While Dan conferenced, the girls and I played outside in my parents' backyard. Abby LOVED the hammock, but Izzy kept a wary eye out for danger :)
Wednesday afternoon, we met up with Jill and Sara, my friends from high school. We got to meet Jill's youngest, Charlie, for the first time, and had a nice time catching up and watching our kids run around.
Dan and I had a fun date night in the city on Wednesday, eating delicious deep-dish pizza and strolling through Millennium Park. It's only the second time that we've left the girls overnight, so there was still a fair bit of fretting, but from all reports, the girls had a blast. On Thursday morning, Chelle (who lives in Chicago) and I met for breakfast, and then waited at Buckingham Fountain for Chickigram, GPa, and the girls.
We had a fabulous day of photo ops... the girls sported their fancy sunglasses for their picture by the lions at the Art Museum, and they had a joyful time splashing in the reflecting pool of the Crown Fountain at Millennium Park.
Izzy tried to blow bubbles as soon as she stepped into the water, but because it's not even an inch deep, bashed her mouth into the concrete. Undeterred, she ran, splashed, and made friends with all of the other kids in the park. Abby was a little less brave, holding tight to my hand for most of the event, but she led me around and splashed and stomped her feet. Dan calls it the Fountain of Unbridled Joy... the laughter of all of the kids is just SO fun.
The girls took a milk break at the Bean (aka, Cloud Gate). They seemed to think that it looked like an aquarium, and every time they looked at the reflections, they made their fish sounds. They were pretty impressed with the sculpture.
From the Bean, we headed down to Navy Pier to round out the evening. The girls were pretty excited to see their favorite birds, sea gulls, all the way up in Chicago. We let the girls run around a bit in the Crystal Gardens before we headed back to Joliet (fighting some ridiculously awful traffic... ugh!).
Thursday evening, my friend Kathy came over with her kids, Mark and Tessa. We may have waited a LITTLE too long to take pictures, because our end of the evening photo shoot melted down pretty quickly... it was fairly hilarious, however...
The next time we see Kathy, there will be two more little girls in the family! They're in the process of adopting two sisters from Ethiopia... we're so excited for them!
On Friday, Dan's conference let out at noon, so we had lunch with our friend Paul and then met up with our friends Joe and Jeane and their girls, Laney and Olivia at the Children's Museum at Navy Pier.
The girls had a fun time climbing and sliding, of course, although Izzy seemed very interested in the toy kitchen and play garden, and she and Laney spent some time looking out over the rest of the museum from a big picture window.
This was the first time that we got to meet Olivia. We were so excited that we were able to get together... we met Jeane and Joe in Champaign, but they live in Ohio, and just happened to be on vacation in Chicago at the same time! We're working hard to convince them to come down to Texas for a visit very soon :)
Saturday was our family day. GPa grilled some brats and we spent the day lounging on the deck. My Aunt Janine (who also has twin grandkids) and Grandpa (who got two sets of great-grandtwins last year!) came over, and we had a nice time relaxing and chatting.
Aunt Casey was able to come down for the weekend, and the girls were excited to see her... and to have her read Quick as a Cricket 20+ times over the course of the two days :)
The porch swing was a big hit...
...and the girls were happy to show their dad about the hammock. Izzy was a little more confident with her Dad in there, but still seemed a little perplexed.
We had a really great vacation. I'm still trying to convince my family that moving to Texas would be wonderful for all involved, but so far, only Casey is on board :) Hopefully when the girls are able to talk and beg for themselves, the rest of the family will follow :)
The girls took a milk break at the Bean (aka, Cloud Gate). They seemed to think that it looked like an aquarium, and every time they looked at the reflections, they made their fish sounds. They were pretty impressed with the sculpture.
From the Bean, we headed down to Navy Pier to round out the evening. The girls were pretty excited to see their favorite birds, sea gulls, all the way up in Chicago. We let the girls run around a bit in the Crystal Gardens before we headed back to Joliet (fighting some ridiculously awful traffic... ugh!).
Thursday evening, my friend Kathy came over with her kids, Mark and Tessa. We may have waited a LITTLE too long to take pictures, because our end of the evening photo shoot melted down pretty quickly... it was fairly hilarious, however...
The next time we see Kathy, there will be two more little girls in the family! They're in the process of adopting two sisters from Ethiopia... we're so excited for them!
On Friday, Dan's conference let out at noon, so we had lunch with our friend Paul and then met up with our friends Joe and Jeane and their girls, Laney and Olivia at the Children's Museum at Navy Pier.
The girls had a fun time climbing and sliding, of course, although Izzy seemed very interested in the toy kitchen and play garden, and she and Laney spent some time looking out over the rest of the museum from a big picture window.
This was the first time that we got to meet Olivia. We were so excited that we were able to get together... we met Jeane and Joe in Champaign, but they live in Ohio, and just happened to be on vacation in Chicago at the same time! We're working hard to convince them to come down to Texas for a visit very soon :)
Saturday was our family day. GPa grilled some brats and we spent the day lounging on the deck. My Aunt Janine (who also has twin grandkids) and Grandpa (who got two sets of great-grandtwins last year!) came over, and we had a nice time relaxing and chatting.
Aunt Casey was able to come down for the weekend, and the girls were excited to see her... and to have her read Quick as a Cricket 20+ times over the course of the two days :)
The porch swing was a big hit...
...and the girls were happy to show their dad about the hammock. Izzy was a little more confident with her Dad in there, but still seemed a little perplexed.
We had a really great vacation. I'm still trying to convince my family that moving to Texas would be wonderful for all involved, but so far, only Casey is on board :) Hopefully when the girls are able to talk and beg for themselves, the rest of the family will follow :)
1 comment:
Thanks for the "shout out"! The pictures are HILARIOUS! We were so glad to see you.
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