2018 Summer Bucket List

chicago with cousins

My sister Becky and her family live in the suburbs of Chicago so we took a Lyft out to spend the day with her. The girls were beyond thrilled to have more time with their cousins. I’m known around town as a baby-hog so I was pretty excited too! 
Pretty happy to be spending the day with this little guy. 

We spent the morning exploring the Chicago Botanic Gardens. 

Afterwards we grabbed lunch at Portillos

The girls spent the afternoon climbing and sliding at Funtopia. 

We finished off our day with yummy ice cream treats. 

We had such a great time visiting with family and will miss them terribly! 

chicago family day

We had another day of big adventures planned in Chicago. Luckily today, Annabelle and Yaya decided to joins us! We were so happy to have them with us for the day. 
While we waited for them to drive down, we walked on over to “the Bean”. 

We walked over to the fountains — it was a pretty happenin’ day in the city. 
After meeting up with my mom and Annabelle for lunch, we walked over to Navy Pier. 

They have done so much work to the Pier and it was such a fun stop. I’ve always been a fan. It’s a big tourist spot, but the great thing about not living there anymore is that I AM a tourist and can freely enjoy the tourist hot spots.

Gorgeous afternoon
Can’t beat that view!
YaYa treated the girls to these delicious, smoky snacks. 

My mom took the girls back to her house while B and I enjoyed a night out in the city. We hit a few of our favorites and had a great time catching up on our favorite Chicago memories.

chicago with gwyneth

Annabelle asked to spend the day with my mom and her cousins while B, Gwyneth and I explored the city. I think the girls were pretty happy with their decisions and were equally spoiled. 
Our day started with a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. I’ve always loved that museum and I couldn’t wait to share it with G. There are so many amazing paintings and she soaked it all in.

After our morning at the art museum we grabbed Chicago style pizza at Giordano’s. The timing was perfect because it started to rain just as we hopped in line. We waited out the storm with delicious pizza.

We opted for the thin crust and it was even better than I remembered. 

After lunch we needed to walk off all that pizza so we explored Michigan Avenue. 

Another trip to the candy store.

We grabbed drinks on the 96th floor of the Hancock Tower. We had a great seat right by the window.

Then dinner at Carson’s ribs. Another favorite from the years we lived in Chicago. 
We did lots more walking and then ended up at the Cafe Luxe for late night desserts. 
It was a pretty great day with our baby girl!

the 4th in Chicago

After lunch we took the Amtrak from Milwaukee to Chicago. It’s a quick, easy trip and the girls thought it was pretty great. 
We checked into our hotel and met up with my mom. We stayed at the Omni Hotel in Chicago which is in the best location; walking distance to trains and so many great landmarks. We were in the heart of the city and loving it. 
We cruised Michigan Avenue and went to a few of our favorite stores. Everything was closing early because it was the 4th of July but we still got to do some great window shopping. 
A quick stop at the American Girl Store. 
Then, of course, the lego store next door. 
dinner at Ditkas
Dylan’s candy bar
We walked to Lakeshore drive and fought the crowds to get a sight of the fireworks. As we were walking back to our hotel we got caught in quite the downpour. Annabelle is pretty freaked out by thunderstorms and was not liking that one bit. We cowered in a covered bus stop with several other tourists and waited for the rain to let up. We were finally able to grab a cab, but we couldn’t all fit. The storm was letting up so B took the girls in the cab and my mom and I walked back to the hotel. It was a crazy night! 
When we got back to the hotel, Annabelle begged YaYa to take her home with her. She got YaYa all to herself and was able to spend the next day with her cousins. She was a pretty happy girl and G didn’t seem too disappointed to be spoiled by us. 

milwaukee | day 2

My sister, Becky and her family drove up to Milwaukee to spend the day with us. I was so glad to have them join us! The girls were thrilled to have the day with their cousins. It was kid day at the ballpark so we were able to get some pretty cheap tickets for the game. We had so much fun and the day was full of baseball and laughs…and everyone fighting to hold that little baby. 
Luckily we are Chicago bound after this, because Becky and her family headed home for the night and the girls did not get enough time with their cousins!

milwaukee | day 1

We were up bright and early for our flight from St. Louis to Milwaukee. It was a super quick flight – just one hour! We had one day to explore the city before my sister’s family drove up to meet us. We were all so excited for them to arrive — we all love that little family and were ready to get our hands on that little baby. 
First stop: Pabst Mansion
Then off to the Lakefront Brewery for lunch
We spent the afternoon exploring Discovery World. It’s a great children’s museum right on the lake. Gorgeous views.
We finished off our evening with dinner at Mader’s Restaurant. It was a busy day with a bright and early start and we were all ready to crash into our beds that evening! 

