Transitions

It feels like fall today--the last day of September. When I think of fall, I think of transitions...from summer to winter, from warmth to cool, from flowers to nothing, from leaves to color to bare trees, from outside to indoors, and from long days to early evenings.
I like fall--sort of... It's beautiful to see the changing colors, crunchy leaves, feel the crispness, and smell the campfire. What I do not like is that it means winter is coming.
We had plans of getting some projects underway today and last night, however Josh's assistant (the pansy) quit yesterday. Well, that meant Josh had to work more yesterday as well as today (his day off), and more tomorrow. It's okay, it just doesn't allow us to get done what we would have liked to do. We wanted to go see the movie "Fireproof", but didn't have time. He worked all weekend. When I say all weekend, that means 10a-10:30p Friday, 9a-10p Saturday, and 7:30a-9p Sunday, and 6:30a-5:15p Monday. Maybe that's the secret to how trim he manages to be! Also, it means all weekend by myself with the girls. That's routine for weekends that Josh works which is every other weekend.
In light of all that, Josh did get to do a little tiling work this evening--a start back to the project. I have started my Shutterfly book--downloaded all of the pics anyway. In the way of schooling, Aliyah is officially finished doing double lessons =) yay!! We are on lesson 65 and now will do only one lesson in each subject per night. This is the perfect spot for only doing one per day as we are getting further into the school year and will need to spend more time on things that are getting tougher.
Josh and I also rented a movie last night from Redbox--thanks Mimi!! Actually, we rented two--one for the girls and one for us. We rented "Knocked Up". Let's just say it was a little more raunchy than I would have expected since it didn't mention it was rated "R" for nudity. I guess with a name like that we should have expected it. Anyway, the girls got to see "The Retrievers"--great movie for them since they are in a dog-loving stage right now.
My two goals for accomplishment are to complete my Shutterfly book and get the hallway painted.
Back on the subject of transitions...
I have begun removing flowers from my garden. I have to do it gradually since it takes up so much space in the trash cans each week. There is probably 4-6 weeks left for some of my flowers at best. As I spend less time out in the yard, I will be spending more time inside--oh yippee, but not so bad since we have projects to do.
We have to take walks much earlier now due to the sunsets getting earlier. They are definitely necessary, however I don't know who benefits most--myself or the girls. For them it is to burn off energy and chill. For me--exercise and enjoyment of the outdoors plain & simple.
PLEASE--I already want the heat back and it has only been one day of cooler temps--what will I do???!!!! Move somewhere else I suppose!

Orchards

Since Fall is here, it is time to post about our trip to the orchard. We go every year usually in September. I like to go when it is still warm outside. We go on a weekday since the orchard is packed on weekends. We usually buy a few treats like apple & pumpkin butter, maple syrup, and raspberry pretzel dip. We also bought a beautiful mum. The girls enjoyed playing on all of the different things they have--although there weren't as many pumpkins out yet as there usually is. Keirah & Aliyah both love apples & cider.

The girls also were able to go to a smaller orchard with my parents on Friday. I don't have pictures from that visit, although my mom said that they had sheep there. Keirah went over to the fence and kept saying "hi sheepy". The sheep decided to come over and see her (apparently it was a large one). Keirah got scared and ran away from "sheepy". It sounded hysterical to me.

Here are some pics from our adventure at the orchard... notice the wind farm in the one pic...

Marigolds

Did you know Marigolds could get this big?? I sure didn't!! Aliyah planted these from seed in May. They have grown so huge that several of them kind of fall forward. I took some of them out today, but I had to get a picture before I threw them away. I am used to the ones that get like max 1' tall. These didn't say what type they were on the package so we had no idea what we would get. I picked up one of them and it was around 5 feet tall!!

I have done yardwork today as I mentioned in my earlier post. It was dirty work that's for sure. Now all that is left on my "list" would be balancing the checkbook--oh fun & looking through totes for ebay.

Saturday A.M.

*Update*
Ok, here are the answers to my tag by www.welcome2jujusworld.blogspot.com:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. List 6 unspectacular quirks you have.
4. Tag 6 bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each taggee's blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Quirks:
1. I love great deals/clearance--although they usually find me when I'm not looking for them.
2. I like for my house to be in order and not have anything laying around.
3. I have a regiment of questions that I ask Josh before I go to sleep every night (i.e. Is the car locked, is the door locked, are the windows downstairs shut) I do this because our back door has been open all night before or had the keys in the lock.
4. I really like it when the street sweeper goes by the house--like yesterday. He saves me from having to clean all the junk along the side of my yard that drives me nuts! We live on a corner so I probably have more than other people do.
5. I look forward to checking the mail each day just to see if anything cool came in the mail like a sample or something.
6. I don't like winter and I dread it every year.

