Christmas in Chicago

Alaina came home from BYU for a very short break. We wanted to spend Christmas with our whole family (in Utah) and she was agreeable to that as long as she had a chance to come home and to see her friends.  She was here for one week and we enjoyed every minute we had with her.

One of her requests was to spend some time in the city with us.  We decided to drive instead of taking the train, and at the end of the day we were so glad we did.

Our first stop was the Christkindl Market at Daley Plaza.  We enjoyed looking at the different booths and stores.  If you love blown glass ornaments, nutcrackers, and other traditional German Christmas decor this is the place to experience it. 

It's fun to hear German being spoken by the vendors and by many of the customers too.

Alaina decided to order Fried Pineapple.  It looked really yummy.  Rob and I were happy to find a vendor who sold a sausage similar to Knackwurst.  Those are our favorite, but hard to find in the suburbs. 

After we'd walked through the whole market and finished our snack we headed over to Macy's to warm up, do a little shopping and to see the windows. 

The theme this year was "Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus".

All the window decor was paper crafted and set to resemble the pop-up book that Virginia creates in the story.

After we finished shopping we weren't quite ready to head back home yet. 

I'd heard about the ZooLights at Lincoln Park Zoo and since we had the car it was easy enough to drive up Lakeshore Drive to check them out.

How have we missed doing this all these years?  

What a wonderful experience we were able to share!  

It started snowing, large, fluffy flakes and it was almost magical. 

We watched the ice carver work on his animal creations.  Frolicked in the snow.  Danced to the music playing over the loudspeakers.  Slipped and Slid in the snow.  Held hands.  Enjoyed the amazing lights.  Laughed and  Loved Every Minute.

It was a practically perfect day in the city.

Sorry we missed Chinatown Alaina.

Grace Elizabeth

Gracie was born Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 3:28 pm

She was awake and alert, just 2 hours old.

I know, I know.  Babies don't REALLY smile...

but this sure looks like a smile to me.

Look at these expressive eyes and all that gorgeous hair.

(Grace is 24 hours old here)

This little baby is very content with a full tummy.

After her first bath at home, all ready to be tucked in to bed.

(August 6, Grace's first day at home)

Precious Baby

We Love You.

p.s.  Emily is focusing on learning how to nurse and recovering so I am posting these pictures for her.  Stay tuned as she will start posting on her blog sometime this week (hopefully)

Fathers and Sons

Robert David Hendricks

Born April 8, 1959

Mark Robert Hendricks

Born February 17, 1983

Noah Michael Hendricks

Born July 14, 2010

Family Reunion Video

Rob made a short video of the family reunion using his new I-Phone. He recorded it, edited it and uploaded it to You Tube all from his phone.

He did a great job!
Check it out...

Character Greetings

Alaina was 10 years old the last time she visited Disney World and she was definitely NOT interested in standing in lines to get her picture taken with a bunch of PRINCESSES.

Well, this trip one of her goals was to meet as many Princesses (and hopefully PRINCES) as time and circumstance would allow.  Since she was missing her Senior Prom for her visit to the park she thought it only fair to try to get a dance, or at least a picture with a charming and handsome prince.

As luck would have it, our first afternoon visiting Magic Kingdom we discovered the spot where she could meet Prince Naveen and Princess Tiana.  She was THRILLED and had a fun and enchanting conversation with them.  They totally stayed in character and continued on the story of their lives together as they answered her questions and chatted with her. 

These two cast members had been meeting and greeting their guests for at least an hour before we got up to them and they were so charming and pleasant.  They didn't rush through Alaina's visit and chatted with her like old friends.  They laughed and joked with each other, just like a married couple.  It was fun for Alaina, and fun for us to watch.  

Towards the end of the evening, we made our way over to the Toon Town Hall of Fame to meet three more princesses.  We stood in this line for close to an hour and a half (if not longer) and all three of these princesses still had a smile on their face and a kind word to share.

