Butz Family Chicago Christmas 2012

are you ready for a long post? we just had an AWESOME weekend in Chicago to celebrate Christmas with the Butz family. we left rochester friday night when bill finished work. we arrived at dan & meg’s condo in wicker park around midnight on friday night. it was a pretty intense drive – at one point charlie was screaming “I want to be in chicago! I want to go home!” back and forth. he was basically throwing a massive tantrum. bill verbally walked charlie through his normal night activity and then said “ok, I’m closing the door to your room. your mom and I are upstairs. have a goodnight”. it didn’t work right away, but after he settled down he said “dad, why are we pretending I’m in my room when we are actually in the car?”. ha! just when the girls fell asleep at 9pm charlie says “excuse me dad, I have to go to the bathroom”. classic. so we pulled over, charlie went to the bathroom, the girls woke up and then we started the cycle over until around 10:30 when everyone crashed. so we had a 1 hour quiet ride. although they didn’t fall asleep easily in the car they did great sleeping at meg & dans. they fell back asleep easily after we arrived and slept until 8 am the next day. then we hit the ground running.

tommy and claire building by the window.

danny and eleanore purchasing tickets to go to the museum of science and industry.

suz and ellie as we arrive at the museum.

claire was strapped in.

dan and g. pops with claire. determining where we should start.

our crew (grant was taking the picture)

grant chasing ellie. these girls took off. they were so happy to be free.

charlie checking things out.

 

bill had the camera because I am actually in the pictures. we were all striped out.

there was a huge sand spinning thing that showed how sand moved (or something like that – ha!)

suz, grant & tommy controlling the speed of the spinning sand thing.

these two are just so cute!

the sand spinner thing.

claire and I working this bead thing.

she was so determined to press these buttons.

checking out something. must have been cool.

ellie seriously working something.

suz and I holding the girls watching a wave simulator. there were different levels and showed how massive a tsunami can be.

claire touching the glass. so much germ sharing.

most of our group.

danny and charlie working the touchscreen which controlled the wave pool.

not sure what was so interesting here.

both girls loved to touch the screens. they would get on their tip toes and work it. they seemed so old to me at these sorts of things.

this was so cool. you would touch the globe and lights would go to your hands and move with them. a real germ spreader.

air vents that held balls in the air.

suz and ellie.

claire and nana.

father and son.  I love charlie’s eyes – always checking things out.

 

there was this little stage beneath this massive electricity conductor. they did a little talk every hour so when it was empty the girls were pretending they were the show.

this is the massive conductor. they would make the electricity run through it and it would make a massive thunder clap. it was crazy.

claire making friends.

sinking low low low.

at this point – charlie was becoming part wolf child. so I started pumping breakfast bars and food into all of them.

uncle dan showed charlie the race car exhibit. I think he liked it.

  

ellie’s turn.
 

there were two sides so you could race.

the second floor of the science part.

I took charlie in this wind machine. you could feel what an 80 mph windstorm would feel like.

he started freaking out.

I was laughing so hard. it was really windy!

uncle tom supervising claire. she was having a blast with whatever these things are.

  

eleanore and uncle dan walking hand in hand. love seeing this. it is so sweet to watch your siblings love on your kids. we are blessed!

running in a wheel. I hadn’t had a workout in 4 days and was going a bit nuts so I jumped in the hamster wheel.

I was laughing to hard to handle it.

claire getting VERY tired.

this is the U-505 submarine that was captured by the US in WWII (I think? I didn’t have time to read all the signs), but it was CRAZY big and my brother danny said that they built the building around the sub.

 

at this point all of the kids were turning into wolf children and even though there was GOBS of stuff still to see we had to make our way out.

tired boy.

after long naps and breaks for the adults – we were ready to have a delicious dinner and have our Christmas celebration.

eleanore doing what she loves most – playing with technology.

danny made delicious brussel sprouts.

claire investigating the presents and the tree.

uncle dan and charlie building.

auntie suz gave eleanore (her Goddaughter) and claire some gifts. claire was pumped about her crayons.

ellie is sort of giving a “mckayla maroney unimpressed” look to her owl ornament.

a bit more interested.

another unimpressed look at the polka dot leggings. good thing – I was impressed ellie. love them!

