A morning at Willow Park Zoo

It was a lovely morning, so Noah and I headed down to Willow Park Zoo. 

I thought he was excited to see the animals because he kept saying, "Monkey, Monkey, Monkey".

As it turned out, he wasn't really all that interested in the animals but we had a fun time anyway.

He stopped for about 30 seconds to look at the monkeys and then ran right for the grass where he promptly plopped down. 

He sat on the grass, he sat on the benches, he sat on the rocks.  If he thought it was a good place to sit, he did.

This was my view of him most of the morning.  He was perfectly content to explore ahead of me.  I only lost sight of him once, but I also knew he was heading to a dead end and was going to have to wait for me to catch up so I wasn't too worried.

He thought this place was a great playground.  They had big rocks for him to climb on and jump off.  They had fun paths for him to walk down and explore.  They had bars for him to hang from and swing on.  I have to say - he is one strong little dude because he can totally support his body weight for a long time.

I was really glad I brought the stroller even though he was only in it for five minutes.  It carried my bag and camera and our lunch.  Noah didn't want to sit and eat, but why would he when he could just run to the back of the stroller, grab a chicken nugget for a quick bite.

It was getting close to nap time so we started to walk back to the car.  Noah stopped at the corner of the administration building and started waving and waving.  I looked around to see whom he was waving at.  I couldn't see anyone, but his attention was totally focused on the little second story window.  I wouldn't have even been able to tell you there was a window up there if Noah hadn't stopped and waved.

After standing and waving, he would run around the corner and try to open the door.  I laughed and suggested that he try knocking to see if anyone would answer. 

He did this three or four times. 

Wave, try to open the door, knock, wave.

I'm a little curious...

How did he see the window? How did he know that door was there around the corner?
He is such a smart little boy and is going to keep his mom and dad busy keeping up with him.
It was so  precious.  I still don't know if there was anyone in the window, but Noah was sure of it.

What a sweet face.

Two Days at Universal Studios Florida

With Alaina all set to participate in the Disney College Internship Program, we packed our bags and headed to the airport. (see Alaina's travelogue for the "challenges" of actually getting to the plane on her blog )  We had a lovely layover in Houston where we were surprised by the echo chamber in the crossroads between terminals.  If you happen to be traveling through that airport see if you can find it.

Rob was waiting for us in the main terminal in Orlando and it was POURING rain when we landed.  We weren't suprised, as every time we checked the 10-day forecast it had called for rain every single day of our trip.  Our bags showed up quickly and we made our way to the taxi line.  We were surprised when we arrived at our hotel and the driver insisted on cash.  Amazingly, between the three of us we had the exact amount needed to pay him and even managed a small tip.  He'd have been tipped better if he would have let us use a credit card, but it was more important for him to have cash in hand. 

We found our hotel, The Holiday Inn Resort, online using Travelocity's Super Secret Hotel program (which we give two thumbs up!) so we weren't totally sure what to expect (partly because we got REALLY good rates - almost too good to be true).  We've been really pleased with this hotel.  It's clean, the beds are comfortable, the rooms are big enough that the three of us don't feel crowded, the shuttle to the parks was always on time, the location is really close to Downtown Disney and very close to the apartment complex Alaina will be moving into.

We slept in a bit Thursday morning because we were planning to catch the second shuttle to Universal Studios. In the minimal research I had done before we left for Florida I had read that sometimes riders could stand in line for up to two hours for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. We had planned on spending our first day in the Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter since we didn't know how big it really was or how much there was to do so we headed straight to the back of the park. 

Walking into the parks is always so much fun.  It's so easy to get caught up in all the different areas with their fun themes and decor.

It was tempting to veer off and expore other areas of the park first....

But we did our best to stay focused and headed to the back of the park to find Hogsmeade.  
It was as amazing to see as we'd hoped it would be.  We slowly walked through the town taking in the incredible detail as we wound our way to the back of the park towards Hogwarts. 

We only had to stand in line for about 45 minutes before we were able to get on The Forbidden Journey.  It's hard to describe this ride but Alaina is going to do her best so jump over to her blog and read all the details.  I will just say that I've never been on a ride quite like this in my life.  It's quite surreal and I'm glad I didn't chicken out and skip it.

