Saturday.. of yeah there is more...

So I had to work Saturday and managed to get a good deep sleep once I finally fell asleep. Chris dropped me off and he went into to work for the day to catch up on a few more things. On our way home we decided to take Isabela to Subway (she had been asking for it) and then to see Madagascar 2. The food was good, the movie was good! Then we went to Wal-Mart to pick up some photos, and then to wal greens for wrapping paper. Then I started to make the meatballs... talk about a disaster...

I turned the juice on high to heat it up while I formed the meatballs... and forgot to turn it down! So the bottom of the pan was nasty burnt. Chris tried to save it by finishing the meatballs in another pan... nice thought, but the burnt smell was already in the taste of the sauce! So we ended up ordering Chinese food. So much for saving money from eating out. ;)

I think today I will make the Cornish Hens and we can have left over Chilli one more time, and that will make up for the double eat-out Saturday. Hopefully we will also get the tree decorated and presents wrapped.

I also have a take-home test, an annotated bibliography and a report on Patrick Henry to finish. I had last week with no school, this week with no work. I hate to leave just Carrie and Andrew to work by themselves, but if Carrie is taking the next week off with just Andrew and I to do it, I think it is OK. :) That is what is keeping me from feeling guilty, and by-gosh I'm going to enjoy my vacation from work!

Black Friday!

I get such a rush from Black Friday Shopping! Sure I had to work at 7:30 am till 6:15pm with no break, but that didn't stop me from hitting up the Lighthouse Mall at midnight with Mom and Isabela. First I asked, "Do we want to just walk? I'm sure Parking is going to be a bear." But we decided to drive and made it a whole two blocks when we saw parked cards on the road and people walking that way. We all said "Surely this is not for the outlet mall." Well, surely it was. So we drove two blocks and had to park. It was not too terribly cold out so it was not real bad... but it was still cold, don't get me wrong.

The clothing stores really didn't have too good of deals for us because we shop there all the time, and everything was regular price just with an extra 20% off. And I'm sorry but 20% is not worth standing in a line for two hours for a shirt. And Aero usually has some things that are always 30 - 50% off during the week anyways, so it was best for us just to come back later for the clothing.

Isabela bought Chris and AWESOME gift, he is totally going to freak- like you don't even know! I also bought the rest of Chris' gifts... his face is going to be awesome. I got some good idea's for mom too while shopping for other people. Also, a few people have asked me for a list for Isabela - If you asked me and I never got back to you, or your wanting to ask now- let me know and I'll get it to you.

Work was INSANE! It is always dead the day after Thanksgiving, so Carrie only scheduled herself and I to work the whole day because Abby just transferred to East Chicago branch for full-time, and Andy wanted it off (So did I, but I always seem to get the shaft.) Anyway, so my almost 11 hour shift flew by because we were crazy busy. I'm not talking we were steady busy, I'm talking a constant line of 3-7 people inside the lobby, and constant arrival of cars at the drive thru. It was like this from the moment we opened the doors till about 2pm where we had thirty minutes to eat some pizza before it started up again till 4:30. Then it was just a steady flow for an hour, and the last thirty minutes were peaceful. So with lack of sleep, and crazy busy at work- I was beyond tired and had a terrible time falling asleep Friday night.

Happy Turkey Day

Turkey Day has come and gone and how wonderful it was to see the family again. Isabela had no school on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday- I had no work on Wednesday, Thursday and Chris had no work Thursday, Friday... so he took Wednesday off (in true Chris fashion he did make a stop at work for a few hours to get a few loose-ends tied up.)

We left about noon for Grandma and Grandpa West's house to spend the night. On the way, Chris realized we were only a short drive from Iowa and the Mississippi River- then we took an hour detour on the way, so Isabela could see the Mississippi River and now say that she has also been to Iowa. Grandma West picked up some fried chicken on her way home from work, and was at the house waiting on us when we arrived. We sat around and talked after dinner..then.. we watched The DUTTON's! Grandma and Grandpa have been watching this family perform for over 10 years. Every year they got to Branson, and every year they go see The Duttons... if you watched AMERICA'S GOT TALENT and saw the musical family, you've seen the Duttons- They made it to number 10. And every year we go to their house, we watch The Dutton's. This year Grandma West sent a copy home with us.