Tag: any one of my blog readers or followers who has the time or wants to do this.

What a beautiful morning it is today! All is quiet in the house with the exception of the birds chirping outside and my fingers clicking on the keyboard. The smell of cinnamon rolls still permeates the air. While Josh was getting ready for work, I put in some cinnamon rolls. They were so yummy--apple! I'm sure they were most definitely calorie/fat free. He enjoyed them, although he could eat 12 and it wouldn't show.

I plan to vacuum here shortly and do any other cleaning. Nothing major is on the agenda for today--except for time outside!! If I feel like it, I may get into some totes for ebay items--we'll see. Go out and enjoy this weather!

Friday

I love Fridays. Something always feels great about Fridays. It must be that feeling of ahhh...the weekend is coming and it's time to chill and do something fun.
It is quieter at our house tonight. Keirah is staying overnight with grandma. Josh is playing with his new Env 2 cell phone and I am blogging. Aliyah finished lesson 57 in schoolwork tonight. This week is the last week of 2 lesson days. We do this because we like to get out in March (the beginning). Anyway, with Keirah at grandma's, it gave Aliyah & I time to do school.

I have this new routine set up while Aliyah works on school. Since she does it in the kitchen, I focus all of my tasks in the kitchen as well. I can do dishes, fold laundry, work on the checkbook, tidy the kitchen, clean the countertops, and read blogs and stuff. This keeps me on top of things in the house and in the same room as Aliyah. It ensures that she gets everything done and makes me available for questions.
I have my laundry finished =), my dishes done =), my kitchen clean =), my coupon organizer cleaned out =), and the house is picked up =). Tomorrow is time for some yard work. Since I mowed the front last night, I will mow the back tomorrow. I also need to give the flowers a drink. The September warm weather has been welcomed by me!! One thing that is awesome is to have windows open all of the time for fresh air. I don't think we have used the A/C even once this month.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that yesterday was Terrific-Deal Thursday!! Everywhere we went, we found great stuff on sale or clearance. Sears: Fiddle Faddle .32/box, Chips Ahoy 1.00/packs, Oreo .84/pack, Zone Perfect bars $1.25/box, Wheat Thins .80/box--awesome deals!! We got some great stuff at Target as well, but I won't list them all since it is late and I am tired now.
Have a SUPER-Duper weekend! Go out and enjoy these beautiful days while they last.

Chicago VI

Following our time at the Oprah show, it was definitely time for lunch. We were all well past starving. We headed over to Chili's (our old-faithful restaurant). It was as yummy as could be. All along the way, we were talking about how we couldn't believe we got to experience Oprah and see all of those Olympians. On that note, I found a pic of the men's gymnastics team being silly.
Our plans after lunch were to go to all of the rest of the stores that we still wanted to visit. Josh wanted to go to the newly-opened Crocs store on State St. We left and began walking. We walked and walked and walked and eventually made it to the Crocs store. We found Keirah a cute pair of shoes and then headed back up towards our hotel. We stopped at Caribou Coffee since we had a coupon from our Oprah trip earlier in the day. We had some yummy drinks there. We also visited the mall on Michigan to pick up a few things. Aliyah enjoyed the Sanrio (Hello Kitty) store. The Lego store was fun as well.

We went back to our hotel and sat for a couple of minutes--it was more like we all visited the restroom, re-arranged all of the bags and went to claim our baggage from the bellman. They suggested a cab to Union Station. They whistled and there it was. It was a quick cab ride and a nice driver. We can say that we have taken every mode of public transportation in Chicago--train, water taxi, regular taxi, trolley, and bus. We had some time to wait in the train station. We saw everything from full-fledged Amish to some very hippy-earth loving folks.

It was our best trip ever--that's saying a lot. It magically beat out Florida. I think that was because it had everything that we like as a family all in one place. It had the beach and sand that looks like the ocean and plenty of things to do when you aren't swimming or chillin! There are many hours in a day and there was never a shortage of evening activities in Chicago. The hotel was wonderful and a super Hotwire deal. Some of the best things that we did were free--how is that possible?? We didn't pay a penny to have the Oprah experience. We had some great shopping experiences--when else do you get to shop by yourself at AG or Coach or the nice stores of Michigan?? The restaurant choices are endless and great!! You could eat at a different place for every meal every day for months and still not try all of the places Chicago has to offer. I will post a montage of pictures from the trip that I haven't posted before.
I thought this garden was gorgeous. Maybe if I have a garden like this--I will win next year's garden contest hands down! This is at Navy Pier.