We walked back down to Hogsmeade and stood in line to go into Olivander's Wand Shoppe.  As we went inside, Olivander asked Alaina if she had come to his shop to choose a wand.  She said yes and he proceeded with his spiel about how wands choose their owner and not the other way around.  He handed her a wand with unicorn tail in the core and when she tried to use it, the shelves on the wall collapsed.  The second wand wasn't much better in her hands, but when he pulled out the third wand, "MAGIC"!  We tried to get a video of this but it was so dark that we couldn't get a decent picture.  We do have the recording if you want to listen to her adventure in Olivander's.

We then went over to The Three Broomsticks for dinner. Alaina said it tasted just like elves made it back in the kitchen. It was so much fun going through this part of the park with her as she really embraces the magic of the adventure (this is one of the reasons we are confident she will do well as she begins her time working in DisneyWorld).

We ordered Frozen Butterbeer with our dinner.  It was different from anything we'd ever tasted.  It was like butterscotch and cream soda in a frozen slushy form.  HINT:  Don't stand in line outside in the hot sun to get your butterbeer; go inside the Three Broomsticks.  It may take about as long, but you'll be inside an air-conditioned building. 

After dinner we walked back up to The Forbidden Journey and were delighted to find that the wait was only half an hour long so we rode it again.  We'd pretty much seen everything we'd wanted to in that area of the park by then so we decided to slowly head back towards the front of the park and spend a little time shopping in City Walk.

On our way there we saw that the Sinbad show was only a few minutes away from starting so we went in.  We bravely sat in the splash zone and boy did we get wet.  At one point I thought about putting up our umbrella, but we were already soaked through by then so I decided to just embrace the experience and the drenchings that followed. 

While we were waiting for the ropes to drop so we could go in and take our seats a little bug slowly climbed onto Rob's shoe and proceeded to walk up the shoe towards his leg.  Rob shook him off and we laughed as the bug calmly turned around, walked straight towards Rob, climbed up on his shoe and again headed straight for his leg.  Rob shook him off again, a little harder this time and the bug decided to find another person to climb up.

Friday morning we were up bright and early so we could catch the first shuttle over to Universal.  Rob started the morning with a trip on The Hulk.  This coaster has EIGHT upside down loops so there was no way I was going to ride it and Alaina politely declined also.  Alaina and Rob did Dr Dread Fall next and as I was sitting below watching the ride I saw a hat slowly floating down to the ground.  I thought to myself, "Rob just lost his hat".  Sure enough.  It popped  off just as the ride hit the top and started back down.  A lady standing just off to the side from me saw the hat floating down and burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen.

We had such a fun day.  We went on every single water ride in the park and Rob even conquered the Dueling Dragons coaster.  He has no idea how many times it went upside down and Alaina and I were in the wand shop and the candy shop while he was on the ride so we couldn't watch (besides, most of the ride is hidden from view).  It was sunny and warm and a perfect day for getting soaked.  We did have to wait in line for most of the rides because there were quite a few schools in the park for their end of year celebrations, but that didn't actually seem to slow us down as much as we thought it would when we saw the crush of people at the front gates at the beginning of the day. 

A Blog for our Build

We've decided to create a new blog where we will track the progress of our build.  That will allow me to keep this blog for more personal and general family things.

It will also help me to keep all of the decisions, details and progress of our new home in one place.

The name for the blog is "A Little Birdie Told Me" and the address is here...
http://drycreekpass.blogspot.com/

If you want to know where that name came from, read the first post. 
The address came from ... our new address.

Looking for Advice

We are so close to starting our build and just have a few decisions left.  We've easily (and not so easily) made a lot of decisions but I am STUCK and would love some advice. 

I have always loved the idea of having a fun chandelier style of light over our kitchen island.  We are not putting a chandelier (or any hanging light fixture) over our kitchen table.  I want to be able to move the table around for parties and get togethers without having to worry about people bumping their heads. 

I like the idea that the hanging light fixture over the island will add some drama and interest to the room.  It would also add some visual weight to that end of the room and create a little separation between the great room / dining / living area and the great room / kitchen / working area.

Rob is worried about the glare from the lights if we go with a true chandelier (and I actually agree with him on that point), so the actual style of light fixture is still up for discussion but before we choose the actual light fixture we need to decide how many lights to install.

