Louisville "Layover"

Sadly, it was time to think about heading back to Virginia, but we weren't quite ready to go ALL the way back just yet...  Josh had a great suggestion to stop in Louisville for a night to see some new things and have fun in a pool!  We got a great rate on Hotwire for a hotel downtown with a pool and booked it!  We checked in and the boys went straight for the pool while I did a little unpacking, investigated some early dinner choices for the boys and figured out how far away we were from the Louisville Slugger Museum.  

We fed the boys an early dinner in the hotel room before heading to the museum.  During the summer, there is a special twilight rate as they stay open a bit later, and we were happy to take advantage of that!

The HUGE bat out front!

Making new friends ;)

We had some time before our tour time to wander around the museum, and Jackson took a turn with a pro bat!

Josh tried out Ken Griffey, Jr's bat!

The tour was really fun and interesting!  It was neat to hear about how the process of making the bats has changed over the years and the players' preferences.  Jackson was really into it...Graham not so much.  But, it was past bedtime at the end of vacation, so that wasn't too surprising.  At the end of the tour everyone gets a mini-bat to keep!  Such a fun souvenir!

A cool pitching game that measured the speed of your ball!

A little taste of home!

Wrigley Field seats!

Graham INSISTED he was milking the horse...  

After we finished up at the museum, we saw a little more of Louisville by finding a few caches and walking around.

On my way back from picking up dinner for Josh and me, I saw this funny sign for all the ways folks pronounce the city name!

The boys went to bed, and Josh and I relaxed in the hotel room before heading out for the rest of the drive home in the morning!  This stop-over was a GREAT idea, and we'd love to come back and see more of Louisville another time!

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!

Yay Beach! Boo Goodbyes :(

Our last full day--sad!  We spent the morning at the beach!  

Josh organized this awesome castle with some "helpers!"  ;)

After naps and quiet time, we headed back to the cool playground and sculpture area.  

After playing at the playground, we walked over to dinner and then took some silly pictures after!

Our last night of relaxing by the fire...

HA!  The rest of these pictures were taken by the kids as the adults ran around trying to pack up all of our things!

Penny champions again as all of this fit inside of her to head back to Evanston!

This house was incredible and so perfect for what we needed!  We would love to plan another trip back!  And, the time we got to focus on these special friends was priceless :)