Late June - Early July 2009
Since Donnie was overseas for the ENTIRE summer... the boys and I decided to have a three week visit up in the Chicago suburbs at my parents', which is ALWAYS a good time!
July 2nd - Today was my mom's 60th birthday... the boys & I were SO happy to be able to spend it with her and the rest of the family. My older brother, Rob, and his soon-to-be-fiancee, Amy, flew out from Vegas, and my youngest brother, Mark, came up from school at University of Illinois. It was the first time we've all been together since Christmas two years ago.
Kaden & Kaleb LOVED that they were able to help Grandmom blow out her candles.
My younger brother, Greg
Earlier that day, we all went canoeing at a local forest preserve. We rented three canoes with three people in each... it was SO fun!!
Greg's girlfriend, Alexsondra, came too. It was my first time meeting her and we hit it off SO well!! Her and I took Kaden with us in our canoe. She is in front, and I had the back... we made a great team! =)
My baby brother, Mark
He's graduating this December with his Master's in Engineering... SO proud of him!!
It was SO funny watching Greg, Mark and Sky! You would think they would be doing circles around us... but that was DEFINITELY not the case! Alexsondra & I just about died laughing as we sped past, listening to Greg & Mark argue about rowing techniques. Classic!
My mom & dad took Kaleb out, so they had the slow and easy canoe. They went off in an opposite direction and we didn't see them until it was time to bring the canoes back in. Kaleb wanted to get out of the canoe and explore so they pulled to shore a few times. He had SUCH a GREAT time with Grandmom & Papa!!!
It doesn't look like it in this photo... but Sky was SO glad he got to go in Uncle Greg & Uncle Mark's canoe so he could hang out with the big guys.
Alexsondra & Kaden, doing their thing!! =)
Rob & Amy stayed back at my parents' house and took a nap while we went... they were tired from their late flight.
After we got back, we all had a barbeque. It was so good to see Amy again... I haven't seen her since I was in Vegas last April and wished her & Rob could've been able to stay longer than just three days. But Rob needed to get back to work, the courtroom was calling. =(
July 4th - The Fourth of July is one of the boys' favorite holidays... they LOVE fireworks and watermelon!!
Here they are having a watermelon eating contest. They had at least FOUR of them while we were there. =)
We had another barbeque and several friends came over to join us. It was great to see some old friends I grew up with I haven't seen in a while!! My brother, Greg, and his friends brought some fireworks to my parent's house... there is a park and huge field behind our house where they set them off. Once it got dark, we walked down to watch the city fireworks.
When we got back from watching the fireworks, Kaleb was amazed at all the fireflies. We don't have them in the south... so I was able to relive some of my childhood and ran around helping him catch some. I remember Greg & I had a glass jar with holes in its lid. We would catch SO many of them... and let them all go when it was time to go inside to get ready for bed. =)
Kaleb SQUEALED when he finally caught one on his own.
July 11th - My mom & I took the boys to Farmer For A Day. They had a BLAST milking cows, lifting bales of hay, feeding pigs and watching two ladies make butter. Before we left we bought some old-fashioned lemon drops and homemade soy candles... SO fun!!
July 15th - Today my mom & I took the three boys to the waterpark at their Recreation Center. It's a really nice park with three really high slides, a lazy river, a high dive, a tidal and a regular pool. This waterpark is right next door to the spray park... which has giant whales, towers and flowers that spray water as the kids run through. There is also a big sand area with little water mills and water tables to play with. We had a great time visiting both parks a few times while we were there.
July 17th - Today Greg, Alexsondra, Mark, Mark's friend Robert and I spent the day and evening downtown Chicago.
The weather was gorgeous... we really enjoyed walking around and talking. We had dinner on Navy Pier and went to Ex Calibur for a Supernatural show.The show was really interesting, telling us about unusual events that happened in Chicago history with a spooky twist. Alexsondra was REALLY spooked when Greg ended up with the 'cursed coin' during one of the tricks. Good thing she had me, the skeptic, to talk her out of worrying over my brother's demise. Haha!!
Afterwards, we went up to the club and danced our little hearts out. We met our old friend, Ashley, there... it was SO good to see her!!
During our visit, Alexsondra and I went to the Country Thunder concert and had a great time seeing Kellie Pickler, Taylor Swift and several others. I got to know Alexsondra really well while we were there visiting. She quickly became a dear friend and I have my fingers crossed that Greg will make her my sister-in-law in the future!! =)
It was a GREAT day in the city... I can't wait to do it again!!!
The boys and I had such a good time in Chicago... it was REALLY hard to come home this time!! While we were there, I was also able to reconnect with several childhood and high school friends... I can't wait to see them all again! It's a bit sad when I think about Mark moving to southern California after he graduates. We are SO torn deciding whether we will move out west or stay in the south when Donnie retires from the Army... thank goodness we have PLENTY of time to decide. What we would give to have both sides of our family living nearby!! At least we'll always have nice places to visit no matter where we settle!
