Seems hard to believe this year is moving along at such a fast pace and it is already leading up to Labor Day weekend. We had a pretty normal week with work, school, swimming and soccer. On Thursday evening Kevin and I were sitting in the loft talking about weekend plans and he threw out a last minute plan to go to Chicago for the weekend. I was instantly like, “that’s a terrible idea!”. I mean it was like 9 pm Thursday night! We didn’t talk much more about it but I gave it more thought and when I woke up Friday morning I asked Kevin if he’d thought about the dogs and what we would do with them! Oopsy, we didn’t have a plan for that if we were to make a spontaneous trip. I talked with Hannah and she was working over the weekend at Starbucks and she wasn’t able to. During the day I got a text from Kevin that he thought he found someone – the daughter of one of his team members. I was a bit uneasy leaving Friday and not having a chance to be there for her to meet Brutus and Lily and be sure she was up for it – so we decided to have her over Friday night after she was finished working so that she could see our house, meet the dogs, and we could let her know about their routine. So Lori and her daughter Sarah came over and met Brutus and Lily. As predicted, Brutus was a jumping bean of energy, racing around the house and then laying on the floor and wanting all the attention. Thankfully Sarah loves dogs and was happy to watch them for a couple days.
After they left Kevin booked a hotel, we packed our bags, and got ready to leave at dark-thirty in the morning on Saturday! We were in the car rolling out of the driveway by 6:25 am. We stopped for breakfast at Tim Horton’s on 23 and we made it to Chicago without any other stops (except at Soldier Field to use their porta-potty for Griffin as he was about to burst, lol) by 11:30! We were able to check in early to our hotel which was awesome. Kevin found us a great hotel, The Virgin Hotel, which had a separate tv room which worked out really well for naps for Reid or putting him to bed earlier than the rest of us in the bedroom. After we arrived, the boys were able to run around and burn some energy and then we headed across the street to have lunch and watch the Buckeye game. I wasn’t originally very excited about a quick trip as it involves so much packing up for a short time – but I’m glad we went, and thankful for Kevin’s spontaneous spirit because we always have such fun when we do things like that!
Griffin took a few selfies in the car on the way to Chi-town :). 
Kevin had researched family-friendly things to do in the city and learned about Maggie Daley Park, which is really close to Millenium Park. I think it was built in 2013 or thereabouts, so it wasn’t there the last time we were in Chicago (2013 when Finn was 3 months old) or at least we didn’t have a kid old enough to enjoy it! It is a HUGE park, filled with tons of different areas of activities. There are climbing walls, scooter areas, mini-golf, tons of playsets (that are huge), small areas for kids (that are labeled with signs that indicate age-appropriate kids). We were really impressed and spent a lot of time playing there. It was a 10-12 minute walk from our hotel so we had an easy trip there and back. 
On Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast in our room – complete with Stan’s donuts and Starbucks coffee that Kevin and Finn had ventured out for first thing. Afterwards we drove to Navy Pier (it would have been a 30 min walk, so we drove instead) and got rock star parking and then explored the Pier before things even opened up. We were early in line to ride the Ferris Wheel (a tradition of sorts) and Griffin drove the boats around for a short bit. We then headed to Ohio Street beach for a few hours of fun. Griffin played football with us in the water, the boys played in the sand, Reid got in a short nap, and we enjoyed a perfect warm and sunny day. Next up, we headed to the Fountains to have more fun (and rinse off the sand, ha!) before we had a tasty lunch at Giordano’s Pizza. Yummers. 
On Monday morning we woke up and headed back to Maggie Daley Park for a few more hours of fun before heading home. We walked through Millenium Park and stopped at the Bean on our way. Griffin had won “3 free rounds” of Mini Golf the day before, so Griffin and Kevin played mini-golf one more time and then we rented scooters for them and they rode around the track.
Google put this together for me and I thought it was cute. Finn three years ago and then this weekend in Chicago. 
And here are a couple others from our week. Lindsay started Nannying for us this week (I was incorrect in the previous blog post – guess that’s what happens when you’re so far behind in writing them!) and we ventured to Library Park and a few other places to show her some of our favorite play spots in Powell. 
This boy. He is all sports all the time. Football is probably his favorite all time if you ask him. He is always throwing the ball to himself and catching it, play calling the entire time. Teams are playing each other and he gives us regular updates on what the score is, who the teams are, and who is winning (or won). He’s imaginative and energetic. And he sweats. A lot. His red face is after soccer one night. It was a warm one and they were doing tons of running and speed work/races for fun. There is a video below you can watch. I took several but only posted one. Griffin was on fire this day. He came in first nearly every time. At the end of practice we go out onto the “field” and Reid runs around and kicks the ball. His coach, Steve, who is also the owner and former Ivy League Coach told me that Griffin has great athleticism. He was very kind in giving many compliments about Finn and said to just continue letting him have fun and not worry about competition and skill work at this age. He said with his athletic ability he is going to do great and just keep it fun for now. That’s what I love about Locker Soccer, they have a great philosophy about kids. 
