Family Week

Thomas had a winter break from school this past week so we had a family-time-binge---it was fanTAStic! The cheap side of us beat out the adventure within us so we decided to stick around despite our near attempts to schedule a cruise somewhere sunny and warm. We ended up going into the city, going to the zoo, exploring some forest preserves around this mountain-less Midwest, we ate lots of yummy food, watched some movies, went to the massive Gurnee Mills Mall just 10 minutes away that made every other mall we've ever seen look puny. This mall went for miles and miles. It TOTALLY wore us out and we didn't even see everything. We considered it a great feat of control that we ended up leaving with only a pair of shoes:)

Hudson keeps toasty in his coat and bundle wrap that we makeshift for the cold weather. He enjoys spending time outside when we get the chance

The preserve we went to was beautiful! Although things were dead and not as colorful as the other seasons, we really enjoyed the beauty of winter.  There wasn't any snow on the ground but the air was brisk and fresh. We saw some magnificent landscapes. 

This was a pretty lookout that we liked. We could see for quite a ways in every direction from this point.

That thing that looks like a little kitten on the rock behind us is a lion... They are such beautiful animals! We really enjoyed them at the zoo. But were even more glad for the ravine that separated us from them...

I obviously turned a hideous blue color inside this exhibit. You would think I was Violet from Willy Wonka, but really I am just lovin' the little reindeer looking animal behind me;)

THE ESKIMO AND THE CITY! Rated G. Coming to theaters near you.

We walked down Michigan Ave for my sake. I love this place. Thomas is convinced it is a woman's dream---a theme park kind of fun for women. I told him that is probably the case for people who have money to throw into these stores...Which totally excludes us. Nevertheless, I do enjoy the excitement of it all!

Talk about a cool camera feature! We tried out the panoramic setting and it was able to capture a totally new picture.

My boys. I love love love this picture. Isn't Hudson a ham? :)

So you know how I mentioned it hadn't snowed at the beginning of the week??? Well welcome to Winter Wonderland the day after. It snowed for a full day and covered all the trees, even every last branch with a thick layer of snow. I wish my camera could have captured the splendor!