In the summer.
Yup. That means I was pregnant through the hot month of July, not once, but twice. And the year Nikki was born was a scorcher!
Anyway, Derrick's birthday comes first. We planned his party for the Friday before his actual birth date, because that is what seemed to work best.
He had quite a list of boys to invite and it worked out that all of his invitees but one were able to make it. That was really nice!
There was a couple of games of football.
Some swimming (even though the weather was not the most conducive to swimming)
The "opening of the presents" Always a good time!
Eating supper. Derrick had suggested I do a pancake with toppings meal instead of the normal birthday fare...which is frozen pizzas. I would say the pancakes were a HUGE hit and the most popular topping was the whipped cream out of the can! ;-)
Yum-O!!
I did a camping theme and a camping cake for Derrick this year. Just for something different. It is getting a little hard to come up with a new theme...since Derrick is 10 this year. He seemed to like the cake, though.
Blowing out the candles...
I also did a treasure hunt for the boys and then at the end of it they got their goody bags. I don't have any pictures of that, but Jeremy did get some pretty good video footage of it!
The next day we headed out on a firewood run and then continued on to visit our friends Mark and Cynthia in the Twin Cities. We wanted to see them before they move out of the area. Plus, they were so kind as to give us (we did pay something, but not nearly enough!) a bunch of their furniture that they didn't want to move with them. I felt so grateful! We were able to replace some pieces in our house and get a few pieces that we were in need of!
This is Nikki with their daughter. They had a lot of fun together!
Cynthia and I. We have a special bond because of some shared experiences and Cynthia has been such a loyal friend to me!
We were home for part of a week and then came the much anticipated trip to Chicago with my friend Stephanie (notice the use of your full name, Steph!) and her daughter, Lauren.
We headed out after work on Thursday. Nikki did some coloring and some movie watching on our way to fellow blogger, Liz Nye's house.
Her house is just off the interstate and I was so grateful that she gave us a place to stay for the night. Was also really good to sit up late and chat with her (even if our conversation did turn a little spooky!) and then hang out in the morning for a while, too!
Liz and I...before I left on Friday morning. Isn't she just so beautiful?
Eating some Baskin Robbins sherbet in the van.
We FINALLY met up with Steph and Lauren after driving through much downtown traffic and spending much time trying to find each other. Let's just say neither Stephanie nor I are extremely good with maps.
We had decided ahead of time that we were going to take the girls to the American Girl Doll store and then take them to the birthday supper they have there. (The girls were both born on the same day and their birthdays are coming right up!)
I love the excited and happy looks on the girls' faces on these pictures. The supper was awesome and for me, it was one of the highlights of our little trip. Although, when I asked Nikki what her high light was, she said "Swimming at the hotel pool." Seriously??? Guess we could have done that right here in town.
The girls were posing with Woody. He is made up entirely of Legos.
The view by the bridge....along Michigan Ave. in downtown Chicago. It was quite pretty!
On Saturday we decided to take public transit so we wouldn't have to pay for parking, etc. Well, that was a story in itself. One that is long and boring, but let's just say that we spent about 1/2 of our day just getting from "here to there". A bit frustrating. Two ladies with two girls in strollers with almost zero knowledge of public transportation...yeah, it wasn't the greatest idea. But, it all worked out and we stayed pretty cheerful through it all, so that was a win!
We stopped at a little cafe for breakfast on Saturday morning. It was good...if a bit expensive.
We took these really cool pictures by the Lincoln Park Zoo...with the flower gardens and the skyline in the background. Sad to say, the one of Stephanie and I didn't turn out real great. Maybe it was our pint sized photographer's fault!
It was SO hot when we were at the zoo. I guess I was tired of taking pictures...plus my phone was low on battery, so this is the only picture I have from the zoo. An ugly rhino. Although I have to admit that I found the rhinos to be oddly fascinating.
Do I look tired on here? Well, that's because I was. This is at the place where we finally got to try out Chicago style deep dish pizza. It was yummy, but after all we had to go through to get it, I'm not sure if it was actually worth it. (Another long, boring story that involved a thunderstorm and a very crowded restaurant with a LONG wait!!)
The girls playing in the hotel room.
It was a good weekend! It was so good to see my friend and to get to hang out and explore together. We met in Chicago because it was 1/2 way between us, but I think, in retrospect, it may have worked better (with having the girls along) to go to a smaller town where getting around wasn't such an issue.
After eating a yummy breakfast at Panera Bread, we traveled back home on Sunday. Here Nikki is intently watching one of the DVD's that I rented for her.
And that catches you up to date on my crazy busy life lately. I am ready for a weekend at home!
And then...Nikki's birthday party is coming up next Tuesday. Thankfully, she has requested a Dairy Queen cake. And I am perfectly fine with not making another cake right now.
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