Drew's new room decor

Derek lee

Quotes

Kate:  Drew, don't yell at the Wii.  It doesn't know that much.

Kate:  Who keeps turning the Christmas tree on?  It's gonna run out of batteries.

Drew:  When I grow up, I'm still gonna marry Laura
Chris:  OK
Drew:  Does that mean I'll have to kiss her on the mouth.
Chris:  That'll be up to you buddy.

What child is this?

Ha ha

Ben's Funny Statement of the Day

I had just pulled down his underwear to take him to the potty this morning and he grabbed himself and said, "Look!  My tail sticking out!"

Long day

We wore him out.

Ben - Thanksgiving 2011

What is Thanksgiving about? um uh um uh um uh Grandmama Thanksgiving

What are you thankful for?

um uh Dylan.  Avie.  um Avie.  um uh Granddat.  Granddat.  Granddat.  Emmie no no.  Um uh um um ummy I don know!  BJ Baby Bop Barney um um 

Also, Ben has made us sing 

"It's Thanksgiving, It's Thanksgiving

Time to eat

Time to eat

I like (insert food here)

I like (insert food here)

Yummy treat!

Yummy treat!"

over and over and OVER again this morning.

Drew - Thanksgiving 2011

What is Thankgiving about? It's about the pilgrims celebrating about the first Thanksgiving.  Whenever people come over to your house, you give them yummy food.

What are you thankful for?

Mommy

brother

Dada

Kate

my own self

Gram

Grandmama

Aunt Cindy

Dylan

Avie

Uncle Stephen

Granddad

Emmie

Katie

Andrew

MaMa

Grandmother

lollipops

baby frogs

baby turtles

new babies

that's all.

Who's a big boy?

Ben is. Last night was a double step into big boy world. He slept in his car bed for the first time (no issues) and slept without an overnight diaper for the first time (no issues).

Kate - Thanksgiving 2011

What is Thanksgiving All About?  Thanksgiving is about giving God thanks and eating lots of food.

What Kate is thankful for:

Mommy

Daddy

Daisy

Reagan

Drew

Ben

Grandmama

Granddad

Dylan

Gram

MaMa

Grandmother

Thanksgiving

Babies

Friends (Bekah, Andrew, Brooke, Katie Baker, Katie Phillips, Laura, Alana, Kayla)

I have clothes to wear

My pilgrim

Drew wanted to be a pilgrim while all the others chose to be Indians.

Kate reading

Chris says we need to get people to start writing books so Kate doesn't run out of reading material.  She eventually fell asleep on the couch.

Ben's dressing up

Ben was really busy putting on necklaces in Kate's room and when the one wouldn't fit over his head, he said "Look! I'm a princess!"

Messy

Dear grandmama - thank you for the yummy dessert.  Are you coming back to clean me up?

Making the best of our field trip not showing up

At stone mtn.  Ben's on my back.

Drew's latest book

Drew just finished this 64 page book in two days of reading with mommy.

At bedtime...

Daddy, can you tell mommy I love her more than a shooting star....which is actually an asteroid burning up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Ben's first hockey game

With grandmama

Drew says he is dressed up like a pirate

Kate helped.

Ben riding the carousel at the zoo

He loved being on the tiger.  He petted it and talked to it the whole ride.

Ben

Dressing up while we were trying to get him changed into his pajamas

Volcano after erupting

Dylan Kate and drew

Making playdough for a volcano

Ha ha ha...messy!

Ben and gram

At homeschool soccer

Anchor church fall festival

...and Ben put that hat on himself on the way to the potty...

Weeeee

Ben in the tunnel slide

Drew the soccer machine

So....
Drew has been somewhat tentative during the games this soccer season.  This is far different than what we see in the yard or in practices where he runs like crazy and attacks the goal.  He admitted the other night that he was hanging back from the group in games because he was scared his head would get hurt if it was hit by the ball.  He then decided it wasn't that scary and in his next game he wouldn't be scared.

Long story short, he went out and scored 6 goals in the next game and basically dominated the other team.  Totally different player. 

