Chi Town Take II

So when we were in Chicago with Kent's family, we went to Buca di Beppo. Buca di Beppo is an awesome family-style Italian restaurant. The food was of course amazing, and we totally stuffed ourselves!
Since we were there 2 days before Kent's 32nd birthday, and since we were in Chicago for Jim's 65th birthday, we had to celebrate both birthdays at the restaurant. Yes, they brought 2 lit candelabra's while we sang Happy Birthday. And both Jim and Kent got 2 large pieces of the most delicious red velvet cake. Ever. Thankfully they shared the cake with everyone!


Lots of fun pictures from the night out.


Lots-o-fun!

Chi Town

For Easter weekend we went to Chicago to meet Kent's parents. Kent's dad, Jim, knew that they were meeting us, but he didn't know that all 4 of Kent's siblings and their families were meeting us there also. It was a fun surprise for his 65th birthday.

The hotel where we stayed had a large indoor waterpark. The kids had a great time playing in the water, getting splashed by the huge water bucket, riding on the lazy river, going down the waterslides, and warming up in the hot tub.

They also had free face painting, which was a highlight for the kids.


Jesse didn't have his morning nap, but he did snuggle up and take his afternoon nap on Grandma's lap. Too cute, right?

More pictures coming soon...

Home Again, Home Again

Oh Florida, how we miss you!

We especially miss your white sandy beaches.

When we went to Siesta Key in Sarasota, it was actually hot that day, so we could get in the water without freezing.


And play in the sand without freezing.


And chase after seagulls that were attacking our chips and blankets without freezing.


And gather shells without freezing.

And play some more in the water without freezing.


And...well...you get the picture that we were really enjoying both the beach and the warm weather!

And now we're back home, safe and sound.

And already planning the next time we can go to Florida and get back to the beach (but the next time will be with Kent and Jesse too!)

(OK, OK, enough with starting a sentence with "And." I'm sure all you teachers who read this are cringing with each and every new sentence! Kim, there goes my readability score for the blog!)

Letter to Kent & Jesse

Dear Kent and Jesse,

Sorry it's taken so long to write to you again. We've been busy "beaching" it here. On both the East and West coast of Florida. Tuesday we went to Cocoa Beach on the east coast of Florida and played in the Atlantic Ocean. I believe that's a first for me.


It was extremely cold, so I'm glad that you weren't here, Jesse. Because I'm almost positive you wouldn't have liked the cold wind and the even colder water. Meredith and I braved the water - but as you can tell from the pictures, we didn't brave the water for long!


The afternoon was spent picking up shells, building a small sandcastle, writing love notes in the sand,

and watching and helping Dad fly a kite.


On our way home from the beach, we had our traditional seafood meal that we have to have every Florida vacation. However, we had it at quite a non-traditional place. Mom and I were impressed with the food and I thought the ambiance was fun. Except, of course, for the half-naked mermaid hanging from the ceiling!

If only it wasn't so cold, we could have sat on the patio and smelled the fishy smell while viewing the million-dollar homes that were across the river and right by the coast.

Today we went to Siesta Key in Sarasota on the west side of Florida. Pictures will be coming sometime soon...but here's a taste of what's to come. This is what Meredith spent a lot of the afternoon today working on.



We miss you and will be home soon!
Theresa and Meredith

P.S. Meredith was quite upset with me after my last post because I didn't include either of the pictures that she so carefully planned. She took great pains to pick out the background and to set everything up. So here are her My Little Ponies...

and here is the white tiger (named Sweet Berry after the My Little Pony of the same name) that Grandma got her at Busch Gardens.

Letter to Kent & Jesse

Dear Kent and Jesse,

We are missing you terribly while we are in Florida and you are home in Iowa.

We missed you on the plane ride here. (We got to see the sun setting at however many thousand feet high. It was pretty cool!)
Well, actually, you probably didn't want to ride on the plane and get in late and then still have to wait another hour and a half until your luggage got here...by that time it was after midnight...

...and we missed you while we froze yesterday in our thin sweatshirts at the flea market, and then again while we picked tangerines and oranges. The tangerine trees are totally loaded with fruit, but it's not very good because they are so seedy. However, the fresh orange juice totally made up for the not-so-great tangerines!


Today we had a great day at Busch Gardens in Tampa...but again we wished you were here with us!

One of our favorite things (or actually 4 of our favorite things) was the jungle "animals" that walked the sidewalks around the Jungle section of Busch Gardens. The "animals" were really men or women on stilts that were dressed to look like either a frog, birds, or some sort of spidery creature. They were really, really fun. And Meredith was totally taken with them...she would have spent the whole time right there, I think, had I let her.


The spidery guy was on stilts that were so tall, he could walk right over everyone. He would weave his way around people so effortlessly, you forgot that he was on such high stilts. Meredith loved to stand there and get his attention so that he would walk right over her while she stood there.


Then there was the bird that liked to get in your face.


And the other bird that would eat your head...


And finally, the tree frog that would jump up and down on his stilts...and maybe take your visor and try it on his head for style!


Then there were the 2 places in the park where kids could climb in and on and around all sorts of things. Forget about using Wii Fit for me - my legs got a great workout climbing on and through everything, trying to keep up with Mer!

Yes, it does look like she's giving me a "Hurry up, Mommy!" look right there!

We also loved seeing all the animals.

Like giraffes,

(don't ya love the roller coaster in the background?)

and Clydesdales,

and elephants, (who, incidentally, like to eat apples and sweet potatoes...)


and flamingos everywhere,



and even a ginormous butterfly,


and so many other animals, it's too many to even count.

All in all, a great but exhausting day.

Give Jesse hugs and kisses from us and tell him that we'll be home before you know it!

Theresa & Mer


P.S. Kent, thank you so much for letting us bring the ipod. I know that it's yours and mine to share, so we are grateful that you let us bring it along. It has come in handy a lot for both Meredith and I!