Halliday Family Blog

Today, as seems to always be the case lately, we had a very busy and late day.  I took the day off of work to relax and play with the family.  We all got up a little late because of the late night card-playing from last night.  I got a craving for crepes, so Angela got a break from making breakfast today and I made crepes for everyone.  We enjoyed them filled with fresh blueberries, jam, syrup, chocolate sauce (Carmen’s favorite), and other items.  I hadn’t made these in awhile.

After finishing up with breakfast, we got all ready for the day, drove to the store, bought a bunch of candy, and then Sarah, Brittany, Kirstyn, Carmen, and I want to see the 11:20am showing of the new Harry Potter movie.  We all really enjoyed it!  After it was over, we all agreed that we thought the book was better, but the movie was very entertaining. 🙂

Since the movie was so long (164 minutes), it was mid-afternoon before we even got back home.  We were all so tired we crashed and slept for awhile.  I couldn’t even stay awake!  I think we all needed a little down-time.

At 5:30 pm, Sarah, Brittany, and Carmen went over to the Gaul’s for a party with some of the Spanish kids and with some of their school friends.  They had a great time there eating food, jumping on the trampoline, having a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood, and hanging out around the fire pit roasting marshmallows.  Marta made tortilla de patatas (an omelet dish) for them as well which the girls enjoyed.  The hit of the night was the trampoline, however.  Carmen said that they don’t have this in Spain and she had a blast along with everyone else  jumping in it.  I went over at about 11:00 pm to pick them up and we ended up not coming home until about midnight.   We all immediately crashed into bed.

Today was quite the busy day for everyone!  Today’s excursion for Carmen included meeting with the Mayor of Naperville and then going to Centennial Beach to swim and have fun.  When they met with the Mayor, each of the students was made an honorary citizen of Naperville.  They received a certificate making it official!

The Spanish group with Naperville Mayor George Pradel.

Today is also Carmen Day in Spain!  Each day there, they celebrate a saint or someone important.  All the Carmens were celebrated today in honor of St. Carmen of Spain.  We celebrated by getting German Chocolate Fudge custard (ice cream) from Culvers.  Carmen (as we have mentioned before) really likes chocolate.  The only thing you have to do to get her to smile is mention chocolate.  It’s pretty funny!  🙂

After their inauguration as honorary citizens of Naperville, the group went to Centennial Beach to swim and hang out for the afternoon.  Compared to where Carmen goes to the beach, it’s not really a beach, but they have done a pretty good job in building out this swimming area off of the River Walk.

Centennial Beach in Naperville. There is MUCH more to this water park than what you see here.

Zachary wearing Kirk's jacket and holding Angela's umbrella.

I picked Carmen up on my way home from work and we ran back home for a quick dinner before all leaving to go to Brittany’s final track meet for the Waubonsie Track Club.  This meet was at Neuqua High School (rival high school in the district).  It looked like it was going to rain pretty hard and we prayed for good weather (Brittany especially).  It couldn’t have turned out to be a better night for track.  It was cool with a very light breeze and overcast, but only a small amount of rain fell at the first (as you can see from crazy Zachary’s picture to the left)!.  Then it cleared right up!

Brittany ended up doing the:

– Shot put:  19′ 6″

– Triple jump:  22′ 4 1/2″

– 100 meters:  19.151 seconds

– 200 meters:  34 seconds

– 400 meters:  1 minute 21 seconds

She did very well and got 5 ribbons for her efforts.  A couple of the events were personal bests!  She had never run the 100 meters before and thought it would be fun to try! Here are some additional pictures from the meet:

Brittany running the 100 meters.

Brittany getting ready in the shot put.

Congratulations on your achievements, Brittany!

We are very proud of Brittany and her accomplishments.  She had tried very hard this summer to do well in track.  She has had some great coaches who work hard to help them become better (even though this track club is all about just having fun).  After the track meet was done, we all came back to the house and had our ice cream in celebration of Carmen day, and stayed up late playing cards.  Carmen taught us some great card games that she plays with her friends at the pool and the beach during the summer.

Today, Carmen’s mother, Cayetana, sent her a link to show to the family.  It is a video clip of Carmen’s brother Pablo saying hello to the family and also to us!  He is travelling around Spain (20-day trip) as part of a group of 200+ kids from 53 different countries.  He won a research and writing contest as part of a program that allows for this and he will also go to Chile at Christmastime.  Here is a link to the video clip of him:  Pablo Montanes Says Hello! It has been edited to remove other people speaking and posted to my site.  Enjoy!

