Hate Is A Strong Word For An 11 Year Old!

These first days of middle school have been rough to say the least. Problems were written on the board for them to copy down & answer. He copied the first one down & answered, then the second, then the third, then class was over. Did we copy all the problems down first then go back an answer them? Nope! Already we are having a mix of homework misplaced, not done, or hidden as to not have to cut into his personal time at home.

After finding some of the work hidden in the back of his binder & him coming clean that he hid it as to not have to do it we had a little bit of a blow out & that included punishment but after that it seemed as though we were doing good. That is until I found work as well as a weekly progress report showing missing work with a note from his teacher that didn't make it out of his bag. Its so hard because I know some of it is Autism & some of it is 11 year old boy but those two mesh together so much its hard to tell what is one or the other. So needless to say we came to blows (put down the phone, stop calling DHS, not those kind of blows!) There was an unabashed conversation about his inability to carry much of any of his own responsibilities, there was a calling out of his failure to do work that is required even if he thinks he shouldn't have to do it, & there were tears! Whats the last thing you want to do to a kid with autism before you send him to middle school… pretty much everything I just said I did but what are you going to do!?! At some point you see him getting older & realize he is that scary in between that terrifies me! He is so high functioning that he can do these things but he still has flippin' autism so these things are sometimes ridiculously hard for him to do or understand but again at the same time he has to be prepared for high school, college, life, a job, & an unforgiving society that in most cases would rather eat him alive than cut him a break.

When he got home we backed off a bit & tried to just help with work but give lots of support. Trying to stay consistent in our approach is one of the hardest parts because with any other kid you would be like
'okay, this isn't working lets switch it up' & that will just confuse this kid. I knew this was all coming, I knew that autism was a rock, middle school was a hard place, & we would eventually get stuck in-between them but I just didn't think it would happen this fast. All this I can handle! All these things I can swallow! All these things you have just read we can overcome. That is after I'm able to get over what we founding his school folder:

Let me tell you, I sat & watched them Emmy's last night just to see if they called my name because I feel like I should get some kind of award for me performance as 'Dad who comes at the situation with an even hand despite their heart being ripped out of my chest' My wife handled it better than I did but we had a talk about hate, parents, self pity, responsibility, growing up, & more. With any luck we've made some progress but you can't know until you let it ride to see. I know the kid doesn't hate me. I know that we will get through all this. I know that he will be able to take on all this new stuff but knowing all that doesn't mean any of it comes easy.

Back To School Day 2, Okay The Honeymoon's Over

Remember that time a long time ago… like… yesterday, when I posted about what an awesome day he had on the first day of middle school & everything was gonna be just fine? You remember that? Yeah, the dad who wrote that is gone. Today he got kicked in the face by reality & then Autism stepped on his rose color glasses of optimism. I'm back in charge now. Regular ol' cynical Tom that is not so much a glass half full guy but not really a glass half empty guy either, more of a I spilled my glass in my lap & now it looks like I peed on myself kinda guy!

When my son got home today he was so overwhelmed & over stimulated as he tried to tell us about his day no words would come out. I sat on the couch listening to him make groaning noises like he was physically trying to push the words out of his mouth three or four times then two words would come out then groaning then two words & so on. We haven't been to that place in a long time but let me tell you it was a big punch in the gut. Probably a good one to be honest with you. I may have needed a wake up to the fact that YES we are back in school, YES you do need to get your 'A' game back out of the back of the closet & lace up your boots because it's about to get real. Not to say he had a bad day but it was obviously a lot to take in & with it being only the second day of school I'm sure the teachers, staff, & special education teachers are trying to normalize themselves as well as learn their new kids. So I'm really just at a time where all we can do is decompress him as best as we can & send him back into the lions den as prepared as he can be.

 Any time we are off school be it for summer, spring break, or even Christmas break the first week (sometimes month, I know you feel THAT pain) is the real test of a parents mental capacity. Summer is a special kind of hell though because at least with the other times you know the environment they are stepping into & have a dialog. Back to school time is just a waiting game. My head tells me "You have to give HIM time, you have to give THEM time, & you have to just be there for anything that's needed" but my Dad-ness tells me "Lets take a mulligan this week, get some grilled cheese sandwiches, & watch adventure time together!" 

