One Year

There once was a boy and a girl who worked at a retail shop
The boy instantly fell in love especially with her red hair on top

And that's the extent of my poetry skills.  Well we made it.  One year.  It can't possibly have been one year.  We decided to take a mini vacation and went to this fancy hotel.  It was just about a half hour down the road and just far away enough to make for an adventure. The outside of this hotel and the town looked pretty sketchy, but the inside was quite nice.

After finding our hotel we went down the street to find the place we had already picked out for dinner.  As we drove up and saw the place, we noticed one car in the parking lot and kept on down the road.  Unfortunately I don't think this town had a nice restaurant.  We saw another place Patrick had looked up and pulled in there, although I'm not sure how much better of a choice it was.  We were one of 3 couples there and were the youngest by about 50 years...no joke.  Then Patrick adds that this place is like one of the places on Kitchen Nightmares...oh boy.  It made for an adventure.

Pizza for our one year anniversary?  Yes, we did just do that!

Sadly this did look like one of the nicest places in town

Think it can't get better...oh it does.  Our hotel was right next to a Sonic.  So lunch on our actual anniversary seemed like a no brainer to us.  Sonic it was.  If we are not two kids at heart I don't know who is.

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but no we do not have a single picture of the two of us.  We do have plans though.  This coming weekend we will be in Charlevoix for Venetian and we have plans for someone to take a nice one year picture of us then.  The scenery will sure beat anything that this town had.  

Now we are left tonight for the last One Year tradition....

We pulled it out today after getting back and with the insane heat right now in Chicago it will be ready to taste tonight.  Unwrapping this cake sure did bring back memories.  Well that and watching our ceremony again together.  I can't get enough of how perfect the day was.  To  EVERYONE that made that day perfect for us, we thank you once again.  To our parents who put in money and time and love,  we are forever grateful and so completed blessed.  

Thanks for one year babe...I can't wait to see what the rest of them could possibly bring!

Taste of Chicago

As we arrived to this new city, we kept hearing over and over "you have to go to the Taste of Chicago."  So when we saw the dates rolled around we marked our calendars and set out our plan of attack.  It was quite the journey getting downtown during this event.  Our typical 15-20 min bus ride took an hour to get downtown. But, trying to find the good in every situation we were entertained by the 3 children sitting in front of us (clearly on vacation) and thankful for the air-conditioned bus.  Upon our arrival we bought our tickets and set out to find some good food!  We decided to go with the "tastes" because they were less tickets and we could try more things. This is what we got...

• Bourbon chicken sandwich
• Toasted ravioli
• Tilapia taco with tequila lime sauce
• Pulled Pork sandwich
• Bacio (chocolate hazelnut) gelato
• Chocolate covered banana
• Cherry Italian ice

And now for why you really look at any blog...the pictures

There was many many people and as we later heard "you don't go at 4pm"....and that my friends would be the exact time we went.  OOPS!  The people didn't matter to us as we were in our own little world having fun.  Our fun quickly came to a stop though as we tried to venture home.  We had to wait over an hour for our bus.  They were all stuck in traffic.  In Patrick's words, "we were literally stranded" with no way home.  The bus did come though, along with 4 others that were all stuck as well.  As I'm starting to figure out though, no adventure will ever be perfect and you just have to go with the flow and make it work.  

In other news...one week today we will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary...SAY WHAT?  Hopefully our cake doesn't take too bad after one year! (Yes I am that sappy traditional girl who insisted on the top of our cake being saved!)

Take care!

We Did It...and Survived!!!

Fourth of July rolled around last week and I thought I'd share how we celebrate America Chicago style!

The morning began with a little parade in our Hyde Park community.  It is called an "everybody's in it, nobody sees it" parade.  Well not having much clue of what was going on we watched it from our apartment window.  It made for pretty good seats.  This was one CrAzY parade!

Yes there was ONE person handing out candy to the few people on the sidewalks.

No joke...everyone was in it!

Age didn't matter!!!

 The parade ended in a park in our community.  They had many fun activities for kids.  Patrick and I walked down to see what was going on and I ended up seeing 3 of my kids and one co-worker.  

