Las Vegas!!!

We got home late last night after 4 great nights in Vegas! The weather was hot, but bearable. The Grand Canyon weather was 59 and rainy though!



Highlights of the trip include:

*Marc and I getting bumped to first class on the flight out since there were no seats for us together in the coach section. We felt very superior to everyone else on the plane! :)

*Awesome Italian bakery/coffee shop in our hotel

*Grand Canyon trip - very impressive place to see, and a fun road trip too

*Discovering video rapid roulette, and continually coming out ahead on it by betting my kids' birthdays!

*Figuring out how to play craps and winning at that our last hour there

*Staying up till 3 am, when I usually can't make it past 10:30!

*Getting to know the other Jill much better, and getting along great

*Riding the roller coaster

*Coming home with as much $ as I left with!

*Day old bread - It was really "Dill bread", and was awesome, but Doug and I both heard "day old bread" when the waiter pronounced it

*Judy's Subway sandwich - This little subway we stopped at on the way to the grand canyon, where Judy made the best sandwiches ever!!

*Learning my way around the Sports Book and successfully betting on baseball and horses



Lowlights (is that the correct term??) of the trip:

*Having flight delays both ways, and having to return to the airport after being on the runway to have maintenance come aboard and work! On the way out, some guy pulled down the oxygen mask and couldn't get it to stay up. Leaving Vegas, we had a 2 hour delay, then on the plane had to return because we didn't have enough power. That made me feel confident.

*The other Jill getting stuck in the elevator at our hotel

*Arizona - very pretty to see for a few hours, but a little let down by it, and don't have to worry about ever moving there

*The super cold rain at the Grand Canyon

*Losing some baseball bets that Marc recommended us to bet on

*The laser show downtown - We were all expecting some awesome laser show and it was really just like a tv show on a roof. We were all a bit let down.



I'm sure there are some other things I should have added but am way too tired to think of them! I have lots of photos to post, but will start with my favorites.

The Jills at the Grand Canyon



Tim, Doug, Jill, me, and Marc at the Grand Canyon

Marc and I at the Wynn

Marc and I after eating at the Italian Restaurant in our hotel

Mia, 4 months

I already shared Mia's latest tricks and cute things she does in the earlier post, but here are the photos to go with it. Mia loving her baby, eating cereal, sitting up, and the last one is how I found her the other day. Luke loves to play with her, and I discovered her with about 20 matchbox cars in her swing!

Swim Lessons

For the past 2 weeks, Luke took the beginner class of swimming lessons. After overcoming some serious shyness on day one, he learned a lot and became very brave. He never did pick up a ring off the bottom of the pool, but was able to go under on his own, sort of float, kick, and jump in -- that's was his favorite thing, especially off of the diving board! He'll take the next set of lessons in 2 weeks, which should be interesting, because he'll be the littlest one in there, with kids up to age 11. The last photo is of Luke at the end of lessons, holding his Red Cross certificate.

I'm leaving, on a jet plane...

I'm still around, and have lots of photos to post, but have just been too tired or busy to do it. Tomorrow (Saturday), Marc and I leave for Vegas!! We'll be there thru Wednesday, and are going with some of Marc's friends. We'll go to the Grand Canyon on Monday, so even though that'll take the whole day, it'll be a great side trip and something I can cross off of my "Places to go someday" list! The kids are going to Marc's parents' house, where they'll be joined by two 14 year old girls visiting from Italy, so that should be interesting for them!
Here's what's happening in our lives... I have photos of all these things, but you'll have to wait until next week to see them!
Luke finished his 2 week beginner's swimming lessons. The first day, his shyness got the best of him, and he sat on the edge of the pool the whole time. We weren't going to go back, but I'm so glad we did because he ended up learning so much, including jumping off the 10 ft diving board without floaties. We went ahead and signed him up today for the next level of classes in August.