I know it will get better & after my wife giving me the only medicine that will cure an over bearing dad's racing thoughts (Chicken, Mac & Cheese, & 12 year old bourbon) I am feeling better. So yeah, thanks 'Kids Growing Up' you've successfully killed Doe-Eyed Dad & brought back fatty comfort food eating dad but that's okay. Tomorrows another day! 

PS just to be completely clear, because I know my wife will read this post I have to clarify: Fatty Comfort Food Eating Tom never REALLY went anywhere! That was a total turn of phrase & had no truth as to my eating habits which are…less than healthy… yeah that's the terminology I'm going to use! 

6th Grade Here We Come! {Middle School Vs. Autism}

Wow! The last bit of school was great, the summer was even better, & as I came to the realization that I was about to have a 6th grader this week I did several things. 1st. Melt Into A Puddle Of Dad Sludge  2nd. I put myself back together thanks to the nice people at Blue Bell :) 3rd. I decided it was about time to jump back to the blog! That's when I realized that I hadn't posted, other than small social media posts, since march! Wow!

Things have been good! We took the summer head on with the boys first trip to my favorite place on earth, Colorado! Pikes peak was below freezing, hiking in the Rock Mountain National Park, & having snowball fights in the middle of summer were just a few of the things we did. You can see some highlights from our trip on our photography blog if it tickles your fancy! I think I've just about got my wife convinced that if I can market our studio in CO a bit & book enough weddings as well as portrait sessions we may try to start spending a month or two in the summer there. We'll cross our fingers.

Like I said, 6th grade! How did this happen? I remember him being born, taking a first step, & then BAM here we are. Don't even get me started on the other two boys, Zion (with an anxiety disorder & MERLD) started the 3rd grade & Deano (Completely painfully NT to the bone) starts 1st grade. This summer has been so amazing, it was like we took a vacation from Autism! Granted I know we still did the same things we always do; routines, de-stressing, all of our autism adaptations. The difference this summer was it was all normal for us, no big hiccups or hurdles! We just rolled through. It was great! That's why I think it was even more scarier than I thought it was going to be when it was time to snap back to the real wold & start gearing up for middle school. All of a sudden I was all 'BACK TO THE WAR ROOM' starting to plan strategies for the transition & digging out my big boy panties to make sure we are ready to go to bat for the kid. 

When we heard that the orientation was a 'Drop off the kids, parents aren't welcome till the end of the day' style thing I went into 'Its okay, Its okay, I'll just talk it out' mode but when I couldn't get ahold of anyone to talk to I escalated to Dad-Con 4. My wife put it out on Facebook & what happened? The teachers, staff, & principal from the elementary school stepped up (a lot of them are on our Facebook) to give support as well as advice. The principal even made a call to the middle school personally to talk to them about Jayden & to make sure someone gave me a call to talk about him! It doesn't get any better than that. She really went above & beyond, I don't know what we would do with out such an amazing set of advocates in our corner! I know not everyone has that so I'm being mindful to stay thankful. 

He came from the first day excited. The fact that he has science the first hour of the day & is working on picking what instrument he wants to play in the band is great. We are currently deciding between the xylophone & the snare drum so that should be… interesting… yeah, that's the word I'll use! 

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to keep up to date on Facebook.

I love that this photo captures the boys 100% Zion makes a goofy face (his classic defense mechanism), Jayden makes not a drop of eye contact, & Dean is just as A-Typical as you can get!!

Dancing . . . With A Girl . . .

The other day I got a phone call from the mother of one of Jayden's classmates. She was so excited that they had paired up for the big dance program & wanted to see if we could co-ordinate their outfits. I'm pretty impressed with my ability to hide the "What the heck are you talking about!?" in my voice. Just rolling with the "I know, I'm so excited as well!" I got as much info as I could from her then after the phone call I did the mad-dad-dash to his room to ask the questions I should have known the answer to already! "Hey Jayden…. is there something you forgot to tell me?" … "No" "Maybe something about a dance program you are going to be in?" "Oh yeah. I'm dancing in a program" It almost seemed like he knew what we were talking about so I went out on a limb & asked "When is it buddy?"… to which he replied "I don't know!" Aaaahhhh!