happy birthday, annabelle

Happy, happy 11th birthday to our amazing Annabelle!
Both of our girls’ birthdays fall on Wednesday this year which just happens to be B’s busiest workday of the week. It’s not negotiable that he will be at the kitchen. He was disappointed to not be able to spend the entire day with the girls but made arrangements to be there in the evening. 
We spent our day in Boulder. We stopped by the Verizon store to get a phone upgrade, but were turned away because Annabelle had a tiny crack in her old phone. With insurance, it was $100 to replace the old phone and then simply turn around and return it for a new phone. There was a lot of soul searching on this one and Annabelle decided she wanted to use her birthday money to get her old phone fixed so she could go forward with the upgrade. Although it was her money to do as she pleased, we spent most of our lunch talking through the pros and cons of her decision. In the end the decision was hers and once it was made she didn’t look back. 
We had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen in Boulder. I made a big stink about it being her birthday to both the host and the server, but they didn’t make a stink for her. I didn’t want a free dessert, I just wanted them to come out singing and embarrass her a little. Ha! We had a lovely lunch and the girls even let me snap a few pictures. 
This is my favorite. This is Annabelle. I love that laugh.
After lunch Annabelle requested a visit to the Celestial Seasonings Factory. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I can drink some tea! I really love it and the girls do too. 
We didn’t have to wait long for our tour, but we made great use our time in the tasting room. We tried so many different teas and found several new favorites. 
Annabelle’s favorite is the peppermint and she could easily outlast us in the “mint” room on the tour.
We made it home in time to pick up B and head out for dinner. Annabelle’s request was for salad at Olive Garden. After dinner we headed downtown for a special 40th anniversary showing of Grease at the IMAX. I haven’t watched that movie all the way through in quite some time. It was a blast seeing it on the big screen and watching the girls bop along in their seats. It was such a fun day celebrating our Miss Annabelle. I’m so lucky to be her mom!
I tried to gather 11 pictures of my sweet girl for this special day….but once I started I couldn’t stop with just 11. I sure do love this little lady.

painting with bubbles (and stencils)

We dropped YaYa off at the airport and then had to head down to Southlands. The sun was shining when we left but the skies quickly turned dark. We sat at the window and watched my car get struck with hail which was quite the bummer. 
Poor Yaya had to sit at the airport for about 6 extra hours waiting for her flight to leave because of weather delays. We were hoping they would just cancel that stupid flight so she could come hang out with us but it finally took off and she made it home safely. 
When the hail passed we hopped back in the car and headed back to our neck of the woods. I hosted my first summer paint session. It was a very small group which was nice and less intimidating for me. My little ladies rocked the plates they made. They used both bubbles and stencils and I can’t wait to see how these plates turn out after they are fired. 
Annabelle and her emojis
Poor Gwyneth got a wicked headache as we were wrapping things up. It was nothing a smoothie and a good night sleep couldn’t fix!

Pretty impressive unicorn from Miss Gwyneth!

hot springs

We have driven by the hot springs so many times, but never stopped….until today! I was so excited to finally visit the hot springs, introduce my girls to them, and see what all the hub bub was about. 
That water is called the “fountain of youth” and oh man, it’s  nicccce! It’s about 90 degrees and will ruin you for all other pools. The girls commented that it was a bit stinky but I didn’t think it was too bad.
The pool had a great diving board and we all took turns jumping off…including me and Yaya! There were also two great slides that kept the ladies entertained. Annabelle was drawn to the diving board while Gwyneth couldn’t get enough of the slides. 
My girls are little fish and could have stayed at the springs all weekend. I know for sure we’ll need to plan another trip up so we have more time. 
That view!
We headed back to the hotel to clean up, grab some lunch and check out. It was time to head back down the hill. It was a wonderfully quick trip and makes me love this beautiful state we live in so much. 

fathers day | strawberry festival

Happy, happy Father’s day! 
We were lucky enough to celebrate the day with this guy. He’s a pretty great dad and we were eager to show him a good time today. 
We drive the 3 hours up to Glendwood Springs this morning. The drive was pretty easy and the skies were clear. Everyone was pretty hungry when we arrived so we checked in our hotel and then headed over the bridge to downtown. 
After lunch we made our way to the Strawberry Festival. 
We were there just minutes before it started to rain. We stuck around for the pie eating contest which was under a big tent, but all the vendors started closing up. We missed the rides and food which was kind of a bummer. We had planned to spend most of our day here so we quickly had to come up with a new plan. 
We decided to walk to the corner store and pick up some cards. Our plan was to hang out in the hotel lobby and play some games until the weather cleared up. On our way to the store we stumbled along a beer garden that had an arcade and lots of board games. 
We ended up waiting out the storm playing games at this place for about 3 hours! We had so much fun. We laughed and laughed and had a blast. 
We ended our meal with dinner at a not so great Mexican restaurant and then sat on the patio and plays another few hours of card games. Even thought it didn’t go perfectly as planned it was really a great day and we were so glad to celebrate the best dad around.