Independence Day

This last Independence Day was a new one for us with 2 littles. The city doesn't really host any parades, but we found one out in the suburbs and were able to attend with some wonderful friends of ours.

 

Much more culture in this parade than any I have been to up to this point! Brazilian dancers, Scottish band, an Asian group, hip hop dancers, and Mexican riders. What fun!

We were just commenting on how we hadn't seen any horses in this parade (as it neared the end), when along came "fancy horses." They were beautiful and fun to watch!

So glad we found a parade out here! And we are grateful for this country, our freedoms, and the military personnel who work and fight for our freedoms. God bless America!

The Season of Family

It's summer, that means lots of trips and time with family, right? We had a month where that sure seemed to be the case; and we loved it! This time though, the boys and I had to leave the Mr. at home to work as we travelled to see family.

I was not super excited to fly on my own with the boys on an early morning flight. I really hate waking them up early (just before 5 am) to go places, but they really are good boys and they did so well. We had a layover in Vegas on the trip there and had to walk from one end of a terminal all the way to the other end of the terminal furthest from where we were-yay. But with people we sat next to were very kind and helpful. From Vegas we got to sit next to one of the coaches for The University of Nevada's football team (Coach Boone?) and he let Mickey watch TV :)

When Mickey saw Grandma, he was so excited and so cute! She was able to meet us at the gate and when he spotted her, he hesitated for a moment because he wasn't positive it was her. Once I reassured him though, he immediately shook with excitement and started running toward her laugh/squealing, "GRANDMA!" I nearly cried watching how cute that was! Then, of course, he didn't want Grandma to put him down until we got to her car... Then he quickly fell asleep.

We had all sorts of fun playing with toys, swimming, wrestling, singing in the car, swimming, and playing out in the yard (and more swimming).

But one of the major reasons we really made the trip was to see this wonderful cousin of mine marry her man - and to celebrate with them! I thoroughly enjoyed the wedding celebrations (as much as we could attend with two young kiddos on a schedule for a very different time zone), and seeing so many family members I haven't seen in a long time (so thanks for getting married dear cousin!)

Mickey definitely enjoyed the neighbor's little car and the ride he got to take in it! 

A trip to Utah couldn't be complete without a dutch oven dinner in the mountains! Ahhhh! I missed them so, and it was nice to get back for at least a short time.

Swimming, ice cream, cold watermelon on hot days, and family(!) - all complete with a family jam session! We had some seriously good times and got to see even more family since my brother had his farewell for his 2 year mission the Sunday after the wedding.

This brother will be serving a mission for two years! Crazy!

More Family

We love family! We really do enjoy having them visit - and we get to see more of the city with them here than we do normally. It's wonderful!

The R side came for a visit - well, Auntie E and Grandma anyway. We actually got to play tourist for a few days. On one particularly nice and sunny day, we ventured downtown to Grant Park and walked out way North. The park really is beautiful, and a nice escape from the shadows of high rises and towers.

Mickey got to ride his bike to his heart's content!

Buckingham Fountain

The park is very large, and thus, very dynamic.

On the north side, we found Maggie Daley park, which is SO much fun for littles and big kids ;)

Mickey even dared to take on these two slides - with Auntie E of course - and said he had fun! (For those who know this cautious boy, that is amazing!)

Crossing BP Pedestrian Bridge and heading to the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and Millennium Park. The architecture is amazing!

We had to walk briskly through Millennium Park since the boys were hungry and we were heading to the Magnificent Mile for dinner. We've learned that oft times, when looking for an address downtown, one must look up on the upper levels or around the corner/block to find what you're looking for - especially restaurants, they tend to be in obscure places. This evenings ventures took us to the Shake Shack - the entryway looked like this:

We couldn't end the day without a walk back down State Street with all it's shopping grandeur (and The Disney Store). How some people figure out ways to squeeze stores in tight spaces will never cease to amaze me.

While family was here, we were able to celebrate our anniversary as well as the Mr's birthday. What fun celebrations together! Sticking to our non-traditional cake tradition, we got donuts instead.

Note to self: Glazed and Infused induces a sugar hangover for the typically sugar-free Mrs.

Oh! This is for you?!

Mickey: "it's Christmas!"

The Mr., Auntie E, and Mickey had a birthday party blast digging tunnels in the sandbox near our house.

And we can't forget the crawling of Goose who figured out that movement shortly before family arrived. He sure loved exploring!