Here We Go…

I have already posted that we went to the Pride Parade on Sunday, so lets start with Monday. 

I met Erin and Gage at my mom’s work and we went to the park across the street.

Everyone was hungry, so we stopped off for breakfast at a favorite diner.  That’s where Erin introduced Emerson to her new favorite breakfast, a toasted bagel with cream cheese and bacon sandwich.

After breakfast, we went over to my dad’s house where the kids played in the back of the El Camino, golfed and used sidewalk chalk.  They were so well behaved playing together. 

 

For dinner, we went to a local beer garden to meet up with friends.  We had a wonderful time catching up.

On Tuesday, it was cold.  It was 63 degrees out, and for July, that was cold! 

I took the girls downtown to my mom’s and we all hopped a bus and went to the Taste of Chicago where Emerson ate frozen popcorn on a stick.   

Gage fell asleep on the bus and slept through the whole thing.  My poor sister had to carry him all over the place. 

  He finally woke up after we walked all the way to Macy’s.  My sister had a gift card burning a hole in her pocket.   We went to the children’s department and they had all of these FAO Schwartz stuffed animals for 50% off.  When we were looking at them, the sales lady told us that they were actually 75% off and the sign just wasn’t up yet.  That’s when Vivi found Kevin.  He’s the bird from the movie UP.  He was $25 and with all the discounts, he only cost us $6.50.  She hasn’t let him out of her sight since.  I have a feeling that Kevin is going to accompany us on quite a few adventures.

Tuesday night brought us to Rivinia to see what my mother calls “The Fake ABBAs”.  Their actual name is “Arrival from Sweden” and they are an ABBA tribute band.  The Rivinia is an outdoor theater that is AWESOME!!!  They have pavilion seats, but to me, the lawn seats are better.  Everyone brings picnics, wine and candles to sit out under the stars and listen to some wonderful music.  

My kids have been ABBA fans since they’ve been born, so they danced their little booties off.  True to form, Gage slept through most of it.  It was sort of like “Flat Stanley”, we just took pictures of Gage asleep at different places.

Wednesday brought more cold, rainy weather and one other thing…pain!!!  My sister was so sore from carrying Gage all over the city, she had to opt out of the adventure for the day, KiddieLand.  

 

As sad as we were that Erin couldn’t go, we were happy that Matt got some time off and could go.

KiddieLand is a small amusement park that sort of caters to smaller children.  The little kids could ride most of the rides, unlike some other parks.  We spent a few hours there and then it started raining a little harder so we called it a day.   We headed back to mom’s and had dinner.

Thursday was very low key.  Erin was still a little sore, so we didn’t do much.   I went and picked them up and took her to my dad’s so she could say goodbye.  After that, we went back down to mom’s for dinner.

It was a pretty laid back visit this time.  No drunken nights at the bar or anything, we were well behaved and were able to do a lot of connecting. 

Matt drove them to the airport this morning. (Gage was asleep) I didn’t think I could handle an airport trip emotionally.

Now, it’s back to real life.   Today, I have to clean the house, pack and run to the store so we can leave bright and early tomorrow morning.

Matt has two days off in a row and has decided to take the fam to  the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!!!!  I am so excited!!!