Summer 2013

Summer has just begun and we have already crammed a lot into our hectic schedule.  We usually have a list of things we want to do with the kids in summer and we have been able to make a dent in that list.  I’m not sure if we can keep up the pace but it is starting out to be a fun summer.

Just in the nick of time I learned that National Train Day at Union Station was happening.  We took Jame before and he got a big kick out of it and with me having the day off we just had to make the trek downtown.  Uncle Brett was the one who informed us that it was happening but unfortunately he already had plans for that day and was not going to be able to go.  Jynx also had to work that day and she was not able to go so it was just a Jame and Daddy day.

We got up that morning and Little Man got dressed up with Mommy’s help as a train engineer.  When we arrived at Union Station I didn’t know if I would get Little Man inside since he was so excited to see all the taxi cabs and busses outside.  I always love entering the Great Hall at Union Station and walking down those famous steps.  We made our way around looking at all the toy train displays and I noticed everyone looking and smiling at Little Man in his engineer outfit and who could blame them, he was really cute.  After a bit I noticed a fellow cameraman and stopped to say hi to him and it wasn’t long before the producer asked if she could do an interview with him.  I’m not sure how the interview went but he seemed to enjoy himself.

We then made our way over to the kid’s area where they were handing out gifts for the kids.  This year one of the sponsors was Disney so one of Little Man’s favorite shows Chuggington was all over.  They handed him a safety vest with the Chuggington characters on it.  He also got a couple of toy trains that work with his wooden train track and of course coloring books.  They also had some toy trains to play with, Little Man has a set at home but of course he wanted to play and why not.  I noticed there were very few trains for the kids and I took a moment to look at my phone and when I looked up Jame had two of the trains he was playing with while the other kids watched.  I’m not sure how he pulled this off but I stepped in and had him share and a few; minutes later he once again had the trains in front of him.  One day he’s going to have to teach me how he pulls off this trick.

We then spent the rest of our time touring the big trains.  We saw all the Amtrak cars and Little Man was in heaven.  We then went and toured the luxury private rental train cars and it was hard trying to get Little Man from touching everything in the luxury cars.  We then went on to see the engines that were parked and we took a bunch of photos of them.  We were getting ready to head out but I wanted to get a few more pictures with Little Man in his engineer outfit and the famous stairs at Union Station.  We were almost finished when I felt a tap on my shoulder; it was Uncle Brett who had made it.  Uncle Brett is planning a trip out to California on Amtrak and he was hoping to see what the trip was going to be like.  I asked Little Man if he wanted to see the train again and of course he agreed.  We walked the train again and Little Man helped Uncle Brett figure out how the tables worked on the train.  After Little Man got Uncle Brett ready for his trip we went to the food court for lunch. What a great day, thanks Uncle Brett.

One of the things we wanted to do this summer was take the kids to the zoo.  With a rare day off we headed out to Lincoln Park Zoo with both Hope and Jame.  Jame loved all the animals and Hope just loved being outside with all the excitement.  Little Man still says his favorite animal was the tiger and he still laughs about the monkeys.  When we approached the monkey’s one monkey stepped close to the glass soon followed by another monkey who flipped over and let the other monkey pick his butt, as you can imagine every kid there started laughing.  Little Man asked “why they doing that?” I explained that the one monkey was just checking to see if the other monkey had a stinky butt.  I don’t really know why the monkeys do that and I don’t really care, maybe it’s just to entertain the kids. 

No trip to Lincoln Park would be complete without a visit to the farm.  As we walked over to the farm we had to stop on the bridge and take some photos with such a great view on such a nice day.  After taking some pictures we headed to the zoo where Little Man got to feed the cows, pet a chicken and watch the cows get milked.  Speaking of milk it was at this time we realized that I packed food for Hope but not a bottle and she was getting a bit grumpy.  I headed off on foot to find the closest Walgreens and when I returned she was asleep. Oh well.  We had a great time at the zoo and the kids both had heavy eyes as we headed for the exit, but we were all hungry and headed to Gino’s for some good Chicago deep dish.

Little Man’s talking keeps improving and we took him to movies in the park the other night where he introduced himself to everyone he saw; “Hi my name Jame.”  It was a perfect night for sitting outside and watching a movie although Little Man was a bit confused why we would do that when we could watch a movie at home.  He quickly forgot about his question as he ran around with all the other kids in the park he had introduced himself to earlier.

