Quick Chicago Trip

Our weather has been really wet and stormy lately. So much so that it feels like I'm constantly checking the weather to see if we need to change plans. A couple of weeks ago I decided we needed to have a quick trip to Chicago, just for fun. But as the date got closer the weather forecast got worse. Lance and I basically decided we'd just stay home and play games and such. But yesterday morning I looked at the forecast one last time and it looked great - so we decided to go.

Spencer has been going to a school STEM camp this week, and Lance only took a half day off, so we didn't leave town until around 12:30. I-65 is under construction most of the way between here and Chicago, which made the going even slower than normal. (I mean, when is it not under construction? But this is worse than normal.) We eventually made it to Chicago, but GPS doesn't work so great downtown because of all the buildings, so after 5 times around a busy block right downtown we finally found our parking garage. (Shout out to the SpotHero app - you can get parking that is soooo much cheaper than normal in big cities!)

Our first stop was Millennium Park and it's big fountain area. We gave the kids explicit instructions not to get too wet since I didn't bring extra clothes or even a towel. I figured they were all old enough to handle this.

I figured wrong. Within 5 minutes, and right after I told her to stop running, Tess totally face planted it in the water. It's a good thing I was standing right next to her and pulled her right up or she would have gotten even more wet. (She has a bad habit of just freezing during situations like this, no matter the consequences.) Her front half was soaked.

Then Cole came over to us, completely soaked, but not through any accident. That punk. Fortunately, it was a pretty warm day, so they both eventually dried off.

The kids asked how long we could stay. I told them they could decide how long - we were just here to have fun! And that's how we spent pretty much the rest of the day, letting the kids take the lead. And they loved it.

We made the obligatory stop to the Cloud Gate and took the obligatory pics.

Cole sure loves this sculpture - he was pretty excited to see it again!

I wonder how often (if ever) The Bean gets cleaned and polished?

Spencer was pretty impressed with the concert stage. He's really getting into music and performance and things like that. I think it'd be pretty cool to see a concert there!

Then we went over to Maggie Daley park, which was pretty amazing. It had so many neat playgrounds and water features.

It was pretty warm when the sun was out, but when a cloud came by it was perfect weather, especially with the nice breeze.

This fountain was extra cool because it was a spiral.

I think this was the kids' favorite area - so many cool things to climb and play on!

Lots of cool slides, too.

Then we hoofed it over to the Willis Tower. It's great that my kids are getting big enough to walk this much. BUT. It's like herding cats walking downtown. How no one got lost or run over, I'll never know. Guardian angels are a real thing. And Tess? She is SO SLOW. Seriously. And I don't think it's her age or size. It's just here. Time will tell. (But it drove me batty!)

We bit the bullet and spent the money on going to the top of the Willis Tower. I'm so glad we did - the kids' reaction when we stepped out of the elevator and they saw how high up we were was awesome!

Lance and I like going to the top of tall buildings - I suspect we'll be doing a lot of it on our Europe trip. (Okay, not as high as this. Lots of tall towers and such.)

Our little engineer, Cole, really liked it all. He also really liked the short movie we watched about the building of the tower. He wished there had been more about actually building it.

When I was at BYU they added a big new section to the library - underground. Which meant for a good year a huge hole was dug out of the ground. There was fencing all around the giant pit, and every day you could find engineering students at that fence, watching all that was going on in that hole completely fascinating. I suspect Cole would be one of those students staring at a hole in the ground.

Walking out into that ledge, with the glass underneath you, was pretty cool. Cole was a little scared, but he was brave and did it!

 

Cole kept a careful eye on the glass the whole time.

Lance still can't give a good reason as to why he posed like this. And because the sun was in my eyes I couldn't tell that's what he looked like.

After the tower we went out for Chicago stuffed pizza. It took a really long time to bake, so we had fries and onion rings and mozzarella sticks while we waited.

It was delish. Spencer was especially impressed.

I really, really like Chicago. As I told Lance, I would love to just live downtown for a full year. Just for one year, because I really like having a house and and yard and a garden. But still, I'd love to live downtown, without a car, for a year. There's so many cool things to do and see! I think it'd be fun and eye-opening.

But not if I had to walk around shepherding Tess every day. ;)

4th of July Party - 2017

This year's party was bigger than ever - not because we planned it that way, but mainly because Lance is in the bishopric and felt like we should invite more people, especially all of the new families in the ward. I have to admit, I felt a little put out about this right before the party. I felt like I was putting in a ton of effort, time, and money to pull off a party for a bunch of people I didn't know.