Mia is changing so much. She had her 4 month appt last week and is only 13 lb 1 oz (I say only because she was about 12 pounds at her last appt), and is doing things that 5/6 month olds do according to her doctor. She does have a slightly large head, but we love her anyhow! :) She has begun rolling onto one side, but then gets stuck on her arm. She ate cereal with bananas last week and loved it so much! We haven't made it a daily thing yet, but will soon. She is also sitting up and laughing tons!! The cutest thing is that her little dolls cheer her up. When she is sad, we give her a doll, and she eats it, squishes it, loves it, and is usually happy again. To sleep, we lay her down with her paci, mobile on, a doll on each side of her head and usually Giraffe is close by.

I'm starting to feel bad that I didn't post all these photos, but not bad enough to do it now! I'll update again Thursday, with tales of all the money we won and Elvis sightings.

Fourth of July

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We went out to Brenda's for the 4th. It was rainy off and on and cooler, but we found some time to get in the pool, and then made it to the fireworks. It rained before and after them, but managed to stop during them, so we got lucky! Brenda and I were so excited to use our new cameras because she pointed out there was a "fireworks" setting on them. I think I took about 20 fireworks photos in the end just because I could.



In other news, I've been trying to keep busy this summer doing some different things than usual. Brenda and I took a scrapbooking class last weekend, and tomorrow she's going with me to Dream Dinners, where we'll make a bunch of servings of meat mostly then freeze them to have meals for the next weeks. We're also hiring Marcus to come babysit tonight so Marc and I can see a movie. And, I bought my first item off of Home Shopping Network last night - the Crop A Dile! Way cool if you're into cards, scrapping, or even just crafts.



Next week Luke starts swimming lessons. I hope he doesn't start and end them the same day, and that he'll actually get in the water and try things. Then in 2 weeks Marc and I head to Vegas!



And one of the best things of all was yesterday when the woman who subbed for my maternity leave sent over the "first batch" of her teaching supplies for me. She is a retired 3rd grade teacher, and offered to finally part with her things and give them all to me. Her husband brought 11 large storage tubs yesterday full of educational books, manipulatives, file folder games, and one was full of just pencils and stickers! And she has more to send eventually. Teachers LOVE free stuff, and this was just more than I think anyone would expect to just be given!

Uncle Marc's Day Out

Marc rarely gets hilighted on my blog, so I thought today he'd get his moment. Marc enjoys having Carsyn around with Luke, and even took them to inflatable fun land (all those inflatable jumpy things/slides, etc) about a month ago on his own to celebrate the end of the school year. Today Brenda and I were planning to go to Austin to a scrapbook class, and Marc suggested to me that she bring Carsyn over while we were gone to play. We ended up going out to their house last night to swim, and decided to have Carsyn come home with us and spend the night, then stay here all day today. Well, Marc was on his own with them from 11:30-5:00ish. He chose to take them to feed the ducks and to the playground downtown. While they were out, he took them to McAlister's for lunch, along with Mia. He was trying to order for them, but they were running all over the place. Next thing he knew, Carsyn pushed Luke to the ground and he was curled up screaming on the floor. About this time, Marc told the person at the counter to just cancel his order. So he took them outside, and Luke was now crying because he didn't want to leave, and then Mia started to cry too. So, they came home and had pb&j for lunch. I give him a lot of credit for first of all, suggesting Carsyn come over knowing he'd have all 3 kids for the day, secondly, taking them out to the park, and thirdly, attempting lunch out at somewhere besides McDonald's! And this is all around nap time, when the two were up late last night, and up early today. I told Brenda to ask Carsyn what happened and I guess Marc is a liar, because Carsyn claims ( and Brenda said her daughter NEVER lies!) that Marc wouldn't let them eat, and Luke was crying because his stomach hurt because he had to poop. Then Luke told me they didn't eat because Marc had no money - and I found out that's what Marc had to tell him to get him to leave!! I didn't want to forget this moment, and felt Marc was due some credit for being a brave dad/uncle, knowing the kids were tired, and Mia has been super fussy all week! And after all that, when I got home, he took Luke out to play baseball, played board games with him, and now they're off to DQ for a treat. I think he deserves a hand!

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.