The movie in the park was the kick off to our town’s festival and the carnival was in town.  We took Little Man to the carnival and he was very excited to go and we met Bailey there and they hit the rides together.  When they headed over to the dragon roller coaster Bailey was tall enough but Little Man was a bit short but he quickly remedied the situation by standing on his tip toes.  Jynx did not notice what he was doing but the guy in charge of the ride did.  After we all had a good laugh, he allowed Little Man on the ride.  He still says, that was his favorite ride.  Little Man has also now discovered his love for corndogs that he had after they were all done riding.  I, of course had to break my diet and get a deep fried Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and it was good! I think we will hit another small town carnival before the summer is over. The rides are totally geared towards little guys like ours and we will probably take Hope too to ride her around in her stroller.

It’s hard to believe that our Little Hope is already nearing her first birthday.  Hope has now shed her Jumping Jenny and is only spending some time in her walker.  She now has figured out how to crawl and is standing up in her playpen. She is starting to cruise the furniture and loves to walk with someone holding her hand. She is very close to walking. We now have to put locks on the cabinets and if we forget one she finds the one you miss. When she does get her hands on something a big smile grows on her face and in Flintstone like fashion she runs away.  Her excited smile is contagious and truly warms your heart.  She will also let you know if she is hungry or just not happy, which is very rare.

Going back and writing about all of this already has me tired.  The kids are growing up way too fast and I know when the summer is over I will think that the summer went by way too fast as well. I will just have to enjoy every second with my kids.

Easter 2013

Easter 2013 surely snuck up on us being so close to St. Patrick’s Day we barely had time to take down St. Pat’s and put up Easter.  We didn’t do our usual decorating for Easter but we did more than most.  Easter although quick still turned out great and was very eventful to say the least.

Our Easter events started out with a visit with the Easter Bunny at Little Man’s favorite restaurant, Tyler’s Tender.  As many of you know we have an inside track with the Easter Bunny (pun intended) and we knew he was making a special appearance.  I raced from work to Tyler’s to find the place filling up quickly.  Jame and Hope came later with Auntie Jea Jea and got to meet the Easter Bunny who took a liking to those two.  When the Easter Bunny stopped to take a picture with them other patrons laughed as they both turned to pose for a picture.  Gee, I wonder how they learned to do that.

 

I found a cute Easter Bunny outfit for Hope and got the Roger home photo studio ready.  I changed Hope into her outfit and I’m not sure if she liked the softness of the bunny outfit or maybe it was that she had just ate or maybe it was just gas but she gave me some great smiles.  Little Man jumped in the shot a few times, I’m not sure how he does it but he does know how to pose for the camera.  I have found myself trying to pose him when he will do something completely different and it turns out to be a great shot.  I wonder if hope will develop the same talent.  If the Bunny outfit was any indication she is well on her way.

We made plans for the Dyer Easter Egg hunt.  The hunt was going to be different this year since Little Man was moving up an age group.  We met Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Rick at our favorite Mexican restaurant Chips and, we have become quite friendly with the owners.  After an accident with a hot sauce bottle, we were trying to show Jame’s rocket ship countdown He told me it was not good to use the bottle but I convinced him and he was right.  We headed to the park and Jynx took Hope back home since she was too young for the hunt, Little Man didn’t go at her age either.  Watch out next year she will be on the hunt.  We got to the park and Little Man ran to the park and started playing with all the other kids until they called for us to line up.  The one complaint I have about the hunt is how early they line us up, it’s not easy to control a three year old in front of an open field filled with candy.  The goal was to get one egg then as much candy as you can.  You could trade the egg in for a prize so I spent the long moments before the start of the hunt coaching Little Man to get an egg first.  When the siren sounded Little Man ran out in the field past several eggs and right to the first green egg he saw, green is his favorite color.  I was happy he got the egg and we traded it in for bubbles.  He had a great time grabbing candy and then he was off to the park again to play some more.

We have been in touch with Hope’s Birth-Grandmother and decided to get together with her.  We met at Chuck E Cheese’s so Little Man could run around play.  We had a great visit with her, well maybe I should say Jynx, Mimi (Jynx’s Mom) and Hope had a great visit with her while Jame and I played.  On the ride home Jynx filled me in on all the details from the visit and then asked me what I thought.  I simply told her it sounds like the kids now have a Grandma Vicki. 

