Labor Day Weekend

Saturday was a busy day for us. At 9 in the morning, Caida and Charissa went to go pick up my nephew, Tanner, and then we (My mom, my sister, my daughter, and my nephew) all went to IHOP for breakfast. It was extremely busy and the wait was about 25 minutes, but I was kept busy by Tanner and Caida. It was a lot of fun. Wouldn't sound like it if I told you what we did... that little man can eat a lot of food.
Then we were off to Colulmbian Park for our family reunion. We stayed about an hour while my mom slept in the car. haha. It was so funny watching Caida become best friends with the only other little girl there. They just introduced themselves and grabbed eachothers hands and started skipping away.
Then my camera broke. :( Then we went on to the Columbian Park Zoo. It's not a very big zoo. Monkeys, Huge turtles, a petting zoo, a peacock, otters, gophers, small animals like that. Then there was a section where the wallabies roam free and a butterfly garden. Tanner's head kept spinning as the butterflies would whip by.
Eventually, we had to drop Tanner off, and we took Caida to Toys 'R' Us and and got a few games and puzzles and things for her to do. Then we decided to be true Americans and go out to eat, (You guessed it, PEPE'S!) even though we were still full from breakfast. haha. Then we went home and Charissa and I watched Brian Regan which was a perfect end to a perfect day.

Sunday: My mom and I hung out and did lots of fun things until Caida and Charissa got home from church. Then, Charissa, Caida and I went to my dad's house for a few hours. When we got back to my mom's, we ate dinner and then James and I took off on our hour and a half drive back to our house, and Caida stayed with Grandma Linda for the night.

On Monday, my mom, Charissa and Caida came to Portage and I bought some disposable cameras (Do you remember how to use those things? I didn't for a minute. lol) and we went to the Dunes. At least we attempted to go to the dunes but the parking lot was full so we went and ate some tacos, came back, and then went to the dunes. The climb was a lot easier than I remember, but we still used the trail on the way back. It was cold and windy and there was no sun, but it was our last trip of the year out to the beach and we were determined to make the best of it. Which wasn't hard, once your body was numb, the water was awesome. Being outside is always fun, no matter what the conditions are and doing something to break free of the normal schedule is always nice. Overall, GREAT WEEKEND!

First Soccer Game

Caida's first soccer game was today! The weather was perfect, Caida had on her maroon shorts so she stood out. She was awesome as a team player, letting everyone else kick the ball while she just ran around the group of kids and laughed. We need to work on her skills a lot, but she has so much potential now that she is finally listening to her coach!
Aunt Charissa drove all the way up to Portage from West Lafayette just to see Caida play her first game. They won 5-0. The other team only had 6 players against the yellowjackets' 12 players! For 5 year olds, our team is pretty aggressive. lol
Then we all went to Pepe's (third time I mention this place. lol) and spent a good hour and a half there and then drove to Lafayette. Busy, busy, busy.
Go YELLOWJACKETS!!!!!

Caida's first day of KINDERGARTEN

Caida was so excited when she woke up this morning! She woke up really early but actually got out of her room when she knew she was allowed to,at 6:30. She kept asking over and over and over what time school started, and she is p.m. kindergarten so she had awhile to wait.
We kept ourselves busy until it was time to go head out for the bus. (She was realllly excited to use the bus after kindergarten orientation and even though I wanted to take her, I was going to get awesome pics of her getting on the bus.
However, at noon, her bus went right passed us and gave to me (what looked like) a shrug and just kept on going! I thought that, since she clearly saw us, she might come back around so we waited another 15 minutes.
I decided to drop her off myself and as we are driving out of our driveway, here comes the bus again and this time it stops but I knew there was no way to get there in time so I ended up driving her anyway.
Of course, I was glad that I got to, because it was nice seeing her off for her first day. When all the kids arrived in the front of the school, the teacher said, "Give your parents hugs and kisses!" And Caida, barely looking at me, blows me a kiss over her shoulder! At least she doesn't have seperation anxiety. haha

BEARS GAME

Saturday was my FIRST EVER pro football game and it was the CHICAGO BEARS vs the Raiders. It was, by far, the best night of my whole life. Maybe that's sad, but it was so much fun! The first touchdown that the Bears made was amazing! Matt Forte #22 ran 89 yards to the endzone and we were right there to see it! Our seats were so close to the Bears endzone, it was awesome!
We sat next to season ticket holders who knew everything about the Bears and the game and I learned a lot of new things. Bears lost, and the game ended 21 seconds early because everyone gave up, so I guess in everyone else's eyes the game sucked pretty bad, but for me, it was the most fun I have ever had! I can't wait for the next one!

A Kid Free Weekend

So, I tried to make an awesome weekend for James by inviting his friend, Wes, over. He showed up a few hours before James got off work. I tried to make it a suprise but James is just too smart. My friend, Jess, drove him up, and I got to hang out with her. Also, Kyle came over and hung out for a little while.
The next day we literally sat around allllll day long until James went on a bike ride with his brother around 6 or 7 pm. Then when he got home, I was finally showered and we went to Pepe's for dinner where we planned on playing pool and hanging out but we were both so tired from the night before (which we didn't even stay up late, but...lol) we went home and I went to bed while James fought off sleep for a few hours before finally passing out. We both had about 12 hours of sleep and then drove to Lafayette to pick up the baby on Sunday. Then we came home and well....went to sleep. Did I mention I like to sleep? I hate sleep! lol

The Dunes

I woke up and decided to go to the grocery store and buy some chocolate covered donuts, along with things I actually needed, hoping to stop my craving for unhealthy food. I took them home and they were disgusting. They tasted like plastic. Thank goodness for my sister, Celeste, who arrived with my other sister (Charissa), and gave me chocolate and peanut butter brownies. They were delicious!
Then we got ready and headed for Mt. Baldy (AKA the dunes)! It was a long trek up the summit, even though the pictures make it look like it was only a few feet....very misleading. It was a lot of fun, though. Caida and I built sand castles, and "rode the waves" and got less white than our usual rediculously white selves.
Afterward, we went to the Pepe's next to my new house to check out the salsa, and it was different, but AMAZING. Overall, I had the best day I have had in years. :)

New Blog

So.. I had a blog called "Changing Simple" and it was supposed to motivate me to do things to change my life. It didn't really work because absolutely nothing changed. lol. Instead, I have decided to just make an online journal. I don't really care if anyone reads it or if my life does change. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. We'll see. Only I can decide how to make my life more enjoyable. But, like it or not, this truly is as good as it gets.