i {heart} geeks

why yes ...
my husband IS a geek
AND yes ...
he is turning my children into geeks



but i LOVE it.

time travel

every time we drive into chicago from the west
we pass the medieval times castle
but we've never visited
UNTIL NOW

we spent one of our nights with the other barnetts
visiting the castle for a dinner show



upon entering we were all given red crowns and red flags

and seated in the red knight's section 

 

this meant it was our job
to cheer for the red knight

bit by bit
they brought out our meal
but we were not given any silverware.

apparently because we were pretending it was the medieval times

 

 we were to drink our soup straight from the bowl 

and eat our chicken right from the bone

the kids thought it was great

and surprisingly enough ...
i didn't mind it either.
the food was much better than i expected it to be!!

the kids loved the show.
as we ate the knights did some skills type contests
with horses, joust sticks, and swords.
they were very good!!

we cheered them on the entire time
and our knight
even gave ellie a flower!!

 

 

 

in the end -
he came in as the runner up

but he did a GREAT job!!


i can honestly say i wasn't sure what to expect
but it was a really entertaining night
it was a one of a kind experience for the kids
and i'm glad that we took the time to do it!

$nowball$

we started our day out
with the intention of ice skating downtown

our first stop brought us to the new under construction daley park
GREAT
that ice skating ribbon will be amazing
next year ;)

SO ...
we headed to millenium park
another amazingly beautiful location for an ice rink
HOWEVER
we weren't the only ones to think so

SO ...
after deciding NOT to wait in the line that went all the way around the rink
we let the boys do what they wanted to do anyway
and have a great big snowball fight 

 

 

  

we came across a cute little 'city snowman'



and enjoyed the beauty of the freshly fallen snow

 

before finishing up our excursion

with the best part of the afternoon ;)
STARBUCKS!!

 

 

it was an expensive cup of coffee
considering we had each paid $25 to park
BUT
it was beautiful
and
they all had fun!

  

 

  

thanks for a fun visit, barnetts!

P - I - G

the day after christmas
we continued our once a day celebration run
and drove down to chicago
to spend a few days with stacey's brother

the cousins all exchanged their gifts within moments of us arriving

 

and then we spent the next few days playing
and enjoying the time together
since it doesn't happen often enough

 

 

 

thankfully it wasn't too bad out

so we got in a few games of PIG 

nice form, right?! ;)

uncle troy may have won

but ben came in a very close second

nice game, guys!

  

 

the elf diaries - continued

before heading back to the north pole
elfred brought MANY smiles
and
already has the boys looking forward to next year

he repelled from the 2nd floor using our socks



he packed ben's lunch for his field trip

he made a snowman
in the freezer!

he made the boys have to work
to watch some morning tv;)

 

he took a bubble bath
with marshmallows

he joined our nativity scene
and took baby Jesus for a ride

he had a little fun with santa

he wrapped the presents
AND himself

and then brought donuts to send the boys off
on their Christmas adventures

 

we'll miss you elfred!!