This happens sometimes. His school had a program one time that he was in & once we got there were astonished to see him center stage with a singing solo! These things just don't get back to us.

   Last year he took ball room dancing & loved it. For the program he danced with a partner & then with my wife. He had such a great time! Despite the fact that we had barley even found out about the program & were shocked to see all the other kids dressed up standing beside Jayden in his bluejeans & t-shirt! NOT THIS YEAR! I have a heads up! While out looking for an outfit for him yesterday we found what may be the most epic bow tie ever! I'm a bow tie guy so I really wanted him to go that route & what better way to get him on board than an old school Mario Brothers  bow tie.  
     So, on valentines day my son will be ball room dancing with a girl from class in the school program. How did this happen! How are we dancing with girls already? I'm not ready for growing up to be here already!

Showing mom some dance moves!

Post-Christmas Break Break Down {The Sky Is Now Officially Falling}

   Every year after the Christmas break is over & school starts back we have problems! Is this just my son or is this common, I bet it happens to a lot of our kids! It sucks & we knew it was going to suck but no matter how well you think you are prepared for something you know what? It still sucks!
  It's partially my fault for taking the first few weeks of "How was your day Jayden?" "GREAT!" he would say. Yeah…just gonna take that a face value! Yesterday I pushed to find out how things were really going & found out what I should have know, if you don't watch where you're going while driving the titanic you're going to hit an ice burg! Yeah… we hit an ice burg!
   Piles of old papers stuffed in his desk that stood as high as his desk itself, I learned from his teacher. That poor woman who I can only imagine probably, after this year of school, talks in her sleep… "Jayden, what are you doing?….Jayden, why is all this work in your desk?… Jayden, why are you crying?… "
    I have been trying all my tricks to get this under control this year before we head to middle school next year. (I don't even want to think about it!) We have now moved from taking things away like game time or TV time when he has done something wrong to taking most everything away & making him earn everything back through successful work & life habits. Will this work? Hell if I know but man, I sure hope so! My hope is that without the distractions of things that we normally allow a bit of throughout the week like TV, Netflix, & generally Zombie-ing out around the house & making him mostly stay in his happy place(his room) reading, working on some of his projects that are a bit more brain stimulating maybe we can get him to where he needs to be! We spent a long time yesterday talking & going over our new way of doing things yesterday. A lot of tears were shed, many "I wish you would get hit by a truck" looks were given, & I think we all understand each other now.  We didn't get there without some rough patches of the conversation though. About mid way through out talk I asked Jayden "How does this all sound to you? How do you view this? You can tell me how it makes you feel & you're not going to get into trouble or offend anyone, just be honest & lets communicate." I got an answer that cut me like rusty prison shiv! "Honestly, it sounds like the start of a very horrible life" So yeah… at that point I wanted to say "I don't care about school, lets go out for ice cream & head to the science museum!" But I controlled myself & we talked a lot about responsibility, perspective, & the ripple effect that is set off by his actions.
     Long day! Looooong day! Today he came home with a positive attitude, had all his work in his bag,  & he got his snack then headed to his room to work some sort of invention out of circuits that I'm sure I will hear all about tomorrow.

The Photographers Kids! {Taking Pictures Of Aspies}

     For couple of professional photographers you would think that we would have awesome family photos all over our home! I mean really, pictures is all we do 7 days a week 365 days a year! Nope! The last photo with all four of us in it was about 4 years ago. Not only is it hard to pay someone to do what you do for a living but it's also that fact that after taking thousands of photos a month you have a style you like. All that being said it adds a layer of difficulty to the task when you are dealing with any kid with special needs, I'm sure you all feel me there! You learn to love the picture of your little one looking off into space as long as there is a good smile or making that face that they always make! That's my style anyway, we have never been a fan of the Wal-Mart Portrait Studio 'Turn Your Head To The Right & Smile' style of photography. I hate that stuff! We did a promotion this fall where we did a massive amount of families in 30 min intervals in a pre-set scene. It was awesome! So why not throw our family in there, set the camera, & have someone push the button! (We have tried the timer function before & NOOOOOO way is that worth the trouble!) After seeing the end result as well as some others we snapped while warming up to do the family portrait I got to thinking how much easier it is now days than it used to be!
     I have photographed Jayden for a long time & we have photographed other kids on the spectrum, parents like it because they know I'm not going to get impatient or upset because I know what it's like working with autism. It's either a very slow stand offish process or a very high intensity in your face process! Either way they are some of my favorite shoots. I got to thinking, what have we done to work up to having Jayden take an amazing photo every time you point a camera in his face!

