Harry, Hermione and Ginny.

And our youngest, going as a grumpy burnt marshmallow.

The night I realized I was going to have to make The Decision, was the night SuperBoy was struggling to breathe. The gasping for air, the rasping breath, the crying for me to come sit with him…it’s all too much for a mom. So The Decision? Whether to take in my child for the $107 checkup to see if he needs medication or not. I am always afraid I’m going to make this choice and then be told, we can’t give him antibiotics, mom. (Like I’m some sort of antibiotic addicted mother who demands them at the first sneeze.) Or to be told, (as I once was) this child has strep – she’s been sick for two weeks, you say? Why didn’t you bring her in?

Anyway, I made The Decision, and sure enough, he had strep throat. We got the antibiotics and he was on his way to health.

Meanwhile, my own germaphobe reaction to sickness – constantly washing my hands, taking Airborne, taking vitamin C – did nothing to help me escape and down I cam with the illness. Although I’m feeling better, I’m still feeling like my brain is two miles behind everything else in the world and have had several awkward conversations where my brain just couldn’t catch up to what was going on and oh…it’s embarrassing. But, one day at a time, and here’s hoping we now get credit for Fall Illness and don’t have to suffer through Christmas Eve Sickness. We deserve that, right?

(This is SuperBoy and me during our sickness. We were going stir crazy. I bet you couldn’t tell.)

1. I didn’t feel like it.

2. I hate when I say something on here and then suddenly my family thinks they know what’s going on with everything.

3. I was super obsessed this summer with some other stuff and just didn’t want to talk about it.

But, here I am, at my kids’ co-op classes with time on my hands and I was excited to get caught up a bit! I also just spilled coffee all down the front of me, so I figure if I quickly start typing, it will distract from my oddness, and rather, make me look professional.

A pro with coffee down the front of her.

The most important thing you need to know is that we had to put our Tempo down this summer. She was 15 years old and a good cat, but had a thyroid problem and age issues and it was just time. I was nominated as the one that could handle taking her in to get put down, but when the lady asked me a little about her, suddenly I was crying in the vet’s office. But if you can’t cry over a cat in a vet’s office, really, where can you?

The good part is that we knew this event was coming, so we decided to get a new cat in preparation for it. New cat’s name is Lhotse and she is a Himalayan. Two things: Lhotse is the name of the mountain next to Mt Everest and a Himalayan is a mix between a Persian and a Siamese. She’s friendly and follows people around everywhere and she has the weakest little meow we’ve ever heard. And we love her.

Trains everywhere. Train enthusiasts everywhere.

They had a five-car-long train set up so you could see the different compartments people would have traveled in. Here’s SuperBoy in a bunk.

Ever seen this sign before? Bet you have.

We rode on an electric bus, an electric train/trolley/something (sorry, I’m not a train enthusiast) and a Zephyr. The rides consisted of going forward two miles, then back two miles, then switch tracks…and end.

We also stopped at an exotic pet shop – just for the adventure of it. But it’s going out of business, and there weren’t many exotic pets. Except this guy. He was exotic. And hungry.

After that, we met up with Aunt Sally for dinner at Nick’s pizza. All in all, a great adventure day!

Highlights included:

-My 11yo daughter getting overwhelmed by the heat, almost fainting and blacking out in the washroom, whereupon another mother took over the situation and called the medics and started taking my daughter away to sit down. Somehow in emergencies I always end up in the back trying to reach my kids…must improve on that. Anyway, she recovered, but not before a trip to the nurse’s station where I was given a ten minute lecture on what to feed my children. Sigh. I turned to the sane medic and asked him where the bad mom’s purgatory room was. That’s where I felt like the nurse was going to send me next.

-SuperBoy chose his one game as the throw the balls at the clowns and get a prize. He hit two and missed the third. He was duly dejected. Every other sibling and cousin won animals. The game guy said I could bring him back and he’d give me two games for the price of one. So I finally took SuperBoy back. He got too tense and missed them all. I guess it was a life lesson, but I hate life lessons.

Good times were had and the cows behinds were especially pretty this year. (Right? Isn’t it weird that we walk up and down buildings looking at animal rears? I could just stay home and do that.)

We met friends there and had a hot, dizzy, really fun day. SuperBoy did his best to be brave and went on easier kid rides, but also tried the Whizzer and the Viper. 11 yo daughter went on the Raging Bull and Viper, Demon, Whizzer, etc. and did really well. And 9yo went on what she wanted to go on.

Tips (things I didn’t know before we went):
-There really is no way around it, you’re going to pay a ton for food. Figure on about $10 per person for a meal. Unless you want to tote a cooler along in your car (which I am set against, so…) They do have vouchers you can buy online for a meal for 4 – which our friends did and I might do if we ever go back again. This way, you don’t wait so long in line and the food was plenty.
-There are kiddie rides for toddlers….middle kid rides for younger kids….easier coasters (Whizzer, Demon (4 loops, but shorter), Viper (goes up and down with hills) – Whizzer is the best try it out coaster. There are even two easier coasters, if they’re still hesitant about any bigger ones.) Raging Bull, SuperMan and Batman are the bigger favorites. The Dark Knight – I wanted to like this one, and maybe it’s just that I’m getting old, but this one jerked my neck around so badly…not good. It’s in the dark, and you speed down a short length, then it jolts you on an abrupt turn, over and over again. Not scary, but not good for middle-aged necks!
-We didn’t realize it til we got there, but the Hurrican Harbor waterpark is connected right with Great America. So, you pay for the ticket for one, you get the other park too. Not sure you’d have time to do everything in one day, but you could try!
-Look online at their site for ticket deals. We got ours 2 for 1 since we went on a Thursday. Around here, there’s also a kid’s reading program through schools where you can get a free kid ticket (homeschoolers can do it too).

One of those listed things (as previously mentioned) was a bike ride with all five of us. Considering it took us 45 minutes just to load bikes, get all gear, drive over and search for parking, and teaching bike path rules, we are insanely proud of ourselves as parents for completing this  – #4 on the Summer Things to Do List.

We’ve been swimming at Grandpa and Grandma’s pool:

We’ve been to the zoo (although we missed the special event we went there for. We sat in traffic for THREE HOURS and SuperBoy missed the Wild Kratts. He was flexible with it – but wailed, “I’ve been waiting to see them for yearsssss…okay, well, maybe dayyyysssss!”)

We went on the first bike ride where everyone can ride a two-wheeler. The trails by the Fox River are actually really nice and we’ve always enjoyed biking along there.

We’ve also:

-Watched many episodes of Phineas & Ferb, Penguins of Madagascar and Garfield.
-Played in the sprinkler.
-Fought with brother and sisters.
-Chased the dog around the yard.
-Gone to Backyard Bible Club.
-Asked 200 times a day if we could have a snack.

Yay for summer!

We celebrated her birthday in the morning with her fun cousins:

We then drove to Michigan to celebrate MIP’s cousin’s wedding. And SuperBoy…well, SuperBoy got to dance with the bride. When the dance was over, he came running toward me, pumping his fist, “yes! She asked ME! She asked ME to dance!”

But, no worries, he had time to dance with his lovely birthday girl sister as well:

A fun day…full of family and laughter. And even balloons delivered to our hotel room by the bride’s family.