Isabel's Dream Day!

The day started with a her first train ride....which I didn't get a picture of seeing as how we were running for the train before it could leave us! Whew! Made it. When we got into Chicago she got to take her first water taxi ride. How cool is that! The Gulkes have a dear friend that knows the city very well. He decided to take the day and accompany us into Chicago and be our guide for the day....so, it was kinda like being in China all over again! Craig was so helpful and made the day a success!

Of course, everyone else was there too...and it was a first for Claire and the boys as well.

Beautiful girls, Mia and Becca.

Lovin' this!

Then we ate lunch at Gino's East, which is apparently famous Chicago style, deep dish pizza. Mmmmm! It was delish!

The crew at Gino's

Of course, it takes 45 minutes to get your pizza....but, it was worth it!

After a wonderful lunch, the little girls decided to take a nap! Together. In their strollers. In the middle of Chicago.

That is when the real fun began.

We hit the American Girls Store.

Isabel was so excited she couldn't stand it!

She got a new doll for her birthday. Meet Julie!
And spent another $100 bucks on clothes for her Elizabeth doll, that is waiting for us to come home.

What a big girl, carrying her bags in the big city!

Then it was on to Navy Pier.....

where fun was had by all!

The girls had a quite moment looking at Lake Michigan.

Awwww!

Then I lost my mind. Apparently. Because I agreed to ride this!

Ummmm......Do you see how tall this thing is?????

The Gulkes in one car- Becca, Scott, Mia, Mr. Craig and Josh.

Me and the girls on one side. I'm hiding my look of terror very well.

Paul and the boys on the other.

The little girls and the Daddies on the carousel

It was a wonderful day!

Chicago

We spent the day in Chicago with our good friends the Gulkes. We opted for a day at the Museum of Science and Industry, complete with passes to the Harry Potter exhibit. It was a big hit!

Parker, Noah, Isabel, Claire, Becca, Josh and Mia

City scape from our drive. This is just not something we get to see everyday.

See the next post for more pictures!

Pictures from the Day at the Museum

Becca and Isabel in an airplane exhibit.




The girls loved the chicks!

Scott and Paul

Submarine exhibit

Karla with Claire

Noah's really tall these days!

From St. Louis

This is will be my last post from St. Louis for a while. We will leave in a few hours and head towards our next adventure. CHICAGO! I have been looking things up and there is sooooo much to do there. I know we are going to have fun and we can't wait to see our friends again!

Yesterday was so nice in St. Louis that we just couldn't waste that good weather inside. Charleston is so hot and humid by now that you can't do anything outside....so we wanted to take advantage of the warm and breezy day! So, we wandered over to the zoo again this year. Did I mention that this place is free....another reason to go! We only had three hours and I knew I wouldn't be left feeling like I didn't get my money's worth since I didn't spend any!

Boy what a difference a year makes. Last year Claire was in the stroller with a blanket over her head. She was very afraid of animals and did not want to see any of them! This year she was out of her stroller and pointing and looking and getting close. She loved it! I loved watching her enjoy the day. Fun was had by all!



And, right at the end she conked out in the stroller. The End!

Not Long Enough!

Parker, Anna, Isabel holding YoYo, Shane, Noah, Me Claire and Paul

We made it Tennessee in record time......for us. Let's see. That would be 7 hours from my parent's house. Give or take. Anna, Shane and YoYo came to get us at our hotel and it was so wonderful to see those guys! Our visit with them was not long enough and we miss them already!

Don't these kids look so great!


Shane and Anna took us on the coolest tour of Franklin. Who knew it was such a cute place? I loved the historic downtown Franklin. And, we go to see their house and visit with Shiloh the dog. They are practically neighbors with Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith. Okay, not really, but they did show us the direction in which those cool people lived!

And guess what this blur is? That is Toby Mac's HOUSE!! Right there on the main drag in Franklin! HELLO! Okay, maybe that is only cool to me and my kids.
.

Then we went out to eat and bowling, which was a total blast. Isn't that guy the cutest?? I mean, Really! It doesn't get better than watching a four year old bowl. YoYo really got into the game and I so love his deep voice! So CUTE!

The kids had a great time and YoYo warmed up after a little time.

Claire is so cute when she bowls! She has to pick up her foot like the grown-ups do it!

YoYo really took to Isabel....which is not how it's supposed to happen. But, whatever!

We had a really great visit, but like I said, it wasn't long enough. We are going to need to plan a whole vacation up in the Nashville area so we can spend more time with the Caudills.

Thanks for a great time, Shane, Anna and YoYo!

We left Franklin after breakfast this morning...well, not right after. I think we got on the road by noon! But the important thing is that we made it into Missouri in time for dinner! Toasted ravioli, people! This is not something you can get down in good ole South Carolina. Never even heard of it until we discovered that all the Italian restaurants in St. Louis serve it....tried it, loved it! So, St. Louis mean toasted ravioli to me! Tomorrow morning is Claire's doctor's appointment and then we leave for Chicago and our favorite friends (just kidding, Anna), the Gulkes on Tuesday!

Wouldn't You Know...

When I woke up this morning I was ahead of the game.....by the time we left for our trip, we were THREE HOURS behind schedule! Paul left for the vet's office around 9:00am this morning. We knew that we needed to get Georgia in before we left for this trip. He didn't get back until 1:00pm! Apparently every animal in Charleston also needed to see our vet! The vet said she's a....and I quote "cow". Yes, thank you! Our girl weighed in at 105lbs of pure black lab love. She also has an ear infection (thank you, Michelle for the early diagnosis)....actually, a yeast infection in her ears. That would be thanks to the little dogs licking her ears all the time! Ewwwww! Otherwise, she's as healthy as a horse....ummm, cow!