And we’re still working on puzzles here. Finn has put this one together and taken it apart numerous times and he’s also done the doggy one that he’s had for years but never really played with until now. 
At school Griffin is learning about “Lips the Fish” which helps remind the kids to look at the pictures and use your LIPS (and tongue) to help pronounce the words. This week they used water colors to do some painting at school. 
What’s cuter than a sleeping baby? Especially when you’re up in the middle of the night, not able to sleep yourself? And of course Brutus. This bed we got a long time ago for both of them, but honestly, Brutus is the only one that uses it! Lily prefers the hard floors, carpet, or small area of our bathroom closet the best. 
And here are several videos from the week: dancing, football at the beach, scooters, and a fun one google put together and actually used many of the photos I put here!
We love this vacation each year. We go in to it with no agenda and take each day as it comes. We enjoy a lot of lounging with no where to be other than the beach, the pool, or the house! And we did our best to capture life for the week doing a whole lot of relaxing 🙂 This was our first vacation with a pool at our house and though before arriving I was filled with nerves and anxieties about a pool and young kids (even though we wanted the pool!) we were all put at ease once we realized the pool was quite secure and on the lower level of the house. Whew. We explored the beach during the day and a couple of times near sunset. Finally toward the end of the week we had the perfect beach day – calm winds and waters and sunshine.
Everyone had their turn at showing off their skills jumping in to the pool. Griffin, and all of the kids actually, made great progress during our week in the water. He went from being timid and wanting to hold on to someone to getting rockets off the floor of the deep end (5 1/2′ feet maybe?) to swimming laps on his own! I put several videos in this post, all at the bottom. Be sure to watch Griffin’s water skills and also the cannonballs of Kevin, Andy, and me. You can judge who had the best form and water spillover.
Great could always be found near Reid playing with him and making sure he was safe. 
The Bethune’s and Beilstein’s have been in to puzzles for quite some time and on vacation they brought a box of a dozen puzzles. The Armstrongs jumped in on the action and together we all completed a puzzle almost every day. They can be rather addicting!
Thanks to Mom and Dad for watching all of the kids one night so we could go out on a Date Night. We were sitting on the patio of Columbia when all of a sudden these “strangers” walked by and wanted to pose for a quick photo in front of the restaurant, lol. We literally didn’t see them coming – check out my face in the second photo. 
The kids spent many hours playing together, building magnet creations, helping with puzzles, playing baby, and watching some shows. I think they really enjoy the time each summer. 
For our “On Your Own” night we went to Phillipi Creek Seafood Restaurant again. This place is where Finn discovered his love of Red Snapper. He wanted the same fish again so he and Kevin split that for dinner. It was huge and it made Finn a happy boy!
These photos are from the nicest day we had at the beach. Warm sun, little wind and waves. Some of these photos are from Amy 🙂
Amy took our traditional Family Photos. This year we were in the pool area of our house which had awesome large tropical trees. 
Another periodic check in on the pups and I found Brutus being all rough and tumble with the blanket. I can pretty much guarantee he was playing hide and seek with his nylabone :). 
Our flight back to Ohio didn’t leave until 9 at night so we had all of Saturday to explore. We started with breakfast at The Broken Egg and then we drove north to the Mote Aquarium. It was h-o-t! We saw a lot of fun ocean creatures and enjoyed the exploration. Griffin loves stingrays and wanted to pet them. They can be rather shy but they do occasionally swim up the sides of their enclosure. Finn and I were surprised when one swam nearby, only to have a spat with another stingray, and he ended up getting soaked with water! He was initially upset and a bit embarrassed as everyone chuckled. But we then began to laugh ourselves and thought it was pretty cool. 
Our drive to Tampa was a quiet one as both boys fell asleep in the car and took in brief naps. We encountered a big storm shortly after we arrived at the airport – but thankfully it was after we’d taken the tram and arrived inside the terminal. Shout out to the airport personnel for directing us to the “express” security lane where we were able to by-pass a huge line in order to go through security and get to the gate. Yay for traveling with young kids!
We arrived home around midnight and moved the boys from their carseats to their beds. Sunday morning Kevin and Finn quickly hopped on the mower to whip our yard into shape for the days visit from Jim, Pat, Sean, Max and Charlotte. Sean and the kids were in town from New Mexico for the week we had been out of town. Luckily we were able to enjoy the day together before they headed back on Monday. Griffin and Charlotte spent a lot of time driving around the yard. Max is a bit too big and heavy to drive the car, so instead, Kevin hopped on the mower and let Max drive. He thought it was awesome :). And no worries, they are both safely seat-belted in.
