Family Vacation 2010 ~ Day 1 and 2

Here we go. On this trip we had three cameras and over 1700 pictures were taken. Last night while we were transferring them to my computer we experienced technical difficulties. Apparently I have too much stuff on my computer already and there was no space for all the new pictures. I went through my digital scrapbook files and threw away a bunch of old stuff. After that we were able to transfer the pictures.

Day One: We left on Tuesday afternoon. That was nice. Often we are on morning flights and it is crowded and I'm sleepy. This time we had plenty of time to sleep in and finish packing that morning. Here we are at the airport, excited to go to the big city! We found out once we got to the airport that Andrew had left his Ipod touch in the car. This was BAD. My mom was going to drive it back to us but we decided to have it mailed instead. We didn't think we could get it and get back through security in time.

The flight was uneventful. Andrew watched a movie on the laptop. Both kids did well on the flight.  

We got our car and this is when we all realized, Chicago is HOT & HUMID! I really don't care for humidity. This car turned out to be a major trial. I smelled of cigarette smoke. It was making our eyes itchy and each time we got in it after it had baked in the sun it smelled worse. We had to go back and trade it a few days later.

Day Two: We decided to take the kids to the Museum of Science and Industry. This is the first glimpse of the city for the kids. They weren't as in awe as I thought they might be.

We all LOVED this museum so much. Everything about it was cool.

They have a weather exhibit right now that was amazing. We could have spent all day just playing in there. Unfortunately we didn't get there until a little before noon and they were closing for a special members event at four. We missed some exhibits and didn't spend as much time as we could have in others.

You could send up the balloon, make the rainbows and even create a tsunami. Here are the kids deciding what kind of wave to make. This time they went for small little waves.

This machine then simulates the wave length that you choose. See the little waves back there? They liked making the tsunami a lot too.

Emma made these rainbows and they had a "tornado" just across the way.

This huge disk simulated an avalanche.

Everything was so fun to watch and play with. 

There was information on farming. 

This is how the kids followed the financial rise and falls of business, by climbing a wall! 

Giant Newton's Cradle

Can you balance a ball on air?

They were amazed by these bodies. Especially the "boy bits" that were still hanging around. 

I thought I got a picture of the central nervous system too, but I guess not. Bummer it would have gone nicely next to this digestive system! 

Part of our city pass ticket included a movie. We chose Take Flight which turned out to be a 45 minute Boeing commercial but it did dump us out by this fun photo op.

We saw a submarine and made a sub out of plastic.

We acted like clowns and played some more. This thing Emma is doing was pretty cool. If you made a shape with your shadow that could hold stuff, it would fill it up with falling shadow pieces. Hard to explain,very cool to watch.

Our time at the museum was over. We weren't ready to go but we had to. We decided to finish the day at Navy Pier.

First things first, food! Mexican Food! 

         

Emma and I wanted to ride on the Ferris Wheel, the boys didn't. We ended up not going because it cost a lot of money and it moved very slowly. We opted for a sunset boat ride/architectural tour on the river instead. Emma is still sad that she didn't get to go on it.

         

        

At the end of the tour they take you out on the lake and race around for a few minutes. The kids loved that part the best.

Here is a view of the city through the sea spray. 

When we got back we found a place to sit and waited for the fireworks. It was very crowded and Andrew was D-O-N-E done. He didn't want to watch fireworks. He's seen enough this year. We stuck it out because I wanted to see them! 

The kids got creme filled churros and that helped him a little. 

The fireworks were fun but with them came mega crowds, which meant mega traffic, so we stayed and wandered around a bit. By that time I was done. It was still almost 90 degrees, very humid and my feet HURT. We stuck it out as long as we could before heading back to our hotel. What a busy, long, day.

A million and one pictures and nothing to blog...

We made it back from Chicago after midnight yesterday, or is that early today? The vacation had its ups and its downs but overall I think we came away with some fantastic memories.

I have been doing laundry all morning. I have a ton of pictures to post but they are all on the laptop which is at work with Paul. I have some pictures from the last couple of days that still on my camera but the card reader is at work, with Paul. I literally don't have a single picture from our trip that I can blog at this time. What's a girl to do?

I guess I will fold more clothes. Fun.

We're Easily Amused-Round Two

Have you played with cornstarch goo? I'm sure you have. Hasn't everyone? If you haven't, you add cornstarch and a little water. Sometimes when you try to pick up the goo or stir it it's hard. When you are still it just drips off your hand. Basically it is like a solid and a liquid all at once. Great fun!

Friday the kids and I worked hard getting the kitchen and dining area cleaned up. It was looking pretty good, especially for us. That afternoon Andrew had a brilliant idea. The question I posed on Facebook was "What is it about a clean kitchen that makes kids want to do science experiments?" I figured it couldn't be that bad so I helped them get started.

