Omaha

I can't believe that we have already been in Omaha for almost 4 weeks. I have a feeling this summer is going to fly by. We are happily settled into my parent's basement. It was so nice to pull into a familiar city, with just our suitcases of clothes, and know that we had a nice, furnished house waiting for us. We are SO, SO grateful to my parents (and brother) for letting us crash here for the summer. I think they they are enjoying having us (...at least that is what they claim!)

John is really enjoying his internship at ConAgra Foods, and we have been enjoying the "market research" we have done at home eating up lots of yummy Marie Callender dinners and pies. We are also loving ConAgra's Summer Fridays on which he gets out of work at about 1:00. On his first Friday, we all went to the zoo. It was a hot day, so we spent most of our time visiting the indoor exhibits, the aquarium being our favorite.

Makenna has LOVED being here with Grandma and Grandpa at the lake. Our biggest problem is keeping her inside. With a view like this out the window,


I can't blame her, but it is just a little scary having her be able to just wander outside to the water anytime she wants. We are trying to be very diligent about not letting her down to the beach without a life jacket, and making sure that she is never outside alone, but she has managed to "escape" a few times. Yesterday my dad set up the alarm system so that it now beeps whenever a door opens, so hopefully we won't have any more breakouts!

Hudson is now 7 1/2 months old, and has learned all kinds of new things since we've been here. He can now roll over both ways (which he wasn't really doing before), he can feed himself (his favorites are animal crackers and nilla waffers), and he is starting to wave bye-bye, and get up on his hands and knees. I am sure he will be crawling before the summer is over. He has also fallen asleep in his highchair several times. We were all eating dinner one night, when my mom noticed that Hudson had sucked himself to sleep using a piece of bread. A few days later it happened again this time with an animal cracker. I know food can be comforting sometimes, but using it as a pacifier was a new one for me.

The transformation

from baby to Big Girl is complete!

Before we left Bloomington, we decided that we needed to do one of two things, either potty train Makenna OR get rid of her binki. Well, we went for the potty training, knowing that she was ready, and not wanting to A) potty train her at my parents' house on their nice carpet, or B) wait until the end of the summer and maybe miss her "readiness window".

Potty training Makenna went so well, and was SO much easier than I ever thought it would be, so after a week, we decided that we should get rid of her binki too. We told Makenna that it was time for her to give her binkis to the Binki Fairy to take to new little babies who didn't have any binkis, and in exchange, the Binki Fairy would bring her a new Big Girl toy.

So the stage was set, and Makenna was super excited to package up her binkis and put them on the doorstep for the Binki Fairy.

And was even more excited about her new Big Girl toy; a doggie which she named Elle.

So all was well until it was time to go to bed. Makenna yelled, screamed, and cried for an hour and a half before finally falling asleep around 11. The only way that I was able to resist running to the garbage can and retrieving her binkis is because she was more mad than sad. She wasn't acting devastated, but more just really, really mad. Luckily she only did that for one night, and has since adjusted well.

I am glad to only have one baby with diapers and binkis now.

Six Flags Great America

On Wednesday morning after our 2 nights in downtown Chicago, we headed up to Six Flags for the day. We arrived when it opened, and after spending way too much money to get in (luckily Makenna and Hudson were free), we spent the next 6 1/2 hours going on ALL of the kiddy rides OVER and OVER and OVER again.

We thought the park was going to be over-run with middle-schoolers after watching bus after bus arrive, but once we made it to where the little kid rides were, it was pretty much empty.

To say that Makenna loved it would be a huge understatement. Since it was so empty, she would just ride the same ride 3 or 4 times in a row. I thought that she might get a little scared on a couple of the rides like the kiddy roller coaster, but she just laughed and laughed.

Mid-way through the day Makenna started to get wet in this little splash park area, and then wanted to take off her wet clothes so she could play in the water. I tried to convince her that it was okay for her to just get wet in her clothes since I brought an extra outfit, but she refused. We were barely able to get her to keep her underwear on. I normally wouldn't have let her run around in her undies at such a public park, but it was pretty empty, so...

