Fun with the Walkers

Little Esther brought her parents Lee and Suzanne up here for a visit... daddy the doctor had a stretch of days off, and they chose to spend some time here. Awesome!! We were six hours ahead of them getting in to Chicago the wee hours of Sunday morning.

We went to brunch at Yolk. Nutella crepes should sum that up nicely. Travis had a salad in preparation for his juice cleanse. My boys were loving the pancakes. 

After we parted ways, we went and picked out our very first real Christmas tree!

 I was most excited about the spare branches we could use as our Jesse Tree for Advent. I'm reading through "The greatest gift" and am so needing the reminder and focus of my hope... Jesus is coming. 

Jack was showing how big the tree is, Charlie just being his sweet self next to his Jesse branches. 

They strapped it on the car, which Jack thought was hysterical, and we headed home with our sticky tree. I think I'm allergic to it. We'll try the prickly one next year. I don't know tree names. 

That night, we all visited at the Thompsons' house. It was so good to just talk and eat and watch our kids play together. I could listen to Esther talk all day long. Her voice is so high-pitched and precious!

Yeterday, we went to the Shedd Aquarium. This is the only picture I got. 

I know. Poor Charlie. Lee got a group picture, though, so I have proof somewhere that I took him, too. He kept getting scared by the eel or whatever other creature would swim his way. My boys were wild. Just wild. I actually had to take Jack to a corner and have a serious discipline session. I finally broke through and had some semblance of obedience from him. I was talking with Sam about it. How do you break a will without breaking a spirit? How do you show consistent boundaries without being legalistic? Thank God for grace. For me and for Jack. 

After the aquarium, we went to Club Lucky for lunch. They have such good Italian food, and their wintery decorations were so pretty! 

Then we headed back to houses to let the kiddos nap. I took Jack to school and then put Charlie down for a nap at 3:30. Everyone came over for dinner at 6:00. I think I finally woke Charlie at 7:00. He was tired! Just like the night before, the kids just played and played until we peeled them away at the night's end. 

This morning, we went to the Children's Museum. That place is really neat. First we went to a room that looked like a winter wonderland. Little yarn snowballs, snowmen, an "ice rink", and sleds. So cute. For every room, Charlie cried when we left. 

Then we went to the fire truck! 

Jack put on a uniform and pretended to put out a fire.

And he slid down the pole

And I promise Charlie loved it, too. 

Then we went upstairs to the next level. 

The first stop was the water room. All of the kids put on raincoats and played so hard that their clothes were still soaked. Particularly Esther. She just sat right down on the wet floor and soaked her tights and dress. Suz spent a chunk of time at a hand dryer remedying the situation. 

CHARLIE!! Sweet baby kept putting his hand in those streams and trying to drink the water. He loved loved loved this room. 

After tearing the boys away, we moved on to bowling. Too many kids, not enough lanes or balls for everyone. Meltdown sums that up. 

Then we went and saw dinosaurs. The kids got little brushes and looked for bones. Jack got so tickled when he found the booty. 

Side note: baby Thompson was being mischievous in this room and hurting his/her mama. We find out tomorrow if it's a boy or a girl!!! 

Charlie really loved this room, too. But like I said, he pretty much arched and kicked and screamed when it was time to leave any room. And then we'd get to the next one and he'd be squealing. At one point he was laughing and smiling so much, I really thought he was about to cry.

Then we went and saw butterflies and flowers which was more for the wee babes, but the boys still enjoyed it. 

There was a tinkering room where Jack used a drill and made a hole in a block of wood. 

And then we confirmed his height. 

And tinkered some more

And then we finally decided we were exhausted and needed to eat. We ran down to Harry Caray's and ate as quick as we could to get the kids back for much-needed naps. 

What a fun few days!! The Walkers leave tomorrow (booooo), but we get to visit one more time! We're so glad y'all came!