Utah trip day 2

Since we got an early jump start yesterday, we were able to plow ahead and get to the South rim of the grand Canyon today. With the time changes and Arizona on their own thing, we were able to make the Grand canyon at sunset. It was AMAZING!!! I cannot begin to tell you how beautiful it was. If we ever have the chance to get back here we are going to spend time hiking and seeing the sights. We had hoped to see the condors but didn’t get to see any.
The little boys have been troopers today with the long car ride. Poor William however is stopped up in the potty department so tomorrow he is getting a dose of baby prunes and some apple juice to hopefully get things flowing again.

Tomorrow we will be headed into Bountiful. We are a day ahead of schedule. We will now be able to go see Emma and Elizabeth perform up at the U of U in a summer theater group. They know we are coming into town but think it is Friday and it will be a surprise to them when we show up to see them. I am really glad that we will be able to see them. This next month is going to fly by and I hate that fact.

My internet connection here at the motel is really slow so, I will post pictures tomorrow. Look for an updated day 2 clip.

Amarillo

We passed this water tower. It is called the "Leaning Tower of Texas".

It was made this way on purpose to lure tourist into a little town called Groom.

It is apart of the old Route 66.

Another sight to see on the road to Amarillo is this cross.

It is supposed to be the largest cross on the Northern Hemisphere.

It was built back in 1995 by a gentleman who was disgusted by all the billboards that advertised for a pornography store XXX. The cross stands about 190 feet in height.

We are glad to be at the motel and the boys are free to roam around the room and out of the van. William is trying to fall asleep in the portacrib and Thomas is walking around wondering what to do. He is tired but being in a strange place has him a bit out of sorts.

Tomorrow we are headed to Flagstaff Arizona. We have about 9-10 drive tomorrow.

UTAH or BUST!

Okay, so maybe I shouldn't put BUST in the title because we are going to make it! Today is the big day. After Kevin gets home from work this afternoon, we are headed out the door on our next adventure. Watch out Bountiful Utah, the Kyrouac family is on the loose and heading your way!

I am really excited to see my family. It has been about 18 months since I have seen my brother and his family and my little sister who has now graduated from the U of U! I am looking forward to seeing my grandparents and introducing them to William. They have seen pictures but the live version is just as cute if not better. I am also looking forward to spending time with my wonderful friend Cindy and her family. Cindy has had some serious health issues that have altered their lives. I can't imagine my world without my best Utah buddy in it!

Today we are making a run for Texas. Kevin is excited for the fact that he can now say that he has spent time in Texas. He doesn't count layovers in the Houston airport as being in Texas. We are spending the night in Amarillo. The motel we are staying at is helping host a Jehovah Witness convention. We have joked saying we need to stock up on Books for Mormon and Holy water to save ourselves from the JW's. Do you think it will work?

I still have a bunch to do today.....like pack all our clothes, go to the store, hit the bank, gather all the things we want to take, clean out the inside of the van and oh yeah load the van. Our dryer died on us yesterday so Teresa said that I could use her dryer last night. I need to go get my clothes from her then I can pack. I still have laundry to do but that will have to wait until the dryer is fixed when Kevin gets home. I just had the washing machine fixed. I am so glad that we have our home warranty still. That has saved our bacon!

I am really looking forward to this trip and being with family. I miss having family around but with all the wonderful friends that I have here in Bartlesville, the lack of family isn't so tough. I know that I have friends that I can count on when the going gets tough and I need a helping hand. Friends to me are just extended family with no blood relation. I am grateful that I can call my friends family....because that is what they are....FAMILY!

So, look for our upcoming adventures as we head west and cause havoc as we make our way to Bountiful!

Kiddie Park Adventures

William on the cars. His first ride ever at kiddie park.

William loved the cars!

Thomas driving Thomas

Thomas and Alaynna in their "Horse drawn" carriage.

Xander and William on the carriages

Miami Vice? No, it's Thomas and Xander!

Miss Power Boat.....Alaynna

Thomas on the swings

Alaynna on the swings

Xander on the swings

Today has been very crazy and HOT for us. So for some fun tonight we took the boys to kiddie park where we met up with some friends. William got to go on a few rides for the first time. Infact, the first ride of the night, Thomas cried and didn't want to go on it but once he saw us fawning over William on the3 cars, he was NOT going to be left out and went on the rides.

After we left kiddie park, we headed up to the splash pad to cool off.

It was the perfect way to cool down after a long hot day.