This was a fart sound induced smile!

• The camera is always around! In one form or another we always have a camera & are shooting photos! After it becomes the norm then the camera is not some scary thing or a big deal at all.
• Showing the picture! My own kids, sessions with kids on the spectrum, or even NT kids all the same I show them their picture! Let them see the end result & how great it is! Positive reinforcement!
• No forced looks or smiles. This is actually easier for families on the spectrum because they are not so hell bent on an everyone smile & tilt your head to the left photo! Call it lifestyle photography, call it photojournalism, what ever just take it as it happens. That's when the real smiles come. Then it's just a matter of a stolen glance your way that's captured to make an amazing photo. 
• Snap, Snap, Snap! I can go into a session with NT kids & come out with 700 photos & work that down to 60 amazing images. I pay my mortgage with photography & my camera cost me more than my first cars combined so maybe you shouldn't shoot 700 but always take a 'Better To Much Than Not Enough' mentality when it comes to shooting pictures. You can always delete the blurry ones & the ones of the back of their head!

Shopping Autistic {Do other parents buy 7lbs. of ketchup at a time?}

So I went shopping today....ugh!  One of the awesome things about me working a regular job was that I got to miss out of fun stuff like grocery shopping but since the big change when I left health care & went full time at our studio I can't dodge that bullet anymore. Off to Sam's Club we headed today! Who knew that little grocery elves didn't stock our kitchen over night!?! It was my wife the whole time! As we walked the isles I started to realize that this place is 1.) A must visit for parents of special needs kids who only eat a limited variety of foods. 2.) Its flubbin' ridiculous, at least I thought it was!!

As I strolled through I found myself looking at things, making off handed sarcastic comments, then realizing that's something we need! 

• "7 pounds of fancy ketchup, what kind of person buys 7 pounds of ketchup!...well, shoot, we go through a sick amount of ketchup!"
• "6 pounds of peanut butter! What? Oh yeah...I'll just put that in the basket!"
• 72 pop-tarts!!! Really...72! Wait...3 kids eating pop-tarts for breakfast every morning, IF..IF they don't sneak a pop-tart as a snack or open the two pack & throw one away because when they open two 2 packs for 3 kids they can't think of anything to do with that 1 extra pop-tart than to throw it in the trash for some reason!! aaaahhhh!!! Anyway, at that rate they will last about...drum roll please... 3 & a half weeks!! 

$200 later I was informed that we really just got a "few" things & will be going back to the grocery store shortly because apparently my kids eat a 2005 Dodge Magnum full of food every couple of weeks! (Yes, that's how I'm measuring from now on! All that food filled up the back of the car so that's how I'm measuring now!) 

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So...this pic should get across the full scope of my life! If I was fancy...If I was an artist....If I hung the  photograph below in a gallery...It would be titled....PARENTHOOD

Welcome To MAA {Minecraft Addicts Anonymous}

Minecraft! I'm not sure what to make of it. For the longest time everything was super realistic & the graphics blew my old video games out of the water but even my original Super Mario Brothers on Nintendo had better graphics than this. They love it though! Not only does Jayden love to play it but he also wants to watch it on YouTube. Just random other kids taking a videos of themselves playing minecraft is apparently almost as enjoyable as playing it.....what does that say about the game....