I think this was Makenna's favorite ride. (A little kid version of the free-fall ride.) She went on this thing probably 2 dozen times.
Hudson enjoyed the park as well.

It was a little strange to go to such a big amusement park, and not really go on any of the "normal" rides (I think John made it on two of them) but we were surprised at how much fun we had watching Makenna enjoy this new experience, and were glad that we made the effort to go.

Chicago: Family Style

2 Parents

2 Kids

2 Nights in downtown Chicago

On Monday, we packed up our car and headed to Chicago to spend a few days before driving to Omaha for the summer for John's internship.

We didn't arrive in Chicago until about 6pm on Monday, so we didn't do too much besides check in to our hotel, and go out to eat at The Grand Lux Cafe. Which is actually a big deal, because the food there is DELICIOUS! (Think Cheesecake Factory but better...I would HIGHLY recommend the Beignets!)

On Tuesday, we walked to the Lincoln Park Zoo (which is free btw), where we spent the morning looking at animals, riding the train and carousel, climbing, and otherwise enjoying the beautiful weather.

Makenna really wanted to hold the baby gorilla, but for some reason couldn't get it out of it's mom's arms.

They had this great indoor climbing area that Makenna loved. She spent a good 45 mins. climbing in this thing.
The carousel
A view of downtown Chicago from Lincoln Park.
After a stop at our hotel where we all took naps, we walked down to the Children's Museum at Navy Pier (we did A LOT of walking). We got in free because of our membership to the Children's museum in Bloomington, so that was a plus. Makenna and Hudson both had so much fun at the Museum. There were tons of different, fun areas to explore.

Here are a few pictures:


The museum had these great areas for non-walkers that Hudson just loved. Here he is trying to kiss himself in the mirror. He did this for about 15 minutes...it was pretty funny to watch.
We actually had a really great time in Chicago. There is so much to do there, and a lot of it is very family-friendly. On Wednesday we headed up to 6 Flags for the day(...post to come).

Swagger Wagon

I saw this video on a friend's blog and thought it was hilarious. I've been kinda anti-van, but this video makes me think maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Check it out here:

The Swagger Wagon

Turkey Run State Park

Rain, Potty Accidents, and Bugs

Those are just a few of the things that I thought might await me when we went camping on Friday night. However, I was really excited about the chance to go with some friends, and figured that since it was just for one night, it would be okay.

Well, I am happy to report that it was more than okay, it was a blast! None of the things that I worried about were even a little bit of a problem. It didn't rain at all while we were there (even though it had been raining all week). There were no mosquitoes to be found, and Makenna did not have a single potty accident. We enjoyed a beautiful day of hiking, playing with friends, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, and telling lots of fun stories around the fire.

Setting up our little tent that barely fit the 4 of us.

Hudson hung out in the back of the car while we worked.

All of the kids getting ready for our hike.

Our hike through the State Park was absolutely beautiful. The majority of it was in water that ran through limestone canyons.

After our hike, we played by the side of the river throwing rocks, and playing in the sand

We were all pretty wiped out by the end of our hike, and actually didn't sleep too bad in our tent. Although at one point during the middle of the night, I thought I heard a raccoon scratching at the outside of our tent. It took me a few minutes to realize that it was Hudson, who having woken up without a peep, was just trying to grab the side of the tent!

Half a Year

Hudson was 6 months on Mother's Day, and although I don't have long to post tonight (...getting ready for a fun adventure tomorrow), I just wanted to post a couple of pictures of this sweet baby boy. He is such a happy, easy-going baby, and we are so lucky and blessed to have him in our family.

These next two pictures were taken tonight. After Hudson's bath, I sat him on the couch next to John and started picking up the house a little bit. One minute Hudson was happily playing with the lotion bottle, and then the next minute he was out.