October Weekends

Wow - did Fall explode or what?!  The past two weekends the colors have been gorgeous!

Despite how busy and hectic our fall schedule has been, we've tried to make time to just be outside.  For example, one Saturday morning Scott had to take Bailey to Troy since we were going to the waterpark overnight.  While he was gone, the boys and I just drove a mile down the road and explored on Hines Drive.  We stopped at a random playscape and enjoyed the brisk fall air, the beautiful colors, and a pretty little stream that we found.

Or a weeknight after dinner, as the boys tried to soak up some 65 degree early evenings last week by playing outside in the leaves.

Aside from the Indian Summer we continue to have, we've really gotten into the Halloween spirit.  Starting off the season with our favorite event, the downtown Plymouth's Pumpkin Palooza!  The kids got their costumes on and we went trick-or-treating downtown to all the shops and restaurants.  The weather was a bit chilly, but at least it was sunny.

Introducing Jack Skellington!  Bought on Party City's website in the only size they had (a Small equivalent to something Sean would fit in).  So, my mom did some alterations and it fit great!  She found him a hat on Amazon too that would keep him warm, which came in handy with the weather on this day.

And of course, Emmet!  Sean would pick a character from the Lego Movie where there is no pre-made costume we could buy.  So, I did the only thing I knew how to do.  Cardboard, felt, glue, markers, and I got creative!  My mom made the hat and gloves from a pattern she bought on Etsy.  And there we have it!  Halloween Costumes 2015.

Scott had to jump in on the Lego costume fun so he worked on making a cardboard body and a head from a Cheese Ball container.

The boys got to dress up again this past weekend for different events - Sean's elementary school's Pizza Pumpkin Night and of course, the Greenfield Village's Halloween (post to come about that).  We pre-ordered wrist bands for his school's event so the boys could play unlimited games, donated a bag of candy, and volunteered to work a game for a half hour shift.  It was such an awesome event!  Really well planned out and organized!  The boys loved the spooky hallway!

We walked away with two treat bags full of spooky prizes, some candy, and a four pack of cupcakes that Sean won during the cupcake walk.  It was a successful night and I loved the excuse to be in Sean's classroom and school!  I got some sneak peaks at his artwork, assignments, and his desk.

Other fall activities that have kept us busy also include the annual fire station open house.  Man, they do such a nice job at the one right by our house!  The kids love going and they serve lunch - for free.  Sign me up!

Hats seem to be their obsession these days.  Or dressing up in costumes.  Even wearing their Mickey ears.  We had a great opportunity to wear them when I took the boys to Disney on Ice with my parents last weekend.  It was so much fun!  As a former figure skater, it was right up my alley.  Quite possibly my two favorite things combined:  Disney and skating!

$42 for two light up toys
$12 for popcorn
$15 for parking
$10 for 2 bottled waters

And we had ourselves a great time!  I think Peter Pan and Captain Hook stole the show, but we enjoyed the whole thing.

As we are a week away from Halloween, this will be a crazy week!  Halloween parties in both of the boys' classes including a parade for Sean, Sean's last soccer game and pizza party, carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating with their cousins, and Day of the Dead in my classes!  Woo hoo!  I'm excited!  Let the holiday season truly begin!

Girls' Weekend in Chicago!

Back when I was in high school, my mom and I started going on girls' trips as a way to reconnect and bond.  We didn't have the best relationship during my teenage years (I'd like to think that's normal...).  Getting away from all the drama we created at home really helped us build a relationship.  Trips to Florida, Toronto, Chicago, and even Mexico (in college) started to become a tradition.

After I got married and started having kids, it was something we put on hold.  Nursing and raising babies was time consuming and made it difficult to get away for any extended period of time.  Any break I got away from the kids was spent with Scott.

Out of the blue one night in the summer, I stumbled upon a website that said Marc Anthony and Carlos Vives (Latin musicians) were coming to Chicago to perform.  I jokingly texted my mom saying we should do a girls' trip to Chicago to see them perform.  Surprisingly, she was all for it!  She bought the tickets, booked a hotel, and we were set to go in late September to celebrate both our birthdays.  Especially since my mom was celebrating her 60th this year!

The weekend finally arrived!  I took Friday off as a personal day, which worked out well since it was a professional development day.  We dropped Sean off at school and Evan at daycare and hit the road!  It was a smooth drive until we hit the city.  Man, the traffic was something else mid-afternoon on a Friday.  We had stopped halfway in Kalamazoo for lunch at Olde Penninsula Brewery.  Yum!!  French dip sandwiches with onion rings and a pumpkin beer...great start to the trip!

We finally made it to our hotel and checked in.  We decided to stay in Rosemont this time since the concert venue was in Rosemont and the city was only a train ride away.

Since I was battling a sinus infection that was moving into my lungs and on some meds, we took a nice cat-nap in the hotel room to rest up for our late night.  Which was a good thing, since we were out until 1am!  We showered and got ourselves pretty for our dinner out and concert!

We grabbed dinner at this great restaurant down the road from our hotel that served brick oven pizzas, Italian dishes, and these delicious little salads!

The concert was so cool!  Between the people watching (the Latino culture just fascinates me), the late start, and the comedian that warmed up the two performers and spoke in Spanish the entire time (and yes, I understood 90% of what he said), we were in for a real treat!

The next morning, we were a bit slow to rise.  Just kidding.  The hotel phone rang saying we set a wake-up call for some un-Godly hour.  Clearly, we didn't.  They hadn't cleared it out from the last guest.  So, we decided to get up and ready to head into the city.  We grabbed Starbucks breakfast sandwiches and hot drinks in our lobby before getting in the train.  40 minutes later...hello, Chicago!

We made our way right to The Bean for some photo opportunities!

Garrett's was our next stop to stock up on popcorn for the boys back home.  And we made our way down Michigan Avenue over the water, to the shops and pizza restaurants!

No stop to Chicago would not be complete without lunch at Gino's East.  Nor would Sean let me come home with Lego's.  So, we incorporated that in to our schedule.  After a full morning/early afternoon of shopping, we needed to head over to the Lincoln Park area for our Beer Walking Tour.

It would be an understatement to say we had a good time.  6 different bars/pubs/breweries, multiple beer samples, even bacon samples at one place = an amazing time!  We had a fun leader, a great group, and people willing to stick around after to keep drinking.  We finally decided it was time to get back to our hotel since we were staying in Rosemont.  We had an interest bus experience over to the train...one that included shots fired at the door and a smooth exit to an Uber that delivered us right to the train station.  One quick ride later and we were back at the hotel.

The following morning, my mom's actual birthday, we checked out of the hotel and grabbed a delicious breakfast at a highly recommended local diner and hit the road to head home!  It was a smooth drive home with no traffic and no construction!

We had an amazing time - although it flew by!  I can't wait to plan our next little getaway!  :)