Last Week Home

Sunday--Todd, Cameron, and my dad worked for a few hours making Cameron's Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts.  Even though he will not be home for the race they are allowing him to race a car.  Cameron and Todd sat at the table sketching Cameron's thoughts and deciding how to make the car.  Once they had the idea they went to the garage.  Cameron put on his safety glasses and started cutting the wood.  Then he sanded.  Then he painted.  Then put the designs on.  He even put some Chinese numbers on it.  The car looks awesome.  They took it to the grocery store to have it weighed.  They added the necessary weights and now it is ready to go racing.  Very proud of Cameron for how hard he worked on his car.  He had very little help from Grandpa and Dad and that is the way it should be.  Good job Cameron.

Cameron telling the idea and Dad drawing it.

Safety glasses...check.

Adult supervision...check.

The finished product...priceless.

Chinese number 95 written on it.

At 2:00 mom and I ran to do some last minute shopping.  I LOVE when Todd tells me to go buy things I need/want.  It doesn't happen very often so I jumped at the opportunity.  I bought more clothes and more shoes to take back to China.  It is pretty difficult for me to find things over there so I needed to load up.

At 4:00 Cameron went over to his friend Ethan's house to play and spend the night.  He was pretty excited.  Mom, Dad, Todd, and I ate huge steaks then watched a really stupid movie.  I was the only one who did not fall asleep during it.  Off to bed we all went.

Monday--Mom and I went to Jazzercise.  I picked Cameron up at 9:00 from Ethan's house.  We hung out for awhile and then Cameron got a call from Ian asking if he could go over there to play.  I dropped him off at 10:30 and they brought him back at 4:45.  He had a blast.  We organized some trips and lounged around.  At 4:40 I left to meet Linda and Marcia for dinner at the Skyline.  Steph was sick so she couldn't make it.  Dinner was great and it was fun catching up with my work buddies.

Cameron hanging out with Grandpa before going to Ian's.

I really don't look like flat Shelly anymore.

The Shelly's with Marcia and Linda.

7:00 I met Mom, Cameron, Grace, and Griffin at the movies.  We went to see We Bought A Zoo.  It wasn't the worst movie we have ever seen but it certainly wasn't the best.  It was long too.  Cameron rode home with me and when we got in the car it was 9:21.  We were both shocked.  The movie was almost 2 1/2 hours long.  Back home and to bed.

Tuesday--Todd went to work at 5:00 a.m., Mom and I went to Jazzercise at 5:45, and Dad waited at home with Cameron who was sleeping.  We packed up and waited for Todd to get home.  At 10:00 we headed to Chicago for a few days.  Cameron rode with Grandma and Grandpa.  Cameron and Grandma played games in the backseat as Grandpa drove.  Once in Chicago we checked into our hotel.  We then walked Michigan Avenue.  Our first stop was the John Hancock building.  We wanted to "ice" skate in the sky.  We rode the fast elevator to the top, strapped on our skates, and skated.  The "ice" was made of Teflon.  It was fun.  Mom, Cameron, and I participated.  It was pretty cool to be able to look over the town while skating. 

We all laughed when Dad put his hat on.  Todd thought it was the size of a billboard.  I thought the giant ball on top was funny.  He did end up cutting it off.

Hitting the "ice".

Pro Ice Skaters.

This was really fun.

Of course they make me do all the work.

Cameron got a job as a window washer.

LOVE to visit downtown Chicago.

Cool shadow.

Our next stop was Water Tower Place to go to the Lego Store.  Of course we found the new winter building which is the post office.  We have all the rest so this will be a nice addition.  We also bought Life of George.  It is a Lego game you build using an Iphone or Ipod.  We were told we could use the Ipad but we can't.

Cameron is in Heaven.

Grandma is less thrilled.

The Wallace's are checking out every box of Lego's.