The above pictues are a shot of Buckingham Fountains and the Chicago Theatre on State St.

The following pictures are Oprah's digs--it is almost right next to the Drake Hotel. She lives in the Gold Coast area--Chicago's $$ district. Also, you will see some of the shops along Oak Street (Chicago's version of LA's Rodeo Drive).

Well, that concludes my pictures and stories thus far from this trip to Chicago. I will be posting more pictures on Facebook so, if you are my friend on FB, check them out there. I have so many more that I just didn't have room to post here. Time for Shutterfly!

Chicago V

We woke up early on Wednesday morning to get ready for the day and to get our things together. We found out that morning that Oprah's taping would begin at 10 am. We arrived at MP around 9:15 am. We were given Olympic pins which was our little souvenir of the day. We walked into the lawn area and were surprised that we didn't have too bad a spot at all. When we walked in, I saw Chris Rock and his wife (more on that later). It is one of those things where you see so many famous people in person all at once that it's one of those "pinch yourself" moments. The warm-up lady was having the crowd practice different "cheering" for different things. She also had some practice Q&A times. I must say, now that I've been to a taping, I understand what goes on before airing, during commercials, and after the show. It was a neat experience even from that aspect.

Anyway, the crowd warm-up lady informed everyone that this was the FIRST show kids have ever been allowed to attend. Normally you have to be 18 years old. There were only a handful of kids. Most were in school anyway--obviously. She also announced that this was one of the biggest Oprah shows ever. Everyone was buzzing with excitement...c'mon 175 top Olympic medalists--including the one and only PHELPS! We finally saw the Olympians lining up to come in before official airing. Those medals gleamed in the sunlight. They waved and of course everyone was about to burst they were so excited. Another side note...there are a TON of cameras and even several helicopters flying overhead. Some of the cameras are on these like 50 foot pole-type things. Those are the ones that typically sweep over and around the audience. There were 3 cameras up on booms. The police presence was incredible. The police were on horseback, bicycles, segways (sp), foot, squad car, and probably any mode I have forgotten. Finally, the announcer came on and announced the show and out came Cleopatra...I mean Oprah. These giant velvety curtains opened and there she was. A few observations on Oprah:

she had giant hair that day (it was even more giant than you would see on tv)
she was speaking in a deep voice that day

She made her intro and brought in the Olympians--everyone went wild!! Once they say that they will be back right after this, they arrange people and things on the stage and figure out exactly where they are going to go/do. Suprisingly there is a large amount of dead time which is filled by highlights of various medal-moments of the Olympics. The crowd knows when to cheer as they are going back to taping. Michael Phelps was interviewed first of course. She probably spent the longest talking to both Michael and his mother. I noticed that several things were cut out of his interview once the show aired. Things like...his love interest (to which he said some things must be kept private), what he has done with his million from Speedo (I don't recall that part airing but maybe I'm wrong) I'll have to go back and watch the tape etc... They interviewed Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Dara Torres, Jenny Finch, Kobe Bryant, Misty May & Kerri Walsh and the women's 4 X 400 medley relay from track as well as the other members of Phelps 4 x 100 relay. The show went for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. That's why they had to cut stuff out. They posed them all for photographs which took quite awhile. Shawn Johnson only came up to Phelps elbow (if even).

The entertainment of the day was exciting, although it was almost lost in the complete excitement of the Olympians. It was David Cook (this year's AI winner). He sang "Time of Your Life" while the athletes all came to greet the crowd. Everyone was beyond excited at that point.

Keep in mind that if you were in the seats, you were not allowed to take pics or anything. My regular camera was dead. I think I got one photo and that was basically--turn on and snap and that it turned off. All of these pics were taken on cell phone--thus major lack of zoom and delay in shots. The pic above is the big picture they were all having taken with Oprah. Michael Phelps and Shawn J. are on your left and Oprah is in dark blue.
I also forgot to mention that Oprah's best friend, Gayle King was there along with Mayor Daley (his first Oprah show attendance also), Chris Rock & his wife, and many Olympian's parents.