Princess Aurora was the least chatty of the three and Alaina wasn't really prepared with a clever question to engage her (she'd tried to come up with a question related to each specific character or their story because she'd heard that makes for a more interesting experience)

 

The little girl who had been standing in front of us, so very patiently, was maybe three or four years old and dressed in her beautiful blue Cinderella dress.  Once it was her turn to visit Cinderella, she hugged her and and snuggled in as close to her as she could get.  We joked with the mom that she had found her soul mate because by then she had crawled up onto Cinderella's lap and looked like she was settled in for the evening.  This sweet Cast Member was so willing to give the little girl all the hugs she needed and didn't try to rush her on to see the next princess so they could get to the end of the line.  It was so sweet to watch the two of them together.

When it was finally Alaina's turn she asked Cinderella if she preferred having her dresses made by the mice or by the royal seamstress. Without missing a beat, Cinderella said the mice did a lovely job but she really loved the dresses from her Fairy Godmother and spun around to show off her lovely dress.  She asked if Alaina had found her Fairy Godmother yet and said that they tend to show up, "Just when you need them most".

What a sweetheart!

Belle was very TALL (and very beautiful)

Alaina asked Belle if she'd read "Les Miserables" yet. She thought it was appropriate since the story is set in France and Belle likes to read. I'm not sure if Belle or if the Cast Member answered the question, but we could tell she was getting tired and trying really hard not to show it.

We spent Sunday afternoon in Epcot World Showcase since we had a late flight home.

Alaina was excited to find Mulan in China.

Poor Mulan must have been melting. She was standing in the bright, hot sun with a heavy costume but she was sweet and interesting to chat with. They had a fun conversation about Alaina's Undercover Platypus shirt.

Snow White had found a lovely shady spot just before you enter Germany. 

Apparently, this Snow White can talk through her teeth while smiling! That's a pretty good talent. Her smile didn't change once in all the pictures we had of these two together.

Sunday morning, Rob and Alaina headed over to Disney's Hollywood Studios so they could get in a quick ride on Tower of Terror and a couple of others (Rock 'n Roller Coaster was closed for refurbishing).  While there they stopped in at The Magic of Disney Animation and also happened to find

Mickey Mouse from Fantasia.

Mickey pointed at Alaina's Platypus shirt and gave her a big THUMB'S UP! 

She loved the extra attention that wearing that shirt brought her. 

Several actresses, visiting from the 1930's, were quite intrigued by Alaina's shirt and determined that she must be the agent for the Platypus and wasn't she clever to promote him that way. 

We spent Saturday visiting the different Resorts on the Mono-Rail and then we headed over to Downtown Disney for a little souvenir shopping and some Ghiradelli's Ice Cream Sundaes. 

We took advantage of these fun photo ops.   

Even though the characters aren't alive I think Alaina looks darling in these pictures and had to share them.

Magic Kingdom

We left home Thursday at 5:00 am in the middle of a cold spring storm for Midway airport.  It was supposed to be cold and rainy most of the weekend in Chicagoland.  When we landed in Florida, it was sunny with temps in the high 80's and that weather held out for us the whole weekend (a little more Pixie Dust for Alaina).

After checking in to our room we caught the bus to the Magic Kingdom and practically walked right into the park (except for a little glitch on our park tickets that was easily taken care of because computers are good and keep track of things they are supposed to even when new employees-in-training make a big and potentially very expensive mistake). 

Welcome to Magic Kingdom

We rode Jungle Cruise (Liked It!), Haunted Mansion (Liked It!), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Loved It!), It's a Small World (Loved It!), and Splash Mountain (Gotta Have It!)

For fun we walked through Minnie's Country House (Liked It!) on the way to the Toontown Hall of Fame where we waited in line to see Princesses Aurora, Cinderella and Belle.

We also spent time waiting in line to visit Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen at Liberty Square.

In Minnie's Living Room

We were enchanted by the lovely European Village near It's a Small World.  Honestly, we were enchanted by the ride too.  The song doesn't annoy me nearly as much as it did when I was a teenager and it was fun watching Alaina discover the dolls and animals representing all of the different countries.

