Moving to Illinois

This post is going to have a lot of pictures, so gear up folks. When we found out we were moving to Illinois, my Mom and I talked about all of the ways we could get us 3 and all of our crap in Utah back to Rockford in our tiny Mazda Protege. Basically the conclusion was that we couldn't. My parents were overly generous and said they would take some time off work and drive one of their cars out with us and stay for a few days. Honestly, we couldn't have done it without them

 I for one am not the best road tripper. My max amount of time I want to spend in a car is about three hrs, so I was not looking forward to the upcoming 21 hrs...with a toddler. I thought of every possible way I could keep her entertained for the whole trip even if it came down to watching movies for ten hours straight. She did remarkably well. Below is a picture of her in the Pizza Hut parking lot in Rawlins, WY. After we ate she ran around the parking lot and picked up handfuls of dirt for about 45 minutes.

She had two major "melty's" (meltdowns). The worst was the second day when we were 50 miles out of Des Moines, which was where we were planning on stopping for lunch. She thrashed and screamed for the entire 50 miles and then for another 30 minutes after we stopped. Completely inconsolable. I thought I was going to lose it too. It was bad. After we ate we took an unplanned pitstop to the mall so she could wander and breath for a bit. Surprisingly at the kids corner all she wanted to do was lay in this snake and watch the other kids. Probably just happy to be out of that freakin' car seat.

Seeing this sign was the best thing I had seen in a long time. PS...love my classy way of storing my chewed up sunflower seeds? You make do when on the road for 1 million hrs.

When we finally got to Rockford it was a miracle and we loved our place. When we left Des Moines, Rich was there for a few more days than us and was in charge of putting a few big things into our storage shed. Amongst those big things were our couch and he took it to Goodwill instead of our storage shed. So we had to buy one and I can't complain because I am very happy with the new one. The picture above sums up how we felt after the road trip from hell. They needed a little R&R.

With my parents in town we decided to get back in the car and go see some of Chicago. We visited Lincoln Park Zoo, which has FREE admission. The catch is you have to pay $25 for parking, but we thought it was worth it. Henley was pretty much awestruck with all of the animals.

And then we also did get a lot of this. Not sure what she was doing in the picture above, but she did want a lot of her own space that day. She kept telling me to "tay" meaning stay places while she would run off. After the zoo we went and got some famous Chicago hot dogs and just drove around the city to get a feel for it. My parents are good sports.

In Rockford, we visited the Anderson Japanese Gardens, which were beautiful. They had tons of fish to feed, ducks to look at, and waterfalls galore. It was right down Henley's aisle. The only thing that could have been better was the temperature. We were melting. 

 

 She adores my parents, which makes me quite happy.

The sad morning my parents took off and left us to be adults. Pathetically I cried on and off all day. I tend to do that when we move to a new place. I think the hardest part about saying goodbye is that I have no idea when we will see them next because we don't have any plans in the works. Hopefully soon! Thanks again Mom & Dad for sacrificing so much to come with us to Rockford!

Henley's Habits

Although it might not look like there is much to this picture below, there is. At this lovely stage of toddlerhood, Henley knows exactly what she wants most of the time and isn't afraid to be vocal about it. This can be very amazing and helpful and can also be extremely frustrating for both of us. Currently there are a few items she cannot live without. See below.

1. Daw-berries (strawberries) - She has always been quite the fruit eater, but lately strawberries take the cake. She requests them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. At least it is something healthy, right? But what is a good strawberry without a little "shake, shake" on them? In our house, strawberries and powdered sugar go hand in hand. That's probably why she likes them so much.

2. Baby Blue Bowl - see that tiny pale blue bowl she is eating out of. That is where all of her meals are served from. No other bowl will do. Peanut butter and jelly, chicken, you name it...it is served in that bowl. You see, this little blue bowl came in a set, with each bowl being a measuring size such as 1 cup or 1/2 cup, etc. The smallest one is the best companion. I've tried to trick her before with the size up and she always catches me. I'm amazed at how much she is aware of.

3. Princess nightie - There are some things that just aren't worth putting up a fuss over. This nightie for example, she wears EVERY night. I have tried my darnedest to get her to wear something else and after much persuasion I have succumbed to letting her love and wear her nightie. We do wash it a few times a week and she cries every time she sees it go in.

