Wearin' O' The Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Last weekend we had a family weekend just outside Chicago (a perfect middle meeting place between Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin). Our time was filled with silliness (what do you expect with a 5, 3, and 1 year old?) and adventure as we all rode the Metra in to downtown Chicago.

Our intention was to visit the Shedd Aquarium. Little did we know the whales, dolphins, and penguins were on vacation while their habitat underwent an upgrade. This changed our minds about spending time and money to see the "lesser" aquatic species. (Let's remember you're talking about the attention spans of a 5, 3, and 1 year old).

Instead, we ventured through the St. Patrick's day parade line up, saw the "giant bean" in Millennium park, and viewed the vibrantly green river. All in all still a successful trip, as we followed the golden rule of large group interaction, especially when children are involved: "always quit while it's still fun!" It certainly helped that the weather was gorgeous, too!

Another highlight to the weekend was swimming in the hotel pool and hot tub. It was Henry's first experience in a pool and he LOVED every minute of it. By the end of our session, Aunt Jennifer had convinced him to try dipping his face in the water to blow bubbles. To think next year he might be jumping in as bravely as Andrew and Julia do boggles my mind. You would think after all this expenditure of energy it was quiet and peaceful at night. And you'd be wrong. We struggled BIG TIME with sleeping soundly in the hotel room. Which made for one exhausted momma by the end of the weekend. Henry will have to turn over a new leaf before I think about taking him to another hotel in the future...oh wait, we have some long distance weddings to attend this year. More sleep training, here we come!

P.S. Thanks, Aunt Jessica, for providing the festive t-shirts!