 

While we were visiting with Grandma Vicki at Chuck E Cheese’s I was handed a flyer for an Easter egg drop from a helicopter.   Thought Little Man would get a big kick out of this, unfortunately the day before Little Man became ill.  The next morning Little Man was up early and back to his old self and out the door we went.  When we arrived I could not believe my eyes on how many eggs were on the ground and the number of people in attendance.  We walked around a bit and got the lay of the land, Little Man played in the park for a bit until we headed over to the rows of bounce houses they had.  Little Man had a great time bouncing while we found out there was going to be two candy drops from the helicopters and one egg hunt for the kids so it was suggested we wait for the egg hunt missing the first helicopter drop. 

As we waited by the ropes for Little Man’s age group we watched the helicopters fly over the other part of the park and drop candy.  When the horn blew for Little Man’s hunt he headed out and started to fill up his bucket that quickly became full and I started to wonder what to do with the next eggs he got when a crowd of kids came along like locust and grabbed the rest of the eggs.  I’ll have to remember next year to bring extra bags for the eggs.  We then headed over for the helicopter drop, the helicopters flew in and hovered over, Little Man’s face was simply amazed.  The helicopters then took turns dropping candy and then after the helicopters flew away the kids were allowed to run into the field.  Little Man definitely got his fill of candy.  As we headed home Little Man fell asleep after a long night of being sick and a very busy morning of egg hunts and helicopters he was not the only one who needed a nap.

When Easter morning arrived Little Man woke up quickly to the news that the Easter Bunny had come.  He got dressed in his Easter clothes and we dressed Hope in her Easter outfit.  Little Man dove into the basket finding trains cars and candy some of his favorite things.  Hope found a stuffed lamb and a teething ring.  We had to tear Little Man away from his new toys and headed off to church.  The kids were great in church, Little Man decided that his tie looked better outside of his vest rather than inside every time I tried to fix it he pulled it out again, it gave a bunch of church members a good laugh.  After church the Easter Bunny made another appearance for the church Easter egg hunt.  Little Man was now an old pro at the Easter Egg Hunt and had no problem posing for pictures with his old friend the Easter Bunny.  We quickly headed for home after church since we had a house full of people showing up.  Jame and Hope of course got way to many toys we had way to much food and we were all ready for a nap at the end of the day. 

Easter was just as great as it could have been in such a short time, maybe it was a blessing that the first holiday without Grampy Rock snuck up on us.  As great as Easter was there was an empty chair and an empty space in our hearts.  It was a joy in seeing two Easter baskets out and not that I ever want to wish time away it will be great fun and hectic next year when we have to watch two kids in two different age groups hunt for Easter Eggs.  Happy Easter.

Grampy Rock

One of the many reasons I have not been writing as much was because of Grampy Rock.  Jynx sat down after his passing and wrote a beautiful tribute to her father. 

 

Dad came home last Sunday night and Jame Jack immediately went up to his bed and climbed the rails and said, "I love you Grampy and I missed you".  My Dad smiled at him and tried to put his hand on Jame but was weak.  He also saw his pretty girl Hope Rose as I held her above him on his bed. He looked at her and smiled and tried to wave to her. Fortunately, when Dad was home a couple weeks earlier, we had wheeled him into see our sister Jame and although he was weak, he said faintly “Hi Pretty Girl”.  I have to admit, I was very proud of the fact that there were 2 pretty girls in the house. Dad did have a song for my sister Jame which was Jame Jame Jame, I love youuuuuu, Jame Jame Jame, yes I dooooo. If you listened to the tune you would think it was catchy.

Unfortunately we had to take Dad back to the hospital the very next morning; he spiked a fever that we could not bring down. Dad was diagnosed with sepsis in the ER from a UTI and pneumonia again.

 

Although he wanted to stay with us he got tired and left us on Tuesday March 19^th at 2:57pm.  While my Mom, Jeaj and I were with him, my Mom told me how he never thought that he would be a Grandfather.  My Dad told me we had a million dollar combination when Hope Rose graced our lives because we now had a boy and a girl.

Jame Jack sat in Grampy’s lap quite often and Dad would read to him.  Hope Rose was held by Grampy a bit and she sat next to him in her jumping Jenny just smiling at him and him at her.  We all will make sure my kids remember their Grampy Rock. We feel so blessed to have had our father in our life for as long as we did and I know he lived a good long life but for us it is never enough. I guess I am a bit selfish for myself, Jame Jack and Hope Rose that I wanted our time to be longer together.

Dad was all about his family, so strong, loving, and always seem to be the voice of reason.  I was so proud of him especially through his last 2 years of life. He dealt with quite a bit of pain and never complained. My Dad was always liked by everyone and loved by many. He did not have a pretentious bone in his body, he was not a vain man and he was the most honest and fairest person I ever knew.  Dad loved songs like “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”, “Danny Boy”, and Mom and Dad’s song was “Unforgettable”. Many did not know that Dad had a pretty nice singing voice.     

