Happy Birthday Luke!!

Luke turned 4 on June 14th. This year, since his party was going to be small and simple, I let him pick what he wanted, and he chose to have a CARS party. Even with only a few family members here, he still managed to get a lot of great gifts, and had a good time. He constantly tells us now that he can do harder things because he's "4 old" now. And a special thanks to Marcus, who kept all the kids entertained with Luke's new games, while I took a nap since I was miserable with strep!!

My kids

I wanted to end my trip blogs with photos of my kids. We were gone over 2 weeks, with thousands of miles and many hours in the car, and they were both awesome the whole time. I'm not sure how many families would take on that long of a car trip with an almost 4 year old and a 3 month old, but I'm glad we did. No matter what we did on our trip, we enjoyed it because we got to spend that time with our kids. I really feel blessed to have Luke and Mia, and I'm not really sure what I ever did with my time and energy before they were around! So here are the last photos - just ones of my kids. I love the one of Luke at the zoo, because it shows him "reading." Lately he'll read things on his own - he'll follow the words with his fingers and use context clues to figure out what it's saying. So maybe it's not the exact words, but hey, he's using skills my third graders don't always use! The last one of Luke pretty much sums up how we were all feeling those last two days driving home. I even woke Marc up to capture it with the camera while I was driving

Chicago

We spent the last days of our trip in Chicago. We drove up there from Van Wert, and went to the Cubs game Monday, then spent Tuesday at the Navy Pier and just walking around the city for a little while. It was a perfect day out so we really got lucky our whole trip with the weather - with all of our outdoor plans, nothing ever got rained out. The first thing we did at the Navy Pier was go up in the huge Ferris Wheel - even Mia went! It was all enclosed, so please don't think we were being stupid for taking her! :) Luke loved it, and wasn't at all afraid of heights. Marc, on the other hand... After that, we just walked around the pier, and then went in to the Children's Museum. There, Luke got to drive an ambulance, play in water, and dig for dinosaur bones. We headed to Michigan Ave next, where we sat down to let Luke catch a nap and I got to go in a few stores. We took a long walk farther into town in hunt of Gino's East Pizza where we ate some good deep dish pizza, and that was about the end of our day. It was definitely worth making that side trip from Ohio, and made the trip home just a little bit shorter.

Family

I thought I'd add a few shots of some of the family moments I captured. I realize now I have none with my mom and dad... I'll have to capture a few while you're down visiting now! Check out the one of Luke elbowing Jake... had to put that one in. That's my boy!

Baseball Games

While on our trip, Marc and Luke went to 4 MLB games, while Mia and I went to two. First we all went to Cleveland with my mom and dad, so that was Mia's first game ever. She was so great at it, but then again, she's almost always great. There were great fireworks after the game so it was worth being there till midnight! Then Marc, Luke, and dad went to Pittsburgh. The hilight of that game for Luke was the river and the free Pirates plate set! While visiting Amy, Chris and Jacob joined the boys and went to Cincinnati for a Reds game. Finally, in Chicago, the 4 of us went to Wrigley Field, where the Astros happened to be playing. I'll try to put the photos in order, but if I mess up, I'm sure you can figure it out!!

Zoos

Here are the first photos from our journey up north. There's lots of photos to share, so keep checking back. I promise not to share all 200, but will do my best to give you a play by play of trip, because I know you all want to hear every detail!! :)

We went to two zoos - Cleveland and Ft. Wayne. Luke could go to a zoo every day I think and never get tired of seeing the animals! My friend Vickie and her family came with us and mom and dad to Cleveland, and we went with Amy's family to Ft. Wayne. In Ft. Wayne Luke and I rode a new sky lift they had, and he wasn't at all scared of it. Amy, however, was very willing to stay on the ground with Mia!

Home Finally

After over two weeks, 59 and a half hours in the car, and 3175 miles, we're home. We got in this afternoon and had every intention to get a lot of things done, and do something fun with Luke for his 4th birthday today, but then Marc has had an awful headache all afternoon and evening, and I've managed to pick up a fever today and felt pretty lousy for the most part. I have so many photos so I'll have to pick and choose what I share - relatives, zoos, baseball games, Chicago... I'm way too tired and achy to tackle it tonight but I'll try to put some on tomorrow. We had a good time, but I realize that we did so much that it seems we forgot to rest much, so we're going to need a few days to catch up on some sleep!

I loved showing Mia to family and friends who had never met her yet, and I got to catch up with two great friends - thanks Vickie and Darcy for making time for me!! I'm excited to crash in my own bed tonight. I always sleep better at home -especially after the pretty yucky hotel we ended up in last night! I read everyone else's blogs and I'll comment tomorrow.