It's pretty well known, I spoil my kids pretty bad. If they are into something I usually find a way to be into it too. Minecraft is a bit tricky for me because its just not my thing but when they showed me a video from youtube some little genius put together that is him playing minecraft while another sings new words to I'm Glad You Came by The Wanted. Now, just to clarify I have know idea what I'm Glad You Came by The Wanted is but I think I've listened to it on a radio somewhere because it seemed very familiar. I'm a big fan of changing the words & making funny songs so this thing really got me! It's hilarious! You need to watch this video....your kids have probably already seen it but show them to, if they are into Minecraft! You will be a cool parent for about 3:18.



The boys asked to download an app on the iPod Touch so they could 'Mincraft' pictures that they take. Below are some of their proudest moments.

Zion in full MINECRAFT mode!




Samantha & I were Minecrafted!



31 Things I've Learned In 31 Years {My Birthday Post}

We all have to do things we don't want to do

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Family is everything

Be the king of your castle, no matter what your castle is.

There is a solution to every one of life's problems!

Be a bow-tie man, its just classy.

FriendsR4Life! Til' the wheels fall off!

Put on a tough face but be able to take a punch!

There is no such thing as a spoiled kid. {Yes, that is me on my 3rd birthday riding my new pony}

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Tattoos Hurt & Last Forever

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I can only hope to be the second best dad in the world.

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Bad things happen but you HAVE to keep your sense of humor!

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The things you do today will be what you look back on forever.

A good old school pomade can make ALL the difference.

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NEVER grow up!

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Just because you grow old doesn't mean you have to get old

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A picture is worth 1000 words {or an $800 ER Bill}

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If you act cool your dad WILL ruin it for you & enjoy doing it!

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Even if something makes you uncomfortable, give it a try.

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Enjoy the quiet moments!

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Dress for success, a good suit can change everything!

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Again, it happens

Music, it heals all wounds

Walk softly & carry a big stick

Chicks dig a slick dude

We all get scared sometimes! Be brave!

Keep calm & play it cool when ever possible


P.S. I lost count & am now not sure that was 31, in fact I'm pretty sure it's not 31. Shut up...it's my birthday! Cut me some slack!

A look back at our Diagnosis

     After the big 10th birthday party the other day I started to think back. Things I thought were never going to happen when he was first diagnosed with Autism have come & gone while other things that I was sure would get better are sometimes worse. I have a lot of new readers & while I try to respond to every message I get some I'm sure slip through the cracks. So I wanted to post a short article I found that I wrote a couple of years ago. This is just an excerpt, I will post several parts of it throughout the week sprinkled in with some new posts! Also please check out the article about Autism being portrayed in the media that includes an interview I did with the Canadian Press. I was honored to be included & always surprised that you all care what I think! {I mean really, whats all that aboot!?! bad Canadian joke, sorry!} It's a bit about everything from Parenthood to Big Bang Theory. Fun stuff! Check out the story here.

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     Before my oldest son was diagnosed with Autism we played to his 'quarks' in order to get anything done. After the realization that yes there is something going on and yes we need to figure it out so we can try to help him more than we are already doing we found out two things:

1. He has a form of Autism.

2. Ass-Burgers, funny enough, has nothing to do with hamburgers made from donkeys!

     That's about all we learned at the time of diagnosis. Reading the twenty page report given to us by the doctor did about the same as reading VCR instructions, that's right I just dated myself with a VCR reference! Other than those two major developments no one gave us any 'Okay, he has autism, now do this' book so we just went to our local book store and started buying. If the doctor's report read like VCR instructions then the books by the experts in the field of autism were like giving an eight year old a copy of 'A Tale Of Two Cities' to read. Yeah and I'm not talking about the smart Asperger's syndrome eight year old either, I'm talking about me when I was eight years old. Half witted, glue eating, kiss your basset hound on the mouth eight year old.

