The rest of June 2008

Seriously, this is how cute my son is. He is the terminator. He's got this thing, where he wants to wear his hat, sunglasses, sweatshirt, coat, shoes - whatever he might have on at the time - to bed (nap or night-time). We have to try and talk him out of it, but most of the time, he just wants to wear it to bed. He's so cute. Then there are the faux hawks...

i was trying it out on Tyler, so thought Lex might be cute in one too...

The baby...

We've gone COUNTRY!

my baby...my first born...my beautiful little girl...is officially signed up for pre-school. We did the two day program, as she's too young for kindergarden, and this will just be a healthy taste for what is coming. She's excited, for now anyway, and we got her letter stating when she, and her loving parents, can go and visit her classroom and meet her teacher(s). Wow...my baby has a teacher. I cried. I'll admit it...I cried. Not hard, just enough...There is also an openhouse open if the grandparents would like to see where she's going, etc...but i'll e-mail those that it pertains to later.

On another note, Jeremy thinks that the gravity was different down south, as our baby (this time i really am referring to the baby) seems to not want to walk anymore. She just hits the floor once anyone lets go of her hand. She's tried it again a couple times since we got back, but really has no interest. Oh well, it keeps her as my baby a little longer. she is however, enjoying climbing...in particular on the little rocking chairs that we have, but now she climbs in and stands up...accident waiting to happen.

Mr. T - is acting like a two year old with an older sibling. Whatever Gabby does or says - Ty has to do it too. He copies everything! He also calls her "Ra". Really, i don't know where he got this from. We call her "Z", Gabby, Gab, Bean...so where "ra" came from, i don't really know...One of these days i'll get him calling her that on video...I'll see what i can put up here from our vacation...

Our Vacation...some snipets...part 1

Ok - we start with the drive and a night in Nashville (our breaking point so the kids (ok, all of us) didn't loose it!
..

We stayed at a hotel in nashville where we went swimming (well, Gabby, Daddy, mommy and Alexis did)...Ty fought it tooth and nail! We did, however, get him in a little, and probably scarred him for the rest of his life...by dunking him...oye). We ended the night in the hotel with Gabby telling daddy to get out of their (being hers and Tyler's bed). He needed to go sleep with Mommy...she was very frustrated that daddy was taking up all of their room!

and the next morning, headed to Alabama to meet Miles and see Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Dave - oh, and Happy Father's Day to both of our Dads, Jeremy and Uncle Dave!

We went to see where Uncle Dave works (Uof Alabama - Roll Tide) and got some gear! We so loved hanging with the brewer clan! Gabby made a welcome Miles card and gave it to him (well, she gave it to Aunt Stephanie...and we gave the newest monkey a little blue dog...i got it six months ago...I knew she was having a boy!

Thanks to Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Dave and Mr. Miles for hosting us in their beautiful home and for sharing the beauty that is Tuscaloosa with us (as well as uncle Dave's brisket (sp?) and mashed potatoes...We got some downhome Alabama BBQ at Archibalds (it was great!) and swam in the Brewer's newly aquired pool (Gabby had so much fun and even came back with some tan lines - yes she had sunscreen on, but still got a bit of a tan).

Daddy turned our kids onto something new...southern sweet tea. After just one meal with it, they new that daddy's was the good drink and mom's was not the one to drink from (i like mine - no sugar and with lemon...) I'm sure that they drank an olympic size pool's worth of sweet tea while we were on vacation...ugh. that would explain some of their behavior!

Aunt Stephanie and Miles took us to the Tuscaloosa Children's hands on museum...we had so much fun!

The Tell children and their children

All of the Tell Grandchildren Lex wanted to give kisses!

The next post will be a continuation of our vacation...but this one was long enough!

