swimming fun

ya know. i was doing so good, all caught up on my blog and stuff, and now, here we are, almost 2 weeks behind again! argh! i took a break for a couple days cuz the girls are on vacation this week with their dad so i figured i'd have plenty of down time, ya know, on top of my list of a zillion things i wanted to get done! ha! i should know better by now! it's wednesday, and the girls come back friday at noon and what i have i done??? laundry! that's it! 2 1/2 full days of no work and no kids, and 3 evenings of no kids, and all i have done is laundry! and that was the weekend, so it's already piling back up again! argh! i took the weekend to rest cuz i wasn't feeling good, thinking a day (that turned into 2 days) would give me more energy for work and the workweek. yep....no such luck! but honestly, i'm not really freaking out as much as i normally would. yeah, it sucks that my house is messy and unorganized, but it's not like it won't be there tomorrow....or next week.....or next month! lol! 

anywho, i'm missing the girls terribly, so i figured i'd update my blog and think about all the fun we had on our vacation! so, back to that....

the friday of vacation we were invited to swim with our friends.....brandi, nora and leo! it was still pretty icky hot, so swimming was a welcome suggestion! brandi's dad has an amazing pool! it was perfect! we went for lunch first, and then it was time to cool off! we're so lucky to have such wonderful friends!

 

haylie checking out the volleyball net on her super tiny floaty!

 the wonderful bonnie, entertaining the kiddos!

nora and haylie showing off their sweet olympic style jumps!!

leo loving the pink floaty!

 

charlie and nora

nora trying to 'help' haylie on the 'slide'.....or just trying to cover her in rings! who knows! they're all smiles though, so it's all good! lol!

my beautiful haylie

haylie and nora getting ready to play 'who can stay on the giant raft longer'!

charlie being silly!

clearly planning something.....

oh dear, someone isn't listening to someone! this could get ugly! lol!

leo insisted i take many pics of him! what a cheese! i just love him!

my adorable little charlie!

come on mom! enough already!

hoffman visit

day 4 of vacation consisted of a nice relaxing play date at our house! yay! no traveling today! plus, we got to hang out with some dear friends of ours that we only usually see about once a year! my friend monica, who was my very first college roomate, and her 2 adorable boys, tyler and brody! they live in tinley park, so we're not that far away, but work and school seem to always get in the way of visiting more often. last year we went to their house and a children's musuem near their house, so this year they offered to come see us! we had so much fun! the kids get along great and play so well with each other! the boys don't even mind that we have mostly girl toys! and while the kids played, monica and i got to catch up on what's been going on the past year.....well, the cliff notes anyway! one afternoon certainly isn't enough for the full version! lol! 

the whole clan!
tyler, charlie, haylie and brody

we're going on 3 years of tom & jerry, but they never get old! even if they don't fit anymore! lol!
tom (haylie), wonderwoman (charlie) and jerry (tyler)!
we were informed though, that wonderwoman was the 'bad guy' in this episode! lol!

tom & jerry 'fighting' while minnie mouse watches on!

but they always get along at the end! lol!

chuck-e-cheese

on wednesday we had a "date" with melanie and brennen and we decided to go to chuck-e-cheese for the day! the kids had a blast playing on the tubes and slide, riding the rides, and playing the games! and melanie and i got to catch up on the drive! what a wonderful day!!

haylie, brennen and charlie in 'the cage'!

brennen and haylie!

 

haylie loved riding the horse! and she's really getting into video games so this was right up her alley!

charlie was u suuuuuper excited to see chuck-e!! as soon as she spotted him she jumped off of the ride she was on and ran to him! lol!

focusing very hard on the water race game!

brennen and mel shooting some hoops! score!

barney and charlie!

charlie loved the horse too!!

this time haylie was free to visit with chuck-e too!! as you can tell, they're both extremely excited!

charlie was excited to see the band play....even if only for a few minutes!

another super fun day of vacation in the record books!!  