     When I could find something helpful it was layered in with so much 'my son is awesome & a blessing' it was hard to wade though it all. Let's be really honest and put it all out there:

My son Jayden is now 10 years old. He eats chicken nuggets, french fries, mac  & cheese, peanut butter, sweet potatoes & that's about it. His test scores put him several grades above where he should be at yet most mornings he puts his cloths on backwards or inside out. making a split second decision is almost impossible yet he is good at action filled quick reflex video games. He is difficult, stubborn, and at times he makes me want to jump off a bridge but at the same time he is one of the most thoughtful people I have ever known, when we wants to be. When he is stuck on a subject that he wants to talk about the conversation, no matter what it's about, WILL come back to his subject. Lastly to be 100% upfront & honest while there are times when I want to smack the crap out of him & just say 'Catch On Already' {Not really! Put the phone down, stop calling DHS!} I still am happy about everything I have just said because it makes him who he is & while most parents are watching icarly or something mind numbing like that, my sons favorite movie is Ghost busters. My son Jayden is 10 years old & he has High Functioning Autism.

     With Autism there are not a lot of 100%'s you can find. If you read somewhere that this one thing WILL help you child with autism, you are probably about to be sold something! You just have to try & find what helps your child. The key word here is help! Not correct, not fix, not cure, just help. I learned very quickly that all the 'cure for autism' or 'what causes autism' debate will do nothing to help you with your child when you are in the check out line at the dollar store! Ways to deescalate a meltdown or introduce new foods into the diet, now those are things that help! Two of the best tips you can get are pick your battles & find what works for your child.

A Scary Time For Asperger's Parents

     "You know why our parents didn't have school shootings & all this
       bullsh*#? It's because back then we could beat the sh*t outta the
       weird withdrawn f*#king sh*tbags!"                        
                                                                                      - Facebook User 

     The status above from facebook was one that showed up in my feed because someone who was on my friends list 'Liked' it. I wish I could say this was the only one but its not. Even as I sit here at this computer I can hear from my left two people at the desk next to me talking about it. I'm trying not to listen in but as you all know, when your ear gets trained to hear things its hard. When I'm in ear shot & someone says Autism or Asperger's I hear it. Its a big part of our lives so it catches my ear. 

     A boat load of the media has now back peddled & put our stories about how there is no link between Aspergers & violence but what I think they don't realize is the damage has already been done! You jumped on that bandwagon right away and put stuff out there about how this kid was emotionless, didn't feel pain like normal people, & has this thing called Aspergers. People hear that & even if you take it back it's still there. People as a whole, I think, always take to heart the accusation more than the retraction of that accusation. It's like someone being accused of murder, rape, or molestation that has been proven innocent. You heard that they were proven innocent & the real bad guy was caught & made a full confession! BUT there is always that thought in the back of your mind that maybe...just maybe! The same thing is true for this. Everyone in America heard the BUZZ words you dropped; ASPERGERS, MURDERER, EMOTIONLESS, MENTAL ILLNESS, MASS SHOOTING. Now that you come back & say, "Well, actually there is no link between aspergers and what happened" The link in peoples mind has already been made because maybe...just maybe!

      This whole thing is scary. I just want to keep my kids home with me & lock the world out. I worry about the thing all parents worry about; could this happen at our school, how do you tell your kids about this, do you tell your kids about his or chance someone else leaking it to them? BUT now I also worry about what have other kids heard? Will they say something to my son because he is that kid who acts a bit funny or the one they know has aspergers?  OR am I just over thinking it all & being over protective because that's never happened......nope, never happened before. I can't image what I would do in the situation those parents are in. I'm not sure I could remember how to breath if something happened to one of my boys.

A New Diagnosis, A New Chapter

     When we took Jayden to get tested we pretty much knew what she would say.  Jayden had so many classic signs of Autism & Asperger's that there was just no way that he wasn't going to be diagnosed.  For years now Zion has had his own set of issues & things we have learned to deal with. More & more so this last few few months we have had thoughts about... whats up with Zion! Unlike Jayden, Zion (now 5 years old) has massive meltdowns! At the drop of a pin he can go from a laugh to a shaking, crying, pissed off mess! Couple that with the rituals he has & you have a couple of parents that are calling & trying everything we can to get an evaluation appointment. We went in last week after months of waiting & it went well. The first hour or so while Samantha & I were in the room talking with the doctor he not only wouldn't play with any of the toys but he wouldn't even leave his spot behind me in my chair. Samantha & I headed out to the waiting room & left him in the room with the doctor, it had been about an hour & a half since we had been there & he had not said one word yet. The doctor said after while he slowly started to warm up to her.

