Spring Break 2015-Little Rock...as in Arkansas

Spring Break has come and gone, and we had a great time! We visited beautiful, exotic Little Rock, Arkansas. Yeah, super bizarre vacation destination, BUT...we want to visit all 50 states with the chums, and no high school kid is going to get excited about vacation in Arkansas (sorry, Arkansas) so we did it now! And just in case you were wondering, Little Rock, Arkansas is exciting for little kids. We broke up the drive a bit and started at The City Musuem. We had been before about 3 years ago, and while the boys enjoyed it, they didn't fully experience it the way they did this time.

On the way to the city museum we drove under a bridge that was under construction. All of the cooling liquid from the blade came gushing through the cracks and covered the windshield. We didn't realize how much liquid got on the car until we got to The City Museum when the parking attendant asked with much awe and confusion, "What happened to your car?!?! Did you drive through a flock of birds?!" Of course, I had just washed the car the night before so that was a great little surprise.

In true Danielle fashion, I misread the directions 30 minutes after leaving The City Museum, keeping my record of "Missing crucial exits while on vacation" at a perfect 100% (and we travel a pretty fair amount both near and far). But it wasn't a total disaster this time. We ended up passing Sikeston and decided to go to, where else, Lambert's Cafe...Home of the Throwed Rolls. It is a favorite of my grandparents, and I thought the boys would get a kick out of it. Both chums got the chance to catch a roll, and everything was delicious, although the sheer quantity of food was excessive. Ian told me, "I think it's really fancy the way they throw the rolls here." I'm still cracking up about this assessment of Lambert's.

 

Our first day in Little Rock we climbed Pinnacle Mountain. When we drove into the park I was unjustifiably irritated with Cole. The top of the mountain is covered in boulders and in NO way looks family friendly. But, of course, he'd never been there before so he didn't know what to expect either. HOWEVER...as is typical of the Cole-Danielle dynamic...neither of us said a word because neither of us wanted to be the wimp in the situation. I'm happy to say we reached the summit! And were definitely one of the younger families on the trail. The view from the top was beautiful, the weather was beautiful, and the boys were so proud of themselves.

We refueled at a Mexican restaurant. I asked for us to be seated outside, and I was the ONLY one happy about this. While the matriarch of the family soaked up some Vitamin D in the 78 degree sun, the males of the family...all of the males in the family...griped about the sun and the wind and their general discontent with being forced to eat outside. After everyone's blood sugar reached normal levels again, people were happier. Don't be fooled...I was still the only one that was happy, but they were all significantly less unpleasant.

Little Rock has a trolley called the River Rail Streetcar. This was the epitome of cool according to the chums. And for $3.00 for the ENTIRE family to take a 25 minute roundtrip, I had to somewhat agree with this sentiment. We rode it two different days, and it was worth every penny each time.

We opted for a two bedroom hotel suite. (Cue the choir of angels.) We will never be able to travel any other way again. After our first disastrous hotel experience in Mexico, that left Cole and I laying in the dark from 7:30 pm until morning every day, occasionally tuning in to exclusively Spanish-speaking Dora the Explorer once we were positive the boys were a step above comatose, we started booking one bedroom suites. But the extra buffer between the bedrooms so you can actually talk and have the TV volume above 1 is totally worth the extra scratch. We all slept well every night which greatly increases a family's tolerance for each other when the vacation turns sour...which is typically around 4:00 pm every single day.

We found a great park for the chums to run amok every afternoon. It had tunnels and secret passages and "caves." It was great for their age group.

We went to the zoo. Now, when you grow up going to the St. Louis Zoo, which is free, you kind of expect a LOT of bang for your buck at other zoos. This was not the case, in my humble opinion, but it wasn't about me. Eli really wanted to go, he loved it, so really it was worth it. We did eat some Dippin' Dots there which was awesome, but they weren't served in a dish, they came in a bag from the Dippin' Dots kiosk! What the hell is that?!?!? Not cool, kiosk. Not cool.