Our family had a pretty normal day today.  Not much going on with our schedule.  Angela, Brittany and Carmen went for a morning run and said it felt very good to get out and exercise.  Angela went to a surprise birthday party for one of her friends (Saundra Horne), books were taken back to the library, Brittany had her track practice, and Kirk went out with the Bishop to take care of some church business.

Carmen on the other hand, had another excursion where they got to go downtown again.  Today’s excursion included shopping on the “Magnificent Mile” (Michigan Avenue) downtown, going to Millenium Park, and then watching an old movie in Grant Park outside on a huge screen with thousands of other people.

The Hancock Tower on Chicago's "Magnificent Mile." It is 100 stories and 1,227 feet (344 meters) tall.

Angela dropped her off just after noon and the group took the train downtown.  Carmen enjoyed looking around at all the shops and just being in Chicago, but the shopping experience wasn’t too much fun for her.  When you are shopping with 30 people, she said you don’t get a chance to try on anything or really find what you want.  After 4 hours of shopping, she didn’t find anything which was a little frustrating because she got bored.  She also mentioned how expensive things were (i.e. $60 for a t-shirt that some people were spending).  She thought that this was crazy!  She told me that there are some of the students who brought a thousand dollars in cash AND a Visa card with them and were spending insane amounts of money.  She would rather spend her money at the Outlet Mall and get more things for less.  One thing that she also thought was crazy was when they went in the Zara store.  Zara is a clothing store that is big in Spain.  Carmen said that in Spain, that store is common and the clothing is not overly expensive.  She said that the clothes are extremely expensive here!

After shopping, they went to Millenium Park and spent most of their time taking pictures of the bean.  The bean is very hard to describe other than a stainless steel sculpture that is wildly popular in Chicago.

Chicago "Bean" Sculpture

If you look very carefully in the picture below, you can see Carmen taking the picture…

Carmen is in the small group of three standing back from "The Bean."

Chicago's Millenium Park between downtown and the lakefront.

After strolling through Millenium Park, they went to Grant Park to watch an outdoor movie at night.  A HUGE screen is set up outdoors at the park and thousands of people come downtown to watch these movies (usually black and white movies from the 50s).  When they got there, Carmen and one of her friends (Elena) went to find a bathroom and when they returned, the food had been passed out and was all gone.  They had missed dinner! 🙁  So they went looking for food and bought hot dogs from a nearby vendor.  That frustrated her a little bit, but she said the hot dog was good!

She couldn’t hear the movie very well from where they were sitting, so they slept a little bit and both Carmen and Elena went walking around looking at things and taking more pictures.

They came back from Chicago on the train and I picked up Carmen just before midnight.  All the kids were completely exhausted from the long day.  Carmen said she had a fun time but it wasn’t her favorite excursion (due to the shopping experience, missing dinner, and not being able to hear the movie).  Even though it wasn’t her favorite, she remained positive and happy.

Today was a very busy day for everyone.  I probably had the most relaxing day at work!  🙂  The day started off with Sarah’s flute lesson.  Angela took the kids to play at a park while waiting for Sarah to finish up.  Kirstyn, Zach, and Ben had a great time and enjoyed a beautiful, not-too-hot morning.  It’s always hard to get the kids back in the car after playing at the park!

After Sarah’s flute lessons, Angela took Brittany to track practice from 10-12.  She is doing wonderfully well and is learning a lot.  She’s almost finished with her track club and has her final track meet this coming Thursday.  Today she got a personal best in the shot put!

Angie Gaul picked up Sarah, Brittany, and Carmen and for the entire afternoon, they played.  The older girls (Sarah, Carmen, Taylor, and Marta) went to lunch at Noodles and Company, while the younger ones (Brittany and Lexi) went to Chipotle.  They shopped in downtown Naperville much of the afternoon (didn’t buy much but candy) and then they went and did paddle boats on the Naperville River Walk.  (pictures coming)  They had a great time!

The Gaul’s brought the girls back home and then Sarah and Carmen were off again with Mrs. Gaul, Taylor, and Marta to an author dinner.  Angie Gaul works for a bookstore and often, they have authors come and visit and have dinners with them.  Sarah very much enjoyed the activity as I think Carmen did as well (at least she said she did).  🙂

While the older girls were gone, we ate dinner and got the boys to bed.  Angela pulled up her first harvest from our garden today…  beautiful radishes!  She was very happy!  Although our garden area, is very small, it is doing well and much is growing (radishes, tomatoes, peppers, onions, etc.)