Next up, our trip to the airport! We did the convenient “OH Park” (used to be Thrifty) where they hop in your car and drop you at the terminal, where you can hop right out and check your bags in. With two kids, two car seat, three suitcases, and carryon bags this was the way to go! We had a smooth arrival, easy check-in, and we were on our way to the gate!
We had to split up 2 and 2 for the flight. Kevin was able to install both the seats pretty easily and we were ready for take off. As per usual, Reid didn’t sleep hardly a wink (nor did Griffin). He did pretty well, only a few screams. He thought it was fun to drop his pacifier over the side of his car seat a couple of times. Not so much fun to try to find it! There were a couple of very nice ladies behind us that kept him entertained here and there. The snack cup (and him having control of it and other things) kept him happy. 
I just so happened to catch this pic. He didn’t do this but for a quick second. I think he could definitely feel the pressure changing in his ears, but he really wasn’t that bothered. I think he was more tired than anything yet didn’t want to give in and go to bed. 
Here I am again, checking in on the doggies who just so happened to be scarfing down their dinner. They are definitely on a different schedule that “normal” but I’m sure they will survive. 
We checked in to our hotel (same place we stayed last February) and headed for the pool. Griffin loved the water slide and sprinklers and Reid enjoyed being able to crawl through the water. One reason we chose to stay at the same place is we knew they had a nice daily breakfast! Kevin and Finn went down and brought breakfast to our room the first morning. It was quite a spread. News flash: also quite messy. We decided from here on out we’ll head downstairs for breakfast!
We departed on this vacation with a few ideas in mind, but no schedule set in stone. We decided we’d take it a day at a time. We learned the weather in July is quite stormy! After looking at the radar in the morning, we decided to bite the bullet on the best looking day and head to Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. By the time we got dressed, out the door, and at the park it was 10:45 am – but we still got in the park at a good time. We took the ferry over and walked around some before the first round of crazy lightning and thunder. We hung out in the gift shop, bought Reid sunglasses and a stroller fan (did we mention how muggy/hot it is in July?), Griffin a Mickey snap bracelet, and Kevin a hat to be a bit more prepared for the day. 
Reid was so tired he was quite the snuggle bug as we were getting ready to go on It’s a Small World ride. Griffin loved this ride last year and immediately wanted to go on it again when we got there this year – so it was the first ride we went to. We used our fast passes which were great! Kevin and I enjoyed watching the expressions of happiness and joy that both boys had during the ride. We tried to capture it some in a video. 
After the ride it was pouring rain so we hung out indoors for a short bit before heading to the next ride, which was all in the dark! The pictures aren’t the greatest but they are reminders to us of the fun the boys had 🙂
Next up, a few character visit. Griffin had a great time meeting Goofy, Donald, and Daisy. Reid – not so much. I think by the end of the day we counted that Griffin had ridden 14 rides (some a couple times). We had dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern (dinner served family style) where we also ate last year. I guess we are creatures of habit – but when we find something that works – we repeat it! Reid ate about 4 servings of mac and cheese!
Though you can’t hardly tell, Griffin and Kevin are in the front car of the roller coaster as it’s coming through the sign.
We ended the evening with the traditional Fireworks show. It was a pretty late night and definitely a tiring day so we had a lazy morning the following day. Then we decided to find an indoor activity so we went to the Crayola Experience where Griffin made lots of artwork, created his own paper wrappers for crayons, and learned all about the history of crayons. 
Back at the hotel we enjoyed more pool time and then we were on our way to Siesta Key to meet up with everyone for a week at the house! Upon arriving it didn’t take long to get everything taken inside, find swimsuits, and hop in the pool for a quick dip! My cousin Missy, her husband Dave, and two girls Lyndsey and Maggie came to visit for weekend so we went out for a big italian family dinner Saturday night. Thanks to Amy for capturing a great photo. 
On Sunday morning Kevin and I got up and out of the house for a “walk” with Reid, which turned into breakfast on the patio of The Broken Egg. Yummers! We got there at the perfect time and got a table right away. Then on the way home, we picked up mini-donuts for the rest of the crew. 
The weather is kind of crazy with pop up storms but we decided to head to the beach and check it out. The skies were dark and our visit was short before the rain came, but it was fun!
What’s vacation without ice cream? Exactly. So night one, off we walked to Olaf’s to indulge in a sweet treat. Our house was located close to the village area of Siesta Key so we were able to easily walk there. 
In other news, we are eager for the re-opening of Jewett/Liberty intersection with the new roundabout. I saw this image on facebook – it is looking good and scheduled to be open before school starts on August 15th. It surely has been a rough summer having to use 315/Powell Road for everything but I think it will be worth it!