Vacay- Day 2

Tuesday: Today was supposed to be the only sunny day of the week, so we decided to cram a lot of the outdoor activities we had planned into today.

We got up, ate breakfast (another perk of Stephen traveling so much is he gets the concierge lounge at Marriotts for free.  It's the full breakfast buffet, snacks and drinks anytime you want, and even dinner/appetizers/dessert at night), and then we headed to the zoo!  The zoo was pretty cool.  Taylor was a year older from the last time we went, so I think she appreciated seeing the animals more.  This was Parker's first visit, and he was very excited to see animals.

The kids did well for the first half.  I think Taylor cried the entire second half.  I don't know what was wrong with her!

Oh well.  Here are pics from the zoo!

I think this is the last smile we saw from Taylor for a while!

We got some lunch at a place called Jack Astor's, which was yummy.  Then, we headed to High Park- a really big and cool park in the middle of the city.  Taylor and Parker took cat naps on the way, and we hit some traffic which let them nap a little longer.  The park was very cool!  The kids played on the playground for a long time, and then we went on a little walk/mini-hike in the woods.  

The playground was huge!!  This is part of it.

A nice guy offered to take a family shot.  

Dandelions.

We headed back to the hotel and ate dinner in the concierge lounge.  Then we called it a night!  We were all so tired.  It was a great day.

Vacay- Day 1

Monday:  We woke up earrrly, around 4:45 AM.  Our flight left at 8:30, so we got the kids up, fed, in the car, and to the airport bright and early.  We made great timing, and we got to bypass a lot of lines, thanks to Stephen's travel status (one perk to him being gone so much) and us having a kid in a stroller.

We flew to Baltimore, and the kids were really good.  This was Parker's first flight and he didn't seem to notice a difference. :) We had a 2 hour layover in Baltimore, which seemed like it would be forever, but ended up being a good amount of time.  We weren't in any rush to go from gate to gate, and we could feed the kids lunch.  Parker even took a power nap!

First stop... Baltimore!

Then, we flew to Buffalo.  It was a pretty short flight, but Parker got a little restless.  Buffalo was a small, easy airport to navigate around, thank goodness.  We picked up our rental car and drove onto Niagara Falls!

We went to the Niagara Falls State Park, which is on the American side.  The Canadian Side of the falls is supposed to be the "better" view, but is more commercialized and not as easy to get to with kids.  The American side is more natural, inside a park, and easy to get to.  So, we went with easy!  Wow, Niagara Falls is incredible!  It's just a slow-moving river, and then you start to see some rapids, and then BAM!... the falls.  The kids really enjoyed seeing them, too.  It was very cool to witness.

The tall buildings you see are on the Canadian side.

You can take a boat ride and go really close to the falls.

After Niagara Falls, we headed to Toronto!  It was supposed to be about an hour-and-a-half drive, but we hit some pretty bad traffic, so it was a little over 2 hours.  Stephen was a trooper and drove while the 4 of us konked out!  

Arriving at the border.  They actually let us in!

Sleepy kids!

Arriving in Toronto!

We got to our hotel, checked in, and got all our luggage in the room.  Then, we walked to a very nearby mall, ate dinner, and walked around.

Dinner at a place called Mr. GreenJeans.

Eaton Centre Mall.

It was a late night for the kids, but their naps were really late, so we all stayed up later than normal and they handled it okay.  The kids finally went to sleep.  Onto Day 2!

Summer- Week 2!

This week's post is going to have to be broken down by days.  We went on our vacay this week, up to Buffalo, NY (to see Niagara Falls) and then onto Toronto, Canada (to see the city!).  We packed so much into our 5 days, and the kids were such great sports.  Well, until the last leg of our trip... yeah, I'll get to that.

Just an overview of our week... we left early Monday morning, flew to Buffalo via Baltimore.  We went to Niagara Falls and then drove the couple hours to Toronto that evening.  We spent the rest of the week (till Friday) in Toronto.  Friday morning, we drove back to Buffalo, from where we flew back to Atlanta, via Chicago.

We survived!!!  And had a great time. :)  Enjoy the stories and pictures!

