Chip and Kim belong to the YMCA in Plainfield. Inside the YMCA there is a great water park which is the perfect place to have some family fun time. The water and air temperature is warm enough for even me. It has a range of water slides and sprayers along with my favorite — the lazy river.
To be able to go down the large slides all kids had to pass a swimming
test. The swimming test included jumping in at one end and swimming
the whole length of an Olympic size pool. Monti at first did not want
to do the test but she watched Gwendolyn go up and down the water
slides while she just got more and more angry. She finally decided to
go take the test she was so nervous about. She explained to me that
she used all her mad energy to make her strong enough to swim. After
passing the test she told my mom she didn’t care if she drowned she
was going to pass that test.
Lesa would never have a party for young kids without including some
type of craft. Each of the kids beaded a necklace and then they
decorated a jewelry box to take their necklace home in. The boys,
Lucas and Brecken, were especially patient and thoughtful when putting
together their beaded creation.
Joe is doing his best to tease the kids. We all went to Chip and Kim’s house for a Christmas Eve party.
Gwendolyn decided to wear Monti’s dress which happened to match Dahlia’s. Dahlia was thrilled that Gwendolyn would want to match her. Gwendolyn did her best to brainwash the girls into being Chicago Sox fans. It looks like she may have swayed Dahlia.
Each girl received a gift certificate to get one outfit for their American Girl doll. There are probably well over 300 outfits available there so the decision took some time. They came home with a riding outfit, a beach outfit, and a ballet ensemble.
A snow storm was predicted to roll through on Tuesday so we moved up our plans to head downtown Chicago to do some Christmas shopping at Water Tower Place. We left after dinner and all 3 girls were dead asleep within 10 minutes of leaving the house. It was good because we stayed out till about 11:00.
Once inside the theater we could relax and enjoy the show. Ten minutes into the ballet Dahlia leaned over and whispered to me “Mom why aren’t they singing?” I must agree with Dahlia ballet seems to be lacking a certain something when it comes to telling a story.
Each of the girls received a black cape to wear to the ballet in
Chicago. Each cape had it’s own unique colored lining. The problem was
that the temperature in Chicago was -3 before you considered the wind.
We were all so chilled to the bone it was just simply hard to move.
Long capes are a little more difficult to maneuver in and
they can catch the wind very easily. Both Dahlia and Gwendolyn fell
between the parking garage and the Auditorium Theater. Even with the
problems I loved the image of three little girls in a row walking in
their black capes with Mama following in her black cape. It was such
a great dramatic effect.