 

we took a family photo and we were reviewing it on the tv. the girls thought the tv was definitely a touch screen.

charlie checking out his skid steer gift from g. pops.

 

fun socks from nana.

claire giggling while grant gave her a ride.

 

claire trying on her goggles. technically, nana and g. pops gave the girls their helmets and goggles they just had to use them once earlier this season.

charlie trying to work this plane shooter.

claire checking out her crayons a bit more intently.

claire got a backpack and she was pumped! she wore it a ton the rest of the weekend and would say “bye” while waving and walking away. imitating charlie I’m sure.

 

ellie with her new backpack. claire was classic. she wanted charlie’s ski boot on, a cell phone, her backpack on and her bucket of crayons on her other arm.

  

I had to remove the ski boot for safety.

 

this table was a hot spot all weekend. keys, chap stick, garage door openers, paper, fun things for all.

claire reading a book with tom before hitting the hay.

the girls went to sleep and danny and meg served up a delicious steak. the meal was incredible and I didn’t even snap a picture!

all the adults ready to do our Christmas exchange.

bill waiting for his couch to fill up.

grant and suz. danny and suzanne with his gift.

 

tommy got the weirdest gift of the night (which he wanted!). a one piece merino wool base layer for skiing. classic.

I didn’t take any more pictures from the night. I was having too much fun.

here is more morning fun with nana.

g. pops and claire practicing their balancing act.

 

eleanore with her pony in. so pretty. I just wish she would keep it in longer.

 

claire with her pony. already half out.

me and my girls.

on our way out to stroll the streets in wicker park.

charlie loves meg and thinks she is so pretty. it took him about 2 days to warm up to the point of talking to her. I love that he took her hand to walk down the street.

 

ellie and claire were giving their “unimpressed” look.

sunday night we packed up and headed to the lincoln park zoo for Zoo Lights. I think they should just call it a light show though because all of the animals were inside sleeping. only the animals in inside structures were we able to see.

the girls thought it was pointless.

charlie was so excited to see animals so I was relieved when we entered the giraffe building that there was this weird looking anteater/pig looking thing. you can see him poking out of the rocks.

   

the lights were awesome.

blurry one of auntie suz, charlie and grant.

in the lion house.

the tiger got their attention. ellie.

claire loved it.

goofin face.

 

charlie was turning into part wolf at this point – that is what tired and hungry will do to you.

 

thank you dear siblings.
 

after the girls went to bed we started our final Christmas activity. Gingerbread house competition. it gets pretty intense.

uncle tom was so kind and took charlie on his team. his philosophy “put one on the house. eat one.” charlie loved it.

dan working diligently on his & meg’s house.

suz focusing on her & grant’s house.

typical charlie and uncle tom.

   

meg assessing her competition.

bill had grand plans for ours. a toy making factory with a reindeer runway. it didn’t really come together as in years past, but we tried.

  

look at that awesome looking rudolph the red nosed reindeer. I wonder who made that?

grant and suz having their first fight over the gingerbread design.

eating plenty of little candies. it was adorable. as charlie was helping he would look up and say “oh my goodness auntie suz. your house looks perfect!”.

meg and dan’s final house.

 

charlie and uncle tom’s final house. looking awesome! they won the competition!

suzanne & grant’s final house.

bill moving our final house. not our best work, but it definitely wins for being the most creative and taking up the most space!

 

monday morning, meg & dan headed off to work, tom flew home, and we cruised on division street for an hour to get the kids out before taking off. claire was goofing in the ergo.

 

we stopped at caffé streets for some fun drinks before leaving. charlie got a pretty looking hot chocolate.

 

I had a REAL pumpkin spiced latte.

pretty eleanore.

chocolaty charlie.

pops and claire.

two little girls who were trying to escape.

 

we ended our trip by visiting a friend just outside of town for lunch and then cruising around madison before dinner. we had dinner at our favorite laotian restaurant – Lao Laan Xang and are currently an hour from home as I am writing this in the car. phew! it was a busy, fun weekend. we are blessed to have an amazing family to celebrate this blessed season with. I just keep thinking next year we will be in New Zealand. exciting things to come!

merry christmas from the butz family!