Kate built a tower

She is so proud of it!

Reenacting the Trojan horse

The soldiers are hiding in the horse's belly.

Vacation catch up

Thanks to late nights and the normal Phelan ridiculous schedule we keep on vacation, this is my first chance to get caught up on activities from vacations.  Away we go:

Thursday - We got up early and began our mega CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) tour of the city.  It actually went really well and continued our vacation long string of perfect transfers and use of a system we have very little clue about (thanks Navigator Sherri).    We took two separate buses to get to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.  It was a fun place to go, probably not quite worth what we paid to go, but the kids had fun.  We did lots of exploring.  Kate is heavily interested in space stuff right now, so she enjoyed it the most of all.  Drew and Ben had a fun time in the kids explorer area which included a mock space toilet, right up their alley.  It was a very windy day, not helped by Adler being on an exposed isthmus on Lake Michigan.  Next stop was Chick Fil A on Michigan Avenue, mainly because we like the food, the kids will gladly eat there, and we knew how to get there which took a bus and a train to get back downtown.  This led to Ben's unbroken string of somehow falling asleep on every crowded, loud, and bumpy trip we took through the city.  After eating, we took a stroll through the city to the Navy Pier which is a bit like a mall/carnival area.  Fun place.  Harry Caray's restaurant is there.  We also went to the Children's museum which had free entry and played around.  Fun, not quite as fun as the ones around Atlanta, but the kids had a blast.  Back to the hotel and bed.

Friday - Time to check out of the hotel which was awesome.  It may be our favorite we have stayed in, at least up there with the Village Inn in Virginia during our DC trip.  We trekked back to Lincoln Park Zoo (awesome, awesome zoo) to kill a couple of hours to give the kids a chance to check on the baby goats and chicks and to see how cows get milked.  No hands on experience there which Kate found disappointing.  We toured the zoo a bit more and got to se the few animals we missed on the first pass.  Drew's favorite was the polar bear, Kate's the giraffe, Ben the zebra.  After that it was time to hit Wrigley for the Cubs game.  We stopped by Wrigleyville for souvenirs, hit the McDonald's across the street for ice cream before the game (the grounds crew happened to be in there) and then walked into Wrigley.  Our seats were great, total score there.  Probably 40 rows slightly to the right behind home plate.  Great views.  It was a decently chilly day, but pretty fun to be there with 38,000 fellow Cubs fans.  We all had our Cubbie gear on.  First pitch and guest anthem were by Martin Sheen.  He is one short dude.  The field, park, and neighborhood are 100 years older than the Atlanta area, but a million times better.  Safer area, better integration with the surrounding homes and stores, convenient, great views, and the ambience was everything one would expect.  It was also a perfectly representative Cubs game.  They were up 3-1 in the top of the 9th with 2 outs and 2 strikes on the Astros who then hit a two run homer to tie it.  Bottom of the 9th, they got a runner to rd but failed to score and went to extras.  They ended up winning in 12, but we had to leave after 9 due to the 6 hour drive towards Cincinnati.  All in all, going to Wrigley was better than I could have hoped and I think I have Kate and Drew hooked and Sherri at least partially converted.  She even wore a Cubs shirt.  No sports bigamy, she has to pick between the Braves and Cubs now.  Ben had a blast flirting with the 25 year old woman behind us.  This involved lots of laughing, peekaboo, and apparently some nose picking on his part.  Long drive to Cincy.  Remember those monolithically weird windmills I wrote about on the way to Chicago?  Turns out the only way they can be creepier is to come upon them when the sky is totally dark and you see a vast landscape of blinking red lights so planes won't fly into them.  And, on the close ones, you can vaguely see the blades spinning in the red light just to let you know they are still there.  Stayed at another decent hotel, keeping the good hotel streak alive.