Later that afternoon we headed downtown with everything in tow for the rest of the night.  Our first stop was to find me new shoes for work.  It's hard because they have to be closed toe shoes and let's be honest who wears closed toe shoes in the summer?  We ended up finding these gems!

I know...pretty awesome

After finding shoes we picked up our subway and made our way to Navy Pier.  We had no idea what we were getting into.  We loaded into a packed bus and what was suppose to be about a 10-15 min bus ride took nearly an hour.  We hopped off and found a perfect patch of grass right next to the water.  I could hardly believe it.  Was it too good to be true?  I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Our beautiful view and patch of grass

Dinner for two

We were sitting right next to the Navy Pier sign

Notice all the room Patrick has to spread out...remember that for later....

We even had entertainment pass by us.

Does this say teacher of Preschoolers?  I brought our own entertainment.

All of a sudden (within a half hour) this quickly became our view...uh what happened?

This was about the point when they closed Navy Pier because it was at max capacity! 

So as you can see we ended up having our beautiful patch of grass taken away and simply joined the rest of the crowd standing to watch the fireworks because there was no room to stand.  When they ended, Patrick grabbed my hand and this small girl ducked and dodged the crowd.  I am proud to say we were home by 11!!!  Was it worth the crazy amounts of people? Yes!  Would I do it again?  Probably not.

Hope you had a very happy and safe Fourth of July.  

What I'll Do for....

Lauren, Sara and her sweet family, and of course...my Mama

The plan was formed quickly.  My best friend, Lauren, was home and worried that it might be another year before seeing her I found a weekend that would work for us both.  The date was set...June 29.  We would drive after I got out of work on Friday and come back Sunday night so I didn't miss any work. This is the story of what actually happened...

Friday my boss lets me know she can get me out of work at 1:30...much to my surprise.  I thought  THE STARS ARE ALL ALIGNING!!  COULD IT BE? As I got picked up by the hubby I quickly found out that the Blackhawks (Chicago hockey team that just won the Stanley Cup) celebration parade just ended as well.  2.5 million people + work people + our little car = an 8 hour drive

Our lovely view for a crawling 1 1/2 hours

Saturday though things started looking up.  I met Lauren at my parents' house for spiedies!  We spent a lovely lunch together and quickly caught up.  It's like we never were apart once we get talking.  After lunch, my mom and I spent some birthday money I still had.  We also enjoyed exploring the "shopkick" app which I highly recommend btw! After some shopping we grabbed the new Caribou summer drink and met up with Sara for some much needed pedicures!

Since our short trip left no time to stop, mom then dropped me off at Outback so I could spend some time celebrating the 28 years of marriage that led to my husband with the in-laws.  We had a lovely dinner!  Then, Patrick and I headed over to Lauren's for a bonfire!  It was a perfect night for it.  We enjoyed smores, wine, beer, and of course snicker salad! What a day!  I honestly can't believe I fit all that in over the course of just one day.

After talking with Sara during our pedicures, we agreed that taking Sunday to pour into our friendships was an excellent idea.  We met up at a park with our lunches and their children in tow and had more fun than I could have asked for.  Chris and Sara have done an amazing job raising two beautiful children and we were so blessed to have the chance to play with them.

We played hide and go seek almost the whole time. Lakin would giggle so hard when one of us would find her.

These bridges were one of Lakin's favorite things to run across and jump on.  Patrick jumped on with her to join in.

Little Bennett is growing so much compared to when we saw him right after he was born!  His favorite trick is "Bennett it SOO big"

This boy can make food disappear like nobody's business!   

Lakin reached in to grab a grape and came up with this...she put in on her plate and was ready to dive in until all those silly adults suggested it might be too many!

Patrick and Ben sharing some giggles.  You can't see them in this picture, but his two front teeth are to die for!

Lakin scooped up the opportunity to swing with Patrick.  After getting off Patrick's swing she said, "Now I want to swing with Matthew."  Girl know how to bat those eyes!

