Weekend In Chicago #1

Usually we head to Chicago over Labor Day weekend to get together with my IWU friends.  This year, however, a family reunion in Bemidji was planned and my cousin was getting married, so we had to push back our normal trip.  Instead, we decided to head out for Blake's 2nd birthday.  A bit of a bummer because it was a much shorter trip, but pretty awesome we were able to be there for his birthday!

We left Friday morning.  M got to experience forward facing in her carseat for the first time.  I had planned to keep her rear facing until she turned 2, but decided that the 6 hour trip would go much more smoothly if we flipped her around.  She did great!  And appears to be a big fan of facing forward.

I have to say the Blu-ray player in the new van was a bonus.  M enjoyed wearing the headphones and watching TV.  She watched a bit of Ferngully, Planet 51 & Franklin during the 12 hours in the car.

We arrived at J & L's house around 3 and M had about an hour or so to wander around before Blake got home and familiarize herself with all of his toys, lol.  Louis took us on a tour of their new casa and it's really nice!  Plenty of room for their soon-to-be family of 4!!!  M even had her own room to sleep in which was SUPER nice for everyone!

Blake took a little bit of time to warm up to all of us after he got home, but we all went up to the park and the kids really warmed up to each other over their mutual love of playground equipment and wagons/cars.

After hitting up the park for a while, we headed out to Red Robin to grab some dinner.  M, as usual, inhaled practically everything we put in front of her, including a chocolate shake, lol.  After dinner we headed back to J & L's.  The kids played for a while before we put them both to bed.  Jenny very lovingly put together a floor bed just from Miss M to sleep in and be brought all of her bedtime necessities, so bedtime went smoothly and she slept peacefully all night.

The following morning, the day of Blake's birthday party, both kids were up at 6:30.  The very first thing M saw when we arrived at J & L's house was the kid sized table loaded with Playdoh.  All day we heard "Mattie pee-doh?"  So, in the morning J was an awesome Aunt and opened it up for both kids to play.  M was in heaven.

M was so excited by the whole thing that Blake got hugs!  After the joys of playdoh wore off, the kids decided to play with trains and then chase each other in circles...over and over and over again.

Louis was in charge of planning Blake's party this year.  He came up with the awesome idea to blow up a bunch of balloons and let the kids run around in a "balloon pit" in the basement.  M and Blake had to test it out before the party started.

Cheers to the mastermind of an activity that kept the kids busy for quite some time:

 And then the kids were told it was time to get ready so we could eat some lunch. 

The rest of Blake's party and our trip to come tomorrow!

Tecumseh University!

I spent last week down in Tupelo, MS for Tecumseh University to become a Certified Refrigeration Specialist.  It was a 3 day class, and I learned quite a bit.  The first night we were there, Ashley and I decided to take a walk through town and check it out.  During our walk we ran across this:

I think it's kind of funny that Elvis didn't want a guitar and that's what they compromised on getting.  Probably a good decision :)

The first day, we left class early for a field trip...gosh I can't remember the last time I had a field trip, lol.  We went to go see Elvis' Birthplace.

 The house Elvis was born in.

 A memorial walkway.

 Life-size statue of Elvis when he was 13.  He was taller than some of the guys in my class which we all found hilarious.

 Elvis' childhood church.

 Elvis' outhouse.  Yes.  His outhouse.

A fountain dedicated to Elvis' life.  It was quite pretty.

Ashley and I bought some sunglasses and sideburns to wear, but we haven't gotten around to taking a picture when them on yet.  But we need to.  I'll add it once this has been done!

The second day we had a great class and then took off early to head to the Tupelo Automobile Museum.  It was awesome!  The collection was donated by a man named Frank Spain, whom I have decided was a genius.  I'm not sure how I had never heard of him before, but he's a pretty amazing dude.  He also clearly had fantastic taste in cars.  I took a TON of pictures, but I'll just put up a few of my favorites and some of the unique stories associated with them.

Here we have a Toyota Toyopet.  One of only 8 left in the world, and one of the first cars Toyota sold in the US.  It was apparently an epic fail and nearly all of the 250 sold in California were returned.

Next up is the Tucker 48.  This car was lightyears ahead of it's time.  There's apparently a great movie about this car and it's maker with Jeff Bridges.  The story is interesting if you'd like to read about it.

Oh and a car just like this one sold in 2012 for 2.65 million dollars!?!?!?!  Crazy!

1904 REO Speedwagon.  YESSSSSSSSSSS...

1936 Bentley!

 

And check out this crazy Beemer!!!!

Then there's this Triton.  Apparently Domino's was building them as pizza delivery vehicles...but they couldn't get insurance for them, so scrapped the idea after making 8 of them!

Liberace's car.  Yes.  There is a candelabra on the back...

When this baby hits 88 mph, you're gonna see some serious shit!!!

Original 1982 Dodge Dart Electric.  Only 50 made.  But too cool to see in person!

For dinner that night, a local BBQ joint catered in some pulled pork for sandwiches and peach cobbler.  Umm, yeah.  It was delish.  

Our third day of class was broken up with a pretty awesome tour of their factory there in Tupelo!  This part is probably boring to everyone but me and my family, so I'll only post a couple pictures.  But I loved seeing how all the compressors and condensing units are made!

This is everything they make at there:

 Compressor Assembly Line:

 Pallets of Compressors!

 Drying after getting painted:

 Condensing Unit Assembly Line:

Ashley and I both ended up passing the course and are now Tecumseh Certified Refrigeration Specialists.  

All in all it was a pretty great experience.  The teachers want us both to come back and take the advanced course, and I think we'd both be game to do it!  I learned a lot and also had a lot of fun!  

On the way home, I also ran into a bit of home.  Love that little girl and I missed her like CRAZY while I was gone!

Random M Pics!

We loaded a bunch of pics on my computer from our phones today and there are a ton of pics that I've never posted before!  Enjoy!