Chicago Tourist Date Night

We celebrated our actual anniversary in Michigan, and then we got to enjoy a present from my Mom and Dad of a Double Date to take an architectural boat tour in downtown Chicago.  I had been on a boat tour of Chicago once in summer camp, but none of us had ever done the architectural one!  We were all really looking forward to it, and it did not disappoint!

 We got on board pretty early and picked great seats.  Our guide was really funny, but he also knew his stuff, so we all learned a lot!

 A shot of Navy Pier in the distance

 The boat paused for some photo ops

Of course, I don't remember nearly as much as I'd like to of what we learned, so we'll just have to go again one day!  The weather was beautiful, and we had such a good time doing something special and fun in "our" city :)

 Oh my!  For dinner, we went to a Millie's Supper Club, and it was DELICIOUS!  This is a picture of my beer cheese soup that came with popcorn as a topping!  Everything was so yummy, and we were SO full!

 Our plan was to meet up with Cassie, Jonah, Zoey and Brody at a playground on Thursday and leave for Indianapolis on Friday for a night or two.  BUT, Katie's family got a stomach bug, so for everyone's comfort we had to cancel that stop :(  BUT, it bought us an extra day and night in Evanston because we had already added a last-minute stop in Louisville, KY to our trip home, so we had to wait until that hotel night was scheduled.  It ended up being a blessing in disguise to just have one extra day before packing up the car again :)

A nice, cool, comfy evening at Mimi and Bampa's in their new t-shirts earned from Camp Curiosity: Summer Reading at the Skokie Library!

Hello Summer!

We wasted no time with First Grade ending to getting on the road to start our summer vacation!  Jackson had a great year in First Grade with Mrs. Chapman :)

We picked Jackson up just a smidge early from school on the last day and headed for Evanston!  We were in a bit of a hurry to get there, because Larry, Michelle, and Madelyn were already there for a wedding!  We wanted to hang out with them as much as possible over the weekend while they were in town.

 Larry and me in our matching "Gilmore Girls" tshirts under the Northwestern Arch :)

We got to babysit Madelyn while Larry and Michelle went to the wedding they were in town for, walk around Northwestern's pretty campus (and grab some caches while we were there), eat at Herm's and some other fun spots, visit the Custer Street fair with the three cousins which was always one of my favorite things to do to start summer, play at the playground and celebrate Father's Day with three AWESOME dads!!! 

Mother's Day on the Big Screen and at the Garden!

 What a perfect movie night for us :)

 On Saturday, Mimi, Bampa and I took the boys to the Manassas Air Show!  We've gone the last few years, and it ended up being a really nice day, so we ventured out.  The only part that is tricky each year is the shuttling to and from the parking lot.  Getting TO the air show was fine, but getting back to our car was a huge headache :(  It was really a bummer to end a fun day with long lines, bad attitudes (by other people) and disorganization.  But, we really had a great time!  The boys wanted to try one of the inflatable right away, and they were lucky to have Mimi and Bampa there to make that happen ;)  It was a pretty cool space shuttle slide...

 Jackson under the plane

 In front of the Abraham Lincoln!

 It did not take Jackson long to thrown the football through the hole!  They boys got cool water bottles from the Army!

 Someone brought a Flat Stanley!!!

 We relaxed after getting home and then headed to Red Robin for dinner!  Always a favorite :)  

 Another fun outing on Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day!  We all had such a good time at the Meadowlark Winter Walk of Lights this Christmas, that it seemed like such a fun idea to enjoy the Garden during Spring!  The Fairy Garden was the first thing we saw, and it was just adorable!

 We all had a great time!  We stopped at The Vienna Inn for lunch--a great choice!

Hanging out back at home.  We ordered Chinese for dinner to round out a really fun day :)

My Birthday and Cinqo de Mayo

 Josh bought an inflatable kayak to try out while deciding how much kayaking he'd really do.  Luckily, he realized he would do a good amount of kayaking if he had his own before this one got a hole :(  It was not patchable, so...

 We bought a kayak while on my birthday date with Mom and Dad who arrived in town earlier in the day!!!

 Josh did a lot of research and found a great option to allow him to secure the kayak to the top of the Prius.  We love our ATP (All Terrain Prius)!

 After that adventurous outing, we had a delicious dinner at Coastal Flats followed by adult milkshakes at Ted's Bulletin.  Such a fun day with my favorite people :)

 Yesterday was a tad complicated...  I dropped Mimi off at Pattie to have lunch with Jackson, and right after picking her up from that, I headed over to preschool for Graham's Mother's Day Tea!

 The classes sang some adorable songs, and Graham just looked SO happy to be up there performing for me!

 Our Tea Time!

 There was a scramble at our table for the carrots, celery and dip!  LOL

 THEN, we picked up Mimi and went to Chick fil a for lunch :)

 To round out a really fun day, we decided to brave El Paso for dinner!  We knew it would be crazy, so we sent Mimi and Bampa ahead to put our name on the list and have a drink.  Surprisingly, the wait didn't end up being that long and Josh and I went over with the boys and we had a really fun and delicious dinner!

 Graham had just earned this new train, and it kept him busy during all of dinner!

 Cinqo de Mayo dinner!

Stories with Mimi :)