The rest of April, 2012

April was spring break, so we took advantage of the time off of school to go to Chicago and Ohio to see family we hadn't seen in over a year! We started with a trip to the American Girl Doll store (earlier post) and then spent Easter with Kevin's family in Chicago. It's always interesting to me to spend a holiday in someone else's home. There is a mix of trying to do our own traditions, but trying to not impose, and also learning about theirs. The Easter bunny found us in the room we were all staying in and left us baskets of treats. Kevin, of course had chocolate before he even got out of bed.



On of my traditions was to get an Easter dress for church, so I gave Ellie an Easter dress and we got ready to go to church.


Ellie and Ethan all ready to go in their Easter Sunday best!


It was so fun to be with Kevin's family and to enjoy their company. It was nice to be with them on Easter and at church appreciating Christ and the resurrection. Ellie was intrigued by the "rock and roll" type of music in their church. :D

After church we came home and Debbie gave the kids an Easter present. They were excited so we went outside to play with the balls and bubbles Debbie gave them and of course for an Easter egg hunt.






We spent the afternoon together at the zoo and for dinner we went totally non-traditional Easter, but traditional Chicago instead and had Chicago-style pizza. More cheese than I even knew possible.




Easter night the boys got to be boys and built this for Ellie's new toys. Ethan was in bed, so it had to stay up until morning so he too could experience the greatness!

MVI 2619 from Brooke Heath on Vimeo.

The next day (April 9) we experienced another form of greatness - the Chicago style dog. Ellie missed out by having chicken strips, big mistake Ellie, huge. I can't wait to get another one! Maybe by then she will appreciate the Chicago style dog.


The kids ran around at the park and fed the mean ducks before we packed up and headed to Ohio for the remainder of our trip.


It was so fun to be together. Jonathan and Carrie were great hosts and we loved spending time in Chicago. Over the weekend Ethan got used to having us around. Ellie got her own name, the rest of us were just "the guys" and when we left he asked him mom, "But where did 'the guys' go?" I wish Chicago and Utah weren't so far apart. The next time we see them they will be a family of four! We can't wait!!


We made it to Ohio and Debbie took us to play some more.


The next day (April 10) Ellie played the lotto.


Then we spent the day with Debbie and Kevin's grandparents, Betty and Frank. They taught us to play LCR and took us for a perch sandwich. They are sweet and have adopted Ellie as one of their own. They have her picture on the wall with their other grandchildren and are so cute to her. It had been years since we had seen them and it was wonderful spending time with them. I had moments where I missed playing cards with my grandparents and wish Kevin and Ellie could have met them. I am so thankful for Debbie, Betty and Frank and for how loving and kind they are to us. I love the feelings grandparents can give and was thankful to experience it again that day.


Ellie in her reluctance to try something new missed out on the perch sandwich. We got fun fishing stories and a driving tour of some family history spots on our way back from lunch.


That night we found our way to Mickey and Linda's and again, Ellie was greeted with gifts and love from more of Kevin's family.



The next day (April 11) we went to see The Lorax, introduced Mickey and Linda to Thai food, taught Linda how to use chopsticks and FINALLY, after almost six years of talk, Kevin FINALLY got to take us to Mr Freeze. He has been talking up this ice cream stand for years....usually when you do that, you go and it's not as great as you remember. I can admit it did not disappoint.



We will make Mr Freeze a regular on our Ohio trips! Look at that smile!


The next day was again spent with Mickey and Linda and was one of my favorites, okay, they were all my favorite, so I should say one of the more memorable. We took a mini road trip to Port Clinton to experience the drive-trough African Safari Wildlife Park. We bought cups of grain and carrots to feed the animals, then they opened the gates and we "at our own risk" fed the animals from the car. It was hilarious. Some animals much preferred the carrots to the grain and if they could see you had carrots they would push past the grain to try to get at your carrots. Ellie had to hide them. One took the cup right out of Linda's hand and she had to surrender the cup to the animal. Then, when I wasn't looking out my window a bison, yes a 2000 pound bison, stuck his head in my window, right in my face which is surprising enough, but what caught me totally off guard was his long tongue he had extended toward the food I was holding. I was completely startled, totally screamed and then we all giggled, like kids. It's not as easy to create a child-like experience as an adult, but that day, I had one.

This was the guy.


Another one near Kevin and Ellie.


The horns are so long on these guys, they can't get in your window...fully.


The carrot hogs. Oh wait, the carrot Alpaca.


Scottish Highlander


Of course Linda had to spoil Ellie in the store after offering her this and that and really anything she wanted. We love spending time with Mickey and Linda. They are so great with Ellie, treat her so kindly.

After the animal park we drove to Sandusky, Ohio to visit the Merry-Go-Round Museum. The carousel they had in the museum was surprisingly fast. We had a great little tour and enjoyed learning some of the history of an era really.