Just two good lookin' dudes at supper one night.

Our final destination was the Museum of Discovery. All I can say is WOW!!! It was fabulous!!!! We have gone to many a children's museum and this one was by far the most unique and hands on I have ever seen. I just can't explain how cool it was and how I wish, wish, wish the Museum of Discovery was closer to us. This Museum is geared at children a little older, probably 6-10, and it had all kinds of exhibits that were physics based. It was just so great, and it had a great room for younger children where Eli was able to adorn himself in costume after costume for about three hours. Oh, and both boys got the chance to lay on a bed of nails. Pretty cool stuff.

And finally came the drive home. Two exhausted boys in the back seat is a pretty sure fire way to know it was a great trip! Arkansas, we had a great time. Catch ya later!

Time to Play Catch Up...Again

Well, well, well. Let's see what's been going on since I last posted here. I'm such a blog bum. I would switch to vlogging except I've got a face for radio and voice for print, so the good old fashioned blog I shall maintain.

Shortly after Christmas we took a tree house vacation. It was AMAZING, and I highly recommend taking one yourself. We went to Timber Ridge Outpost in the heart of the Shawnee Forest. We stayed in the White Oak treehouse, and it was fantastic! We had great weather (low 30's and sunny) so we also went to The Garden of the Gods to hike. Wow, wow, wow. What a great trip! The boys said it was better than Niagara Falls, and I didn't think anything could top Niagara Falls.

Ian lost his first two teeth...bottom fronts. One fell out all on its own, the other...well, the other was ripped out, long before it was ready to come out, by Eli. Ian didn't seem to mind too much, until I calmly informed him he should go to the bathroom to wash his face and hands as there was a quite a bit of blood (ALL over him.) He was over it pretty quickly, though, and happy to have lost TWO teeth!

Eli's reading skills have exploded recently! He's always been more language and arts oriented than Ian, but here lately he has really given it the gas. Almost every night Ian has a reading assignment. After he reads the book, Eli hops up in his place and also reads the book, pretty much just as well as Ian and with no prior practice. It's pretty weird watching your kids learn more and more, but there is something about listening to them read that makes it painfully apparent that the toddler days are long gone...and I'm just not ready for that. Eli continues to live life in costume, which just melts my heart, and brings a lot of joy to this house.

Ian has been tearing it up at school with multiplication. Yes, that's right. The kindergartener has progressed through the regular curriculum and is now doing 3rd grade math. This really shouldn't surprise me as he has always had a mind for math and science. The thing that I absolutely love the most is that we are in a position to have that material presented to him since he's at a Montessori house. I'll be very sad to transition him to a traditional classroom next year and sincerely hope that his teachers will continue to nurture his strengths to his maximum potential. He also started violin lessons. He's doing quite well and is so darn cute with that little tiny violin.

Speaking of getting edumacated, Cole was accepted to grad school! I'm so proud of him! He will be returning to his alma mater, U of I, in August to start his masters degree in mechanical engineering. I'm also preparing myself for flying solo for the majority of the next two years. I'm definitely not looking forward to that aspect, but it will be worth it in the end!

I have been pretty busy at work lately. I somewhat inadvertently created a new job at work and gave it to myself. My almost-sole-duty at work now is converting all of our training materials to foreign languages. I've been doing this for Spanish for a year now, but I just started converting lessons to Mandarin a couple of weeks ago and French is on the horizon! It's very challenging and mentally exhausting to create educational material in a language you know NOTHING about and in NO way understand. (Chinese is unbelievable to this native English speaker.) I only work part-time while the boys are in class, and with the conversion to Mandarin, four hours at a time is all I can take. By the time I'm ready to leave work my brain is a blob of mush, and I can barely recall my own name. But...I truly love it, and I truly love my boss for letting me create my own little corner of AgCreate.

