Braden in the Windy City

My sweet sister won at auction an "entertainment" package last year. She realized that the 4 VIP tickets to the Shedd Aquarium were about to expire, so Dad, Braden and I took a little train trip to the Windy City for some fun!! We arrived and headed straight for the Shedd...followed by a yummy sushi lunch and then on to the Lincoln Park Zoo.....

The train ride (sorry its blurry)

Entering the Shedd with Auntie Em through a giant snake mouth!
Looking for the Anaconda...hard to spot, but we found him!!
Watching the dolphins surface
Climbing on the rocks...he wanted to climb everywhere...He actually could care less about the fish (he's more of a jungle guy)
At lunch playing with chopsticks

Check out this yummy platter. We got 2 Rainbow rolls, a snow white roll, a sweet potato roll and a honey bee roll (my favorite!!) I have been craving sushi all the time now...maybe I should open a sushi restaurant in Galesburg

Em called ahead to see if we could bring in something for Braden...so we did....McDonalds

We then headed to the zoo and Braden led us around with his map!!

Looking at the bears
Whats that waaaay over there...
A tiger.....

Thanks Auntie Em and Papa for a wonderful day....sorry Braden only wanted to hang at the Shedd for 45 minutes...we had a blast and would love to do it again when its cooler so we can see the Polar Bears!?!?!?!?!

While the cats away...

I made a somewhat quick trip to Walmart last night and this is what I returned to....notice Sean is reading and the kids are no where in sight.....

Truthfully...the kids are around behind the tv....they were supervised! The sad news is that our cleaning lady came the next day...we were quite busy before going to bed!!

Little Devil

While on the phone the other morning I heard Finley squealing with delight....this is where I found her.....

So I made her look for a job to occupy her time a little better....
But with a girl this cute, why would I want to be apart from her??? UGH I just want to squeeze her.....

The Carpenter Visit

Sean's Aunt Joyce and Uncle Ron (and cousin Jackie) live in Oklahoma. They were travelling home from Michigan and stopped by Galesburg for a quick hello!! Here are some pictures from the visit!!

Joyce, Meme, Ron and the mutts

Steve, Shannon, Joyce, Meme and Ron....Sean and I in the front
Jackie helping Finley bat
Joyce and Shannon
Shannon and Cole

Cutest Cousins ever!!

Cole and Kane, Finley and Braden's cousins, are the cutest!! We just love it when they come and visit....Finley and Cole are basically the same age and Brady and Kane are 10 months apart, they basically babysit/entertain each other!!

The infamous...."Finley, where is your nose?".....insert finger in nose!!
I believe Cole just got done eating sand....YUMMY!
see what I mean by CUTE?

Ear Infections

So Mr. Brady, we discovered, had ear infection. He didnt complain ONCE, however, had blood coming out of his ear so we decided to check it out....Needless to say he needed oral antibiotics and some ear drops. He was to lay on the non-affected side to let the drops work, so we placed his dvd player on the floor for better viewing. This night he had a friend.....I always find it cute when little ones finally decided to lay on their bellies to read, color and in this case watch tv!!