After saying some pretty hard goodbyes after so much fun, we hopped in the car and made our way back to Chicago.  This time...the trip only took less than 6 hours! Oh Chicago traffic...you will never be my friend.

I would be lying if I wasn't concerned this trip would happen too fast and I would get to do even half of what I would want.  But, that was hardly the case.  Friends and family will always be worth the terrible 8 hour drive and you sure can pack a lot of fun into a few short hours.

Being sad that we're back home, I'm trying to look forward to our next event.  We're going to see the Fourth of July fireworks at Navy Pier even though we won't get home till super late and I have to work the next day.  Oh well, I figure that we can't pass up these beautiful opportunities we will never have again and it WILL be worth it...I hope ;)

Patrick...Master of Arts

Well Patrick's graduation finally fell upon us.  After 3 quarters countless hours of paper writing and book reading and a big beautiful A on his thesis, he was qualified to graduate with his Masters.  The weekend of festivities began with my family coming into town Thursday night.  Friday morning we got started bright and early at the Shedd Aquarium.  Friday afternoon Patrick's parents arrived and we went to a social for Patrick's program and then headed over to see my work and kiddos.  Saturday the graduation filled day took up most of our time.  Then Sunday we ended the fun weekend with the Museum of Science and Industry.  We had a wonderful time and I was completely exhausted and bummed when the alarm went off, but reality called.  Now for what you all really want....PICS!

Chicago couple

the kids

Local Newspapers..."Mom gets eaten by giant fish!"

Green frogs

Matthew doesn't fit in the Amazon!

Hey you're a clown fish...so you're funny right?

The picture doesn't even begin to show the size of this monster balloon fish

Possibly my favorite little guy all day!

These never came completely out of the sand, they just moved up and down like they were dancing...yes it blew my mind!

If I was a fish, I would want to look like this!

Belugas! So beautiful and fun to watch we thought we could stay all day!

Mama and her calf.  We got to see it nursing.  So cute! It never left her side.

The lady and her city

Otters.  I swear they acted like clowns.  They were so entertaining!

This alligator snapping turtle weighed 100 lbs.  I actually never saw its feet leave the bottom of the tank...not sure if it could!

Ultimate staring contest.  Who do you think won?

Now, as you view this graduation photos I would like to point out that as Dan and I found seats we had no idea where Patrick would be.  I found him among the 20,000 people there and thanks to the help of my camera got some amazing pics!

Mother Daughter pic! Friday at the social hour

Family Photo Opportunity!

Graduation Ceremony #1...those were just the chairs for the graduates 

Led into the ceremony with bagpipes...yup that what you get when you pay their tuition. 

This was our first clue he was close by!

I see him I see him!!!  The guy in front of him is another one of his buddies.

He spotted me...perhaps because I was standing on a chair in a bright colorful dress.

Page 52!

University President declaring that he could graduate

Ceremony #2 Location

Once again...led in by bagpipes

And 7 hours later we finally hear his name!!!

Thanking his friends, family, and ....ME!

Photo with the graduate!

Picture for grandma...Check!

Opening cards.  What's that from Amanda?  Amazing Twins/White Sox tickets in Chicago. YES!

9 Months later we have become true Chicago dwellers. 

U-505 Submarine.  We also went a tour inside. You won't find me doing this job!

Matthew practicing his "hot bunking"

Model train set

I'm milking a cow in case this teaching thing doesn't work out

The men working on their farming

Dan attempting to show us what he does every day

Matthew towering over all the little kids in the tornado volunteer demonstration

Matthew and Patrick were in here.  Patrick was flying.  They spent most of the time upside down.  And to think I let him drive everywhere we go....

They did make it out alive however we heard Matthew screamed like a girl the whole time

Dad landing a space shuttle

A very accurate picture

Goodbye Museum of Science and Industry.  Thanks for all the knowledge you shared with us!  We do not thank you for how exhausted you made us though!

What an awesome weekend am I right?  Congrats babe!  All this hard work may actually be paying off.  I'm so proud of you and I could never have gotten through that program you just finished with perfection! Way to go!!!! Now, GO TWINS!!!