         

Dad liked the simple things in life. Dad was not one to go out much and I remember when Jame was younger, she had a convulsion at Disney World so he stayed with her while Mom took Jeaj and me through the park. Dad never did get back to Disney World, yet we went many times when we vacationed in Florida. He loved watching his sports which was just about every sport you can imagine from football to tennis and hockey to gymnastics.  He loved horse racing as well. Dad always amazed people on the stats of so many sports that he had in his head. He knew what colleges athletes came from and what draft pick they were. Dad could also add large odd numbers in his head where many would have to write the numbers on paper and add them together or use a calculator; he would have the answer before you had it with a calculator.

The only sports he didn’t watch were kick boxing, professional wrestling and NASCAR.  He helped care for my sister Jame for about 36 years until he needed help and could no longer care for her; he was our provider and worked very hard for his family. Only a Great Man could do what he did.

 When he retired, he was a putzer doing little things around the house and sometimes even trying to re invent the wheel and giving us all a good laugh.  One of his favorite jobs was burning leaves and our paper garbage.  I can remember him raking some leaves together and then lighting them all the while dragging a lawn chair around the yard to sit and watch the fire he created and then do the same thing over again in a different spot. Mom got annoyed at this because every fall we would have burn spots all through the yard.  By spring, the spots would be good as new and if you added a little grass seed they would be even better.

The best thing that happened for me was that my entire family was under one roof and although many might say that’s crazy, we simply said you do whatever you can for the ones you love and you forget about all the trivial things like your house not being exactly the way you want it to be. I personally feel that my relationship with my Dad grew so much stronger the last few years of his life and I know for my sister and I that we will be eternally grateful to our Dad that he let us care for him especially when we did not always get things right.  He knew we were trying and that was good enough for him.

 We feel blessed that we have always been able to talk to our parents and so there was nothing left unsaid. Thank you for all your prayers, positive energy, and happy dances. Our whole family has been helped tremendously. We love you Dad, Grampy, Rock, Jimmy, and Jim Dear. You are in our hearts always!!!

Celtic Blessing

May the roads rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rain fall soft upon your fields
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

Anon

  He is not lost our dearest love,
nor has he travelled far,
just stepped inside home's loveliest room
and left the door ajar.

Great Wolf

Last summer for work I lost track of the number of times I passed through Wisconsin Dells and all the water park hotels.  I began to ask around and several friends had been to them and got some great recommendations.  I told Jynx about the water parks and being the water lover she is, she wanted to go immediately.  We talked about it and with our busy schedules and to get the best deal we decided to go in February.

We looked online, and asked everyone who had kids about which one to go to.  A coupon decided it was Great Wolf in Wisconsin Dells.  We booked three days, Little Man went with but with Hope fighting a cold we decided it was best if she stayed at home with Mimi and JeaJ.  We loaded up the family trickster and headed to the Dells in the middle of winter.

When we arrived Little Man was excited to see our room.  He quickly made himself at home in our room jumping right into bed and declaring it his.  He later discovered the phone in the bathroom, he played with the phone a few times and then Jynx heard him answering some questions. She took the phone from him and he had in fact dialed the hotel operator.  The operator was asking Little Man what his mommy and daddy’s names were and he told her “Them names mommy and daddy” Luckily the operator got a good laugh out of it but just to be safe, Jynx disconnected the phone.

Once Little Man got used to the room we changed and made our way to the water park.  Unfortunately Little Man wasn’t tall enough to go on all the rides but there were plenty of other rides for him to do.  They had several different rooms with slides and pools that we started to explore.  The one room had a huge jungle gym with all kinds of water guns and I thought Little Man was going to love it.  That was until the bell started to ring and a giant bucket with 1,000 gallons of water dumps. 

Little Man would just run away.  I also must admit that room was a bit cold.  The next room had a wave pool and some pools for little kids that he loved.  This is where we spent most of our time.  Little Man loved the wave pool and we could sneak off one at a time to ride a water slide.

Away from the water park was a magic game called Magi-quest that we thought we would try.  We bought Little Man a wand and started our adventure.  The place had three floors of different things to find and shake your magic wand at and the object would move, open or sing a song.  Then you were off to find the next thing.  The magic area contained slides and areas to climb that Little Man found more fun than trying to find the next object so before long one of us was using the wand and the other was chasing Little Man.   Jynx did her best and with the help of a little girl was able to defeat the dragon; I on the other hand gave up and could care less about the stupid dragon.

