Wheels O' Time Museum

A guy at Jason's work told him about this museum and when he mentioned that it had trains, we knew we needed to take Jaxon to see it. The Wheels O' Time Museum is just a few minutes outside of Peoria and loaded with antiques. The museum had everything that moves. From antique cars and fire trucks, to old clocks, sewing machines, radios and of course, trains. Some things had been taken apart to show how they move. And there were several buttons to push, chains to pull and wheels to turn. Jaxon was getting a bit carried away and I told him to be careful not to touch things. One of the workers overheard this and I got a short lecture on the way this museum works. He said, "This is a touching museum. We want the kids to touch everything, so quit telling him to keep his hands off." Oops.


Here's Jax in a toy car that was made to look like one of the antiques. He kept asking his daddy to get in the car with him, but it definitely wouldn't have held an adult.



Hi sis! She was quite content in the front pack the full two hours we were there.



Driving an antique fire truck. There were plenty of buttons to push and pull and Jason even found a switch to turn the red siren lights on. This was one of Jaxon's favorite things at the museum and he is still talking about it, a few weeks later. Jax says, "Remember the train museum with the fire truck and Daddy turned on the red light? That was fun mom."


Back view of Jax and his daddy "driving" the fire truck.



Ringing an old church bell.



Me and my kiddos.



They have an old steam engine out front of the museum with a few cars attached. We got to climb up in to the engine and pull the train whistle. It was super loud and Jax LOVED it.




Our kiddos sitting on the front of the engine. Nevermind the sign right there that prohibits this. Oh well, makes for a cute picture.

At the end of the night, we were tucking Jaxon in to bed and doing his regular bed time routine. As I was telling him goodnight, he leaned over and said, "Mommy, thank you for taking me to the train museum." I was choking back tears because of his sweetness.

Vegas

We knew going in to this that Jason would get to see some pretty cool places, not only in this country, but in the world. He has already flown to Atlanta, Savannah, GA and Las Vegas and has a trip lined up in December to fly to Puerto Rico. Jason took some great pictures during his 24 hour stay in Vegas and even captured the famous Bellagio fountains on video.

He called when they landed to let me know they were headed to the hotel. I assumed they were staying on base out there and thought he was joking when he told me they had rooms at Caesars Palace. I'm sure this is just the beginning of cool places he'll stay during this career.


You're looking at the wing of the mighty Herk he flew to Vegas. This is one of the four propellers on the C-130.



Jason's ride.



The lobby inside Caesars Palace.



Here's his room. I was so excited he took this picture, even if only for me. He knows how much I love such pictures and I was so happy when he showed me all of the pictures and there was one of his room!


The fountains outside Caesars Palace.



The lobby inside the Bellagio. The ceiling consists of hundreds of flowers made from blown glass.



Again, photography with me in mind. How I LOVE when people decorate with fresh flowers. This is inside the Bellagio.



The outside of Paris Las Vegas Hotel.



Outside of the Bellagio.




Caesars Palace at night.






A few pictures of "The Strip" at night:






The City that Never Sleeps.



Fountains outside The Bellagio.





Video of The Bellagio fountains:

Kota's Crawling

Here's a quick clip of Dakota crawling. She's so little and only six months, but very determined. She doesn't have a whole lot of control over her body yet, so it's quite funny to see her "scoot-crawling" to get what she needs.

Just Us

Just some pics from the previous week:



Sissy's first time sitting in a big girl high chair. She thinks she's pretty big.



Yes, we have a crawling 6 month old. It's pretty ridiculous. I set her down in one spot and within minutes, she is on the complete opposite end of the room or under the table!



Some of the awesome hotel staff here at the Residence Inn. These girls went to Build-A-Bear and made stuffed animals for our kids, just because they love our kiddos. Unbelievable how amazing people are. Jaxon was given a dog dressed as a baseball player. He has affectionately named him, Dog-A-Bear. Sissy got a pink bear.



Here's Kota in a sweater dress that used to be mine. She wore it to church last week with some white leggings. I think my mom has a picture of me in this dress. I'll have to get it scanned from her and put it up here for a comparison.

Trip Number Five to the ER

When we lived in Mississppi, we used to joke that they had a room in the ER always waiting for Jaxon, but then he went almost an entire year without an ER visit. All good things must come to an end. My mom and Jason took him to the ER in Arkansas, just days after Dakota was born, because he was having some labored breathing. Luckily, it was nothing major and we've been holding our breath since then. Last night we got the opportunity to see Peoria's ER.