splashdown

day two of our vacation consisted of heading down to east peoria to splashdown with maria (i'm thankful she was able to go, or i would have had no one to talk to while the girls played! lol!) we had never been there before, and hadn't even head of it until this summer! how did that happen?! it was absolutely perfect for the girls! it had all the things they love....kids areas with slides, a tube slide, lazy river and a regular pool! we ended up spending almost 5 hours there! we were all quite exhausted by the time we left! well worth it though!!

ever since the olympic competitions started on saturday, the girls have been playing gymnastics right along with them - they even picked which girl they were.....charlie was jordan wieber and haylie was gabby douglas! too cute! haylie, in particular, has been non-stop! she's working on mastering her cartwheel, which means she does them everywhere!! and the waterpark was no exception! she shows everyone she can! she's so proud of herself, and we're so proud of her!! charlie had made a couple new friends throughout the day, and at one point haylie came up to me and said "mom, i want to make a new friend, one that wants to watch me do my gymnastics!" lol! only haylie! well, needless to say, a few minutes later she was showing off her skills to her new friend! i'm sure glad my girls aren't shy!!

as we were leaving, the girls were hungry of course, so we agreed that we could stop at the metamora mcdonalds....as long as no one fell asleep! well, haylie fell asleep within probably 5 minutes of leaving. so of course charlie was sad that they couldn't play there, but i told her we could still drive thru and get a snack. well of course she fell asleep a few minutes before metamora, so we didn't stop. we had a very quiet ride home...they both slept until we got back to the valley. and then came the meltdown.....the first words out of charlie's mouth were, in her sleepy, whiny voice, "but mom, i wanted to get mcdonalds!" and i said "but honey, you fell asleep."  by now she's in tears as she cries "nooooooo, i diiiiiiidn't fall asleeeep!" oh boy! it was hard not to chuckle! and she was so adamant that she didn't fall asleep! poor kid! hehehe!

matthiessen with the meyers

so after a short week back to work (3 days) it was time for my 'stay-cation' with the girls! a week straight of the girls staying with us! yahoo!! since we had just went to the dells and we're going to madison in august, we didn't make any big plans for a big vacation. and that was just fine with us! i wanted to do some fun stuff, but not be constantly running around! i wanted to try to relax a bit and just hang out!

so friday night we hung out and watched the opening cermonies of the olympics (sidenote....i absolutely love love love the olympics!! and i was pleasantly surprised to learn they were starting on my first day of vacation! bonus!!) the girls didn't really care about them - they wanted to watch the actual olympic competitions! lol! so basically we just played all night! fine by me!

saturday the girls went back to their dads so i cleaned all day. then i had a graduation party to go to and then ryan & amy's couples shower! turned out to be a really fun day! watched some olympics while cleaning (of course) and had a great time at the parties!

sunday jesi and i headed up to the city for a free photography class!! we decided that since we've had our 'fancy' cameras for so long now (me...over 2 years) it couldn't hurt to learn how to use it a little! lol! so off we went! all in all....glad we went! we got to hang out all day, have some delicious lunch, and we even learned a thing or two about our cameras! we're both almost certain though, that we wouldn't pay for a class with this dude! like i said, we did learn some stuff, but the guy was so arrogant and just rude at times! grandiose was the term jesi used. it's hard to explain, but wow! 

so after a wonderful day with my bestie, it was time for the girls to come back for a whole week! how wonderful!

on the agenda for monday.....a girls day with my mom.....pedicures, lunch and shopping!! we had such a wonderful time!!

as we were putting together some shelves for the playroom, michele texted me and asked if we wanted to go hiking....but of course!! the girls are always up for hiking, and always looking to have a date! so it was perfect! we packed some sandwiches and snacks and back to matthiessen we went! we've been there 3 times in the last month or so and each time we went to a different entrance! so each time was a new trail, a new adventure! it was a little warm, but it was in the evening, so it wasn't terrible! and the kids didn't mind! they kept chugging along!

the beginning of our hike!

my beautiful girls

in a cave!

they are definitely in great hiking gear! lol!

logan was not all that interested in stopping for a pic!

mikaela was though! what a cutie!

the girls!!

the whole gang!!

logan and charlie peeking out the fort window!!

and mikaela and haylie!!

upstairs in the fort!!

in the loft....probably not the best idea logan! lol!