Our Drive Home

Wanna fight?

Actually Thomas was bopping his nose like the Honkers were on a dvd he was watching.

It just looks like he was making a fist and ready to fight.

Mr Cool Thomas in his shades.

Me and my Cousin Jenee` Angeli.

My cousin Jenee` Angeli and her youngest son Tre`.

It has been at least 20 years since I had last seen Jenee`.

It was nice to stop and visit with her and Tre` on our way home.

Next time we will have to make a day trip to see her so we can spend more time together.

Thomas and Oakley

Tre` Angeli, Kevin and Thomas.

Thomas was playing fetch with Oakley.

A church that we passed by in the country. I thought it was kind of fun.

We actually passed several fun looking churches and old barns.

I wish I had been more on the ball to take pictures of them.

We had a wonderful time on our trip to Chicago.

The time always goes by so fast when you are with those you love.

I am glad to be home and am looking forward to spending some quality time with the little boys this summer. We have a kiddie pool called the "Splash Pad" that I am looking forward to taking the boys to this next week. Kevin hasn't had the chance to take Thomas to Kiddie Park either so we will be spending lots of family time together. I am so looking forward to making new memories with them.

Downtown Chicago Fun

It was game day at Wrigley and I didn't want to pay $25.oo for parking to go take a picture. I had to settle for a "Drive by shooting" of the field. At least I can say that I was there!

We also went by Cellular Field where the White Sox play but I didn't get a picture of it.
Inside Soldier Field. Looking up from the playing field.

Soldier Fields view from the Skyline suite.
The Skiyline of downtown Chicago in the background


Sears Tower from the freeway.

We ate lunch at Mr. Beef.

We watch a show on Food network and this place was on it.

They make a killer Italian Beef sandwich.

Chicago temple Our last stop of the day.

Today was a busy day driving and sight seeing. Poor Kevin has tested his nerves to the end with all the stressful driving he had to deal with today. The boys did pretty good. William did have a small meltdown the last hour of the drive home but a diaper change and a short escape from the carseat helped.

Kevin's dad had no clue that we were going on the tour of Soldier Field. I tried to tell him that we were going back to catch the Cubs game. He was happy to find out in the end that we really were headed to Soldier Field. He said he was in heaven. I think Kevin was too. I don't think he would admit to it but I know deep down that he loved it!

Tomorrow is a mellow quiet day which I think we are all going to look forward to.

Brookfield Zoo

Thomas and his water and sunscreen doo

The Burke family

Kevin and the Boys

Carrie and William

The family zoo photo

The Burke Kids

So today was a fun filled day. We went up towards Chicago proper to Brookfield zoo where we met our good friends the Burkes. We were there 9 hours.....yes, NINE hours and we didn't hit everything. It was like Disneyland in the form of a zoo. It was hot and some what humid. I plastered the kids with 70+ SPF sunscreen. They didn't burn but, I forgot to get my chest and it is fried to a crisp. Thankfully we are doing indoor things tomorrow in Chicago again.

I took some pictures today but I haven't downloaded them. I am just too exhausted to do it at the moment.

So, highlights for today besides being with some AWESOME friends.... the zoo has a dolphin show and we saw it. They have been holding dolphin shows since 1960 so they did a tribute to the last 50 years. We had fun watching it but Thomas slept through it. He was one tired pup by the time we got there. It had tons of animals and the exhibits were really cool. Thomas loved watching the zookeeper feed the penguins. I think penguins are his favorite animal. Thomas also loves the elephants. As soon as he saw them, he was pretending to be one.

William has discovered that his mouth can make many noises. Today at dinner he kept making a noise that sounds like a pig oinking. It is really quite funny. Our friends got a big kick ot of him.

Kevin I think would love to move back here to this area. I know that it isn't possible now and I am not even sure it ever will be. I like it here and enjoy seeing the run down farmhouses and barns in the country.

Well my dear sweet readers, I am off to bed. My feet ache and I can hardly keep my eyes open. Tomorrow we are going to Wrigley field and Soldier field. We are also going to eat at Mr. Beefs. A place we saw in Food Network.