After swimming at the hotel pool last night, Jaxon slipped on the wet tile and busted his lip open. Opposite side of the mouth from the fall he had over a year ago. Luckily, he didn't need stitches, but we're always glad to have the ability to have him checked out, just in case.

Playing with Daddy's hat while we wait to see the doctor.


This is the best shot I could get of it. The picture doesn't really do it justice. He actually bit all the way through his lip and the slice was big enough, that he was putting his tongue in the cut most of the night.






Here he is this morning, after playing with some friends from church. He woke up a few times in the night saying his lip hurt, but this morning he said it didn't hurt at all.

Swimming Lessons

Finally!!

I have been wanting to put Jaxon in swimming lessons for the last two summers. The problem? We lived on Air Force bases the last two years and swimming lessons were held at the base pools. Outside. In the morning. I don't do cold water in the morning. So, because of his mother's selfish reasons, Jaxon has not had swimming lessons - until now! There is an awesome gym, built for the Peoria community, in downtown Peoria. The Riverplex is an amazing gym and has a few indoor pools, where swimming lessons are offered. I was thrilled to take swimming lessons with Jax indoors. In a heated pool.

He LOVES swimming lessons! We go every Tuesday and Thursday night for 30 minutes every week in October. He's a great listener when his teacher, Ms. Autumn, is instructing and he's willing to try everything she tells him to. His least favorite thing to do is put his head under water. His favorites are; jumping in from the side, blowing bubbles and throwing a toy and swimming to it.

We have this conversation with Jaxon everyday:
Jax: "What do you guys want to do tonight?"
Jason or I: "I don't know."
Jax: "Want to go to swimming lessons? It would be really fun!"

This is his excited face waiting for his class to start.


No fear jumping in from the side of the pool.


Hi Dad! Watch this...


Safely climbing into the pool.


Safely climbing out of the pool.



Throwing a toy.


Swimming to his toy.

Memaw Visits Peoria

We were so excited to have my mom, Memaw, come stay with us this past weekend. And she brought our beloved dog, Cooper! On Thursday night, we took Memaw out for a belated birthday dinner at Jillian's Sports Grille. We spent Friday in Bloomington, IL shopping. We drove there because it had the closest Stride Rite, and Jaxon desperately needs closed-toed shoes (we are still putting sandals on him and it's in the 60's up here). Stride Rite, because Memaw had a coupon. Turns out, the Stride Rite in Bloomington is a franchise and does not accept corporate coupons. Oh well, we got his feet measured so we could order shoes online and did some damage at the Toys 'R Us and mall in Bloomington. Despite it being drill weekend, Jason got Saturday off, so we drove to Speer, IL to check out Tanner's Orchard. Sunday was church, relaxation, and evening swimming. We had an awesome time with Memaw and we were so glad to be with Coop for a few days!


Jillian's Sports Grille:
It's kind of like a mini Dave and Buster's. We had a great dinner, then watched Jaxon enjoy playing the arcade games. He didn't have enough tickets to buy what he wanted, so he settled for a Tootsie Roll and is saving his tickets for his next visit.

Memaw and Jaxon waiting for our food. We learned just a few days before this, that Jaxon had his first ear infection. We feel pretty lucky to have gone two and a half years without an ear infection (especially living in base housing for two years). He did great with the ear drops and it cleared right up in few days.


Dakota and Memaw watching Jaxon and Daddy dominate the basketball goals.


Basketball!



Tanner's Orchard:
Friday was a gorgeous day, so we assumed Saturday would be the same. Wrong. It was a bit chilly and the wind was blowing right through us. We weren't quite as prepared as we wished, as far as layering of clothes, but we all survived the apple orchard/pumpkin patch.

We started in the kids area, which had; min golf, swings, jungle gyms, hay bale maze, barrel train rides, pony rides, tether ball, and much more. Then we headed up to their cafe for hot dogs and brats. Then on to their market to shop and eat cider donuts.


Jaxon on the tire swing.


Jax and Daddy waiting in line for the barrel train.


There he goes! He was such a big boy in the huge barrel. We were a little nervous about what he would do when the train headed into the woods and he couldn't see us, but he did great. He came out of the woods looking for us and waving his little hand as fast as he could.


Waving at us from the old bus the kids were playing on.




He thought this one looked just like Papa Schu's.




Heaven!! We sipped on hot caramel apple cider and cider donuts. The cider tasted like we were drinking apple pie. They put a layer of caramel in the bottom of the cup, then hot cider, whipped cream, apple pie seasoning, more caramel drizzled on top and finish with a cinnamon stick. Oh. Sweet. Heaven. Everyone was on a major sugar high after this!


Jaxon LOVED his cider donut.



Memaw and our kids.