Happy Birthday Wesley

My baby turns 2 today. I can hardly believe it. He is such a cute kid and we are abosolutely in love with him. He is talking like crazy--full sentences. He loves trains, cars and Curious George. He recently used the potty for the first time. Unfortunately, the terrible twos are setting in a bit. A little more yelling, throwing and hitting these days, but he's still our sweet Wes and we love him more than ever. We're so glad he's part of our family.

Day in the City

Before our cousins moved, we had to take a trip to the city. We had a great day.

Riding the train is half the fun.

Splashing around in the Crown Fountain

This could be a really fun picture, except I forgot I was jumping next to a 5 year old! I should have toned it down a bit.

Fun view of the city. I love the Sears--now Willis--peeking through. Dillon and Lynette have been such great buddies. They're really going to miss each other.

Inside "The Bean"

Millenium Park

Thanks for playing Dobsons. We're sure going to miss you!

Zoo Days

We've been to the zoo three times in the last month. Twice to the Brookfield Zoo with cousin Janelle and once to Lincoln Park Zoo (downtown) with Nicole and Lorenzo. I wish had better pics to show the fun.

The monkeys are always my favorite. This little baby orangutan was adorable! 2nd cousin Trevor and Wesley were pretty cute hand in hand

The kids loved the dolphins. We watched them swim around for quite a while.

We ended the day with a carousel ride

I love the farm part of the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Gotta love the Gorillas

While we were downtown, we went to Navy Pier and caught a quick ride on Thomas before going to the free night at the Children's Museum.

I love the little nature area of the museum. When we lived in the city, Dillon and I would spend hours just in that little part.

Who's driving this thing?!?!

Water fun. Those cute little jackets don't do much good--the water always runs right into the sleeve.

Pretty rough picture, but at least we know we were there together.

I love having access to all this fun in Chicago. Such a great city! COME VISIT!

Little "Stay-Cation"

Our 7th wedding anniversary was two weeks ago. It fell on a busy Saturday filled with baptisms, library classes, birthday parties, and lots of work for Aaron. So he contacted my sis in the hotel business who booked us a room at the Embassy Suites downtown this last weekend. Aaron's awesome cousin watched the kids so we could go.

(we're not very good at these self-portraits!)

We went to dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe and it was super yummy. It is right on The Magnificent Mile so we had a great view of the city streets and passersby while we ate. The best part was the dessert:

"New Orleans Beignets Served Warm with Three Sauces" After dinner, we walked The Mile, stopping at a couple stores.

When we were ready to head back to the hotel, it was pouring rain---and I mean POURING! Luckily we had an umbrella, but we still got pretty wet with the blowing rain. It was kind of fun to run in the rain together--kind of romantic too!

The next morning our awesome sitters brought the kids down to the city to meet us for breakfast at the Bongo Room where they have all kinds of yummy breakfast foods including some very creative and delicious pancakes!

So glad we went, and it worked out perfectly to meet back up with our kids that way. Wesley kept hanging on to me--I think he missed his mommy!

Thanks for 7 great years Aaron. I love you more than ever!

And a special thanks to our babysitters for making our little get away possible.