Following the show, we (at my urging) made a bee-line to the outside where we knew that they would be exiting eventually. We were in a crowd of people, but decided to move across the street where we had a clearer view. The crowds by the buses were pretty hemmed in by police and such. We did get to see a lot more on that side. There were several double-deckers (probably 8) and then Black Escalades for special people such as Michael Phelps, Oprah, Misty May, Kerri Walsh, I believe Shawn & Nastia, Michael's mom & sisters. Some of the Olympians crossed the street right by us and took a cab (not sure why). As we were walking out of MP, I had just put my camera away and I came within feet of Chris Rock again. He looks the exact same in person--giant smile, signature voice. By the time I got the phone back out and camera back on, he was walking away.

I think I mentioned before that the men's gymnastics team were funny. We (myself and some girls next to me) yelled Jonathan Horton's name and he and 2 others decided to do handstands on the top of the bus. They did it several times. He (Horton) is just as charismatic in person as he was on television during the meet. When the buses began to pull away, they drove right past. He smiled, yelled and waved at us all. Dara Torres--wow--you can see the muscles on her arms a mile away! I can see why she did so well. Oprah was one of the last to leave in a black escalade. I figured her vehicle would go straight. Instead, they turned around and drove right past us. I had my phone away because I didn't expect to be able to see her. Well, wrong again...she rolled her window down right in front of us and yelled out the window--thank you and some other stuff and waved. I'm sure that few feet is the closest I will ever get to Oprah. She had on gold jewelry--notably a gold bracelet. Off she went down the streets of Chicago.

All in all, it was an awesome experience. It's one thing to see the Olympics on TV and cheer for these people for a couple of weeks every four years, but it's another to get so close to them and high-five them and see them in person. I have always been a HUGE HUGE fan of the Olympics (since I was 6). I remember watching Mary Lou get the gold!

A couple of questions we have been asked repeatedly:

1. Did Oprah give away anything? No--I'm guessing having 175 Olympic medalists was her gift. We only got the pin. I don't even think everyone got those.

2. How did you get in? It was by accident and worked out great that we were able to get to MP and we didn't have to have tickets.
3. Is Oprah still thinner or is she bigger again? I would say she has a typical AA woman's build. She maybe didn't look as thin as some previous shows I have seen, but I'm sure many factors weigh into that.

4. Did you get Michael Phelps' autograph? No--and I would be surprised if very many/if any did. They specifically said the athletes were not doing autographs or photos.

I'm ready to go again!!

In my pictures, you will see Brendan Hansen (gold medalist in swimming)--I missed getting the medal in the pic =(. BTW, he lost his medal on a plane flight last week, but it was found and turned in--whew! Also, there was Brian Clay (decathalon gold) and some track stars and others who I can't name.

I will check Josh's phone for post-worthy pics as I think he may have a couple more. If so, I will update the post with more pics.

Watch for the remaining Chicago visit post to come! I'm on a roll this week--so far. Every time I post, I miss it a lot and I'm more than ready to go back!

Chicago IV

I have decided that I have to finish my Chicago posts before September ends!
We didn't do much on the morning after Labor Day. Josh wasn't feeling well after he ate entirely too much the night before. That is the truth and he would tell you that also =). Anyway, we were meeting someone that I work with through work--does that make sense? She is from Chicago so she took us all to lunch at Lou Malnati's. Once we got ready, we walked to Lou Malnati's and had some yummy pizza. My children were a bit fidgety--maybe because it takes awhile to get the pizza. Anyway, it was good and it was hot outside. Once we left, we decided that we should squeeze in yet another day at the beach. After all, the weather was perfect for it.
The beach had people, however it was quite obvious that it was no longer a weekend or a holiday. We enjoyed some more swimming and relaxing. For some reason, water & sun de-stress me--majorly. It was refreshing. Since we didn't have watches or anything, we decided we would leave when the shadows of the buildings got long and took most of the sun from the beach. It worked great. We took a water taxi to the beach--very beautiful, BTW. We decided to try the Blue Trolley to go back to the hotel. The Red Trolley that stopped at our hotel finished running for the summer after Labor Day. Anyway, the blue trolley worked out, we just had to walk a bit further than we did with the red one.
We decided that we would have a shopping night. Upon request (by Aliyah) after she had seen it on our tour, we went to dinner at Rainforest Cafe--late. We went to all of our favorite shops on Michigan and vicinity. We made our stop at the American Girl store and WOW did we pick a perfect time to go! It was like a private shopping experience. Our children were the ONLY ones in the whole store. We spent about an hour in there while they decided what they wanted. This trip, they pretty much wanted the whole Bitty Baby deal. Aliyah also got Kit's dog & scooter. Bags in hand, we headed over to Hershey's. Once again, we did dessert before dinner. Keirah had some chocolate wonder and Aliyah had a "chocolate muffin" as she calls it.