I've created a couple of drawings that are supposed to represent the kitchen.  The walls are grey.  The base and wall cabinets are white.  The island is brown (and will be 6' wide in real life).  The hood is the "box" that is offset from the rest of the wall cabinets and goes all the way to the ceiling.  The light fixtures are represented by the yellow oval and blue line.  Even though it doesn't quite look like it in this image the island is actually centered in the room.  I would have liked to have the cooktop and hood centered on the island, but functionally that didn't work as well.  In this contest between Form vs Function - Function Wins.

Here are the three choices. 

#1 - One large fixture.  This would be between 24" and 30" in diameter and would probably end up being quite a bit taller than the image below represents (this oval is about 24" wide and 12" tall).  This would create the most visual weight and interest in the room.  When I started the design in my head this was how I WAS going to go.  I WAS going to talk Rob into it and pull Whatever strings I needed to to make it happen. 

#2 - Two medium fixtures.  These would be between 12" and 18" in diameter (these ovals are about 12" and are about 8" tall).  They would also be taller than I drew them. As I looked at fixtures in stores and online I started leaning towards this option.  I like the styles available in this size, I liked the idea of simplifying the "bling" just a bit, but still having some character and interest.

#3 - Three small pendants.  These would be between 8" and 10" in diameter (these are about 10").  These would offer the least visual weight in the room, but the fact that there are three of them would still create a sense of separation between areas. 

 

Visually this option actually turns out to be my favorite (which surprised me!)  I'm a little worried that if I go with three small pendants I will be a little disappointed that I didn't get to use something with a little more character and interest (or, to be honest, "bling"). 

Too add another dimension to the discussion,

this is the overhead view so you can see how the lights fill up the space.

I would love to hear your opinions.

Updated Garden Blog

We finally had sun (or more like, no rain!) this weekend so Rob and I picked up up a few flowers at Home Depot and The Growing Place. 

My favorite Mother's Day gift is plants for our front door containers (and if Rob actually joins me at the nursery then that makes the PEFECT gift!)  Since Mother's Day is the OFFICAL frost free day for the Chicagoland area I can purchase the annuals I want without worrying that I'll lose them to a late freeze and it's early enough in the season that there is still a good selection.

I got our front yard containers planted and a couple in the backyard.  If you want to see them you can jump over to my gardening blog http://suestuffgardening.blogspot.com/

Sewing Machine for Sale

For Sale:  Janome Memory Craft 6600 sewing machine.
$1200.00

This machine has never been used.  It was purchased by my mother who brought it home and realized she didn't really need another sewing machine.  She tried to return it after a couple of weeks but the dealer would only offer her store credit.  She couldn't imagine trying to spend $1600 on fabric and notions so she has asked me to try to help her sell it. 

This is an awesome machine and receives great reviews online.  It is made for advanced sewers and contains loads of features for quilters.

http://content.janome.com/index.cfm/Machines/Sewing-Quilting/MC6600P

Play It Again Sami June 17, 1996 - February 18, 2011

We welcomed Sami into our hearts, our home and our family in the summer of 1996.

Rob was in San Francisco on business and the kids wanted to go to the pet store.  We liked to do that for fun, also Emily was hoping that I would buy her another parakeet.  We walked into Petland and the kids dispersed to check out the different animals and areas of the store.  I followed Alaina to look at the puppies.  Her goal in life, at that time, was to be a puppy.  In fact, she had a puppy party for her 5th birthday that fall, so it was no surprise to me that the wall of puppies was the first place she wanted to go.

We saw the most adorable little Papillon pup who looked right at us through the window and said, "Pick ME".  I called Mark and Emily over and asked if they wanted to go in the little cubby with her.  Mark still liked the idea of BIG dogs, and Emily had her heart set on a little bird, but they said it would be okay to play with her for a few minutes.

A few minutes was all it took and we were all in love with her.  I spontaneously decided to purchase her right then and there.  I didn't wait to talk to my husband first.  I didn't take the kids home and talk about the responsibilities they would all have in her care and keeping.  I just knew in my heart this puppy was the perfect fit for our family and handed over my credit card.

By the way - I have since repented of making this decision without Rob's input and he has forgiven me

I need to find and scan some of the pictures we took of her first days home with us.  She was such an adorable little gremlin with her big ears and tiny little body. 