Saturday - Started the day at the museum which was pretty cool.  Dinosaurs, floods, artifacts, Kate and Sherri got to see the planetarium.  The boys went to a snake show and touched a lot of them including just the three of us holding up a 100 pound boa constrictor.  That was nifty.  4 hour drive to Knoxville where we are right now at a Best Western.  I'll come back and fill in the Sturday stuff tomorrow.  Ready for a shower, Kate, Drew, and Ben are all now asleep and we will be soon also.

The birthday boy

In his car seat heading out of Chicago. 

Good seats

Good job daddy!

Go cubs

Watching a game on a chilly day at wrigley.

Another day in Chicago

And, here we go again. Today was wet about half the time, windy and chilly the whole time. And it didn't matter a bit because today was awesome fun. The rundown:
1.  We took our first trip on the Chicago transit bus system.  It was pretty packed, but ultimately a better travel option for our needs than the El.  Anyway, it was different and fun.  I still feel a bit out of sorts using public transportation on a vacation but distance, weather, and 3 kids with short legs have somewhat conspired against our insane walking adventures.

2.  Lincoln Park Zoo - I knew it from the commercials during Cubs games, no one else had a clue about it.  It was an awesome zoo.  Puts the Atlanta one to shame.  Free to go in and it is full of amazingness.  We got to see all of the requisite zoo type animals along with some extra fun.  The theming of each section was great, felt almost Disney like in it's niceness.  In the giant feline room, we got to witness a roaring contest between the two lions and the tiger.  It was pretty cool, loud, and reminded us that without the bars in the way we would be lunch.  They also have a pretty awesome kids area with some cool mini-farms, interactive exhibits, and a petting area.  Oh yeah, they also got to feed cows. Gigantic cows.  Not babies, full on huge cows with heads bigger than Ben's whole body.  Drew was a bit hesitant and only did it a couple of times, but Ben and Kate could have done it all day long.  And, since we were the only people there, they could have.

3.  The Magnificent Mile - Yeah, it's a total tourist trap, but it's still fun to see.  One mile of tons of stores, cool buildings and architecture, random union picket lines, and a Chick Fil A oasis of food that fueled us to finish the day strong.  Kate got to go to the American Girl store with Sherri and Ben while Drew and I hung out in the Lego store and did manly things with manly construction sets based on Star Wars.  We hit a few other stores and explored at our own pace which was set on it's normal super fast speed.

4.  Millenium Park - This was an end of the day add-on.  It's basically a giant park with some art, bridges, and random stuff so we took pictures, the kids ran around, and we killed off a bit more energy.  A final few blocks walking to a bus stop and the ride back to the hotel.

5.  Some random grocery store - Named Jewel-Osco.  Needed some food supplies for the room.

All kids now asleep.  Drew's favorite thing today was probably the termite tunnel, riding in the backpack, and exploring.  Ben was pretty much hooked on Sherri.  Kate really liked the cows.

Side note, Kate is a beast and has fully earned her Phelan walking legs this trip.  Between climbing mountains and walking every step of the way with us through the city, she has proven her ability to walk distances and speeds most people would not be able to handle and she has done it all without a bit of complaining. 

Drew is well on his way to this lofty status.  His moutaineering is coming along nicely and he's building up to the long distances, just a few years to go on that process.

