Luke's First Baseball Game & Beachside Scoops Celebration

What a day! Luke started his day with a 10AM baseball game, his first ever! And we wrapped up the day with Beachside Scoops in New Buffalo :)

Luke Field Trip

Today Luke's class went to the children's museum! I didn't get to go with, but his teacher (Mr Rosen) sent along some pics. Sure looks like he had a good time ;)

Brooke MADE Some Flowers

Last Day in Nashville!

Had some time to stroll around in between checking out of the hotel and leaving. The kids got to stretch a little before getting into the car, and we got to take some pics on the bridge!

Ryan insisted on making this face in most of the pics.
Can't explain kids sometimes ;)

Day 3: Easter Egg Hunt

Today it was both cold and dreary, which was not good ... because we had plans for an Easter Egg Hunt! We went to The Hermitage for their annual easter egg hunt. The Hermitage was the home of Andrew Jackson from 1804-1845 and is a National Historic Landmark. I am sure the property and building are lovely, but we were FREEZING and huddled together as we awaiting the beginning of these egg hunts. It was miserable. I dont know what the temp was when we were there, but somewhere in the 40's.

The kids were SO COLD they wanted to leave. They asked to leave over and over. I forced them to stay for two reasons. First, we drove all the way there and waited in the horrible rain and cold and I WAS NOT LEAVING. Second, this was the only "Easter" thing we were doing this year and I did not want them to miss out on the holiday stuff.

They were angry, but then it was time to start. We got all three kids to be able to go together (should have been broken up by age groups) and each kid must have gotten 100 eggs. Not many other crazy people stuck it out like we did. The bad news was that lots of the eggs had stickers (boo) and the rest had coupons. We redeemed the coupons at the store for some pencils (kids were happy) and GooGoo Clusters (which I ate). We also received coupons for a local yogurt shop. This turned out to be a bit of a scam (because I didnt read the fine print) and we could only use one coupon per group. So with three kids ice creams, we didnt really save a lot of money. However, the kids were super happy with the outcome of this morning in the end.

After the Egg Hunt we followed another Nashville tradition. We got a huge bag of candy from Savannah's Candy Kitchen and took it to the bar. Kids ate candy and Aunt Jean and I got to hang out for a bit. At least till the sugar buzz wore off.

Luke insisted on taking a pic on this boot as we strolled
around, and the other two insisted on joining. He actually
was a little bit ticked, but its still a cute photo!

We wrapped up the night with dinner at the FGL House, but the kids had a tough time making it through the meal. It was a long day for everyone!

Nashville Day 2: The Highway Happy Hour

Woke up to the hotel buffet breakfast -
A Schneider Kid Favorite!

We knew we couldn't hit up Nashville without a trip to the Highway Happy Hour! We arrived early to ensure we got a table, and the kids were very patient waiting.

Aunt Jean took the kids inside to wait for a while. Luke found a window.

Brooke just hung out and chatted

Luke did some coloring in line

We got a great table, tucked a bit into the corner, so we could hang out and eat ... and watch the show

Best part of all, a picture with Buzz .. the Highway Happy Hour DJ!

Overall we had a lot of fun at the Happy Hour at Margaritaville. One small issue ... someone left their beer on our table and somehow it got bumped. It fell on Brooke. She was NOT thrilled. Not only was she wet, but the smell bothered her. So, we had to go shopping after and pick up some new Nashville sweatpants. This actually was harder than it would seem as we could find no kid clothes ANYWHERE, but eventually worked out and she was happy with her new pants ;)

The Road To Nashville

The kids and I all have a few days off for Easter, but Jeff still has to work. So, we decided to hit the road for Nashville with Aunt Jean. We were driving along all happy and merry for about 1.5 hours. Then I could feel myself run over something. That wasnt the bad part. The bad part was that as we drove I continued to hear a noise, something was stuck in the wheel. We pulled off at the first exit (at Fair Oaks, IN) and popped out of the car and watched the tire deflate to nothing. Had I continued to drive, we could have been iRemn grave danger. And, if there hadnt been an exit right there, we would have been broken down on the road with a flat.

Now the issue is, the car comes with a dummy tire. Meaning we could not pop on a new tire and go. We needed to get this one fixed. And, by the looks of it, that wasnt going to be easy. The car was totally flat on the ground, packed with our stuff, and we had 3 kids with us. I got a number for assistance from the woman inside and had someone come out to change the tire. That took about an hour. He told me I needed a NEW tire, not a fix. We called every local tire store and NONE had the tire I needed in stock. We were told to drive to tire store in Rensselaer. Good news, it was only 15 miles away. Bad news? We could only drive 40mph on the dummy tire. It took FOREVER. We got to the tire store and they pretty quickly confirmed I needed a new tire, AND that they had one in stock. We went to McDonalds (right across the the street) and grabbed some lunch, by the time we were done the car was ready.

Overall it could have been worse. But it took us about 10 hours to get to Nashville in total because of this little hiccup.

We arrived and essentially RAN to Jason Aldeans's restaurant. It was close to the hotel, still open, and had a hot pretzel on the menu. So... we were all good.

The best news? They had actual COTTON CANDY for dessert.

Did I mention that it was lovely weather for basically our whole drive, but that when we got to Nashville we had to walk in the rain to get to dinner? What a day!

Luke Birthday, Round 2

Luke was a trooper spending his birthday at Brooke's trampoline meet. We obviously couldn't let that be the only way he gets to celebrate the big 5 ... so today we hit up Chuck E Cheese.

Chuck E Cheese has created a play by time option, where instead of getting tokens and playing that many games, you get to play for a certain amount of time. We got an hour of play and the kids did their best to win all the tickets they can. At least, Brooke and Ryan made that their focus. Luke is still interested in a lot of the rides and other options at Chuck E Cheese, so he did a little bit of everything while his siblings scrambled in a panic for tickets.

Racing Car Video Game

A little ChooChoo that goes in a circle ;)

Occasionally, when Brooke and Ryan were not too busy, they'd help Luke out with a game. But, mostly, it was every kid for his/herself.

Illinois State Trampoline Meet

The kids and I headed to Belvidere, IL for the Illinois State Trampoline Meet ... on Luke's Birthday! This was a fantastic meet for Brooke! She is the State Champion for Double-Mini and came in 2nd in Trampoline. I dont think she's ever had a better meet, and the state championships are definitely the time to do your best.

 There isnt a lot for the boys to do at a meet. They do their best to stay busy, but each day can be long. This meet had a jungle theme (or something like that!) and they were pretty impressed with the photo backdrop. However, that excitement only lasted a few minutes. Still, this is the type of energy they bring to a T&T meet ;)

Luke is 5!

Diving: Windy City Spring Invite Day 2

For our second day of competition at UIC, Brooke came in 1st in the 10-11 Girls 3m Novice. There was only one other competitor, but 1st is 1st ;)

Post Dive Meet Celebration

Brooke's friends Teddy & Declan came to watch her meet, which was over really early. Because we were altogether and done early, it seemed like we should find something to do. It was too early for lunch, so we decided to head to Altitude Trampoline Park for some jumping!

Brooke took off and was hard to find for the whole time we were there. The boys made sure to take a turn at every single activity available. It's always good to get some energy out on a Sunday...