Chicago June 20 to June 22, 2008

Here's a picture collage of us all in Chicago. We got in late (some mishaps in travel - an in vehicle argument - and construction in chicago - and with the construction came the downfall of google maps to get us to our location - as in construction is not covered in google maps. We did eventually find it...) Needless to say, it was in the hotel room, feed us and go to bed. Then we were up and out to the Chicago Children's museum. Wow, talk about expensive. $23 to park! I hate Chicago. I take that back. I love Chicago. But i wouldn't live there and raise my three kids or drive anywhere. Talk about a heart attack waiting to happen. The kids had a blast. It is one of the best kids museums i've heard of, and we all really enjoyed it. Mommy and daddy liked the water works area. We had a little water fight. Mommy won! We went across the street to the park with the fountain and the kids really liked that too. Ty and gabby especially. We took the kids on a walk down the pier to watch the boats and see what was down there. probably would have been fun to stick around, if it weren't for those kids! Gabby wanted to ride the wheel - but we told her she had to be bigger...mostly cuz mommy wasn't ready to let her do it. maybe next years vacation? We headed out, after paying our $23 parking bill...(that would be the pic of jeremy at the atm looking machine). and headed off to Giordonnos (sp?). Um, that was the best pizza i've had in a long time. So i guess we will be back in Chicago eventually...to get pizza. We thought about going back to the pier the next day, but we were all pretty well whooped, and didn't want to spend another $100 on a half day at the pier. So we hung out, went to the hotel's nasty pool (thankfully they cleaned it that day, but it was still gross to look at.) and played out in the courtyard and then began the drive home.

NEW! Nashville part of vacation...Wednesday, June 18 through Friday, June 20, 2008

Ok - so - we get into Nashville and Aunt Randi's still at work...I made her promise me that Tim McGraw would be there, but no such luck...something about this tour that he's on...oh well. We drove by to see where Aunt Randi's place was and then buzzed over to her office to see where she works and who she works with! It was quite fun...that's an office i wouldn't mind working in again! We went to Centennial park which was right next door to wait for her to finish and so we could feed the ducks and see the "parthenon". The kids had a great time feeding the ducks crackers and running across the lawns in the park! We had a hard time deciding where to go for dinner - but finally decided on the family atmosphere of the Aquarium restaurant in Opryland. You dine in an aquarium with sharks and fish and coral - it was very cool and the kids couldn't get enough! Wonderful food too! Then it was back to Aunt Randi's to snuggle in for the night. Gabby had a sleepover with Aunt Randi up in her room (i was so surprised - in a different place with different things around her, she was still up for being totally away from us with her Aunt! What a big girl!) The rest of us had a sleepover in her living room, but it was very much fun!


We got up a little late the next morning, but decided to just go and walk music row and do the typical sightseeing. We bought us some cowboy (cowgirl for gabby and mommy and lex) hats, and had a great time walking around. No celebrity sightings...nobody really cared but me, but we saw one of the girls from Rock of Love 2 on VH1 - yeah, i know, i'm showing my reality TV addiction online, but i'm okay with that! We were going to meet aunt randi again for dinner, but she was getting ready to leave for Vegas for a Tim Mcgraw show, so we decided to go to BB Kings - they had live music - which was great, with brass and everything! We loved it and we had great BBQ and chicken nuggets too! The band even loved our kids - we were sitting in the very back and all the kids were rockin' to the music and on our way out the band was playing on stage and the kids waved "bye" to them all, and they all waved back and even stopped to say bye! Our kids get all the attention!

Our last day in Nashville was just good-byes. Aunt Randi was leaving for Vegas and we had a nine hour drive ahead of us to get to Chicago. Jeremy broke a shower gel bottle in Aunt Randi and her roomie Cynthia's shower - i guess there was too much girlie stuff in there - and everywhere he turned there was girlie smelly stuff...he dropped their shelf in the shower and this one broke...it smelled very good, but not on Jeremy...it was funny none-the-less. We got country-fied, and said goodbye and headed to Chicago. We had a great time and thanks to Aunt Randi and her roomate Cynthia for being so gracious as to let us crash your pad! It was so nice to see where aunt randi makes home now and to meet her wonderful roomie! Thanks guys and we love you aunt randi!

New post for Chicago...i'm slow, but i'm working on it...