Not much to post!

Late last week we rode Trolley Car 36 in downtown Rockford. It was a fun ride and the boys seemed to enjoy it. Other than that, we've been busy with the routine type stuff. It seems we're usually on the go, doing something, exploring somewhere. I'll have to get better about the day to day posts.

I've had quite a few doctor appointments lately. I'm having surgery in about a month to repair my prolapsed bladder. It will be a six week recovery. A process I'm not looking forward to. Despite all the offers for help, I just can't imagine how I'm supposed to get through six weeks of not lifting up my children, even once. What about the chair to eat? What about the car seat? What about changing diapers? It will be a challenge, but thankfully a short lived one.

I'm awaiting blood test results from my family practice doctor. I'm being tested for hypo-thyroidism. Though one probably shouldn't hope for something to be wrong, I am hoping they discover something that is easy to solve. I have quite a few symptoms, including a "generous" thyroid, very little reflexes, bruising, headaches, inability to lose weight (well...that's nothing new!), fatigue, etc. I just hope we can find a solution to all these seemingly random symptoms. Is this what happens when you turn 30?? I want 29 back.

We are busy this morning, packing up for our trip to Minnesota. My brother Matt graduated from college this summer, so we're celebrating that. We're also going to the Minnesota State Fair, one of the things I look forward to the most each year. And of course, it's always so nice to be "home." No matter that I've lived away from MN for eleven of the last twelve years, it's still home. Of course our house feels like "home,", but Illinois....nah.

Last night we had the Open House for Dylan's preschool. He starts on Tuesday, Sept. 8th. I'll be sure to get pictures then. Last night he wasn't excited to go, but once we got there he was very busy playing, especially with the big blocks. He made some friends already, and this morning he mentioned he wanted to go to school! I'm so excited for him, but also hoping to meet some new friends for myself. I feel like a lot of the people we hang out with right now are friends of convenience. They are in the same club, but not necessarily people I connect with. It's hard to want to spend my free time with friends like that. Hopefully Dylan will make some new little friends and I will be able to spend some time with the parents.

I've been working at the funeral home Mondays and Wednesdays, with the occasional Saturday or Sunday thrown in. I really enjoy the break from the boys, and usually enjoy my time with my co-workers. But yesterday morning, I realized I'm a bit tired of seeing the deceased and grieving families every time I go to work...it's a lot of sadness. I don't think I could work in the funeral industry for a lifetime!

Day out with Thomas

Wowee, childhood fantasies were realized today. We went to Day out with Thomas, where Thomas, a real life sized train, was there to pull us on a ride.

We arrived along with another few thousand people around 9:30 a.m. I'd have to say it was organized well and they had a variety of activities for the kids, along with the regular train displays that are always open to visitors. The major downfall of the day were the lines, but even those weren't so bad.

Grandma and Papa were came along with us, and it helped to have extra adults to take a child or two off for distraction while we were waiting.

The first exciting thing we saw was a Thomas made out of Duplo blocks. We waited and had our picture taken on him. The boys really liked it, and we had to drag them out so the next family could have their turn.

You can see Brody was thrilled about having to leave Thomas...

Being the supermom that I am, I forgot the boys' hats. Grandma was kind enough to go into the "Thomas Store" to buy each boy a hat. Dylan seemed to love his and wore it most of the day, though Brody wouldn't wear his.


And then...there he was! Thomas!!!

Chuffing down the tracks...

Our train ride was at 10:30. We dutifully lined up by 10:15 and patiently waited for our turn. The waiting wasn't so bad, they had music playing and the boys seemed to enjoy all the visual distraction. We boarded the train and crammed into a space for our ride.

Parents, I don't want you to be disappointed if you ever do this - the train ride was about 15 minutes total. It was enough though, because the trains were pretty well packed. When we were almost back to our starting point, the volunteers gave each child a Jr. Engineer Certificate. Those will be good for their scrapbooks.

We had some lunch courtesy of Grandma and Papa, and then hit a few more points of interest. We waited in line again for Thomas to return to the "station" so we could get our picture in front of him. They had three stations set up for photos, one on each side and one in front of Thomas, so the line went really fast. I almost felt panicked they were moving us so fast. This picture (below) is the best photo of all 6 of us.

