Legoland

We have been wanting to get Leaf a trailer bike all Spring. Nathan has watched craigslist and Ebay, but they were only coming up in the Chicago area. We decided to bite the bullet and drive up there to get one. Since we were going all the way there, we decided to take the kids to Legoland and stop at REI (we miss having an REI close to us).

Here is Everest at the entrance to Legoland. Gotta love his style (lightning McQueen shirt and his fleece cheetah pants I made him for Halloween).

Miniature Chicago. There is a whole room of famous buildings and parks in Chicago. Everest and I spent more than 30 minutes here. The lights go off in the room and the buildings, streets and fountains all light up. The Elevated train runs back and forth through the room......

....And there is a construction site, where the kids can operate the crane.

They have 4D movies you can watch. The movies are 10-15 minutes.

They have a ride there, that reminds me of ET. Nathan and I were not exactly sure what this had to do with Legos, but the kids really enjoyed it. Everest roade it at least 4 times. He even went by himself when Nathan took Leaf!

Aurora enjoyed crawling around anytime she could.

She could see all the people and giraffe outside. She was talking up a storm.

Leaf crawling through the lion!

Everest getting eaten by the lion.

We all had a good time, we spent 5 hours there. We thought we would be home by 8, but at 11 we were still on the road. We didn't leave Chicago until after 9!

Dinner on the lawn

We ordered dinner from our favorite pizza place in West Lafayette, Brunos. The kids wanted to eat outside with their table. I got them plastic flute glasses for Valentine's day and they love them.

Nathan and Aurora chilling.

The boys tap their glasses before they drink. Sometimes they are cute and do get along!

New Fridge

We had to buy a new washer and fridge over Memorial day weekend. Nathan was in the middle of a washing marathon, when the motor quit on our old washer. It was old, but it served us well. We had also been checking the temperature in the fridge for a week. When it gets above 75 degrees outside, the fridge quits making ice, runs constantly and doesn't stay very cold. Memorial Day weekend was hot and the fridge didn't get below 45 degrees. We headed to Lowes for new appliances. They were delivered Tuesday evening.

The kids were sooo excited when the truck arrived.

Everest and Leaf, helping take off the plastic wrapping. Everest was serious about getting all the plastic off.

Our new fridge....well, at least for 2 days. This fridge was a nightmare. It is a very long story, so I will give you the short version. The gasket would not seal on the fridge door, the cooling element was broken, and so was the door sensor. While I was putting the kids to bed, Nathan started playing with all the fancy buttons, one of which was the door alarm. It started beeping loudly. The kids freaked because they thought it was a tornado siren. Nathan and I tried everything to get the alarm off, but since the door wouldn't seal, it wouldn't shut off. He even called Lowes and they didn't know what to do. After 2 hours of reading, and pushing buttons, we put a ratchet strap around it to hold the door shut. It worked for about 45 minutes and then the alarm would go off again.We had to get up push on the fridge and reset the alarm. This happened THE ENTIRE NIGHT! We were both exhausted, it didn't occur to us, until morning to unplug it. We ended up getting a new fridge on Saturday and we love it. In the meantime we lost a lot of food, but the beer fridge and the neighbors fridge came in handy. Thanks Brad and Jeaneen!

Playing Tennis and Driving the Car

Last summer, Nathan found a tennis racket in all of our stuff that was left in Montana. We recently went through all the boxes he brought back. The boys immediately claimed the tennis racket. Everest say the "older" neighbor boys hitting a tennis ball in the air with the racket. When he asked them what they were doing, they said playing tennis. Now, that is how Everest thinks tennis is played. Both boys LOVE to play tennis. 

Leaf is starting to pick out his own clothing. This was his tennis outfit.

A back view. Can he get much cutier?

Yes, he will be a ladies man!

Leaf practicing tennis in the front yard.

Nathan had to move the car from the garage to the street to make room to get the new washer in the basement. We bought a new washer and fridge over Memorial day, both quit working that weekend. He asked the kids if they wanted to help "move" the car. Of course, everyone wanted to. All three kids piled into the front seat. 

Aurora, telling her dad which way to go, while Leaf checked the radio.

Aurora is helping Nathan check the mirrors.

Cruising with daddy.

Biking to Prophetstown

We decided to go on a bike trip this summer with the kids.  We are going in late July. We miss being outdoors. Nathan looked at Google Earth and found a string of State Parks, Recreation Area and Forests in southern Indiana. He also looked at all the roads and found the least traveled ones for us. We are starting at Turkey Run State Park and ending at Brown County State Park. It should be 130 mile trip, but that doesn't include daily trips to the grocery store, restaurants and laundry mats.
We have been taking the kids out on bike trips when Nathan gets home from work. Sunday we decided to step it up a bit and add some weight.


Getting ready for a long bike trip. We biked to Prophetstown State Park. Nathan and Everest towed Aurora. Leaf and I towed camping gear, water and flour (for extra weight).

Taking a break at the Soldiers Home. Everest loved the cannon.

The back of Nathan's trailer...oats, flour, flax seed, raisins. Anything that won't break and make a mess.

Aurora looking through a bench. She is not feeling well. Her eyes are all red, swollen and watery. She still enjoyed the trip. When we take a break, she crawls through the grass(eating most of it as she goes) and pulls herself up on anything she can get a hold of.
I went upstairs the other day to help Leaf in the bathroom. I was not in there more than a minute and I told Leaf I needed to check on Aurora. When I looked in the hallway, she was on the second to top step! It was her first attempt at climbing the steps and she almost made it to the top.

Nathan, Everest, and Aurora on "the train". We bike 19 miles today!!!!!! Nathan said it was going to be 14, but we made some detours so it ended up being 19. 

Our get up! I towed Leaf up this big hill. What you see in the background is not even half of the hill. At one point I told Leaf to keep pedaling to help me go fast up the hill. He said "Mama, I am pedaling!" When I looked back, sure enough he was, but he was pedaling backwards. He thought that was very funny!