Day something of vacation, my brain can't count

And, here we are. We woke up at our initial Chicago hotel and busted it out of there just in time for AM traffic. We drove north up Lakeshore Drive as our first order of business was finding Wrigley Field which, all apologies to Disney, is the happiest place on earth. Holy cow, it's awesome. We took a 10 AM tour of the park and got to see pretty much everything except the innards of the scoreboard. Sat in the stands, went into the pressbox and saw the organ, broadcast booths, etc. Went into the visitor's locker room. Went and sat out in the bleachers in right field. Walked through the Cubs locker room. Sat in the Cubs dugout and stood on the field behind home plate. And took a million pictures. Way too cool. Saw all the statues, pictures, etc. Awesome awesome awesome. Went and check into our hotel for the next 3 night. The Majestic Chicago. The true mark of hotel awesomeness is how the sleeping goes, but this place seems off to a good start. Nice little place that is probably pretty easy to overlook but seems quite great. Stay here if you visit the city. Good part of town and everything. We then hightailed if over to the Shedd Aquarium which was neat. The kids (especially Kate) liked it and it was fine by the parents. Pretty busy, but some neat stuff including a giant anaconda among other freaky critters. We played in some random stretch of grass afterwards just to burn off energy because we haven't walked, hiked, and climbed enough quite yet on this trip. Also, the wind coming off Lake Michigan is no joke. We all also got our first taste of the El which was OK. Busy and public transport is not our favored mode of transport. This may be the first trip we have ever taken where we chose public transport over just walking, solely out of deference to the shorter legged among us. Sorry kids, but pretty sure you'll inherit the crazy walking gene from your parents. We are both equally to blame for that. Back to the hotel and then a half mile stroll to IHOP where no food was left untouched and Drew may have eaten a plate or two. He was beyond focused on what he wanted. As soon we mentioned it as an option, he laid out his menu. Made it come to fruition once we got there (the Rooty Jr with spiced apples for those keeping score). Good server too, no complaints. All in all, an A day in terms of seeing stuff. An A day in terms of totally wearing out anyone currently awake or asleep in this hotel room as I type away. And, we'll pretty much ramp it up again tomorrow.

We are here!

Yahoo!

Oh, one more thing

We now know what it sounds like when a big rig blows a tire from 50 feet away. Kinda like a bazooka hitting it's target. Thankfully, the semi was going the other way and there was a grassy median between, but sheesh that was loud.

Vacation day 3 - Start with C, ends with O, and has hicag in the middle

And zero percent of the people reading this have any idea where that came from.

Here we sit in Chicago. How did we get here?

We woke up around 7 in Jeffersonville, Indiana and ate breakfast. Then, we went back south about 3 miles to the Louisville Slugger museum and factory tour? How long does it take you to go 3 miles? Took us about an hour since one of the 3 bridges that crosses the Ohio River was shut down on Friday due to concerning cracks. Comforting. No big deal for us though. We toured and saw how bats get made and we even got free souvenir mini-bats which, as a low end guess, will be taken away from Drew and Ben 10 times in their lives when they are used as weapons.

After that it was a 3 hour drive when we stopped halfway and hung out in Lafayette, Indiana (home of Purdue) and stopped at Columbiana Park and Zoo which is a pretty awesome gigantic playground and free small zoo in the middle of a town that feels a bit like Humboldt. No mailboxes, near as I can tell the mailman walks around drops stuff off at the doors. Anyway, at the zoo you could walk through the wallaby exhibit, pet goats, pigs, miniature horses, llamas, and chickens depending on which animals stand still. Otters, peacocks, monkeys, and a couple of other animals.

Ate at sam's club because they have big pizza for little money and we have 3 voracious children. High society stuff for us.

Back in the car for about 2 hours, ending up in Chicago. The previous post showed the giant windmills we passed. Must have been thousands of them dotting the farmland and the pictures don't accurately convey how weird it is to drive past them.

Ended in the Chicago outskirts at a Best Western - Chicagoland Countryside. Yay, the land that gave us Barack Obama. I'll have to show my heartfelt gratitude to every person I see (Sarcasm mode off). Went and found a pretty cool playground/park to kill an hour at night and played the best game of pretend baseball ever.

We'll have to post the video of Drew at the Louisville Slugger museum swinging against 90 MPH pitches. good grief, baseball appears to be his natural sport.

Tomorrow is another day. Wrigley tour, aquarium. Who knows what else.

Wind farms

Well I found these a bit creepy - they are everywhere you look and gigantic and spinning.  It feels like alien land to me but drew likes them because "they are so big".  Kate thinks they are cool.  When I as ked Ben what he thought about them, he looked at them, smiled, and said "playground."

Vacation day 2 - more steps than you can shake a stick at

And day 2 is now in the books as we all recline at Comfort Suites Jeffersonville for the night. What did we do today?