4. Pim-a (Simba) - He is her absolute favorite stuffed friend. She can't sleep without him and totes him along to most places we go. However, when we go into stores or to the playground, etc., she always wants Simba to stay in the car. I don't know if she is afraid of losing him, but one less thing for me to keep track of means I'm on board. We are having a little bit of a gender crisis with him though. She loves to put him in dresses with bows and a little chapstick. She has never seen Lion King, so we wonder if her whole world will come crashing down when she makes the realization that he is a boy. I doubt it.

5. H&M knit dresses - (not pictured). H&M has these wonderful $5 knit dresses and they have become my arch nemesis. If there is one thing she is super opinionated about, it is what she wears. I want her to explore her creativity and put outfits together, but I have a hard time when she picks to wear the same thing every single day. She has four of these said dresses and she wears each one, once a week (so 4 days of the week). The other three days she gets to decide between a couple of outfits I lay out. Those days it takes triple the time to get her dressed.

6. Bean-teen (Binky) - Also not pictured. She is still crazy about these things and is only allowed to use them when she sleeps. Any advice on how to get rid of them is welcome.

Henley is definitely a creature of habit and I want to remember all of these funny little things she obsesses over. I'm sure there will be more to come.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E Part 2

The second stop was on Disney's Castaway Cay, which was by far our favorite day of the whole trip. First, we loved that we could get on and off the ship easily and still be at the island without an hour of transporting. Because of that, that morning we ran a 5K with our cruise bellies and all. I'm not going to say it was easy.  Good grief we had eaten an incredible amount of food, but it was totally worth it. The island had free strollers on it (another amazing perk) and Henley was great until the end of the race and that's when things got a little ugly. 

 

To cure a major meltdown, Goofy, Mickey, and Donald were posing for pictures on our way back to the ship. She was hesitant the night before about the characters, but quickly warmed up to them. Enough to give kisses and pose with them by herself for pictures. Do you love my cherry red face in all of them? Yeah, it took me waaaayyyy too long to cool down after the race.

After breakfast and a shower we went back out to explore the island. They had free food all over the island, water tubes, wagons and a splash pad...almost every toddler's dream.

We spent at least an hour before and after the beach at the splash pad. It was love at first splash. 

 Just lounging in the wagon after a long day of work.

This beach was made for families. Disney knows what they are doing. They had lawn chairs, towels and umbrellas to use, making the day much more fun and allowed for Henley to take a nap on me and gear up for the second half of the day.

On this trip we became the parent's that wear their shirts and cover-ups in all pictures. Not sure what made us hit that point in our lives, but it happened.

These little stranger girls were so nice to Henley and were great to let her use their bucket for a little while. The water and sand were gorgeous and we tried to soak in as much as we could. 

In the background in the picture above you can kind of see two water slides. I wish I would have taken a picture of them cause they were a blast. They are in the middle of the ocean so you have to swim out to them to go down. We did it a handful of times and it was incredible. I have never done a slide that spills you out into the ocean. Definitely a must do.

 I don't know if you can tell, but this is the end of the day. We were happy and completely trashed.

Tyler quickly became Henley's favorite. It is probably because he could not have cared less if she liked him.

 For dinner that night, they had a pirate theme. Let's just say that we look amazing in bandanas.

You know on cruises how the food is endless? Well, Summerisa talked us into going to a late night buffet to get one of these bad boys...a gigantic turkey leg. It honestly made me sick to even have it close to my mouth. Where do they breed these human-sized turkeys anyway?

 More ducks + more splash pad = more love

 On the last night of the cruise, Summerisa gave us special VIP passes to meet all of the characters. She also gave Henley an Anna princess dress.

Every time we took a picture with a character that wasn't wearing a mask, Henley didn't care. I don't think she understood why we were taking a picture with someone that looked completely normal.

The gang's all here!! 

The day we got off the ship we headed straight for Animal Kingdom where we spent half of a day and then sped to the airport. It was an exhausting day, but so much fun. Pretty sure I was too tired to take any pictures. All in all it was a superb family trip. Disney cruises are the way to go for kids and adults. We had such a good time at the performances and the stops. They always had stuff going on for all age groups. A great vacation to end our grad school journey!