chicago traditions

For Kelsey’s first year living in Chicago, Mom and I were determined to keep the girls’ weekend tradition alive! Since it was just the three of us, we stayed with Kelsey in her apartment. Sleeping on the couch and air mattress brought back lots of nostalgic memories from our first holiday visit back in 2009 staying in Courtney’s apartment!

Mom and I drove in Friday afternoon and met up with Kelsey at her place. We took the bus (Mae would be so jealous) to the Christkindlmarket in the evening. We stuffed ourselves with potato pancakes, pretzel, wiener schnitzel, and crepes while browsing through the booths selling decorations and gifts.

We started Saturday with a leisurely morning and then began our shopping extravaganza at the huge Macy’s store on State Street. During our lunch at the Walnut Room we chatted with a very glittery fairy princess who works a day job as a very non-glittery financial advisor. We spent a bit of time in Macy’s before heading north along Michigan Avenue to hit up some different stores.

We ate dinner at Grand Lux, which was a welcome bit of rest after a lot of walking. While enjoying our beignets for dessert, we realized that our day consisted of about 50% eating and 50% shopping. I think that might be the recipe for a perfect girls’ day!

Sunday morning, we went to church and brunch before driving home. We had such a fun weekend, and I can’t wait to do it again!

turkey day

Sometimes this blog feels like a bit of a Catch-22... When we are really busy, I have more to share, but less time to blog it!

We've been busy bees, preparing the house to celebrate Thanksgiving and then hosting! It was our year to spend the holiday with Dan's side of the family, but we wanted to avoid the long car trip with a toddler and we wanted to show off our recent house projects.

I took the whole week off work, so Mae and I could spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa early in the week. We packed lots of fun into a 2-day visit with a trip to the Children's Museum and a cousin play date with Ollie and Archie. We drove back home Tuesday afternoon and had a jam-packed Wednesday with Mae's 2.5 year checkup (lookin' healthy) and lots of meal prep for Turkey Day.

All our guests (GranE, Batman, Colleen, Tim, and David) arrived Wednesday evening just as I was finishing up in the kitchen. Thursday morning, Colleen and I went out for a short run (my first one in a lonnng time), and came back in time to watch the parade on TV. Mae had fun snuggling up with GranE and Batman to watch all the floats, balloons, and performances!

Dinner turned out great, and the only bad part was that I ate so much that I didn't sleep well on Thursday night. Small price to pay for a delicious meal. Of course I let everyone get a big mouthful of food before announcing that I was taking a photo. I wanted to document all my hard work, both on the cooking and also on the new paint color of our dining room (more on that later). I also love an excuse to get out the china and crystal!

Friday we relaxed at home, and then we went to the zoo on Saturday. Thanks to the family for braving the long drive and for helping us make holiday memories in our new home!

the weather was on our side

After spending the entire month of October waiting for a pretty weekend day, my family gave up and decided that our annual Kings Island trip just wasn't going to happen this year. We wanted to have a family gathering anyways, so we planned an indoor day of arcade fun for the last, dreary Sunday of the month. Everyone came to our house for lunch first. Even Kelsey flew in for the weekend from her current assignment in Delaware! As we were finishing lunch, we decided to check the weather forecast one more time... and it looked like the rain might hold off juuuust long enough to get some roller coaster rides in!

We bundled up and rushed to the park. The chilly, breezy weather kept the lines at a minimum, and we walked on to most of our favorite rides! We split our time between rides for the grown-ups and kids rides in Planet Snoopy.

Mae and Oliver loved driving the little cars, riding the space buggies, and going in circles on the bumper cars.

Half of us rode the train while the other half went off to ride another coaster. We took turns watching kids and riding, which wasn't a problem since the lines were so short! No one had to wait for long for their turn to ride.

It didn't rain until early evening. We rushed inside Festhaus and caught the end of a Halloween-themed musical revue. Mae and Oliver were completely mesmerized by the singing, dancing, lights, and costumes.

I'm so glad we were able to make this trip happen. We had a fun fall weekend and got to enjoy time together and lots of fun rides!