This is the only picture I have saved digitally from her puppy stage.

I'm embarrassed at how I damaged the picture in the effort to be a trendy scrapbooker 

DON'T DO THIS TO YOUR PICTURES

She settled right into life as a member of the Hendricks family.  We tried to let her sleep alone the first couple of nights but quickly realized that if she was in the same room with Mark, she didn't whine or cry, even if we left her in her crate all night long.  It wasn't long before she was housebroken and sleeping on the kid's beds with them.  She was supposed to sleep on the floor, and stay off the furniture, but she somehow knew which rules were strictly enforced and which rules she could sweetly get away with breaking.

She loved to go for walks - some of the times she walked on her leash, enthusiastically exploring the smells and the sights, and some of the times she rode in the doll stroller as Alaina and her friends pushed her around the neighborhood.  Even after Alaina outgrew that little game we could still convince Sami to jump right in and go for a ride.

She loved to go to the park and play.   

She loved to ride in the car - especially if we stopped for fast food.  She loved french fries and one time Alaina and I heard her "say"...."French Fries", when we asked her what she wanted from McDonald's.   Of course, it really

She loved to watch out the window and protect our property from intruders.  Once we let them in the house they were no longer strangers, but were welcomed open-hearted.  Sami loved it when friends would come over and would happily greet them and follow them around the house with her tail wagging her whole little body.

She was so smart and loved to learn tricks and loved to show off.  She danced like a ballerina and she loved to jump.  In fact the kids taught her how to jump over them and worked really hard to get her to jump through a hula hoop. 

She loved to chase the rabbits in our yard.  I don't know what would have happened had she ever caught one, because the full-size rabbits were often the same size she was.

She loved to be outside, if it was warm and if I was outside gardening.  She would find a sunny spot and keep an eye on me and the neighborhood at the same time.  If a mom came by with a baby stroller Sami always ran over to say hello. 

Sami tolerated young children, but didn't love being chased by them.  Maybe that's because she was a small dog, maybe that's because Alaina didn't actually chase her when she was young so she didn't understand that "game".  If friends brought small children, or even babies over, Sami was fascinated by them as long as she was the one in control of deciding when to approach and say hello.

Two of our neighbors had dogs that she was friends with, Pierre Gaskill and Maggie Jones.  The rest of the dogs in our neighborhood were warned loudly to stay away from her territory.  Once Maggie died, and the Jones' brought Rosie home to live with them I could never have Sami come over with me to visit because she would go through their house to figure out all the spots that Rosie liked and mark them.  She just never forgot that was supposed to be Maggie's house and never forgave Rosie for taking her place.  She tolerated Rosie if they were outside in the yard together, but she never approached her like she did Maggie.

She loved visitors as long as she knew she could go under the kitchen table for safety.  She always stayed close enough to the kitchen to hear the magical words, "Uh Oh!" which was her cue to run out  and grab whatever treat had fallen on the floor.

 She loved veggies and fruit for treats. Bell Peppers were her favorite. We'd just have to cut into them and she would run to the kitchen and ask ever so politely for us to share.

She loved Christmas and we loved watching her rummage through her stocking to pull out the treats that Santa brought her and she would carefully check out all the gifts under the tree to figure out if any of them smelled like they might be hers. 

She loved to sleep under the Christmas tree with the lights glowing. It was warm and cozy and the perfect place to be.

When ever I would sit down at the piano she immediately ran over and settled down into her favorite spot underneath it.

She tolerated being dressed up.  Sometimes she would like the little sweaters and coats Alaina always gave her for Christmas.  We knew she hated being cold so for several years we would try to dress her in them and convince her that it was nice and warm and she looked pretty.

Somehow, she was very aware of her appearance and was always just a little happier and a little perkier if she felt pretty.

She loved her family, especially "her" kids.  She would let them pet her and hold her, even though she had a fiercely independent streak.  Nothing made her happier than having her family shower her with attention, when she told them too.

I need to find and scan pictures of her with Mark from the years before we had a digital camera.

She liked to settle in on her pillow in the family room.  She loved to be warm and she loved to be comfortable.  In the winter we could always find her sitting or laying on one of the heater vents. 

We love you Sami.  You will always be in our hearts