We then visited the Hershey Store and the Harley Store.  We then headed back to the hotel for a few minutes.  At 4:50 we walked to Texas de Brazil for dinner.  None of us ate lunch so that we could get our fill of meat.  We were not disappointed.  We were all stuffed when we walked out of the restaurant.  But we walked to Portillos to get a cake shake and a piece of cake for later.  You can't go to Chicago without making a stop for cake. 

Drinking up some Hershey Kisses.

The tiniest cup of Lobster Bisque.

Loving all the meat we are eating.

Back to the hotel for some swimming.  We threw penny's for Cameron to search for in the pool.  After about an hour he was done.  Cleaned up and went to bed.

Wednesday--Todd had a call so we met for breakfast at 8:15.  After breakfast we loaded up the car and headed to Navy Pier to go to Winter Wonderland.  Once inside it was all decked out for Christmas.  There were trees and snowman everywhere.  It was really neat.  There were rides, slides, jumpy things, etc.  Cameron rode a leap ride (the kind that goes up then drops a little).  He was riding with little kids so he was trying to act cool and not smile or enjoy the ride.  We were laughing at him when all of a sudden a police officer walked up and asked if he was mine.  I told him yes and he told me he was going to have to write him a citation for failure to enjoy a ride.  When Cameron got off the ride the officer told him what was wrong and handed him the ticket.  Cameron wasn't sure if it was real or not.  It said he had to go to court at 11:25.  Cameron had to go over and check out the courtroom and the jail.  I think he was a little nervous.  He rode a couple more rides and then went to court.  He had to register his ticket with a lady, then meet with the defense lawyer, then had to sit and wait.  The judge called his name.  He had to go up on the stand and raise his right hand.  Then the prosecutor and defense lawyer went back and forth.  Then I had to get on the stand and answer a couple questions.  The judge found Cameron not guilty. He did a little fist pump and said "yes".  It was so cute.  We watched a couple more cases.  It was very funny and a cute idea.  A few more rides and we headed to lunch.

Arriving at Navy Pier.

Stopped to pose with the Obama's.

Entering Winter Wonderland.

Big tree inside.

Glider ride.

Rock climbing again.

Walking the ropes.

Ready to go.

Todd did not think this ride was suppose to go this fast.

Cameron was acting way too cool to be on this ride.

This officer saw Cameron not having fun on the ride so he wrote him a ticket.  We asked him to tazer him but he wouldn't.

Cameron was a little freaked out.  Not sure if it was real or not.

Ticket for failure to have fun on a ride.

Cameron stopped to ride this ride before heading to court.

Grandma was sad Cameron rides by himself.  He doesn't care though.

Court time.

Checked out the jail in case he gets thrown in it.

He had to register his ticket.

Talking to his Defense Attorney.

Taking the stand.

The Prosecutor and Defense Attorney went back and forth.

They called me to the stand.

Doing a little fist pump because he was found not guilty.

To celebrate he went down this slide a few times.

He wanted to pretend to be in jail.

One last ride and Cameron was done.

We ate at the Billy Goat.  Double Cheeseburger.  No fries, chips.  No Coke, Pepsi.  We said our goodbyes to Grandma and Grandpa.  They headed home and we headed to Deerfield to see the Love's.  We checked into our new hotel then went to Toys R Us.  Bought a couple Wii games then headed to Love's.  We played with Henry until William got home from school.  Bill, William, Todd, Cameron, and I headed to a restaurant to eat then to the Northwestern Arena to watch them play Illinois.  It was a great game.  At half time we ran into Matt Gryzlo...one of Todd's fraternity brothers.  It was great seeing him again.  We dropped the Love's off at home and went back to the hotel.  A little tv then bed.

Cameron's room upstairs in our hotel.

The boys looking tough.

So many goofballs.

The boys decided to work on their place mat activities.

Todd trying to take a bite of William's burger.

Top row in lower bowl, orange shirt is Bill, blue sweatshirt is Cameron.

ILL---INI.

We ran into Matt Gryzlo (fraternity brother) with his boys.

Half time.

I sat with the boys the second half.  They were displaying the AthletiCo sign proudly...Bill works for them.

