Chicago

Chicago is just a few hours away, so when my folks came out to visit, we had to make a day trip up there to see the city.  I am in love with Chicago, and it was my parents' first time, so it was really fun to show them around the downtown area.

We were about ready for lunch when we got in, so our first stop was Giordano's for some deep dish pizza (or spaghetti, if you're like me and are repulsed by the idea of deep dish pizza).  Peter was on board with the spaghetti too and kept shoveling it into his mouth while his eyes got very heavy.  He nearly drifted off mid-bite when he suddenly perked up again and started playing.  I love it when kids get sleepy at the dinner table.  Jane wasn't interested in the noodles at all, but she was hungry for just the meat sauce.  She's a little unpredictable sometimes.

After lunch we walked around Millenium park and saw the bean, the faces fountain, and the amphitheater.  I think that whole area is just beautiful.  It sprinkled on and off, but the temperature was perfect.

Then on down to Buckingham Fountain (or as I always think of it, the Married with Children fountain.)  I think this fountain is so spectacular.  Even the open courtyard space surrounding it contributes to its grandeur.

We sat near the fountain for a while where Jane and Peter were more than happy to get in some good bird chasing time.

The Chicago tribune building has 149 stones imbedded in its facade from all over the world: a stone from the taj mahal, the pyramids, the berlin wall, Westminster Abby, the Colosseum, Notre Dame, and even the moon.  It's such a neat idea and fun to wander around the building reading all the different places represented.

More outings and playtime

I love watching these two play together at river or the playground.  They really play so well together and I'm so glad they have each other.  Watching them is one of the best parts of my job.  Telling them it's time to go, and dragging them home again is not my favorite part.

... and more rocks in more rivers...

Camping in the Hoosier National Forest

 I have been anxious to go camping for a while.  We had planned to go in June, but we got rain, rain, and more rain.  When it wasn't raining, we go 90+ degrees and humid.  No thank you.  I didn't expect a pleasant weekend to show up in July, but we got lucky and jumped on the chance to take the kids camping.  After our first campground attempts we foiled, we kept wandering south until we found ourselves in the Hoosier National Forest.  The campgrounds were great; just what we had hoped for.  We got in later than expected, though, so it was already dark.  We set up our tent while the kids excitedly climbed in and out of the tent over and over. We're car camping, right, so we brought our self-inflating queen-sized blow up mattress.  Unfortunately, we hadn't checked the batteries and they were dead.  :(  We tried to gather every bit of soft padding we could find, made our beds and hoped for the best.  We put Peter down (in his Pack'n'Play, lucky kid) and made a campfire.  Jane ended up hanging out with us until midnight!  That girl can party.  Finally we called it a night and headed to be on the hard gravel ground.  As you can imagine, it was a miserable night.  I may have been able to do that once upon a time, but those days are long gone.  I really didn't sleep at all that night.  Jane woke up once complaining that there were spiders in her bed.  It was really sad... especially because we knew it was true.  There are HUGE daddy-long-legs everywhere here and both Chris and I felt one crawl across our faces in the night.  Morning came and the camping happiness picked up again.  It was so fun to watch Jane and Peter exploring around the campsite.  They loved every minute of it.

Jane is sporting a bold mix of stripes and polka-dots.  Only she could make that look cute.

We had breakfast and then headed down to the lake to throw some rocks in.   We had hoped to spend a little time on the sandy beach, but with all the rain we've been getting a lot of the recreation areas were flooded and closed.  You can see the water line is up into the trees.

Peter learned how to say "cheese" on this trip. :)