Saturday, June 16, 2012

Happy Father's Day!

I just want to take a moment to say, happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

We're having brunch with my husband, the boy's Daddy. I just thought I'd be clear because there's my Dad, Grandpa Spiehs and Dadddy's Dad, Grandpa Apel as well. We're going to a place called Dario's Brasserie where he wanted to go for Mother's Day. They were all booked then. I made reservations to go for brunch tomorrow.



Then I'm going to go after lunch to my own Father's house, Grandpa Spiehs. I'm making a June Berry Pie for him. He loves pie! We're going to celebrate Father's Day and my Birthday later this month, after Emerson's first birthday party on the 23rd.

Daddy usually calls his Dad, Grandpa Apel because he lives hours away.

What are you doing for your husband or Dad on Father's Day?

Sing, Sing a Song Saturday

I started nine weeks ago doing what I call Sing, Sing a Song Saturday.  I'm going to post one song on Saturdays that the boys or I like. I'll see how long I can keep it up.

The song may be part of a movie, a kid's video or just a song we like. It may or may not include words. I'll try and include why we like it and/or the history of the song/singer.

This week my sister Terra inspired me for this post. She said that her boys, my nephews are addicted to the ballad of Davy Crockett (In Outer Space) by: They Might Be Giants. She was trying to let them know that, that song was not the original. It annoyed her that they redid the song. She had them watch the Disney version of Davy Crockett to see what Davy Crockett was like.

Does it annoy you when a song is redone? I actually don't mind when it's redone and it sounds totally different. I just don't like it when people rip off a song to sound practically the same as the old one. In my head I'm thinking, "What's the point?" Songs are redone all the time. So are other forms of art. It's one thing to be inspired and another to out right copy.

Here's the original version of the Ballad of Davy Crockett:

 

Here's the Ballad of Davy Crockett (In Outer Space): 


Which version do you like better?

Friday, June 15, 2012

Where's Ally?

At the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago we saw Tornado Alley in their Omnimax theater. We couldn't take any photos. I did however take a photo of a faux tornado they have in the museum.


Mica (age 6) was in awww over the movie! He plays being a tornado with his friends. Whomever is the tornado is the, "Bad Guy". The "Bad Guy" spins around in circles and moves towards the other children. The others have to run into their shelter, which is under their wooden play area.

In the movie they kept talking about trying to find tornado alley. Isaak (age 4) kept leaning into me and asking, "Where's Ally Mommy?" I had to laugh. Trying to explain that one to a 4 year old isn't so easy. Especially considering that we had to be quiet!

Then in the movie they talked about the "Eye of the storm." Isaak again leaned into me with his little voice and said, "Mommy where's the storm's nose and mouth?"

I'm going to be so sad when my boys stop saying funny things to amuse me. It's really funny when they are so serious and don't realize they are being so funny!

Here's a video of the boys playing in the eye of the faux storm. *Please note: Don't try this at home. Playing in the eye of a storm is deadly.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

There's a First Time For Everything

The biggest city the boys have gone to is Kansas City.

There were a a lot of firsts in Chicago!

First Train Ride. They were so excited and sleepy! We had to wake them up at 3 AM to go to the train station, which they knew nothing about.

This is one view from the train:


Everything went really smooth on the train ride for us! 
  • We love that our luggage was within reach. If we needed anything in our big bags, we could just go down and get it. I ended up getting their jackets on the way back because it was cold.
  • The look out train was fun for the kids. That train was lined with windows. 
  • The seats seemed bigger then an airplanes. It's been a long time since I've flown, so I might be wrong about that. 
  • I loved that we could get up and walk around. There was no loud speaker saying, "It's going to be a rough ride folks, you need to sit down and buckle up!" Staying seated for kids can be hard! Mica had a pee accident the last time we flew because we couldn't get up to use the bathroom. He was 2 at the time.
  • Security wasn't so strict. That could be viewed as both good and bad. We didn't like the idea of our kids being patted down and not being able to take their milk along. 
  • I also LOVED that they had outlets. Many people had their laptops. The boys had their portable DVD player.
  • The only hang up on the way there was that a lady got sick. We had to wait awhile for an ambulance to come get her.
This is the look out train:


This picture cracks me up! It's what Daddy looks like when he's not pleased with the kid's behavior. They were good most of the time. This time they were trying to kick at each other for fun. I was laughing at Daddy's expression:


 Daddy doesn't always have the look above! Here's Isaak sound asleep on him:


This is actually at the Science City Museum; we took the Amtrak to and from Chicago:

 

First time on a Subway. Known as the L there.

I loved taking the subway when I lived in Atlanta. I hate that they don't have one where I live now. It's just so handy!
  • Mica kept trying to run in place to go as fast as the subway. As you can imagine, we along with strangers kept having to tell the boys to BACK UP! They just don't understand the dangers that can happen!
  • Isaak kept trying to make his own glasses in the train tunnels. Somehow those glasses made it so he could magically see. 
  • There were lots of people on the subway that were different from what they were used to. Isaak refused to sit next to people he didn't know. For some reason it was a fight to sit by me! Isaak once said, "I don't want to sit by that guy I don't know!" That guy laughed. Then Isaak pointed at a man and said, "That man looks like Santa Claus!" It was an old hippy wearing a Woodstock shirt. He did in fact have a long beard. One lady was cussing someone out on her cell phone; letting out many F bombs. I had to tell Mica to move. Someone said to me, "No one should have to listen to that!"
Here's how we viewed the subway: 


Here's Mica running in place:


Isaak's magic glasses:


First time to see tall buildings. 


Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), which rises 1,454 feet!


This is how Mica was. We kept saying, "Back up!"



First time in a water taxi. 

They have historical water rides. They were more expensive. We figured the boys would like any time out in the water. They could care less about the history; being the ages that they are.





Tuesday, June 12, 2012

WW: Amtrak {Linky}

Mica was focused on what was outside the window.
Isaak always colors with all the colors.
Snack time!
The Junior Conductor hat made Isaak happy!
Of course Mica loved his hat as well!



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Surprise

Daddy secretly planned, I secretly packed. The boys did not know we had a week vacation planned to go to Chicago.

We were lucky to spend most of our nights at our friend Sam's house. He was Daddy's best man in our wedding.

We took a 9 hour train ride there, walked around Chicago, took the subway, took buses and a water taxi. There were many firsts for the boys. We went to a museum every day.

I have many, many pictures that may take awhile to post. I'll try and post most of them.

At 3 AM we woke the boys up to go to the Amtrak Train Station.

They didn't know what to think. In fact they were so tired, they didn't ask too many questions about where we were going.

Mica was the first to figure out our adventure when he read the word, "Train".



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The opinions on this blog are my personal take on products and topics relating to motherhood. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.

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