Mammoth Caves Natl Park, the new entrance tour. Kate was a little apprehensive at first with the potential for ceiling collapse, but she became comfortable with it about halfway through thanks to the tour guide. Drew really enjoyed the first half, especially the climbing and exploring. Halfway through, he got pretty cranky. Instead of being freaked out by the cave, turns out he was tired. He fell asleep for the last half. Same with Ben.

Hey Ben, if you are reading this in about 20 years, you need to remember your mom is tough as nails. She carried you, often while you slept, through the entire tour in some very tiny crevasses.

After that, back in the car and we drove off to Lincoln's birthplace which was pretty fun. Got to see his cabin, some stuff from his youth, etc. Good time. kate and Drew got to be junior rangers at each park. Good for Ben too, as he got to run around and burn off energy.

Kentucky was pretty much non stop rain and dripping, somewhat the same for the little slice of Indiana we have now seen. We went to the main city park in downtown Louisville for a bit, saw a steamboat, the gigantic Ohio river, and more thunderstorms that cut our time short.

And, in a Phelan family first, we ate dinner at McDonald's. There was sort of a dearth of places to choose from. Dad would be horrified at us not trying the local flavor. Turns out we are a lot more comfortable with known, cheap options.

Waterfront park Louisville

Beautiful...

Beginning of soccer season and day one of vacation

Two, two, two events in one. pics for this and other vacation related posts will probably follow in a couple of weeks.

First game of the soccer season for both Kate and Drew today. Kate scored twice after taking a little while to get into the swing of things. But, she tried hard, picked her spots well, and attacked.

Drew did well in his game. A little more hesitant than we had expected from his practices, but probably first game jitters. He is easily the youngest in the league. No goals, but played hard and had a couple of nice saves in goal.

And then directly on to vacation. We had an awesome time getting past the 85/285 interchange thanks to the entire exit being under construction. But, once we got going time flew quickly. We stopped at Cloudland Canyon state park and hiked to the bottom of two waterfalls. Quite fun. There was a wedding going on at a scenic overlook. Kate liked that idea. Drew said that he decided that we would marry Laura Scott and that looked like a good place. Guess Katie has been replaced at least momentarily. Drew said Laura is good to marry since she always is funny.

Kate may have a new favorite place to hang out, the base of the upper falls. I think she really liked hanging out there and just staring at it.

Ben was ballast. He slept in the car, but far less than he needed.

Back in the car for another 4 hours up to Mammoth Cave where we are spending the night. The kids were wired for sound at the hotel, mainly because they think hotels are cool. Sherri and I think they are unfortunately necessary germ holes.

All asleep now, good day. Spelunking tomorrow, then some other stuff.

Drew's Four Year Checkup

Daddy took Drew to his 4 year check-up (since he would be getting so many shots).  He was very nervous that morning, but he apparently only whimpered when he got his shots - such a tough guy.  Here are the stats from the check-up:

Height: 41.5"

Weight: 36 lbs 6oz

When I plugged this information, along with the tall parent information, Drew is predicted to be 6'5" when he turns 18.  Then I realized that Chris grew 2 more inches after age 18...

Daddy took Drew to Chick-fil-a for a milkshake (he chose strawberry) to celebrate his bravery.

Hiking Trip - September 2-3, 2011 Pt 3

More pictures...

Hiking Trip - September 2-3, 2011 Pt 2

More pictures...

Hiking Trip - September 2-3, 2011 Pt 1

We went to the mountain house for the first time in a long time and we decided we would see if Kate and Dylan were tough enough to hike Siler Bald.  It's 4-4.5 miles to the top and the last part is a steep incline that really tests your mental toughness.  Granddad suggested that the kids hike the short (1.5 mile) side with him to the top while Chris and I hiked the longer side, but Kate and Dylan (especially Kate) insisted that they wanted to do the harder side.  We made them promise that they would not complain that they were tired and let them know that the car would be 6 miles away on the other side of the mountain, so stopping was not an option.  Once they agreed and were sure they would do the hard one, we set off.  Kate tripped and fell on a tree root right away and then hopped up and kept going like the tough girl she is.  They clearly got tired closer to the top (we all did), but Kate didn't complain - she just kept saying that she could do it and that she was almost there.  I couldn't have been prouder of her mental toughness.  When we got to the top, she rested and had a little snack and then wanted to hop back up and explore the top with Mommy and Daddy.  She had trouble choosing the right rocks/roots to step on and tripped several times on the way down, but she would just hop back up and keep going.  She's one tough girl!