Because that's what I was doing.

I quickly realized that was a pretty bad attitude and what a big first world cry baby I was. Oh boo-hoo, my biggest problem was that the party we were throwing felt too big?! I got over myself and got to work and I'm glad I did.

It was so much fun! Oh yes, there were stressful moments. And it was SUPER HUMID and hot and I dripped sweat pretty much all day getting ready. But in the end it was great. I had a good time catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. (Everyone knew bishopric counselor Lance, but not everyone knew primary pianist Maren! They do now!)

Our final head count was around 57 adults and 71 kids. Ridiculous.

For the past few months I've been saving big boxes and picking them up from Costco and Sam's Club. All of the little kids had a great time building forts and trains with them. Then the teenagers had a blast turning themselves into box robots and battling it out. We had fun watching them. If you every have a big summer party, get yourself some boxes. It's the cheapest entertainment ever.

This year we also had paper rockets, which were a huge hit. Most of the kids and plenty of the dads had a go. (It's fun to watch Purdue engineers try to figure out the best rocket design!)

We'll definitely do the rockets again next year, and maybe do a candy canon as well. I think that would BLOW LITTLE MINDS.

Cole was the lone child to sit next to me during the fireworks show, and he was gone for more than half of it. In fact, I hardly saw any of my kids during the entire evening - I didn't even have to get them their dinners! This is both awesome and sad.

I love our lighting so much.

We had lots of fountains and lots of giant fireworks. I always forget just how loud they are, and that you can feel the heat when you're that close! Lance was a good guy and let the youth help with a lot of the fireworks, which they loved. I had to question this choice, though, when most of our ward deacons were up there (including Spencer) when one of the fountain containers up there caught fire and no one seemed to know what to do with themselves!

We cooked and served up approximately 80 hot dogs and 75 hamburgers, and our guests guzzled around 100 bottles of water, 75 Kool-Aid pouches, and 100+ cans of soda. (More than usual due to the heat.) We had to use 4 giant bags of ice to keep it all cool.

Every year I question whether or not we should have the party next year. And every year I get my answer when I see how much fun my kids have and realize just how much I enjoy it, too.

Camping at Lake Mississinewa

Well, in case you were wondering, the Madsen Curse is alive and well.

Back with a vengeance, really.

In case you've forgotten, the Madsen Curse is that it rains when we go camping. Always. And profusely. We now think the curse is/was (as you will soon read) linked to our tent, because we've now camped at three different spots in Indiana and have gotten rained on at all of them.

This year we decided to go to Lake Mississinewa, which is about an hour and half northeast of Lafayette, by Peru. It had everything we wanted: a big lake with a beach, good campsites, niceish bath houses and bathrooms, etc. But it also had rain. So much rain.

Things started off well. I packed up the kids and what felt like all our earthly possessions, bought everyone a drink at the gas station (gas station drinks have been the key to happy children this summer), and we were off. Everyone was happy!

Poor Tess was stuck by her lonesome in the back, but she didn't seem to mind.

So happy and excited!

After an unexpected detour to the reservoir dam (thank you, Google Maps), we finally made it to the site. Hooray! Only Josh decided he didn't like the campsite. I don't know why. No one knew why. So while we had a quick potty break and started to set up the tent, Josh pouted and moped. It was super fun.

Wait, no it wasn't. It was maddening. Because he fully expected us to go home just because he didn't approve of the campsite. (The campsite which was really quite great.) After a bit of yelling and threatening, he got his act together and we were finally able to get our tent up. 

At this point I could see thunderclouds in the distance and I knew it was imperative that we get the rain fly on the tent. Also at this point Gigi and her kids had arrived. But within minutes of their arrival Gigi had somehow opened a bag weirdly, causing a chef's knife to jump out and slice her nose. 

I know. WHAT THE WHAT?!?!

But it's true. She really did. There was quite a bit of blood, and we agreed that she probably needed stitches. Good heavens.

During all of this the storm clouds loomed closer. 

So while Gigi went off to Logansport to get fixed up, Spencer and I finally got the rain fly on the tent - just before the heavens opened. 