     We go back to the office on Tuesday to hear what the results are, I've never been so nervous! Autism? OCD? Anxiety? Bi Polar? I have no idea! I feel like, as I'm sure a lot of parents of ASD kids did, that there is something there! I guess I just have to know so bad because I feel like it's the only way to better understand him & how to help him. This is the coolest kid you have ever met in your life; I mean really! As we were headed into a store on time we ran back to my car & said "Daddy! Get your camera out & take my picture!" I did what he asked & at that time he threw himself on the hood & said "I'M ROAD KILL!" His favorite movie is Beetlejuice & Ghostbusters! I will update with what we find out ASAP! Thanks for reading!

Load Em' Up, Move Em' Out! Vacation Time! {Autistic Road Tripping}

     "Let's go to Chicago!" I said.  "Let's drive so we can see stuff along the way!" I said.  "I'm sure the kids will be okay & we will have no sudden urges to unbuckle & jump out of the moving car" I said.  No, it wasn't as bad as it seemingly could have been when you load three kids up in a car and drive almost 800 miles across the country! There were good times, bad times, meltdowns, & lots of bathroom breaks and the kids did alot of stuff too! :)

     The first two hours we didn't even break out the ipad because with a full 9 hours of driving ahead of us I didn't want them to burn through the ipad fascination to fast & start crawling out the windows before we even got out of Oklahoma. I'm not sure about every one else's kids but these three can watch the same show over & over & over & laugh just as hard as the first time every single time! I downloaded some old Tiny Toon Adventures & other gems that I remember from the 90's for them to watch and thankfully it was a hit. We stopped off in Linchfield, IL for the night so that we could get up & start the day fresh with only a few short hours til Chicago! We started off with heading to Navy Pier to get out, stretch our legs, & see something awesome to really drive it home to the kids that we were NOT in Oklahoma anymore!

     After that we checked into our hotel at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Now this place is pretty great, the location is close to the Pier. All the staff were pretty nice but all in all while we had a GREAT time staying with them it wasn't the most kid friendly place in the world. The $60 a night motel we stayed in on the way to Chicago had a microwave & mini fridge. Our room at the Hyatt had a mini fridge that was full of booze, candy, & all kinds of goodies that would have set us back more than a small countries national debt! Oh, you want to move some of that stuff out of the way & put your kids juice in there or maybe some left overs that you wouldn't be able to heat up anyway because you have no microwave? Sure you can do that but since the fridge has weight sensors in it to let them know if you even use the fridge that will be $7 extra....To use the mini fridge!! One day our room wasn't even cleaned or turned down & the hallway had all kinds of stuff littering it like an extra pull out bed & a spar mini fridge! I should have dragged it into the room & hooked it up! Alas it was pretty & we left happy. Happy that is until I got back & found they had mistakenly charged me TWICE for our room! ouch! Sorry if I sound like a cry baby because it was really nice & I would totally stay there again if it were just me & my wife but not amazingly kid friendly.

    First thing was first after checking in...Sears Tower & the Skydeck! If you haven't heared there is a glass room off the side of the Sears Tower on the 103rd floor so you can walk out & look STRAIGHT DOWN! The first time I visited it last year Samantha & I both had a bit of a hard time walking out onto the glass! Did the boys? Nope! Walked out there & laid down to relax!

     After that the next few days were filled with Pizza, Museums, & A LOT of walking! Highlight of the trip by the way... We took the boys to the Rain forest Cafe & while eating Samantha gave me the "Holy Crap Look Over There!" eyes & about that time the Rev. Jesse Jackson walked by our table...at the Rain forest Cafe...next to the big robotic elephants...next to the fake monkeys...Rev. Jesse Jackson! I was too dumbfounded to get my phone out & snap a pic in time, some photographer I am! Anyway, scroll down & take a look at some of the highlights from our trip & visit my Facebook to check out even more pics of our Chicago Adventure!



The Big Bean



The Coolest Guy In Chi-Town

Eating Beans For Dinner!



Sue The T-Rex At Chicago's Field Museum