Home Archive by category "Family" (Page 19)

Category: Family

Luke Meets Mickey Mouse!

One of the highlights of our trip to California was getting to take our little boy to Disneyland for the first time. He has a Disneyland Sing-along DVD that his Aunt Meepa gave him, so he’s known where we were going as the days got closer. As I’m sure millions of other parents have experienced, the real joy of a Disney park is getting to watch a young child experience it. The first “ride” was the shuttle from the parking garage and already Luke was all smiles and excited! His joy kept us going all day long. Here we are at the first Photo-Op. I grew up close to Disneyland, so even though Walt Disney World is bigger and in some ways better, I still like Disneyland in California the best. What fun to be showing my son around a place I came countless times as a child. Oh, the memories I have in this magical place, and its surprised me how much it looked exactly as I remembered it. We had silly fun everywhere, even in the stores. Of course, Mommy found the Tea Cups! There are so many little things to explore. Walt sure knew kids. One of…

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Lightening McQueen Spotted!

According to All-Things-Disney-Expert, Steve Tanner, while the movie Cars made nearly 500 million at the box office, by summer 2007 it had grossed over 2 billion in merchandise sales! (source) We certainly can relate! We have Cars toys, clothes, sippy cups, band-aids, towel, blanket, snacks, even an ice packet to help put ice on owwies. And now, the Halloween costume! Lightening McQueen? More like Lukie McQueen with his Pit Chief! Lukie McQueen with Mommy. Now that’s one good lookin’ kid! It was fun to go Trick or Treating… starting at Grandma and Grandpa’ and then going with cousins. Luke enjoyed the walking and seeing the lights and cars at various houses. The candy wasn’t that big a deal. After thirty minutes he said he didn’t want any more candy. “Enough,” he says. We didn’t argue. So we headed over to a church outreach that had thousands of visitors. They had game rooms, live music, petting farm, food, pumpkin patch, a cake walk, and so much more. But Luke’s favorite (of course) was the cars on display! A Sheriff Hummer! (your tax dollars at work) Lukie McQueen always manages to find a cool car! No matter what we were doing, Luke…

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Another Day at the Zoo

The annual pass to Brookfield Zoo has turned out to be a good investment. Free parking. Free admission. Free soda. (good on the wallet, not so much on the waist!) Free shuttle ride. Free shows. Too bad it takes about $20 in gasoline for us to get there and back! Of course, we saw all kinds of animals! (Took the ones above from the tram!) I enjoy taking pictures of the animals – I do not enjoy smelling them! However, it is not the animals that Luke enjoys the most. Oh, sure, he likes them. He’ll look at them when we point, and can even identify several by name. But there are other “creatures” on display at the Zoo that he will run to! And he’ll spend more time with each of these “animals” studying them, than he will on anything with fur or wings or hooves. Yup, you guessed it, the Cars on display from various dealerships. Oh, yes. The cars. When we said we are going to the Zoo today, Luke’s answer is, “See Cars?” But our favorite thing about the Zoo is not the animals or the cars… it is being in a safe place where Luke…

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An aMAZEing Day!

Today was the third awesome day in a row. After Touch a Truck on Saturday, the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, and a birthday outing for my little sister today – tomorrow is looking to be quite drab when I get back to normal work life. But a good three days it was, and a great way to start my week. It was a day of thrills for little Luke today! We went to the Richardson Family Farm which boasts the World’s Largest Corn Maze! An Aerial View, though it wasn’t so green today! They have an observation tower so you can see the maze from quite high! Luke climbed and counted all ninty stairs by himself. (climbed that is, I counted for him) He enjoyed looking down as we got up high. Once at the top, the view was pretty awesome! Here is Luke with cousin Tricia. Mom didn’t want to risk her life in tall wooden structure, though she sent her husband and son just fine! While the view wasn’t a high as when Luke did the Ludington Lighthouse, it was pretty high up there. I had fun spotting people far away with my telephoto lense and yelling to…

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One Bro Runs, the Other Serves

(See my complete Chicago Marathon Gallery) I’ve seen the Chicago Marathon out the windows of Moody Church for years, but this was my first time participating. No, not as a runner, but as an official volunteer! Why? Because my brother was running it as his first marathon and some friends from church were volunteering. I thought it would be cool to not just watch him run, but get to serve him and the other runners as well. It was a long but fulfilling day. I was up at 3:30 a.m. to begin my adventure! Check in downtown was at 5:30 a.m. Me, Deb, Judd and Jason – friends from church. Our job was to fill cups of water and then serve the runners at the first water station. Notice it is still dark out! We were set up by 7:00 a.m. Here we are ready to serve! If that looks like a lot of water, it IS! over 1400 cups! Soon the runners would be arriving, and we were prepared! The race began at 8 a.m. Soon runners would be arriving! WAVE! You are on TV! First the bikes and wheel chairs went by. (more photos in gallery) Then the…

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