myself. We then went back to get my sister and her and I went back to set-up the canopy tent for the night. Her and I went to back to get Zach and all the kids. We then made it out to the campsite around 5:30 p.m. and started decorating the campsite.

Opening ceremony was at 6:00 p.m. and they did a little announcement and then the survivors and caregivers took the track. We then did one lap as a team and then we started walking. Zach and I walked the first 45 minutes or so. Then my brother Tom & his family took over at 7:00 p.m and they walked until about 12:30 a.m. Then my sister Melissa, my brother Jeff, my brother-in-law Dennis, Zach and I took the track. Dad came out and walked an hour at about 3 a.m.

It was a very emotional night and I was glad that we kept Kaylie there with us. She did awesome...she feel asleep in her stroller at 10:30 p.m. after the fireworks and slept until 4:30 a.m. when she unfortunately fell over the air mattress. Our niece Katelyn also stayed over night with us. It was a great experience and the lack of sleep and pain we were feeling is nothing compared to what all of these people with cancer are going through. We hope that we helped with our fundraising total of $3,070...not too bad for starting in February.

The whole Relay was a huge success because they bet their goal by more than $15,500. Their goal was $196,000 but the final total was $211,500. This money goes toward cancer research, education and outreach programs. We are glad that we took part in such an amazing and hope that the FIGHT AGAINST CANCER continues until we find a CURE.

Thanks to everyone that help us achieve our goal.

To read more of Diane's story and to get updates please go to her Caring Bridge: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dianeishmael