When the girls came back home, Sarah invited Taylor, Lexi, and Marta over and we spent the evening together.  Every Monday night, we spend as a family having what we call Family Home Evening.  This is a fun but also spiritual time where we sing together, pray together, and one of the members of the family teaches us about a selected topic.  Tonight we watched a video of the life of Christ and his work in Jerusalem and then his visit to the Americas after his death.  We talked about how the Bible and the Book of Mormon both testify of Him.

After reading scriptures and having family prayers together, we all played a VERY HILLARIOUS game of Apples to Apples!  🙂  We were laughing very hard!  You sometimes take for granted the English language until you have to explain something like “leaf blower,” “touchy-feely,” or “Graceland” to folks who’s command of the English language is limited.  Carmen would translate a bunch for Marta, but it was still funny trying to explain all of these new words they had never seen before.   We had a great time and all went to bed very tired.

Today was Carmen’s excursion to downtown Chicago. Angela dropped her off at the Route 59 train station at 9:15 and the group took the train down to go up the Sears Tower and to take a 3-hour bike ride tour up and down the lake front (Lake Michigan). Carmen said she had a great time but it was a very long and tiring day! 🙂 Riding a bike for 3 hours really wore her out! She loved the Sears tower and took a lot of pictures of the city. They just added glass floor and glass wall extensions to the Sears Tower observation deck so you can walk out onto the glass and look straight down. Pretty cool! Here are some pictures of Carmen at the Sears Tower…

Before going, Carmen said that she would be scared to go out on the glass floor of the Sears Tower observation deck, but when she got there, she did just fine. Pretty scary to see someone sitting on glass over 1,450 feet (442 meters) in the air!

She said that the only time it made her nervous was when some American Teenage Boy came up by the side of her and started stomping his foot on the glass next to her! 🙂

After going to the Sears Tower, they picked up their bikes and took a 3-hour bike tour of the Chicago lake front. She was not sure how far they biked, but the Chicago lake front bike path is about 19 miles (30 km) of beautiful park which includes beaches, tennis courts, soccer fields, and much more. It really is a beautiful part of Chicago.

They biked as far south as the Field Museum of Natural History where the picture below was taken. All went well except for 1 bike accident. One of the girls fell and cut her chin open pretty badly. They bandaged it up, but had to take her to the hospital in Naperville for stitches when they returned back tonight. OUCH!

Below are some pictures of the Chicago skyline that Carmen took while she was there.

Meanwhile, back at home, Kirk had a normal day at work and Angela worked hard to get laundry done, clean house, and get ready for the weekend! We did have a funny moment, however… While Angela was doing her daily exercise routine (today it was aerobics), Benjamin decided to join in and exercise along with her! It was very funny.

Due to the bike accident, the group missed their 6:50pm train (the last express train, I might add), and had to take the 7:30pm train (the first one that makes almost all the stops). Because of that, they didn’t get in until about 8:45pm. Zachary was sad about the train delay because he wanted badly to go to pick up Carmen but had to go to bed instead! 🙂

I picked both Carmen and Marta up at the train station and they were very tired. Carmen came back home, ate some late dinner and went right to bed. What a great day!

The inside of the Claim Jumper Restaurant.

Today ran at a slower pace than yesterday.  Carmen was exhausted after her Six Flags trip so she slept in and got some much needed rest.  Pancakes were on the menu for breakfast which she (and everyone else) really enjoys.  I think that Kirstyn and Zachary really like having Sarah and Brittany off at girls camp because then they get Carmen all to themselves!  🙂

The Cheeseburger Carmen Ordered (hers was only with meat and cheese, however).

For lunch, Angela drove everyone over to Oakbrook Terrace to see me (Kirk) at work and to have lunch.  We ate at the Claim Jumper restaurant and really enjoyed our food.  When Carmen saw their signature cheeseburger on the menu, her eyes lit up and she asked if she could have one.  Claim Jumper is known for it’s very large portions, and the burger was big.  She ate the whole thing and was VERY full after the french fries and strawberry lemonade.  Zach had mini corndogs, Kirk had Black Tie Chicken Pasta, Kirstyn had mini burgers, and Angela had a barbeque chicken salad.