For lunch we went to Stan and Karen's house. Karen had to work, but Stan made an AWESOME meal. I love their smoked Turkey- it is soooo goood! We watched a little football and a little of the dog show before eating. It was great to get to hang out with LeAnn again too!

We left about 2pm Thursday for my grandma's house for dinner. We arrived at 5:15 - 15 minutes till dinner was served. It was excellent! My grandma's noodles are famous, nobody misses the noodles when they don't have to. Austin was fabulous! He was giving everyone a "haircut". I'll get pictures once Isabela loads hers to the computer because Chris and I both forgot the camera.

Then we headed home with Momma Hall in the front seat...

Adventures and Family with more to come...

Museum of Science and Industry

There were MANY, MANY, MANY elementary schools at the museum. Here is only a small portion of them eating lunch. Waiting to see certain displays could easily be like a roller coaster line at an amusement park during peak season. Needless to say, we avoided the super fun kiddie areas this time.




The first thing we did upon our arrival after managing to escape the elementary school trap, was head to the Submarine tour which started at 10:45. There were 31 Ivy Tech people that made the trip. 40 had signed up and paid, so Chris and Bela got to use two of the extra tickets...yay! Free Tickets.

Here is a small group from Ivy Tech. The guy on the left is an English Teacher, the girl next to him is my English Teacher, the lady over my right shoulder is the Director of Student Life, the lady in the blue coat is the Librarian at MC Campus. (yeah, those are the only people I know here). All the others were on the 10:30 Tour.

After the sub exhibit, we headed right up stairs...Chris saw the FLIGHT SIMULATOR sign, and had to ride it. So we all took a turn. Bela was the pilot, I was the shooter... hope saving the world never rests within our hands, we did terrible. Chris appeared to be doing okay. I got video of him.

Then we just enjoyed the rest of the museum...

You can help the environment, but you must give up the luxury of leg room, and riding together, and kids....

Chris the Harvester... "I think his tractor's sexy..."

Drama Queen....

Hmm... Wonder what they think they are going to find there???Actually this is a hook the cow up to the milking machine racing game. Chris Won.

A Picture of Our Submarine Tour Picture...

We all know Chris is Train Crazy...He had even watched a locomotion documentary before we left this morning. Here is is in the conductor's seat...

Caught me yawning during our 30 minute wait to explore the coal mines.

Sad she is still waiting to explore the coal mines...

We left the museum at about 5:30. It took us till almost 10pm to get to d-ville. Traffic was crazy, gas stations wouldn't pump gas, and Taco Bell took 20 minutes at the drive thru! Then the GPS took someway back road that it was not a road! We were driving through a field of nothing but deer....Saturday morning, Ashley woke up early and made holiday mints with grandma. We went to Monical's for lunch before heading to Brent and Amanda's.

First we went to the mall for some clearance shopping, then we headed to B&A's house and chatted while we waited for Makenna to wake up. Then we headed to Prairie Gardens to see the x-mas trees. They were not fully decorated yet, but still fun looking and shopping.

For dinner we ate at DOS! Yummy Grub. Chris' burrito was sooo big, we thought it would be funny to take a picture of it... then Chris took a picture of every one's food. His first, Bela's next and mine last.

After dinner, we got us some Rueben's candy- YUM-YUM! The we returned to the house to talk more and play....cranium...?? (little help here)...... anyway it was FUN! For some reason my SHUTTLECOCK sculpture skit was interpreted as perverted.. hahaha you can use your imagination on how many ways that can be taken the wrong way when I tried to break it down into two seperate words!! I on the other hand was totally clueless... it's called a BIRDIE people... (learn something new everyday I guess.)

After the game we watched DISTURBIA and headed to bed. When we woke and got moving, we went to PEEPS, of course. Then headed home. Chris made some AWESOME chilli Sunday night for the guys at work. It is sooo goood. I swear we should open a restaurant.