Anyhoo! As luck would have it, we also discovered a nail in one of our tires while Paul was rotating them this afternoon. Nothing like waiting until the last minute to do the car maintenance. But, what can I say, that man is busy! So, off to Wally World to get a tire plugged. That cost us another hour.

At least we had a nice smooth drive with no bad weather. We made it to my parents in the customary three hours and are currently trying to get everyone wrangled into bed!

So, it's off to Tennessee tomorrow! See ya later gator!

What could this mean?

Yes, yes, that I have a clean van.

But, what about this?

That could only mean one thing!


Road Trip!

We leave tomorrow and will be on and off the road for the next 10 days. Yes. I said 10. But, it should be really fun...except for the part where we are spending 36 hours in a car over the course of the 10 days....that's 2207 miles folks. That's a lot of pavement! Where will our travels take us this year? Glad you asked! When we leave on Friday, it's just to get a head start on getting to Tennessee Saturday. We are going to overnight at my parent's house and then hit the road Saturday morning. Our plan is to get to Franklin Tennessee as early in the afternoon as we can so we can spend some quality time with our Friends, the Caudills. The Caudills were in our travel group last year in China. Their son is YoYo. Affectionately referred to as "The Betrothed". If you want to get a peak at Claire's future husband, feel free to check out all the cute pictures here.

Where was I? Oh yeah...after that, we are moving forward to St. Louis. ST. LOUIS! I love St. Louis. I have no idea why. It's just an American city. But, I just love seeing that arch when we cross the river to Missouri. I can't wait to have me some toasted ravioli and I can't wait for Dr. Dobbs to see Claire walking! Claire has an appointment on Monday morning with the good Doctor. This is a follow-up to all he did last year. But, we are also having him give us a second opinion on her hips. Dr. H, our orthopedist here, has stated that she wants to do hip surgery on Claire in the near future. This surgery is "controversial" according to her own Progress Notes and we were advised by Claire's physical therapist to seek a second opinion. So we are. With Dr. Dobbs. Please be in prayer on Monday, that we will have peace with his recommendation. And, even more importantly, that we will know what to do if he suggests surgery as well. I really, really trust Dr. Dobbs judgement, so there will be no need for a third opinion. The problem is that if he also believes she needs surgery, who do we let do it? Him or Dr. H? Paul would rather Dr. Dobbs do the surgery. But, if we let him do it, that will mean lots more travel and quite frankly we don't have the funds for that. It would also mean insulting Dr. H. Now, I know what you are thinking. Who cares if you insult Dr. H. Do what is best for Claire. It's not that simple. See, we can't up and jump in the car to head to St. Louis every time Claire needs to see an orthopedist....which is no less than twice a year. She has to have a local doctor to follow her progress for the rest of her life. There are many orthopedic issues to do with spina bifida. Spine, hips, legs, feet. That's a lot to cover. Dr. H is our best option for that here and if we insult her, we will have to deal with that for years to come. HELP!

Okay, now that I've gotten that off my chest....the rest of the trip. On Tuesday we are heading north from St. Louis. North to Chicago! More importantly, north to the Gulke's! If you don't remember them, go back to this post. We are so excited to get to spend time with this wonderful family of friends! We met our second day in China and clicked right away. Scott and Paul are like peas in a pod. Hilarious! Karla and I have so much in common...besides our nutty husbands! And, they have great kids. GREAT KIDS! I love my kids to be around their kids! We will be staying with the Gulkes from Tuesday until Sunday, when we hit the road again. For that long, two day, drive home. But, I'm not complaining! It will be worth it to get to see good friends and have fun times in old and new places! Can't wait to share it will you guys!

On that note, I was reflecting on our travels from last summer. Claire had only been in our family for a few weeks when we hit the road to St. Louis last June. We learned to cath her TWO DAYS before we left. Boy was that fun! Not only did we not have clue what we were doing, but now we had to do it in public restrooms from here to Missouri. Every three hours! Back then, it took two of us to get it done too. Paul has seen the inside of every women's restroom in six states! Plus, that kid screamed the whole time...thanks to a lovely UTI she got immediately after we started cathing her! Good times, people! New baby, special circumstances, language barrier, bonding issues...bad recipe for traveling. But, you know what. We still had a good time!

Claire didn't talk back then either. She really didn't. She just watched us and pointed to things. But, it was on those trips that she started to talk. I think it's because we spent so much time all together in very close proximity (read shoved in a van full of stuff). How could you not learn to talk with five other people saying so much, in your face, all the time! Now she doesn't stop talking. I know I've said that before, but it's true. When I strap her in the car seat, that's her cue to ask 100 questions......"Where are we going? Where is that? When will we be there? What are we going to do? Why are we going? Do I like it? Can I walk there? Who will be there? Is Daddy going? Is Parker going? Is Noah goingisIsabelgoingamIgoing?" Breathe child!!! By this time we have turned out of our neighborhood onto the highway. So she starts over! Boy, this year is going to be different!

So, the house is clean, the luggage is filling up, the petsitter has been alerted......we're outa here tomorrow! Prayers for safe travel and maybe some extra patience would be a great thing right now!