New Carlisle Hometown days- July 28, 2012

Last year we took Addie to a small town in Indiana, not far from where I grew up called New Carlisle.  I grew up knowing the event has historical days... how times have changed.  We only went for the small parade, but Uncle Mike represented the Vets and she enjoyed spending time with her cousins and seeing all the fire trucks!

New Buffalo, MI

After the White Sox game, we left in the bottom of the 5th because it was so hot and it was over 2 hours into the game.  A very long game at that.  We headed home, but we first made a detour to Redmak's in New Buffalo for dinner and then we hit up the beach for some pictures.  Little miss Addison wouldn't let me fix her hair so it's in her face.  Sometimes you win battles and sometimes you don't.  I wasn't gonna fight on this one since it had been such a long day.

White Sox baseball game- July 26th, 2012

We had 4 tickets to the White Sox game....a day when it was over 100 degrees!  It was HOT.  We took our cousin Matt to the game with us.  He loves baseball and his first time a huge stadium like this.  Addie's first time too!  What a great way for cousins to share something special together.  We didn't tell him where our seats were exactly.  They were FRONT row on the 3rd base line.

We had a quick an easy ride to Chicago and then it was time to get lunch as it was a 1:20 start.  We grabbed lunch, ate and then waited for the game to start.  About the 4th inning, Matt, Addie and I decided to check out the kid zone area.  It was really cool. They had a pitching machine which Matt did.  A thing to run against a player to home plate, a catch and throw area with staff from the White Sox and a few other activities spread out over 3 levels.  I am glad that we made the kids wear tennis shoes because it was a must to partake in any of the activities.  Addie had a blast watching Matt do the pitching cages. 

Oh and along the way, we found Mickey!

Summer fun, Bubbles & Monkey in the middle July 2012

We spent the afternoon with our neighbors, who Addie refers to as Mamaw and Papaw!  They just adore Addie and we are very lucky to have them in our lives.  They had their grandson over so it was playtime for some of the kids in the neighborhood as they have tons of toys!

Field Trip July 18th- South Shore

Addison's school has been learning about transportation this week and they had scheduled a field trip to ride the South Shore train.  We took a bus from school to Hudson Lake.  We had packed our lunches and it was raining and there is a nice restaurant called Monroe's Crossing that sits right on the lake that allowed for the kids to come in and eat there lunches before the train arrived.  Thank you to the staff and owners at Monroe's Crossing for being so sweet and allowing this.

Once we were done with lunch, it was time to head to the train stop and wait for the train.  It was 20 minutes late because we had severe thunderstorms that rolled through early that morning and it was backed up in Chicago for an electrical outage. 

As the train arrived, the kids were so happy!  They boarded the train and found their seats and went for the 20 minute ride to the South Bend airport.  It was great to see the kids smiling and learning about transportation.  The rode a bus, train and saw airplanes all in a matter of a few hours!

first car from Grammie and Gramps! July 2012

Addie received her first motorized car from Grammie and Gramps.  She LOVED it!  It first started off with her going down the driveway with daddy,  then Grammie joined.  From there, Gramps got out the tractor and sure enough Addie was following Gramps everywhere on the tractor.  They even had a race down the driveway!  She has 6 acres of property to go wherever she wants.  She enjoyed that little hill on the side of the driveway. 

LaPorte Fair July 2012

It's that time of year where I take Addie to one of the things I loved as a kid.... Fairs!!!  We went to 3 fairs this year.  The Laporte county fair, St. Joseph County Fair and Elkhart County Fair.  Thanks to Uncle TOny for the free tickets to the Laporte fair.  We also went to the Elkhart COunty Fair on their free day.  that saved about $40 right there!

This year I didn't know what to expect with Addison to see if she would go on the rides herself because last year we tried and they had to stop the ride immediately.  She didn't like being alone and not being able to see us.  This year was a different story... she LOVED them.  Another sign my little girl is growing up and getting a little bit independent.  She loved the firetruck that went up in the air.  The motorcycles, the roller coaster ride and of course her favorite the carousel. 

Grammie went with us to the Laporte fair since Gramps was working.  It was just the 3 of us for the St. Joe fair and then Grandma joined us for the Elkhart fair. 

Some stories  from the fair...

Addie learned about sex education from the rabbits...

We tried fishing and got the worm (with hook) stuck in her hair and she didn't freak...

She wanted to see the horses, but freaked at the size of them and I had to pick her up when she got super close to them. She got her own personal horse lesson from Hannah with Chelsey, the horse.