overdue weekend post.

I've been meaning to write about our past weekend for days now, but I am trying to limit myself to one post a day and I've had other things I wanted to get out there - let's just say that I have a lot to say. :)

We had big plans Memorial Day weekend to wrap up Miles' birthday celebration with both sides of our families in different ways.  We started out the weekend by driving up to the suburbs to spend the night and go to the Brookfield zoo the next day with Dustin's family.  Our big plan was also go to this little hamburger grill close by that serves your food to you via toy train - can you just imagine how excited my little boy would get at this?  How could I resist?  We ran into a little problem - actually a big problem - when we were about 5 minutes from the hotel in rush hour traffic when we were hit by an SUV at an intersection.  I've never been in an accident before, and I would have to say that it was one of the most frightening moments of my life so far.  Luckily we were both going under 30 and the other driver just hit us on the front driver's side.  No one was hurt, but we think our poor little car is totalled and we all got to ride in an ambulance.  The one bright spot of the entire thing was when the EMT pulled Miles out of his carseat to put him in the ambulance.  Miles just sat there with a huge smile, clutching his toy fire engine and ambulance, and making siren noises for the entire trip to the hospital.  This is just one instance in my life when I felt as though God was watching over us.  If it would have been just one second later the driver would have hit Liam's door.  If she had been going just a tad faster it could have been worse.  I had just finished feeding Liam so my arm could have been caught between the seats.  I'm sure there are so many other "what ifs" that we aren't even thinking about.  I can deal with the inconvenience of having a rental car all of the way from up north, sleeping in my clothes Friday night because our car was in some tow-yard, changing plans for the weekend, not knowing the status of our car for an entire week, or any of the other costs we accrued because of this, because the most important things in that car were safe.  I'm also going to step on my soapbox for a second to lecture everyone on the importance of a REALLY GOOD carseat.  We had two great carseats and our boys didn't get a single bruise or bump.  (If only they made carseats for 30 year old women.)

Okay, enough about that, because despite all of that we still had a fantastic weekend.  Saturday morning we enjoyed the zoo with the Fishers in celebration of Wyatt and Miles' birthdays.  After the zoo Wyatt was so nice to agree to go to the train restaurant we had planned on going to the night before.  We had so much fun there, and Miles of course loved the trains, while Liam of course loved all of the attention. 

Miles LOVED the bear exhibit - it was his favorite part.  It was my favorite part because it was air conditioned.

Liam on the Safari Tram - and very excited about it.  The Safari Tram did Not have air conditioning.

Saturday evening after dinner our family drove on to Ohio where we spent the rest of the weekend with my family.  We had a lot of fun and Miles got to open even more gifts.  He even got to play a little teeball with his new set my parents gave him.  He's been practicing up for the next time they see him.  He is getting really good at swinging the bat, and REALLY REALLY good at saying "Hey, batter batter batter batter..."

Miles with his new tee-ball toy.

On Monday we drove back to Central Illinois, which was easier said than done.  The only rental car that they had left for the weekend was a giant SUV, which is fine if you aren't used to driving a teeny tiny Prius and Accord.  That, in combination with still being a little shook-up from the accident made for a LONG drive home.  However, we arrived to find a very cool surprise from our buddy Cohen..... :)

Miles loves his little toy camera!