Summer- Week 1

I thought I would do my weekly recaps again, this time for summer 2014.  This is technically week 1/2, since I had to work some this week.  But, we'll roll with it. :)

Monday: Today was post-planning day #2.  The kiddos went to daycare.  I was still feeling very crummy.  The weekend had rocked me- we had guests in town and I was a sad, sad hostess.  Sydney had her first day of Vacation Bible Camp at church that night and she had so much fun!

Tuesday: My last day of school!  Woohoo!  We only had to work a half-day, so I got everything wrapped up and I was o.u.t. at 11:30.  Taylor had to come home early from school because she had a fever, but luckily Stephen was home and in town and could get her.  Sydney went to VBC again tonight!

She doesn't look too sick, does she?  Maybe it's a ploy to get to hang out with her daddy.

Daytime entertainment.  Following in her OCD sister's footsteps.

VBC.

Wednesday: My first official day of summer!!!!!  Taylor stayed home today, but Sydney and Parker went to daycare.  Taylor had an ENT appointment to check up on her tubes in her ears.  She may have to get one surgically removed in the next few months.  :(  Not the news I was hoping to hear. I got a lot of stuff done around the house the rest of the day, and Sydney went to VBC again that night!

Selfies at the ENT.

Got our summer list made!

Something we are implementing this summer... it is desperately needed!

Thursday: I had a dentist appointment early in the morning, and then headed to the Mall of GA to meet my mom for lunch.  I get a call from daycare, saying Taylor had a fever... AGAIN.  Darn virus.  It seriously needs to go away.  So, I went and got her, and we went to a plant store, met Sydney on her field trip while getting some frozen yogurt, and then picked up Parker.  All the kids played outside while I planted some flowers, and then we cooked dinner.  I took Sydney to VBC for night 4!

Friday: Today was the kids' last day of daycare for a couple of months!  Taylor couldn't go because of her fever yesterday, but Sydney and Parker went for a while.  Sydney went on a field trip to the library to see a magic show.  I got a lot of stuff done around the house (I was trying to do nit-picky, tedious things this week, while all 3 weren't with me all day long!), Taylor and I both took long naps, and then we ate dinner and took Sydney to her last day of VBC.  We went up to a block party in our neighborhood at 6 PM and hung out, played corn hole, caught up, etc.  I went and got Sydney from VBC and we ended up hanging out until after 9 PM.  The kids were so tired, but were having so much fun!

On stage, singing.

Our first harvest- peas!

Saturday: Today was a fun, but tiring day!  We all slept in a little later than normal (ahem, 7:30) and Sydney and I went to the Home Depot Kid's Workshop at 9 AM.  We built a little toy lawn mower.  We got home, ate lunch, and the maids came knocking at the door around 11:30.  We took the kids to the park to get them out of the house so our house could be cleaned.  We ended up hitting two parks.  At the first one, I went for a jog while Stephen and the kids played on the playground.  However, it was SO HOT that we left after an hour or so and went to the Toddler Park that's a little more shaded.  We played there, then went to DQ to get some ice cream and cool off.  When we got home, Parker crashed hard for a late nap and the rest of us played outside some more.  Needless to say, all kids were asleep by 7 PM.  

Park #1

Park #2

I told them to say "cheese!"  It started off sweet...

...then it went to this...

...then this...

...getting worse...

...yeah, Taylor's not feeling it so much...

Sunday: Today, I woke up early to run before church.  I didn't run for 2 weeks while I was sick, and man, it is so hard to get back into the swing of it!  I was huffing and puffing but ran almost 3 miles.  I'll take it.  Then, we went to church.  Our beloved pastor, Ben, had his last Sunday today.  He was the founding minister of our church, and has been here for 13 years.  That is almost unheard of in the Methodist church!  So, it was his time to be moved.  He's been such a big part of the last almost 6 years for our family.  He's baptized all 3 of my kids... he's led a grow group at our house... he's just a fixture that was there every week for us, and now he'll be moving on to a town a couple hours away.  It was an emotional service.  We sure will miss him!

VBC kiddos got to go up front and sing.

They played a slide show of some of Ben's best moments, and look who made the show... Baby Sydney!

:(

Here's to week 2!

On a happier note...

I am feeling MUCH better... still not 100%, but much better!  I have unfortunately spread germs to the 4 other members of my family, but so far (knock on wood), it doesn't seem to be affecting any of them that badly.

And on the best note yet... it's officially SUMMER for me!  We made it...