The next day, we hiked up Blood Mountain and Drew wanted to come too.  It's a tough 2.5 mile hike with lots of rocky portions that require big and careful steps, but there are several very rewarding lookouts at the top.  About halfway, Drew melted down saying that he wanted to ride in the backpack.  We told him to keep going, hoping that he could make it a little further before Daddy had to carry him in the backpack.  Kate and I hiked on ahead and Daddy and Drew went at their own pace.  Daddy said they told lots of stories and Drew became focused and kept at it.  He received lots of encouragement and inspired lots of hikers who were on their way down with his toughness and determination, but in Drew's words, "I couldn't say thank you because I was too nervous."  He made it to the top all by himself not too long after we made it.  We were very impressed.  I should also mention that Kate and Dylan did fantastic - especially for as hard as this hike was with their legs still very tired from the day before.  Kate stopped lots of times along the way just to enjoy God's creation and to comment about how much she loves hiking.  Once again, she fell many times on the way down, but she continued to remain tough and determined. Drew rode in the backpack down on Daddy's back and was so tired that he fell asleep in the pack during the hike down.  

During the trip (which was shortened by a day due to heavy rains coming in), we also fit in a trip to the "beach" at the lake, where Kate, Dylan, and Drew spent their whole time "building the Nile" in the wet sand and dumping buckets of water over it.  Ben spent most of his time playing in the sand (he cried when his feet hit the sand because he didn't like the feeling), but he went in the water with Daddy toward the end.  

We were also able to go to our favorite pizza buffet and to the Hiawassee playground where great fun was had by all.  

Oh - did I mention that Ben got very scared of the pink bear and baby from Toy Story 3 on the drive up and he got so upset he vomited?  He also got his car seat turned around like a "big boy" for the first time just before this trip.  

Drew's 4th Birthday

Drew had a very fun party at Bounce-a-Rama and enjoyed his Spiderman/Superman/Batman cake.  All his friends came and he had a blast.  Yesterday, the day before his birthday, we went to visit MaMa and Grandmother with Grandmama, Grandad, and Dylan and he opened presents there. Then, we came home and he opened presents from Gram and us.  We finally gave in on the weapons, so Drew got three Nerf guns, a couple of foam swords for the pool, and Hulk "Smash" hands. Kate spent her own money to buy him a Bat Cave and she told me that she enjoyed seeing him open it more than she enjoyed getting presents herself.  He got lots of fun outdoor toys like an airplane shooter, a helicopter, and a stomp rocket, along with some great action figures and even a fishing set.  Today, he gets a day off of school and chores and can play or watch tv all he wants until his soccer practice tonight (as long as he doesn't interrupt school for the others).  

Stonehenge

Only one cricket was harmed in this construction and it was purely accidental.

Too much school

Funny comments from Drew and Kate and Sweet Comment from Ben

On the way home from church today, Drew noticed that someone had a sprinkler going.  He said, "Hey - Why is someone washing their grass?"

On our first day of studying Astronomy, we were looking on my phone to see where the stars and planets were in relation to where we were.  When I pointed the phone toward Kate's head, we could see Uranus on the sky map.  Kate said, "My head's Uranus!  I never thought my head would be Uranus!"  

On the way home from a homeschool swimming party tonight, Kate and Drew were thanking us for taking them and telling us they loved us.  Ben said, "I love you too Mommy!"  That's the longest understandable sentence he's uttered so far.

Drew's Special Date

With Tony and Addie.  The Cubs won.  Their favorite thing were the racing tools in the outfield.

Kate's special date

Playing dress up at the store and then ihop

Brothers

Leaving the bouncy place