No mom, it won't be messy at all.

Look mom, it doesn't sink.

Sigh! Nope, no messes at all, right kids?

It took a long time to get all the cornstarch off the counters, the floor and the sink. Each time I'd wipe things down it would dry and leave a cloudy film. The kids had fun though and eventually it did all get cleaned up.

Youth Conference 2010~Courage to Rescue

Several months my wonderful friend Maria asked if I would be willing to take pictures of Youth Conference. At the time my camera was on the fritz and I was afraid of committing to all five days. What would I do with my kids? But I couldn't say no to Maria.

I put it on my calendar and suggested that maybe they could find some parents of the youth to fill in the gaps. I didn't hear anything until a week or so before. At that point they had found some other people to help out but they still needed me. I was really reluctant. I told poor, sweet, Maria that I wanted to serve on my terms. (Gosh, when am I going to learn?) I was worried about my kids, I was worried about how I was going to do some other things that needed to gone and I was worried that I wouldn't do a good enough job.

After some back and forth with me being stubborn, I was asked to pick Thursday or Friday to take pictures. I chose Thursday. On Wednesday night I needed to go to American Fork. Even though I wasn't on duty yet I felt like maybe I should drop by the amphitheater (It's where opening ceremonies were taking place) to see how things were going. I am so glad I did. I was greeted very warmly by some of the leaders.

I was given a shirt a schedule of the events. I missed a lot of the opening ceremony (It is being run like EFY which I think is a great idea) that evening but I was able to watch part of the concert that was being put on by Jon Schmidt!

He called M out of the crowd and they jammed together. All improvised (according to his mom) and it was AWESOME!!!!!

Look at everyone that was there.

I stayed as long as I could but I had to go before it was over. It was getting too dark to do any good without my tri-pod. I was pretty excited about the next day, even if it meant getting up earlier than I am used to.

Thursday was started with the different companies (groups of youth) having breakfast in members homes. There is no way I could get to all the different houses so I started at the morning side. It was put on by the session director Scott Robley.

Scott speaks at EFY's. He is a CES teacher and is pretty amazing. He is in our ward so I know him well. Any time you get to listen to Scott it is a real treat. He spoke for the first hour. I got some shots of him, the choir and tried to capture the essence of youth conference. (That was my official assignment.) 

**Since these are minors I was photographing I am going to try and only post pictures that don't show faces.**

While I was waiting for classes to begin I got to help (Honestly I barely did anything but it still felt good) get one of the service projects ready. The kids would be knitting hats and putting together kits for Somalian refugees.

Supplies were collected.

Then sorted. 

After the morning side they got to choose between three classes.

This is President Paul. He is the chief of police and in the Stake Presidency. Here he is telling a story about a time when he caught a skunk. Hilarious.

Another speaker was Chad Kirby. He is a bishop and has been with the EFY program for the past nine years. I could barely leave his class, it was so good! I would love to have listened to him the whole hour.

The last speaker was Olympic athlete Noelle Pikus Pace. She races skeleton and was 1/10 of a second away from winning bronze in the Vancouver Olympics. Here she is showing a girl how to use her sled.

So many of the kids wanted autographs and pictures after her class. She was very charismatic and beautiful. Her little girl was there and she was adorable too.

The whole morning I was in awe of the speakers and the amazing opportunity that our youth had to learn from them. I was so thankful to be part of it. You would not believe all the adults that we there giving of their time to pull this off. There were men and women that I am sure were using vacation days. There were so many adults working their bums off in the kitchen to feed these kids. I was blown away. I am sure none of them said, my service will be on my terms.

Look at all of this food that people made. That is bags of chicken back there.

This box was full of avocados for fresh guacamole. A sister had made a bucket of salsa from scratch!

I went home for lunch to make sure the kids were okay. When I got back I was loaded up with chips, salsa and fresh guacamole. Everyone treated me with so much love. I was in heaven.

After lunch it was time for the service projects. Look at all of these kids working to knit hats.

I never heard any of the boys complain. They just worked.

Even our stake president got in on the action! 

I was so sad when my time was up but I knew I was needed at home. I had to go back home to be with my kids. I wish I could have been there for the whole day. Heck I wish I could have been there every day. My heart was so full. I was so excited about what I had seen and heard. I was so impressed with the service that was given by so many to make this opportunity available to our youth. I was blown away by the talent that was there.

I remember how I was when I was a teen. I hope these kids are more receptive than I was. I hope they know how lucky they are. I hope they open their hearts and take in everything. I hope they know how loved and valued they are.

I am proud to say that I was part of this wonderful Youth Conference. Thank you Maria for thinking of me!