The Great Wolf Lodge had some great events for kids.  At night in the lobby was a huge clock that would put on a show and before and after the clock shows they would have things for the kids.  The first night we got down to the lobby for the show and just as the show started Little Man fell asleep.  The next night we went down and made it through the show, although I struggled to stay awake.  After the show they brought out one of the characters to greet the kids and for pictures, little man walked right up and took his picture.  We also took Little Man down to Cub Club and the lady they had running it was fantastic with the kids.  Little Man who doesn’t normally like to color liked painting; he painted a magnet with a dog paw on it and a heart.

While we were in Wisconsin Dells in the middle of February it snowed and it snowed a lot, it was kind of fun to sit there in the pool and look out at the snow.  We decided to brave the cold one night and head across the parking lot to Buffalo Phil’s that advertised train delivered food.  It was a western looking restaurant with several trains running to most of the tables and a couple of televisions with Thomas on them.  Little Man’s eyes light up when we walked in and we got a table right next to the train.  The train would run by every so often with a couple of new toys on it.  The train did bring our dinner and then a little later it came by with a bubble machine blowing bubbles that I thought was cool until I realized it was going to blow bubbles on our food.  Oh well it was still fun and we enjoyed the train.

Our time at The Great Wolf seems to have flown by now but we are definitely going to have to go back maybe with some friends who can watch the little ones as we try the bigger slides.  We spent our last day in the wave pool before we changed packed up the car and headed for home to see out Little Hope again.

I have never seen a baby enjoy their jumpy as much as Hope does.  We can put her in the jumpy and she will bounce and bounce and bounce until you notice that she has gotten quiet and is asleep.  I have learned to let her sleep; she will wake up bouncing again.  Sometimes in the middle of her sleep she will begin slowly bouncing without even waking up.  She has started on food and it was a bit rough at first, but once she got the hang of it, she is now eating like a champ and in fact we have trouble keeping up with her.  I was often told that I would cry if you did not feed me fast enough and the lord has blessed me with a child that does the same.   

Here it is now April and I’m writing about February so much has happened since our trip.  I need to write more since the kids have changed so much they are growing way too fast.  I need to write more to catch up to our hectic but wonderful lives.

Christmas 2012

What more could be said about our Christmas 2012 than magical.  Hope’s first Christmas and Jame’s first time talking to Santa were the major highlights of the season.  All of the fun we had reminded us why it’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Just after Thanksgiving, just a quick note since I did not write about our wonderful Thanksgiving this year; we cooked a record 5 turkeys, a feat that probably will not be repeated.  Usually we smoke a turkey, bake a turkey and deep fry a turkey.  This year we bought a couple of smaller birds and then our friend Bruce called with a fresh turkey and wanted to know if we would like to deep fry that one as well.  All total 1 baked turkey, 1 smoked turkey and 3 deep fried turkeys, yes we had a bit left over. We did have great leftovers like turkey tetrazzini, turkey ala king, and there is nothing better than turkey sandwiches.

Now back to Christmas, just after our 5 turkey Thanksgiving, we heard a familiar Ho Ho Ho ring out in the house but when we ran to find out what exactly it was, all we found was a box that contained an Elf on the Shelf.  For those of you who don’t know about Elf on the Shelf, here is the story.  We sat down with Little Man and read the book to him, after; we asked him what he would like to name his elf?  We thought for sure with his love of playing doggy that doggy would be the elf’s name.  “Bean” is what Little Man said and Bean it was and we welcomed Bean to the house for the Christmas Season.  Bean moved all around the house and even though Little Man was not supposed to touch him we gave him permission to take a few photos with Bean.

 

Before Christmas, I had said that we should get Little Man a haircut so it would look nice on Christmas.  With all the excitement at our house these days, it was decided that Dad should take Little Man for his haircut, of course not without a long list of instructions from Mom.  “Yea Yea Yea, I got it!  Don’t worry I’ll bring him home with a mow hawk.” I said as we headed out the door.  When we arrived at Pigtails and Crew cuts my mind went blank on the list of instructions.   I told the lady that I remembered something about it not being too short on top and then joked about the mow hawk.  “Well I can do that!” she said and went right to work gelling up his hair into a mow hawk and then she asked him what color he wanted and of course Little Man said, “Green”.  All I could do was laugh all the way home and hope that Mom would laugh as well and sure enough, she got a big kick out of it when we got home.

