My dad called us Friday night to let us know he just received four tickets to a Sox game.  He wanted to know if he could take the boys and me.  I hate making quick decisions, but I had no choice, so I said yes.  I knew D would have a blast.  N isn't really into baseball, but I would promise him snacks.    We had a good time.  D enjoyed it.  I couldn't believe how well he paid attention.  He always knew what was going on.  He is NOT that way at home!!  And N got his promised snacks.  They had peanuts, cracker jacks, and a brat.  There were some kids sitting across from us.  They looked maybe 12 or so.  They were back and forth with food every inning, it seemed.  I don't know how they didn't throw up.  My guess is that they had season tickets, because they seemed very comfortable there.  They never told their dad when they left.  They had their own money.  Back and forth.  It was crazy. 

We were in the 5th row in right field.  A foul ball came right by us, and the guy across the isle got it.  We made it on tv!  My hubby saved it on DVR, so when we got home we saw it.  And the two little ones were so tickled to see mommy on the TV.  hehe....

And since I can rarely post anything without a picture, here is D, grandpa, and N: 

I forgot to get a pic of the boys in front of the field.  Oh well...

Oh, and by the way, GO CUBS! 

We had a great time at the Creation Museum.  The first part of it was mostly for adults, but once we got to the Garden of Eden, the kids really enjoyed it.  Here is my goofball, N:

And here they all are reading a sign (exciting, I know).  In the background, right at the brim of my hubby's hat, you can see Adam:

Here is a sad picture.  It is of the people you didn't believe Noah.  As one lady at the Museum said, "Now they believe."

They had so many neat facts there about how the earth is only thousands of years old and not millions and how it can be proven and how scientists know that they are wrong but because they don't want to explain things using God, they only have evolution. 

I have been looking forward to going to the Creation Museum for a long while now.  I was so excited when it finally opened this year, and have been patiently waiting for a good time to go.  Now was just perfect!  We had just started our history program, which starts at the very begining.  So we just learned about Adam and Eve and were starting to move towards Noah.  The museum stops when they get to the flood because the point of it is to prove the earth was made only 6000 years ago. 

They did a really good job of showing the fall.  They had this which shows the agony on their faces over the first blood sacrifice:

And then after that they had a black and white hall with pictures of things like a toddler with some sort of bumps all over him and a woman in childbirth and a cemetery of soldiers.  It was sad to see what sin causes. 

On the way out to CA, we stopped for a bunch of letterboxes.  Those were fun, and it was nice to get out of the car regularly.  In total, we found about 7 or so, and didn't find 3, I think.  N found the first one:

And the second one:

For the third one, there were two possible places it could have been.  We split the boys up and sent N to the wrong spot, and D to the right spot.  Poor D really wanted to find one, and N is just too clever.  We let Princess C find some, too. 

Most of these boxes were in really pretty spots.  I wanted to spend more time in these areas, but we were on a mission.  California or bust. 

I hear rumors that I have been missed.  Yippee!!  Somebody loves me!! 

We had such a wonderful time.  I hadn't seen my brother and his family since Christmas and this was only the third time I was able to see Baby A who is now a year and a half.  We stayed at their house which is a million dollar mansion... well... maybe not mansion..... but he lives in the San Fransisco area and the house down the street from him sold for just over a million.  It just blows my  mind.  I can't figure out how people live out there.  They have million dollar homes, fancy cars, dress the latest styles, their kids have all the latest gadgets.  Oh, by the way, my brother is a youth pastor out there and lives in the churches' house.  He's not one of those rich (in debt) people.  And the groceries!!  They spend almost as much as we spend on our family of 7, and they have a family of 3.  I cannot believe how much the groceries are.  I can't complain about the gas, because it is actually more here....

I can't post pictures yet.  My mom's router isn't working and she has the land line upstairs on her computer, so I can't get on my computer.  Hopefully it will be up and working soon.  I have about 500 picuters to post!! HA!  The rest of the trip was not near as bad as that first day.  Baby B watched Signing Time practically every waking hour.  Everyone over 6 yo is sick of it now.  Although, there were times when even my 5 yo complained, "Not Signing Time again?!?!?" 

I tried keeping up with most of your blogs, but you guys just blog too much.    We left my brother's house on Sunday and spent 4 days in Yosemite and then 4 days driving home, so that's over a week of  blogs I have to catch up on!!  Oh my.  And me without a computer....

It is so warm here.  I set up the pool yesterday, so we will probably spend alot of time in there today.  So much for catching up with the blogs. 

Adios!!

On a whim, we decided to go to the Shedd Aquarium.  My hubby was off Monday, and it was discount day.  The special exhibit they currently have is Lizards and the Komodo King.  Awhile ago, we won a free e-book about komodo dragons by Melissa that the kids really enjoyed.  That got them really interested in the komodo dragon. 

(D has such a goofy look on his face... not quite sure why)

Did you see the claws on that thing??

Princess C was really fascinated by the dolphin show (which in my opinion was extremely boring).

(she is so funny!)

If you want to see more pictures, visit my mom's blog, Abiga51. 

My mom is back from Poland!  Yippee!  She will be posting pictures of her trip really soon. 

For my daughter's birthday we went to the Exploration Station in Kankakee.  (This was a month ago, but I am just now getting around to posting about it.)  We went with my mil, sil, and her 5 kids.  I asked my hubby, "Do you ever feel like a mormon?"  Here he is, walking in with three women and 9 kids. 

The kids had a blast.  D is almost too old for the place, but not quite.  Here are some pics.