It POURED. I had to put a few things away and grab the box of games and got completely soaked in the process. Lance had all of our sleeping bags and such, so we didn't even have anything to sit on. This didn't seem to bother the kids at all, though. The fact that I had grabbed some snacks from the van probably helped with the mood.

While the kids played and made an incredible amount of noise, I stewed and contemplated my lot in life to always camp in the rain. And then I noticed that the tent was leaking. Gosh dang it. I texted Lance about the situation. He teased that he was not coming. This is the reply I sent, hoping it would convey what a dangerous decision that would be. (The photo never went through; cell reception was spotty at best.)

The rain finally stopped and we were able to set up the rest of the camp, including another tarp over our tent. It's a good thing we put that up because it rained off and on the rest of the evening and ALL night. I am not exaggerating.

It was wet enough that evening that we could not build a fire to cook dinner. Fortunately, I had brought my big propane burner and we were able to cook our steak bites and veggies that way. It was delish, if I do say so myself.

The night was long but dry. (Well, as dry as you can be in Indiana humidity.) And the next morning was beautiful; cool and breezy and mostly dry. We enjoyed pancakes and sausage for breakfast and sat under the canopies when it rained a little off and on.

After lunch the kids convinced us that we should go swimming. I had no intention of getting in the lake because it wasn't that hot and I knew the water would be freezing. This didn't stop them, though, and they swam and played for a good 30 minutes before another thunderstorm chased us away.

As soon as we loaded into our cars the heavens opened yet again, sending torrential rain and wind. On our drive back to the campsite a tree fell in front of the Reams' car, which they barely missed - SCARY. (Seriously, it took a while for the adrenaline in my body to wash out!)

But even scarier? The next 90 minutes we spent trapped in our tents because it was raining so hard. The canopies don't do much when it's raining sideways. Our tent was hot and sticky and stinky. The kids kept going in and out, getting their few remaining dry clothes wet, despite my protests.

It. Was. Awful.

I wanted to run away. I wanted to shake my fists at the heavens. I just wanted it to freaking stop raining!!! @##*^@*#%@(#!!!!

Eventually we decided that there was no way we'd be able to cook dinner that night, so we went into Peru and ate at Dairy Queen. After dinner it was STILL RAINING, so we went to see Despicable Me 3, which was fun and DRY. (Lance claims that dinner and the movie were the best parts of camping. I kinda had to agree...)

Finally, after the movie the sky cleared. We went back to camp and were able to enjoy a couple of dry hours.

We had glow sticks and the kids had fun running around free, enjoying not being stuck in a tent or as wet as fish.

It took quite a while because it was just so dang wet and humid, but Lance and Craig finally got a decent fire going.

That night it didn't rain. And it even cooled off a bit, which was a relief. But that night Lance and I both agreed it was time to get a new tent. Our old one was 10+ years old, and despite it's claims, it no longer kept us dry.

The next morning was beautiful. We enjoyed breakfast and chatting and the fact that it was no longer raining! I like camping, I really do. Just NOT IN THE RAIN.

I decided to take one last picture of the old tent. I got it for a great price and it was well used. I'm not quite sure when or how it lost it's capacity to keep us dry, but it did.

The kids had so much fun riding scooters and playing!

Instead of using my phone I found my old point-and-click camera, which the kids loved. Cole couldn't believe that the screen on its back wasn't a touch screen! They had fun taking pictures of us.

Lance is a very, very patient and loving man. I don't know that there are many things he wouldn't do for me. But I don't know that I dare ask him to go camping any time soon...

And we sure love the Ream family! Cole claims to have taken a picture of Craig and Gigi, but it wasn't on my camera. Dang it. There's no one I'd rather be miserable with than the Reams!

A few last pictures of the kiddos in front of the cursed tent. They're pretty sure once we get a new tent the curse will be lifted!

(I'm not holding my breath.)

It's hard to tell in this picture, but there's a puddle of water there in the tent. NO WONDER it was so muggy in our tent! This pretty much sealed the deal, and instead of carefully taking it down I just stuffed it into the trunk of the car and unceremoniously put it in the dumpster at the entrance of the camp! Gigi was with me and it was cathartic. I felt a few words needed to be said, and the first thing that popped into my mind was "Good riddance to bad rubbish."

So, after days of laundry and drying everything out, we're finally over this year's camping trip. I have until May (for the Father/Son campout) to find a new - very waterproof - tent. Fingers crossed that we won't have to find out the hard way whether or not the new tent works better than the old!