After that, it was apparent Brody had reached his limit on excitement for the day. We made a final stop on the "Thomas Store", where each boy was able to pick out a souvenir courtesty of Grandma and Papa. The store was a giant tent, and we were all glistening with sweat by the time we exited. Luckily, that was the warmest part of the whole day. Dylan chose a train (what else?) and Brody chose a silverware set with trains on the handles. Overall, I'd say it was worth the expense and efforts. It was a fun family day, and we're so glad Grandma and Papa were able to join us.

Later tonight, Dylan was cleaning up his toys before bed time, and I found Brody's silverware lined up on the train table amongst all the other trains!

County Fair

Last night we went to the Boone County Fair with our friends Nate and Erin Berry. It was a hot summer evening while standing in the sun, but otherwise it was a pleasant evening.

First, we visited the chicken barn. Dylan was a little intimidated by the roosters and geese all making noise, so we didn't stay there too long. It was fun to see the chicks pecking out of their eggs though.

We brought the single stroller, as Dylan wants to walk most of the time now. Of course this night he wanted to ride, so we had to do the hillbilly version of a double stroller.

Eating their hillbilly dinner...

Brian and Nate enjoying their annual ginormous polish sausage the size of horse's...well...you get the idea.




Erin and I


Brody checking out the baby goat in the petting zoo area.

Here's a video of Brody, going from pen to pen, inspecting the contents.

Shelf Cloud

Have you ever seen a shelf cloud? I don't know if I've ever seen such a pronounced shelf cloud! The neighbor took these pictures of the storm that passed through earlier today.

Homemade Ice Cream

Homemade Ice Cream

What you'll need:
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup milk or half & half
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons rock salt
1 pint-size plastic food storage bag (e.g., Ziploc)
1 gallon-size plastic food storage bag
Ice cubes

How to make it:
Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully.
Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes.
Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!

Kid powered shaking!

I admit, I was a total skeptic and thought we'd end up with a bag of mush. But it really worked!

Great Uncle Gregg's visit

My uncle Gregg had business in Chicago on Friday week, so he decided to stay with us the night before he had to drive in to the city.

We had a nice dinner and then we played mini-golf. We had never taken the boys, but figured there were enough adults it should be fine. Brian carried Brody in a hiking back pack we borrowed from our friends. It worked perfectly!

Dylan was SO excited to get his hands on a golf club.

Uncle Gregg was up to his old tricks - literally! He did a card trick for the boys that he used to do for me and my siblings. The boys are too young to really get it, but I think they thought Gregg was pretty funny anyway.

Just a typical day in Rockford...

I wanted to do something enjoyable with the boys this morning. Nothing too stressful that would make me want to yell, nothing too messy, just something they could do to burn some energy and we could have fun. We ended up walking down at the Sinnissippi Bike Path, it goes right along the Rock River.

The boys always get a kick out of the "Rock Guardians of Rockford" along the path.

Just this year, the Park District has refurbished a trolley car and put it back into service. The track runs right along the path, and we got to see the trolley go by several times. We're going to be riding this in a few weeks with our MOMS Club friends, and Dylan is very excited.



We meandered through the flower garden, but not for too long!




We walked as far as "The Symbol" and turned around. It may be about a mile each way. I was good and sweaty, so I figured we could turn around.

I took this picture of the river, and then....

An older man approached me. A distinguished looking fellow, just out for a Tuesday morning stroll. At first I thought he was going to offer to take my picture with the boys. Then he started talking, very fast I might add.

Him: "Hi! Are you walking? Getting your walk in today?"

Me: Hmmm, okay, not offering to take our picture, but that's okay. "Yes, we are walking today."

Him: "Do you work out? Where do you work out?"

Me: Oh, maybe he's a trainer and he thinks I could use some help...great... "I work out at the Y."

Him: "I work out at Peak."

Me: You are strange buddy. "Mmm Hmm, that's a nice place." And thank god that's not where I go...

Him: Points over his sholder, "I'm going to go eat some lunch, then talk to Bob. Do you know Bob? He's the bald one."

Me: Okay dude, you are in my personal space and I'm starting to realize you are crazy, go away. "No, I don't know Bob. Have a nice lunch." I start walking away...

Him: Looks at his watch and then at me, "Okay, yeah, and then I'm going to check the mail at noon."

Me: "Good idea, I'll check my mail at noon too! Have a nice day."

Like I said, just a typical day in Rockford...