I feel in love with the quaint town of Sandusky and made Mickey drive up and down a few of the blocks. I think I get the appreciation of a small town from my dad. He used to drive us the longer scenic way home from anywhere and we always stopped at a local diner or tourist spot. This little day trip did not disappoint as we stopped at a local diner where some local just "had" to come over to Kevin to tell him he had the kindest eyes she had ever seen.


It was just an overall great trip and we hated to leave it. We have such great family, just at such great distances. It was honestly my favorite trip to Ohio yet and hopefully as great and memorable for Ellie. I hope she learns to (or does) appreciate family trips, a bit of a different era, quaint towns, and long days with grandparents.

We said goodbye to everyone including the dogs, had a final day outside playing yard games with Debbie and lunch and then we were off.


At the aiport Ellie tried her luck again at the lotto and won a dollar.



We were bummed to leave so Ellie called Mason to get a bit of cheering up and to tell her about her doll.



Away we went!


When we got home we had to prepare for the next major April event, Kevin's birthday! I had done some pre-shopping but Ellie wanted to get him something from her so we spent some secret time shopping and got everything ready. Ellie enjoys birthday surprises and likes to be in on the secret of what the presents are. She is good at keeping the secrets!


We basically got Kevin a bunch of toys, because even though he is a year older, he is still a kid at heart.


We went with my mom and Jed to dinner and then home for cake.




After dinner and cake we all played a game of croquet and Kevin and Ellie flew and then rescued the plane.

MVI 2726 from Brooke Heath on Vimeo.

The rest of the month was pretty relaxed, we did get a two day visit from Uncle Levi and Ellie was happy to join him at one of her favorite restaurants (Noodles) for dinner. But she was concerned he did not have Mason, and we called her from dinner.

We caught the end of the tulip festival with my mom the last Friday in April.




And pretty much went on with life as usual. Of course, you need to throw in a random science experiment here and there, right?

The highly anticipated day...

April 1st - Ellie can't wait until Friday

April 2nd - Ellie can't wait until Friday

April 3rd - Ellie can't wait until Friday

April 4th - Ellie can't wait until Friday

April 5th - Ellie can't wait until Friday

April 6th - "Kevin, I know I've been saying I can't wait until Friday, but now I can't wait until Saturday!"

April 7th - 7:00 AM - "Mom, I was so excited when I woke up I wanted to scream, but you were still asleep so I just did it in my head!!!!"

April 7th - 9:30 AM - We finally arrive and step foot in the American Girl Doll store in Chicago. We spent the next four hours experiencing every possible corner...but let's roll back just a bit for a few more details.....

Ellie discovered through a couple of her friends at school (Alex and Grace) the American Girl Doll. I had learned about the doll a few years prior and was just waiting until she was interested. (So in reality, I was as excited as she was.) It was around Christmas time that she was asking for a doll. We had already planned our trip to Chicago so I asked her if she wanted a doll for Christmas or would rather wait and get it for her birthday and go to the store on the trip instead of a party. Of course you should know (if you read her birthday entry) that I am a sucker for celebration so even though she chose to wait until April for the doll and have no birthday party - I only held to one of those conditions.

We had fun building up to the event, looking at dolls online and getting good ideas for what she wanted to buy. Around Christmas she got a magazine from a neighbor and after Christmas used some of her money to buy a couple of accessories for her to-be doll. For Christmas she received some American Girl Dolls books and started to read a couple and get introduced a bit more to the historical characters.

In early February, I booked our hotel in the "official" American Girl Doll hotel and made reservations for lunch in the American Girl Doll Cafe. In the weeks and days just prior to the trip Ellie was so excited "just couldn't wait until" - it was super cute.

We left for our trip on April 6th. Our first flight was delayed an hour so we waited in a bit of anticipation, not knowing if we would make it as our second flight only had an hour layover. We rushed from gate to gate in the airport and made it on the second flight, but our luggage did not. We arrived in Chicago and spend the first hour in baggage claim. We arranged for our bags to be delivered to our hotel.

At 11:30 PM we left the airport and Ellie got to experience her first taxi ride. This was also something of anticipation as we have played a "yellow taxi" game for a few years now in the car. The first taxi ride of the trip was good. The taxi was clean, the driving was under control and the taxi driver even smelled good. She was a larger woman, from an island with a black leather jacket and the heat on, but we survived and was a good first ride. The second taxi ride of the trip made Ellie very hesitant to ever take another taxi again, but that is a story for a bit later in the trip.



At 12:00 AM we were tucked in bed, but Ellie couldn't sleep.


At 1:00 AM the airlines called saying our bags had arrived at the airport.
At 2:00 AM the hotel called saying our bags had arrived at the hotel.
At 2:30 AM the hotel bellman knocked with our bags at the door.
At 7:00 AM Ellie was screaming in her head.
At 9:30 AM We stepped foot in the American girl doll store and now we continue where I left off....

