Vacay with the Neals

 In what was a vacation that almost didn't happen due to bad weather, we drove down to Sandestin, FL for a quick adults only vacation.

First picture of the trip! Riding in the back of the golf cart to head to the beach.

 Couple selfie on the beach.

 Having a great time!

 We call this picture "Riding the Storm Out".  A quick storm blew through and everyone scattered from the beach.  But not us! We held down the fort and then the weather cleared up.  We continued celebrating!

 A couple days into the vacay, I got sun poisoning like I always do.  Time for a sun shirt and huge hat!

 We vacations during Travis's birthday so on the big day, we went out to celebrate.  Oyster-style!

Guess whose finger that is? Hmmm...

 Couple selfie with matching shirts! When you grow old together, you start dressing alike! This is not the first time. :)

 We ended Travis's birthday at a Piano Bar.  They played No Diggity for him. Ha!

 The last day it was overcast so we took it easy.  Can you spot Andrew?

We went out to dinner that night and went shopping.  Watched some fireworks.  Perfect end to an awesome getaway!

Chicago Getaway Weekend

 For Father's Day, I decided Andrew needed a quick getaway for the weekend.  I found a groupon for a hotel in an awesome location and we booked it for the following weekend.

 One of the reasons that really attracted me to the hotel was the rooftop pool! It was on the 5th floor and the kids loved it. We spent the afternoon there Friday. 

 Tommy practiced jumping in the pool.

 The sun came out occasionally.  It was beautiful.  It wasn't too hot or too cold.  Just perfect!

 Until Tommy swallowed a bunch of pool water and he decided to check out of pool time for the day.  Andrew was sure he was going to throw up.  I kept saying NO HE WON'T! HE'S FINE! I'm sure lots of people at the pool had their eyes on us.  Yikes. 

 Charlotte was jealous and wanted to lay with me too. Really blocked my sun but oh well.  It was pretty sweet. 

It was time to go inside and get ready for some Chicago nightlife.  

 So what did we decide to do? We were a block away from two large movie theaters so we decided to see Finding Dory.  We stopped to see the Ninja Turtle promotional statue first. 

 Then it was time to see the movie.  Andrew got a number one.  NEVER a good idea at the movie theater.  I swear it was a gallon of pop and two gallons of popcorn.  Sheesh. 
The movie was great and people actually clapped at the end.  There were some really funny scenes.  I really enjoyed Stringer Bell and McNulty from The Wire as the Sea Lions.  OFF OFF OFF OFF!!!

 We did not bring the stroller with us so we walked all the way down Michigan Ave to the Disney Store.  We really stretched the kids to their limits. 

 But it was definitely worth it for them.  Charlotte got a baby Dory and Tommy got a Jacquin.  He had never seen it before but it was basically a cheetah with wings so he loved it.  Looks like this:

He's a big fan.  So now we have to watch that show/movie/whatever it is. 

 We watched the boats on the river and took a selfie.  We stayed up way too late but it was vacation!! :)

 The next morning, we were up early of course so we headed to the Ohio St beach.  What a view, huh?? A beautiful beach too. 

 The kids were so excited!

 We took a lot of selfies that day.  :)

 Photo cred for this pic goes to Andrew.  Great shot!

 Hey another selfie! We actually thought to bring a bunch of snacks and sandwiches with us but you can still tell that Charlotte had a popsicle earlier that day.  It stained her mouth for most of the day.  Yikes, what was in that popsicle?

 We had a someone take a family picture for us.  Not too shabby.  I asked someone from the selfie generation so she knew what she was doing.  She and her friends were basically standing on the beach taking selfie after selfie so I knew I asked the right person. 

 Hey there they are in the background right there!

 After our beach day and a nap, we headed over to Navy Pier.  Charlotte HAD to ride the carousel, of course. 

 Tommy wanted to ride the Ferris wheel.  You can tell everyone is so excited to stand in line!

 The Ferris Wheel is pretty awesome.  It's so huge! We could see everything.  We went around 3 times.  We figured it would be a one and done type of thing. 

 We got to know the people in the car with us.  They took our family pic for us.  How nice!

 After Navy Pier rides and dinner, we went on a architecture boat tour.  Yay!! The kids did not know what they were getting into. 

 This is how we were able to enjoy the boat tour.  Some day they'll want to pay attention to something like that.  Today is not that day. 

 It was a great tour.  The views were amazing.  We really got an education!

 The docent was awesome. I kept looking at Andrew and saying, "Um is he making this stuff up? That can't possibly be true."  Very interesting stuff. 

 We had stayed out late enough that everything was closing in Chicago but we knew one place that wouldn't be closed... Whole Foods! There was one right by our hotel so we visited every night for snacks and desserts.  An almond butter and chocolate cup for Tommy and a cake pop for Charlotte.  I got a cannoli.  Oh man, it was amazing. 

 The next morning we got up and went across the street to the egg cafe.  Such a bad idea to go to an egg breakfast place with a kid with a milk and egg allergy.  But our waiter was an amazing professional and he found some granola cereal that didn't have any of his allergies in it and we brought our own milk so we were all set.  Plus they had their phones because they were NOT in a good mood after two late nights being dragged all over the city. 

Charlotte fell asleep shortly before we got home.  How is that comfortable to sleep like that?? Kids are amazing. 
But what a great spontaneous mini vacation we had.  It was so nice to get away and just hang together as a family. 

Summer Vacation 2015 Day 5!

(Catch up here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4)

The morning we had to check out, Snoopy was in the lobby again! 

 Charlotte was once again terrified.  Tommy was cool as a cucumber.

 Stay away from me, bro!

 She truly loved the carousel horses in the lobby though.

 We took a family picture in front of the hotel.  We're all in it and no one is hiding! Yay! A second one!

 Brandon's family got a pic. They took serious ones but this one is way better.

 We also got a family pic.  Tommy was not very excited about it.

 We tried to get a grandkid picture but Tommy wasn't having it.  You could say he was vacationed out.

 But we did get some of the grandkids in a jumping photo.  Ha!

 Tommy took some time away from everyone after the dreadful experience of having his picture taken.  Charlotte was sure to check on him.  "You otay, Tommy?"

 We loaded up and headed out of the park.  We drove by all the coasters on our exit.  There's one of my top 3! The millennium at 300 feet! Love it!

 Here's the Blue Streak and the Gatekeeper at the same time!

 You're welcome for visiting! :-) We had a great time!

 We headed back to our Indiana home.


Here's a quick roundup of the GoPro pics that I haven't included yet...

The most serious high five you've ever seen on the Gemini.

A Gemini selfie!

Here's one with me on the Gemini too.  Great sunset!

 It's a long way up on the Magnum!

It's much longer going down though! Hands up!  

Great view of the go-cart track, er, I mean, sunset.  Of course. :-) Gemini to the left.

Adam and Brandon selfie on the Windseeker.  Great angle to see the Wicked Twister in the background. Man, that is high.

Did I mention that is high?

Here's an awesome shot of the hotel atrium.  Tres cool.

We were so sad to go home.  Tommy decided he didn't want to go to school anymore.  He didn't want to be at home anymore.  He only wanted to be on vacation from now on.  Me too, Tommy Hawk.  Me too.  

Wonderful vacation! Thank you to Mom and Dad for another wonderful family experience.  We are so lucky!