Carmen, Zach, and Ben at Kirk's Office at Grant Thornton

After lunch, we went over to my office building and gave Carmen and everyone else a tour of Grant Thornton.  We saw my office, introduced Carmen to a bunch of people, and took a tour of our data center with all the servers and critical applications, as well as all our networking equipment for the firm.  it wasn’t much, but I think it was nice for Carmen to visit and meet some of the people I work with and if anything, to walk off lunch!  🙂

When Kirk got home from work, Carmen was on the computer finding some Spanish recipes that she thought we might like (triple chocolate torte, Gazpacho, and Tortilla de Patatas, and a rice dish with shrimp or chicken).  We had a good time finding them, having her tell us how they are made, and doing a lot of translation in between.  We printed some off for future reference.

What is Zachary thinking? What a funny little guy!

In the meantime, Zachary got a little crazy and tied Angela’s head up with the string on her hoodie!  What a non-stop talker and active boy that little guy is!  Carmen told us that many of the kids from Spain who have met Zach and Ben have told her that they want to bring them back to Spain with them when they return!  🙂

Angela had to go to a party this evening, so I snuck the kids out and we went to Wendy’s to get Frosties.  Kirstyn and Zach love vanilla, while Carmen loves chocolate!  I think that she could eat those every day if she could.

After finishing the Frosties, we looked on-line for awhile and Carmen used Google maps to show us her house in San Fernando, her school, where she plays tennis, and many other sites.  We also looked at many pictures of Cadiz, San Fernando, and the area around there where she spends her time.

I then introduced Carmen to our yearly family DVDs (in which I take our photos from the year and make video of them).  She watched two of them (years 2003 and 2004) with Kirstyn and me on TV eagerly and with a smile.  If she makes it through and watches all of them, she will definitely be a part of our family.  She got a good laugh about all our family’s antics and experiences.

We also have been sending e-mails back and forth with Carmen’s parents, Enrique and Cayetana.  These e-mails are very fun to get.  They are great people and have raised a great daughter.   They have invited us to stay with them when we come to Spain.  What a wonderful invitation!

Zach, Kirstyn, and Carmen Enjoying Wendy's Frosties

Carmen is really becoming part of our family!  We know this because Zachary wouldn’t go to bed tonight until he had given Carmen a great big hug.  It was very sweet!  Also, I almost called Kirstyn Carmen and vice versa yesterday which made me laugh!

Carmen with Zachary at the Claim Jumper Restaurant

Today was a busy day for the girls!  Sarah and Brittany left for Girls Camp this morning and were very excited.  They really love to go and have a blast with their friends.  We hope they didn’t forget anything!  Carmen went off for a day at Six Flags Great America and was also very excited to go.  She has never been to anything like this and said she wasn’t sure she’d like the coasters and such but she had a wonderful time.  More on that later…

Zach has been having a BALL with his new Disney digital camera.  The thing he likes the best about the camera, is that he can put disney and other characters in the pictures with those he is taking pictures of.  Here is an example of his artistic work with Eeyore and Carmen!  🙂  He takes pictures of everyone.  That is keeping him very busy.

After everyone was dropped off and it was just Angela, Kirstyn, and the boys, they went back home and for a little while, Kirstyn was on a cleaning kick…  She cleaned up the basement and tidied other things.  Too bad she didn’t get to her room!  🙂  Angela even took advantage of the moment and scheduled her an hour-long massage!  What a treat for her!  She left after I got home from work and we surprised her with a cleaned-up garage and house when she got home. 

Carmen got back home at about 11:45pm (a very long day).  She was very hungry because she didn’t get dinner.  She only took $20 with her for food but ended up buying a Fast Pass to get through the lines faster and that cost $15 (which all the kids did).  Without it, she would have had to wait for up to 2 hours in line for each ride.  The park was very crowded.  So she and I talked about Six Flags while she ate her dinner (brownies and a drink) at midnight!  🙂  She said she had a GREAT time and her favorite attractions were Raging Bull and American Eagle.  She also rode on many more which she enjoyed as well.  She got excited, ran upstairs and got her map of Six Flags, and she outlined everything she did.  It was very cute!  What was very funny was to watch her facial expressions as she described her experiences on the rides!  🙂 Here are some pictures…  The first picture (to the left) is of the giant drop (which you will never see me on 🙂 although Brittany and Angela love this), the second is of the American Eagle coaster, the third is of Raging Bull, and the fourth is of the Superman ride.