We bought a new-to-us car. The Sonata we bought in November of '13 had SERIOUS, on-going electrical problems. We went through FIVE batteries during the 15 months we owned it, and three of those 15 months were spent in the shop at three different dealerships trying to find a solution. We finally threw in the towel and traded. The dealership was absolutely fantastic to work with and tried their best to make it right. I couldn't be happier. We opted for a '12 Fusion, and I must say...I am in LOVE with this car!!! This little baby has stolen my heart. It is by FAR the fanciest thing we've ever owned (it's a Ford...we're simple folks), and it even has color changing ambient lighting which is kind of fun actually. The only thing I miss about the Sonata is the gas mileage.

Cole and I went to a fundraiser for the Eastern Illinois Foodbank last Saturday. We had a blast dancing the night away (we danced over 10,000 steps according to Cole's iPhone) and having probably one of my most favorite pictures of us EVER taken in the photo booth. It was seriously So. Much. Fun! Hopefully, we can make it an annual event for us. We also, ahem, bought a vacation during the silent auction so...WE'RE GOING TO ST. LUCIA! St. Lucia is where I really, really, REALLY wanted to go to for our honeymoon, but we had NO money at the time so we didn't take a honeymoon at all. Well, now we are a bit more established and so off to St. Lucia we shall go. But, much more importantly, the money went to an AMAZING cause that we are happy to support.

Eli is 5!

I can not believe that the baby of the family is turning 5! I hate this growing up thing...especially since ours is happening all at once. But, hey, Eli might be the sweetest, most kind hearted child you'll ever meet, so how could I ever ask for more? 

Happiest of birthdays, to our darling little boy!

Good-bye, Santa

We did it. We told the boys that Santa Claus is not real. Before you flip your lid and start thinking about what a monster I am, just take a second to consider the fact that we live with our kids and we know them better than anybody else and we feel that we did what was best for our children.

Ian has NEVER found the concept of Santa to be entertaining. You can SEE distress on his face every time he talks about it. He started questioning Santa and commenting on how none of it makes sense when he was four. We neither confirmed nor denied his suspicions. This year he flat out asked me, "Is Santa real or not?" One of Ian's greatest qualities is his unwavering honesty, and Cole and I praise him for his honesty all the time. Honesty can be a hard pill to swallow, and Ian will. not. lie. It's so very admirable. Given the fact that the thought of Santa never brought joy, only stress, to Ian's life and that honesty is one of the very most important character qualities we want to develop in our boys, we had to let Santa go and tell the truth.

We told the boys about Saint Nicholas and how Santa was inspired by Saint Nicholas and the discussion just evolved from there. Eli started acting silly and tried to ignore the conversation. That's Eli's natural reaction to anything that makes him uncomfortable, and I know his little heart was breaking. Ian was quiet for the longest time and then asked, "Why did you tell me this?!" I was flabbergasted and quickly retorted, "You asked me!" He said, "No, I didn't!" And then this whole argument ensued. He DID ask me! I did not make that up. I'm pretty sure that Ian was upset because while he knew in his head that Santa didn't make sense and wasn't real, his sweet little six-year-old heart wanted it to be true.

We decided to tell both boys at once because we didn't want Ian to have to keep a secret like this, and we also wanted to let Eli down easy...if that makes sense. It was a sad day for me because I remember believing in Santa and the magic of Christmas. It was so much fun. But that was not the case for Ian, and unfortunately Eli was caught in the middle. I think we'll still wait until Christmas morning to lay out the gifts, so there will still be excitement, and we made it very clear that this MUST remain a secret from other children we know that still believe and we came up with a vague response to give when people ask questions like, "Is Santa going to come to your house?" I think we covered everything, but who knows.

When it was all said and done Eli whispered in my ear, "Since there's no Santa, I want to tell you that I want the biggest train set from Brio, okay?"