We walked in to the not so busy store and started on the ground floor. We looked at all of the historical dolls first.


Ellie and I had just read together about the Mardi Gras party Cecile and Marie-Grace attended so we were excited to see this display.


It didn't take long before we headed up the stairs to pick out Ellie's doll. She had decided before we went that she would get a doll that looked like her and narrowed it down to two. One with curly hair - one with straight hair.


Once she had a doll in her bag, it was time to do some serious accessorizing.


About 30 minutes in we decided we better get some breakfast so we stopped for a bite of breakfast at "Treats for Two" inside the store.


The next hour we went up and down the escalator, around and around the store and did a lot of looking and a lot of shopping. We also stopped by the salon to schedule an appointment for the doll.


By 11:00 Ellie's bag was full and it was time to make the big purchase!


After an embarrassing issue with our credit card (declined because they thought it was fraud) and a call to the credit card company to let them know it was really us making the purchase - we had the goods!


We stepped out of the store so Ellie could get her doll out of the box and dressed and accessorized.




We had some time to kill before the hair appointment so we walked around a bit and stopped in the lego store next door.


On our bathroom break we found "doll hangers" - of course they had doll hangers. Why wouldn't they?


At 11:45 it was time for the hair appointment. Ellie also scheduled her to have her ears pierced. They do that behind the scenes and when the girl came back with the doll she said she was good and didn't cry. Then she teased Ellie for making her doll do something Ellie's not brave enough to do. We all got a good laugh.


Ellie picked the style of hair and was super excited about it. I was just impressed with how well they could do doll hair!


We decided it was a bit tough to carry the doll all day so we made another purchase (credit card issue free) for a little carry bag.


12:30 and it was time for lunch! The room was all black, white and pink. Of course there were seats for the dolls and they had their own tea cups.


We had fun answering questions from a box they had placed on the table and as usual, just enjoyed being together.


The meal started with mini cinnamon rolls, Ellie ordered a mini plate (mini burger, mini mac, mini dog)for lunch, and they completed the meal with mini desserts.


You would think with the "mini" lunch we would be hungry, but there was more food than we could eat. We left the store around 1:30 and finally had the American Girl Doll experience Ellie (okay all of us) had been anxiously awaiting. I was thankful we could give Ellie this experience. I realize how blessed we are to have an amazing child that is great to take anywhere and how blessed we are to have the resources to do these types of trips. It was one of those times I know I'll look back on several years later and be thankful we got to make it happen.

That was the end of the store, but we were still in Chicago and needed to make the most of our day in the city. We had about three more hours before we were meeting up with Kevin's family so we took our second taxi ride over to Navy Pier. The second taxi ride may have ruined Ellie's tax rides for life.

American Girl is on Michigan Avenue in Chicago - a street taxis are not supposed to pick up or drop off on. There was a taxi dropping off right in front of the store as we were walking out so we jumped in, not knowing the restriction, and just thinking we had perfect timing. It would have been okay, but the taxi got blocked in by a bus and a street cop made his way over to chastise him. Of course he argued with the cop that his customer asked to be dropped off there and they went back a forth a bit. This instantly made Ellie nervous. She is a rule follower and this did not sit well with her. She eased up a bit but when we got to Navy Pier, the driver dropped us off at the front of the taxi line and instead of making his way back to the end of the line of waiting taxis, he let another group jump in right after us. This set the taxi driver that was first in line of the long line of taxi drivers off...he was cursing and cussing and calling him the scum of the earth and other words not appropriate for this blog. Ellie was OVER taxis and when we needed a third one (which went fine) we had a hard time calming her and getting her okay with the idea of it.

Navy Pier was awesome. We spent time in the Amazing Chicago's Funhouse Maze, walking on the Pier, stopping to take Ellie's new American Girl Doll Pet out of the box and play, in the stained glass museum, avoiding the wind at the end of the pier, and playing miniature golf.






During our golf game (which I killed them at - but to be fair, we played a game in the funhouse that Kevin totally beat Ellie and me at) we got a call from Jonathan saying they had made it to the city, so, against Ellie's request, we jumped in our third taxi and headed to Millennium Park.

Around 4:30, we found Kevin's sister Carrie, her husband Jonathon, their son Ethan, and Debbie. We were excited to see them and Ethan and Ellie became buddies immediately.



We took in a few more little sites together and the headed back on the train to their home outside the city. The next day was Easter, so we spent the night coloring Easter eggs.



Around 8:00 PM, it was bedtime for Ethan.


After the American Girl store, the taxi rides, the Pier and parks, the Easter eggs and Ethan was tucked in bed, Ellie did what Ellie enjoys most - she played. It was the perfect ending to her perfect day.


Can you believe that was all just one day? One perfect day.