Saturday, March 30, 2013

Chicago



Spring Is Finally Here!

Everyone has been complaining lately about the Spring that seems to be hiding. What we seem to forget is that Winter did not come until almost December making this winter not really any longer than any other. Yet I am anxious for warmer weather just like everyone else.

Last week was Spring Break at our house. It's been a lot of fun and a nice break from the regular routine. We have been spending most of our time right around our home. We went to the book store and library to find some new books to read. Matthew recently started bringing home books to read and sight words to memorize so we are now reading 20 minutes a day which means we need books to choose from.

Thursday we went to the Field Museum in Chicago. I am now a firm believer that the Illinois legislature does not like tourists. It cost over $12 in tolls just to get to the suburbs and that doesn't count the tolls we paid after we met a friend and used her IPass. Then there is the cost of parking down town and the overnight road construction that started at 7 when it wasn't even dark yet. Our 2 hour trip to our friend's house turned into a 4 hour trip home because of the construction. Yet we still had a good time when we weren't driving. The kids really enjoyed seeing the mummies and I enjoyed the dinosaurs.

Yesterday I finally started cleaning out the boys' bedrooms. I finished Jacob's and plan to start Matthew's today. We started collecting toys 6 years ago. Jacob began to outgrow the preschool toys 2 years ago but Matthew was still really enjoying them. Then grad school got crazy and there was absolutely no extra time to spend cleaning out and organizing the boys' rooms so the toys have gotten out of control. My goal is to have both rooms completely cleaned out by the end of the weekend. Then I can start cleaning out the rest of the house next week.

Not bad for one week of vacation. We have another vacation in June and probably won't go anywhere for more than a couple of days then either. Maybe I can get the rest of the house cleaned then.