Unfortunately, I somehow twisted my ankle which slowed down my ability to move as quickly through the park as we were hoping too.  Rob and Alaina were too kindhearted to leave me in the dust so they missed out on riding Space Mountain. 

Alaina didn't actually ride Dumbo, but couldn't resist taking advantage of this great photo opportunity.

I'd read online about something called a Dole Whip which is pineapple juice mixed with soft serve.  They are only sold in Adventure Land so while Rob and Alaina went on ahead to get a fast pass for the Jungle Cruise I stood in line to purchase a couple.  It was hot and humid and we were hot and sweaty and needed a little pick me up right then.  These turned out to be the PERFECT treat. 

Of course we had to walk through Cinderella's Castle.

I love this picture that Alaina took of the castle. 

What a great eye she has.

We stayed at Magic Kingdom long enough to see the SpectroMagic Parade. 

I was starving so Rob tried to find something reasonably healthy and not too sweet to eat while we waited for the parade to start.  We started looking for a place to stand too late so by the time we got situated it was too late to find any decent food.  Rob came back with a funnel cake loaded with strawberries and whipped cream.  It was YUMMY!

SpectroMagic is one of my favorite parades.  Partly because I'm fascinated by the lights on the performers that aren't attached to the floats.  I can't figure out how they can stay lit so long and so brightly.  The whole effect is enchanting and magical. Once again I found myself watching Alaina's face as much as I watched the parade itself.  My only regret is that we didn't try to get better seats a little earlier so she could have sat at the front of the crowd to really see the whole show. 

After the parade ended we started heading for the park entrance because we had an early morning at Animal Kingdom Park on Friday, and didn't want to fight the crowds leaving the park at the end of Wishes.  I felt badly because I really wanted Alaina to see Wishes and didn't know if we'd be back to the Magic Kingdom during this trip.  As we were walking down Main Street USA, we decided that a hot dog from Casey's Corner would be the perfect way to finish off the evening.  We were not the only people who thought this and the lines were practically out the door, so when Alaina heard the fireworks start booming she went outside and was able to see Tinkerbell fly down to begin the show.  She wasn't able to see all of it and once we finally got our hot dogs we slowly made our way to the park entrance but by walking backwards she was able to see a little bit more of the magic before we boarded the bus. 

Our Room at Animal Kingdom Lodge

We decided to really splurge on our room for this trip and made a reservation for Jambo House at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Disney also offers Kidani Village at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is basically one of their time-share properties.

When I made the reservation I mentioned that we would be there to celebrate Alaina's graduation and asked if they could possibly put us in one of the Savanna View rooms. I told the Cast Member that we didn't care which one, we just wanted her to see as many animals as she could.

The resort is set up basically like spokes on a wheel with savannah areas between the spokes and behind the lodge and they have different groupings of animals roaming the various areas based on their temperaments.

One of my favorite parts of being on Disney property is the care they take in "THEMING" and they certainly met my expectations in this resort property.

The wallpaper in the bathroom was created specifically for Animal Kingdom Lodge,

as were the bedspreads.

I don't know if you can see it, but there are Mickey's carefully integrated into the African style print. Of course, Mousekeeping left a welcoming Mickey head on the bed and in the bathroom they created a little mouse out of a washcloth and had a card next to it that read, "It All Began With A Mouse". Even the light fixtures were made to carry the theme.

We stepped outside to see our view and I fell in love with the patio chairs.

While Alaina fell in love with the view.

When we checked in we found that we had been given the very first room in the hall closest to the check-in desk. At first I was annoyed because I thought we wouldn't actually be able to actually see any animals. I thought they wouldn't come that far down into the confined space but we ended up liking our location a lot.

As you will see, in my next post, we were able to see a lot of animals from our balcony, and after I hurt my ankle I was very glad we didn't have to walk any further to our room.