Lego Land...under the table

Ian was playing Legos the other night and wanted a picture of himself with his hard work. He kept saying, "Once I get this ALLLL set up, I want you to take my picture with it." I'm still not entirely sure what this scene was, but he was so darn proud of it. He looks so old in this picture. :(

Mass Update

My, my, my...it's been a LONG time since I updated the blog!!! So, in true Danielle fashion, this update will be a catch-all of what's been happening since August. The other day Cole and I were talking about how the blog has been terribly neglected and how that stinks because this IS our family journal. I commented that the blogging (not to mention a perfectly tidy house with drawers FULL of clean laundry) fell off the radar when I started working (part-time) again. Cole said, "Well, you could quit your job. It's up to you." Cole knows I won't quit, but I think a little bitty part of him sort of misses the life we had when I was at home an additional 20 hours a week. It was definitely more organized around here. {Sarah, if you are reading this don't worry. I'm NOT quitting!!!} I'm just going to have to make an appointment with Blogger once a week to do updates regularly. For now...here's what's going on in the life of the Andersons.

This guy turned 6! Yep. That happened. And within the last week he has gotten his first wiggly tooth...and then a second...and what might be a third! I asked him what we would do when he lost all these teeth and he said, "I think I'll have to eat baby food."

We ate supper at Olive Garden for Ian's birthday. He can't get enough of those buttery breadsticks.

This dude continues to live life in costume. Why wear clothes when you can wear a costume, right? And his character development and improv skills are unreal. He comes up with COMPLEX character back stories on the spot and NEVER breaks character. When he gets into a new character at home he always asks, "Mrs. Anderson, where's your bathroom?" He is so. much. fun.

Big Bro got glasses! He has done so well with them. He clearly needed them because they are ALWAYS on his face. You never need to remind him. Over Thanksgiving the kids were playing in the basement and my sister announced that kids with glasses MUST take them off before playing rough. Ian said, "Uh, Aunt Jess, I can't take mine off or I can't see right." I think he opted out of playing rough.

Railroad Days 2014. We showed up at 9:00 a.m. and stayed until 5:30 p.m. We even weathered a pretty heavy downpour. These boys and their trains.

The cold weather is here. Vests, fleece, gloves, hats, boots, parkas, scarves...they all make me realize how much I hate winter in the Midwest. It's miserable...and it's not even cold yet!!!

Matching be damned...this one wears what he "feels" in his heart. And yes, that is sometimes two different boots to school. Whatever. His feet were warm and dry.

We carved gourds this year instead of pumpkins. Ian's held up REALLY well...not sure where his specs are in this picture. Hmmmm.... Eli's, however, dehydrated pretty quickly and looked totally bizarre. Eli got pretty upset about "Pumpky's" demise and started acting really oddly. After days of being super weird about the pumpkin he yelled out, "I don't like Pumpky anymore! He looks like some weird gorilla!!!" This was true. The eyes were bulging out and it was pretty freaky looking. I, too, was relieved when consent was given to lay Pumpky to rest in the compost.

There has been a great deal of scrap lumber ramp construction going on. These boys are quite the ramp builders and can stay occupied for HOURS building and rebuilding their tracks.

Sweetest boys a mom could ask for!

We had a front row seat for some serious road repaving that I didn't think was EVER going to end. It finally did, but good lord...I hope it doesn't happen again for a very long time. I was having fantasies of driving the Nissan at full speed right through the road barrier blocking our intersection. I'm glad that never ended up happening.

No story here. I just think Ian is ADORABLE in this picture, and it brings the total number of pictures of me with at least one of the boys up to about 12 which is fine by me considering how much I loathe having my picture taken. (Ian, when I'm old and gray, please reference this picture to remember that your mom was once young.)

Let's talk about this guy for a minute! Ran his first marathon on November 1st in Indianapolis. It was FREEZING...quite literally. Temperature at the start time was 27. That's one of his running partners, Jenn. We couldn't find his other partner, Ben, that morning for a group picture, but Ben's wife has some mad photoshop skills so maybe we can get a group picture someday.

His official chip time was 3:44:01. He was awesome! I'm super proud of him, Jenn, and Ben. They were all amazing.