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.

The Big Trip: Part 5--Hawaiian Family time

(warning: picture overload!)

In addition to cousin time, it was so nice to have time together as a family while in Hawaii.

Activities included:

The beach

Dole Pineapple Plantation Riding the Pineapple Express was of course the favorite part for both of our boys.

On the train ride we had a beautiful view of the Island. Dillon pointed out the "Simba trees."

The Dole Whip was amazing!!

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

We got to drive my brother-in-law's fun car around and it definitely added to our island experience. My sis said we looked pretty "hot" with the top down!

Kamie made the trip for us by watching our kids one evening so Aaron and I could go to dinner and then two nights later watching them overnight so we could go down to the hotel on Waikiki alone! It was so nice to have some time with just us. It really started feeling like a vacation! (It helped that Aaron finally got to put work away!)

I finally got the taste of Polynesia I'd been looking for when we went to a Luau that night. I looked pretty white and ugly next to this beautiful Hawaiian girl putting on my fresh flower bracelet.

The food was super yummy. They served four different kinds of meat--all amazing! Sides included rice, sweet potatoes, poi, pineapple and pickled seaweed.

The dancers were awesome! They did dances from all the Polynesian Islands.

Our MC was Glenn Medeiros, which didn't mean anything until he started singing "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You." His big hit in 1987! It was awesome!

This the the view from our hotel room.

Kamie brought all the kids down to the hotel the next day so we could all swim together.

Notice poor Aaron's sunburn. Ouch! We overheard some kids referring to him as the "Red Lobster Man!"

We completed the experience with Pina Colodas, poolside.

We loved having the time together. I loved having help with the boys. The boys loved playing with their dad. Aaron loved the break from work, even though he had to work quite a bit. It was a fantastic trip, start to finish -- Utah, Idaho, Hawaii. We saw so many people we love and made memories I hope to never forget.

I'm a lucky gal!