Chicago Trip Day 3

Nothing really to report for yesterday. Pretty much a mellow day at home and watching Andrew Kevin's nephew play T-ball. Today however is mine and Kevin's 10th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe that Kevin has put up with me for 10 years. To celebrate, we took the boys out to breakfast and then to Barnes and Noble where Thomas was in 7th heaven playing with a Thomas the tank engine play table. We are hoping to go to dinner tonight. Kevin actually wants to go to Red Lobster. I love Reb Lobster but it isn't one of his favorites. Tomorrow is another mellow day but come Wednesday and Thusrday the blog will be highlighted with more pictures as we head up into Chicago proper to do some sight seeing and to see friends. We have a surprise set up for Kevin's dad on Thursday so, it will be a great day. All we hae told him is that he needed to take the day off. No more details have been given.

Thats about all for our blog today.

Chicago Trip Day 1

Kevin and the boys

After getting to bed after 1am this morning, we were up at 5 to get started on our trip. We were out the door just before 6:30am.

The boys were good little travelers. We stopped in Springfield to get some breakfast and to stretch our legs. We then pushed on to St. Louis to the Gateway Arch. I have pictures but my internet connection here is bad so I will post some as soon as I can.

Our drive took 12 hours but we stopped more to see the sights and I have no complaints. We did have some bad weather that hindered our drive too. The rain was heavy and hard that we hit. It was really hard to see at times.

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

I have been up to my eyeballs in cookie making the last few weeks but boy have I enjoyed making them and I have heard that many have enjoyed eating them. Today I had an order for 7 dozen cookies.

Thanks to my good friend Christie Block, I have learned how to create fun sugar cookies. I am still a novice compared to her but as they say practice makes perfect. Like most things that I do, I jump in full with both feet and go for it. Thanks to Christie who taught me how to glaze cookies and turning me onto to karenscookies.net, I am a cookie making junkie! I am attaching some pictures of the cookies that I have made over the last few weeks. Enjoy them!!

Kiddie Park fun?

So all day today Thomas was excited about going to kiddie park tonight toride the rides. Non-stop he talked of kiddie park. (For those of you who don't know what kiddie park is, it is a great little park that has kid friendly rides that cost 25 cents per ticket. Most rides are just one ticket. You can go and have fun and it won't bankrupt you in the process.) We get there and go to ride our first ride of the night. Thomas freaks out screaming and crying that he doesn't want to ride. We go to the next ride same thing happens. We get to the little cars that he LOVES...no go. I have no clue what was up with him so, we left. I wasn't going to spend my enegry fighting him to ride the rides. ALL the way home Thomas pouted and said "No home mama, kiddie park". I told him that he was out of luck. We were there and he didn't want to ride the rides so it was time to go home and go to bed. Well, saying it was time for bed was NOT the right thing to say. Holy crap he went into melt down mode. I think that Thomas was tired and not too sure about things. Normally he would have loved to be at kiddie park. We will have to try again another night.

Thomas Kent

Thomas May 2010Thomas won a photo shoot for winning the "Thats my Baby Photo" contest.

This is one of the pictures from that shoot.

Thomas Kent - Easter 2010 - 2 Years old

Thoms keeps me on my toes! He can be sweet one minute doing things that melt your heart then turns around the next to become the disobedient little devil! Thomas is very caring and shows a lot of love towards his sister Ellery. He dotes on her when he can. It is very touching at night to watch him help tuck her into bed and kiss her good-night. Thomas is such a blessing to us!

Meet William Craig

May 2010 - 8 months old

William Craig Kyrouac - Easter 2010 - 6 months old

William was our little surprise baby last year. We weren't really trying to have another one but were blessed to have him come to our family. He is a good baby and his personality is really starting to shine. He has the cutest little laugh and is a thumb sucker. William can charm the ladies just like his big brothers!

Getting Ready for the Summer

School is out and summer is here. Hard to believe that school has been out for 2 weeks already and the big kids (Trevor and Ellery) will be off to their dads next Friday. Woo Hoo!!! The last 2 weeks have been a challenge with Trevor. He likes to stay active and have his routine set. Next week the big kids will get to go to summer for for a couple of days before shipping out. That will be a nice break for us.

We have a couple of trips planned for this summer and are looking forward to introducing family and friends to our newest addition William. William is almost 9 months old. He has 2 teeth on the bottom and is trying to become mobile. I need to go through and makes little blogs about each of the kids, Kevin and my cookies. Yes, I said cookies! I have become quite the little cookie decorator and have people ordering special shaped sugar cookies for events. I just made some simple strawberry cookies for a bridal shower last night. I have 13 dozen cookies to make for next week. I am looking forward to making "Lung" shaped cookies with Jen this summer. That will be interesting!

Look for more to come in the next few days/weeks as I really begin to blog our life and add photos to it.