Then they decided to be silly and wear them as masks.

The game was a nail biter at the end.

Yes, Illinois won.

Thursday--Todd was on a call so we had a late breakfast.  After we ate we headed home.  We pulled in the driveway at 11:30.  Unpacked, went for a walk, then lounged around.

Friday--Todd went to work at 5, Cameron welded with Grandpa in the garage, and I headed to work at 7:30 so I could see everyone and turn in my letter asking for another years leave of absence.  No one really seemed shocked by that.  I hung out chatting until 10:30.  I went home and picked up Mom and Cameron.  We went over to the Rivers Edge to go ice skating.  It was fun.  Cameron got right on the ice and acted like he had done it before.  It was his first time on real ice. 

All the protection is on.

Welding wire.

First time welding...a proud moment.

Time to try real ice skating.

He got right on the ice and skated.  He is a natural.

We liked the little walkers for beginners.

Mom and Cameron working their way around the ice.

Taking a little break to get a picture.

World class skaters.

We were trying to do a little racing.

Happy we didn't fall.

We headed to Walmart for some last minute things then went home.  I dropped Cameron off at Wells School at 2:45 because he was going home with Karen.  He was spending the night with Brenna and Gavin one last time.  They were very sad to hear we were staying another year.  Brenna wanted to kidnap Cameron and not return him to me.  While Cameron was hanging with his friends I met my school friends at 3:30 at Dugans for drinks.  We stayed there until 6:45.  All the Ronnebeck/Wallace's were meeting the Cruse/Matkovich crew at Parkside.  Our families have been friends since our parents were in high school.  We were so happy to see them and be able to reminisce.  It is always a fun, late night with them.  We got home at 1:00 a.m. 

The girls from work.

Amie and Angie with Angie's boyfriend.

Steph looking confused.  More people from work.

Tim hates that I am so much taller than him.

I have to bend way down to get his height.

Parkside...Dad, Jamie, Jason, Todd, and Scott.

Mom, Kelly, Becky, and Sarah.

All of us except Jason's wife who was sick.

Saturday--We went out and got Cameron and headed to the Verdick's for one last Christmas celebration.  It was nice to see all of Todd's family before we left.  We stayed at the party until 3.  We headed over to watch Cameron's school buddies play basketball.  We watched 3 games and Cameron sat on the bench with them.  At 7:20 we headed to watch Griffin play basketball.  He did a great job.  While there we saw our friends the Lindley's.  Their little girl Kaylee says she is going to marry Cameron when she grows up.  All she did was stare at Cameron with a smile.  Then I got out my camera and told her I wanted a picture of her with Cameron and her smile was huge.  So sweet.

Cameron thinking about what to do.

Cameron built a checker wall and Lucas kept knocking it over and laughing.

Eating with the big kids...A.J., Alec, and Allison.

The Wallace/Smith crew.

My mother in law, Judy, with her 2 brothers and dad.

A.J. and Shawn pumping some iron.

Cameron planking.

Papa with all the great grand kids...Lucas, Clint, Jerry, Ellie, Victoria, and Cameron.

Papa with the grand kids...Pam, David, Jessie, Angie, Todd, and Rob.

Cameron sitting on the bench at his friends game.

Great buddies...Cameron, Ian, Caleb, and Bryant.

Kaylee and Cameron...so sweet.

Sunday--Last minute errands and a lot of last minute packing.  We hung at home.  At 4:00 my brother, sister in law, niece, nephew, mother in law, and father in law all came over for dinner.  My parents whipped up the "last meal".  HUGE T-bone steaks, green beans, twice baked potatoes, salad, bread sticks, and angel food cake for dessert.  It is now ok to head back to China.  After we said our goodbyes to everyone we played some Euchre.  We taught Cameron on Thursday how to play so we have played once a day since.  He picked it up pretty quickly.  Then off to bed.

"I'm going to miss you."

So sad to say goodbye.

Cousin love.