The Circus!

The girls spent the weekend with my mom and dad last weekend, while Jason and I stole away to Chicago for the weekend. Heaven. The girls had a fabulous time with Grandma and Grandpa, the main attraction being the circus on Saturday afternoon!

Ever since then, Marin has been walking around pretending to be on a tight rope and is even teaching her dollies to tight rope. She loved the animals and the "silly clowns" and the lights and the music- and of course, the enormous snow cone. What are grandparents for, if not to spoil? :)

Emilie loved it too- especially the bright lights and the music!

Both girls came home with a souvenir stuffed animal, and Marin is still asking to watch the video clips of the circus on the computer to relive the experience. What a thrill!

The girls rounded out their weekend with Grandma and Grandpa with church downtown Chicago, lunch with GG and OG, bubble baths and making popcorn on the stove. Great memories made for sure!

Numbers 7, 8 and 32

It was another great weekend filled with celebrations, good friends, and laughter enough to have the cops called on us twice, marking visits seven and eight this summer. Per usual, the police were apologetic and embarrassed; they confirmed that we aren't doing anything wrong, and encouraged us to continue doing just what we are doing. Honestly, it really doesn't bother us. All of our other neighbors are so fantastic that we just can't worry about this one set of boringtons. This weekend our friends in blue told us that they are really more concerned with the neighbor calling for no good reason than they are with us. Apparently that neighbor has a bit of a history of being a cop caller for every. little. thing. And so the fun went on. And boy did we have a lot of it!

Friday night we celebrated Jason's birthday and kicked off the celebrations early, with a late afternoon happy hour. Jon took the train to our house after work, and Lindsay met us shortly after. A few of our neighbors came by, as did my parents. We picked up our babysitter and walked to dinner for a table of seven at our absolute favorite restaurant in town, Bien Trucha. The food is so good I can still taste it. We all shared taco tapas and enjoyed some delicious margaritas, and then headed home to relieve the babysitter. Marin had a great time with Caleigh again, and this time we remembered to give her a key so no one got locked out. We had a great night, stayed up wayyyyy past our bedtimes, and celebrated Jason's 32 great years.

Jon spent the night and Lindsay was spending the weekend, so Saturday we walked to Nosh for breakfast, and that afternoon I headed into the city to celebrate with Dana at her bachelorette party. I was only able to stay for a quick visit, because Mike, Becky and their son Joel were on their way from Indianapolis. Still, it was a great visit with my friends and such a welcome change from having to chat with each other with our kids in tow. We sipped champagne from a suite at the top of The Wit Hotel downtown overlooking the lake, and chatted about Dana's upcoming Louisville wedding!

Back at home, Joel and Marin were having a BLAST playing together in the sand, taking turns on their bikes, feeding each other applesauce, playing basketball, giving lots of hugs and kisses and speaking each others language the entire time. When I arrived back home, they were each covered head to toe in sand, and chatting together like they had spent their entire lives doing just that. After dinner, they took a bath together. They loved splashing and playing in the bubbles together and passed toy animals back and forth as they told each other what sound it made. After they were both dressed for bed, they piled in my lap and we read one of Marin's favorite stories. They both went to sleep in record time. Mike and Becky spent the night and we stayed up late talking, but called it a night in time for a great nights sleep.





Sunday we loaded Marin and Joel in the wagon and headed to breakfast at another great spot by us. The kids were both well behaved at breakfast and were sad when we got home and they had to say their goodbyes. But the fun didn't end there! Molly and Brian stopped over late in the afternoon so Marin got to love on them for a quick visit and then we headed to my parents house for a family celebration for Jason's birthday. We topped the whole weekend off with a walk to Graham's for ice cream.


The house is quiet today. I love when it is full of laughter and good friends and family. Is there anything better? I had the post weekend blues BAD last night. It was such a great weekend seeing so many of our family and friends that we feel so blessed to have in our lives. Luckily, there are only four days until the next weekend!

Pappy and Nana visit

Pappy and Nana came to visit this weekend, and we thought it was the perfect excuse to hit the trails for a long bike ride. Marin loves riding in her burley, so it makes getting on the path easy peasy. We rode for about 12 miles- stopping along the way at our favorite places: the Japanese reflection garden, Island Park playground, the big pond, the Windmill, and finally, the Mill Race Inn Gazebo for some duck calls and beers.

After our ride, we came home and enjoyed a delicious dinner of gourmet burgers and sweet corn, that Jason prepared on the grill. While Jason cooked, Nana and I followed Marin on a tour of our neighborhood- guided and directed by Marin. And we ended the day with a walk to Graham's for (you guessed it) ICE CREAM! Marin got 14 mosquito bites on her face alone on the way there, but it was still soooo delicious.

The next day we walked to one of our favorite spots for breakfast, where Marin sat like an angel until her food came- then she turned into a devil child when I had the nerve to cut her pancakes for her. Luckily, she calmed down quickly and was able to enjoy the rest of the walk home, saying "Pappy! Pappy!" the whole way and dancing to "The Ants Go Marching". And since no visit is complete without a little shopping, Debbie and I walked to the shops on 3rd street while Marin napped at home with Bill and Jason.

Thanks for the visit, Pappy and Nana! We're glad you came!

In the Groove...

Marin and I continue to have a great time together and have gotten into a bit of a groove. We have been putting in the miles on the stroller during a lot of walks, are hitting up a lot of parks, and kicking and splashing our way through the pool. Also worth noting: we have survived our first trip to the grocery store, and Costco (which, by the way is a DREAM on a Wednesday at noon) and have even managed to run a few other errands. Here are some other things that we have been up to lately.

We are enjoying breakfast on the deck together every morning:


Marin loves the swings!

We had a playdate/lunch date with our friends Caroline and Tommy:


We walk with Grandma from her house to see Miss Ellen's coy pond. Marin knows the exact way, including where on the sidewalk to leave her little car that she pushes there. She leads us back to the pond, climbs up on the bench seat, points and says, "Ish! Ish!"


We hosted my Grandparents and my mom for lunch on Thursday to celebrate my Grandpa's 90th birthday:


Friday, we were invited to a party at my old work. Everyone brought their kids and I had a good time visiting with friends.

I was so glad that Marco was at the party with his mommy, Melanie. Marin and Marco were born one day apart. I really wanted to get their picture together, but neither one of them shared my enthusiasm. :)


We love the weekends when Daddy is home and we can all enjoy the sunshine together.

We go out to dinner:


Take bike rides:


Shop the outdoor French Market by our house:


This weekend we went to the Geneva Arts Fair just down the street from our house:


And last night we gathered with family to celebrate Grandpa and I one last time on our birthday month. It was a delicious meal nothing short of a feast packed with our favorites.


LIFE IS GOOD.