During our busy holiday schedule, we found time to head to the Museum of Science and Industry.  Heading there is always fun but its better with all the Christmas trees around.  Little Man loves the trains and I think he would spend all day in the Steam Engine if we allowed him.  This time we even took Little Man down into the coal mine figuring he was old enough now, he wasn’t scared at all just a bit bored at times and of course he loved it when you get to ride on the train.  After the museum we then headed downtown to Macy’s (Marshal Fields) to look at the windows and the tree and then over to the Kris Kringle Market.  We thought about eating at the market but it was a bit cold so we headed off to the Berghoff for dinner.  After dinner we headed home and Little Man fell asleep before we were out of the city.  

One of the great moments this year was looking at the fireplace with all of our stockings hanging.  When Little Man arrived, we attended a wedding in Frankenmuth, MI and bought his stocking there.  We thought about making the five hour drive up to Michigan to not only get Hope’s stocking but also several ornaments for the Grandparents and for the kid’s tree. Instead we ordered them online. I always remembered as a child that we were not allowed to wake our parents on Christmas morning until the sun came up.  We were allowed to open our door and there hung our stocking.  I decided to keep that tradition, so on Christmas morning Jame found his stocking filled hanging on his bedroom door.

The first year Little Man met Santa he was okay with him, the second year he screamed the third year he was okay but would not talk to Santa so we didn’t know what to expect.  We figured Hope would be fine as long as her brother was fine but if he melted down she wouldn’t be far behind.  I had to head out to “work” and Mom got the kids ready to see the big guy, they got there just before Santa was done for the day.  Little Man had no problems this year, right up onto his lap and even talked to Santa.  I have a feeling Santa was more nervous this year than Little Man.  He told Santa that he had been good and he was taking care of Bean and that he wanted a kitchen for Christmas.  This came as a relief to us since he had been asking for a dog car that turned out to be a walking aid toy for toddlers.  Luckily he had decided to be a cooking man and asked for the kitchen instead.  We took a bunch of pictures with Santa and I will never be able to describe both the wonder and terror I felt with that Santa visit, it was all I could do to fight back the tears. I have always enjoyed being Santa for children, but, what an awesome feeling to be Santa for your own children.

When Christmas arrived it was awesome to see the wonder in Little Mans eyes as he noticed the cookies had been eaten and the milk was drunk by Santa.  Christmas day was hectic at our house with all the toys and people dropping by.  In fact Little Man eventually got tired of opening up gifts, so we just put them back into the closet for his birthday next year.  This was a Christmas that I will remember for a long time or until next Christmas.  I feel truly blessed to have our family.

Circus

The Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks have for years taken what is known as the circus break while Ringling Brothers and Barnum Baileys circus was at the United Center.  I would drive and see the signs for the show and think how wonderful it would be to go. This year it seemed perfect for Little Man to enjoy the circus.

A phone call to Bayle’s mom and dad and they were up for going as well and also found coupons for all of us.  I could hardly wait and checked the website over and over again not only were the tickets not that expensive but free parking as well and a pre show before the circus.  Little man was very excited as well he would ask every morning if we were going to the circus with Bayle today.

Unfortunately when the day arrived Bayle was not able to be there for the pre show but was going to make in time for the show.  When we arrived I realized why the tickets were so cheap because they were going to get us on everything else from the programs, souvenir flashlights, cotton candy, popcorn and the pizza. 

The pre show was fantastic we headed right down to the floor of the United Center and there were clowns and performers all over.  We watched the dog act of course Little Man loves dogs I think he was more impressed with the dogs than he was the elephants.  We then spotted a bounce house and once again they got us with a charge to go into the bounce house.  Who is going to tell their kid that they can’t go into the bounce house?  Mom was extremely worried about Little Man in the bounce house since it was filled with wild and crazy kids until we peeked over the one side to see Little Man doing a good job of holding his own in the craziness and laughing the entire time.  We then grabbed some clown noses for us and Bayle’s family and headed to our seats.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN CHILDREN OF ALL AGES!”  The show was fantastic and kept moving along to keep the kids interested.  The high wire act, the motorcycles, the elephants and of course the dog act kept Little Man interested.  I’m not real sure who had a better time the kids or the adults but it is something we definitely have to do again. 

Just after the circus was done I was driving to work and noticed the circus train sitting in our little town.  I made a phone call home and Little Man with the help of Aunt Gi Gi got to see a real circus train.  I do have to admit it’s not the same as the cartoon circus train but still fun to see anyway.  The circus is one that we will have to see again and I can already hardly wait.