I couldn't do more than 2 bites as it was very rich!

We proceeded to Water Tower Mall. We visited Coach =). I had the privilege of a private shopping experience there as well. I resisted the temptation to get a beautiful full-sized purse even though my beloved husband was cool with me getting one. Instead, I got some Coach perfume--which is my new fave and a Coach Zoe Mosaic Clutch wristlet. I love the deep chocolate brown. My reasoning behind the clutch wristlet is that after lugging my normal Coach purse with all of the stuff in it gets heavy--particularly with two kids in tow and lots of bags. I now switch--if I don't need to carry everything, I carry the clutch. I absolutely love it.

We visited a few other stores before heading back out onto Michigan. Michigan was absolutely delightful because the more talented musicians come out at night--probably a side gig to earn extra $$ after the day job. We listened to a violinist and a saxophonist as we waited to cross various streets. It just gives it a wonderful flavor. We walked down to the more "night-life" district (River North) and went into Rainforest Cafe. The hostess said she had the perfect seats for us right by this...

Yes, the elephants. They make noise and come to life quite often. Neither of the girls were very sure of it, particularly Keirah. She jumped into my arms as soon as it started. We explored a few other things while waiting for our meal. The food was great! Aliyah declared it to be her favorite.

As you can see, Keirah has her eyes on the elephant in the picture. We headed back out and to our hotel. Everyone was pretty tired as it was about 10:30. When we arrived back at our hotel, we turned on the TV to catch a blurb about Olympic athletes arriving in Chicago for the Oprah show to be taped in Millennium Park. Since our hotel was only 2 blocks from MP, we decided to go. I knew that Oprah taped in the morning, however we were unsure of the time, but decided to leave between 8:30 & 9:00 to head over there. The rest of the Oprah post is to follow.

Sweaty

Remember those days as a child where it was getting dark and you came inside all sweaty. Hair was stuck to your cheeks in spots, and you didn't feel hot until you came inside? Well, today is one of those days. Kids are a great way to enjoy a fun workout. We went on a walk and the mosquitos were bad tonight. Once we arrived home, Aliyah went straight to her swing. I decided to get a little cardio in...a.k.a. the trampoline. I hadn't been in there for 30 seconds when two little ones joined in the fun. There was a lot of laughing and squealing. Not only did I get to jump, but run circles around in the trampoline. Now, I need all the work-out I can get, although I need something to work the mid-section. My legs oughta be in superb shape with all the walking and jumping. The legs aren't the problem area really. I guess I'll have to break out my Pilates DVD's again when the energetic monkeys are in bed.

I also realized that today was the first day of fall--although the weather still feels like summer, lucky for me. Aliyah enjoyed talking about leaves and birds on our walk and declared herself to be "science girl". I have to agree on that one. She loves and is quite the expert on many things relating to animals and the outdoors. She knows stuff that Josh and I never learned.

I took some pics yesterday on the last day of summer. The girls are enjoying the trampoline, and the other is off my asters. Asters (for those of you not familiar) are common in the fall like mums. They are typically purple as pictured here or a deep pink color. This is the largest my asters have ever grown. Many who came to my garage sale inquired as to what it was and how beautiful they are this year. The first picture is of a mum that I purchased at the apple orchard last week. I liked it because it had a unique color. Yes, Keirah is only wearing a diaper on the trampoline, don't worry that didn't last long.

ahhmazing

I feel good because the weekend actually felt like it was long. It felt great to have some time with Josh! We got to have a date this weekend-yay.
Josh is happy because he has been watching football on and off today and he has also been helping me with the cleaning. He cleaned the upstairs while I folded laundry on the main floor and helped Aliyah do some school work. We were catching up since we didn't have school on Friday. Josh even told me to sit down and take a break and he finished cleaning all of the floors--thank you babe!
I am glad to have gotten do to/accomplish/cross of my list this weekend:

• garage sale--successful--sold all of my big items--house cleaned out!
• laundry--done--need I say more?
• Aliyah--a very cute haircut!
• new towel bar up in my new bathroom
• flowers/yard--looking decent and watered
• jump on the trampoline
• walk with Josh & the girls and enjoy the weather
• take a nap--wow that was a welcome relief!
• help out with Aliyah's class at church
• enjoy some Firehouse pizza
• shop and buy clothes/shoes for fall
• watch "Made of Honor"--Josh and I both really enjoyed it
• watch "Camp Rock" with Aliyah--cute
• go to the grocery store
• got gas for both cars @ 70 cents per gallon cheaper than last weekend's price (glad we waited)!
• bought some new carseats for the grandparent's cars

All in all, I feel good about what we got done this weekend. Oh yeah, I still need to finish my posting about Chicago and the apple orchard visit. Also, I need to start a Shutterfly book from summer & Chicago. This one will likely be the biggest one I have completed to date.

I hope you all had a happy/relaxing/accomplishing great things weekend!!!

Success

So, I am a bit tired. It has been a busy weekend thus far. We had a garage sale the past two days...need I say more? I am very pleased and call it a success due to this...I sold all of my big items and only had 1 1/2 totes of remaining stuff!! I told Josh that I didn't know which I was more excited about, the $$ or getting rid of the stuff. Okay, okay I like the ca$h too--it will go for a bill. It was awesome not to have to haul stuff back in--anybody can handle 1 1/2 totes right??

In other weekend happenings, Josh & I got a date together last night! Today was his first day off since vacation ended...so yeah 15 days straight with no days off. We had dinner at Chili's, and did some shopping. Both of us got new shoes for fall and I got some new clothes. A girl at one of the stores I shop at said, "is is date night tonight"? Yep, she's probably accustomed to seeing us with the two little girls. Oh yeah, we even went to Starbucks and sat out on their patio. I love patios and sitting outdoors!

We rented two movies for this evening...one for Aliyah and one for us. We got "Made of Honor" and for Aliyah, "Camp Rock". I just finished cooking/eating supper. My beloved husband is doing dishes. It was yummy--we had chicken/noodles, mashed potatoes, & stuffing. Yeah, probably a little carb heavy--but what else is new?

We all got some time to jump on the trampoline today--what fun!! It is definitely a family favorite already and a "neighborhood secret". We only let our next door neighbors and Aliyah's buddy know. Sorry, I just don't have the time to babysit the neighborhood. We keep different schedules--like schooling in the evening and then play.

On another note, I must say I LOVE LOVE LOVE this weather. Anything involving sunshine and warmth are for me. I know I need to transplant south, however they have hurricanes and stuff. I'll just visit. I'm a mid-westerner at heart I suppose, although I do LOVE Florida. I miss it quite often--particularly in the winter.
Well, after this update, I'm off to clean my dirty house and finish laundry. Have a great weekend everyone!

Chicago III

I'm in my recliner enjoying a tiny bit of a break while Aliyah works on her schoolwork, so it's time to re-visit our Chicago trip. I hate that I always take so long to keep up with the posts.

Last time, I left off with several pictures of some buildings and such that we saw on our double-decker bus ride. I am only posting one more picture from that ride (although I have many more).

These people were standing right outside the Sears Tower. Obviously, they couldn't see me zoom in and take their picture from atop the bus, but I found it rather interesting I suppose. At first I almost wondered if they were people dressed up to play a part in some skit or something, but I think they are the real deal. I don't have a picture of this, however while on our way from dinner one night, we saw this woman all dressed up with hair like I have never seen. I mean, this was a creation and a half. It was like 4 times the size of her head. She was at a hotel getting ready to get in to a car or limo or something. I have no idea if she was in a play or singing at the Opera or what...surely people don't just have hair that large. It was all done up on top of her head. All we could figure was it must be very HEAVY to hold up!!
To finish up our tour that day, we saw where Oprah now lives (she used to live in the Ritz Carlton), but moved a few blocks over. She now has a magnificent view of Lake Michigan. The very last thing pretty much was trip down Oak St. Oak Street is Chicago's version of Rodeo Drive. It has all high-end--very high end shops such as Prada, Harry Winston, Kate Spade, Jimmy Choo, Vera Wang etc... Most of these shops require an appointment

We went back to our hotel and changed to go to the beach. The city had come to life a bit more and the boats & yachts were all out enjoying the PERFECTLY HOT weather on Lake Michigan. Labor Day was 94 in Chicago and their hottest day of the summer. The beach was hopping and people were enjoying the water. We soaked up some of those last rays of summer and swam around. Really, the setting is unique. You have the city skyline on one side with the Hancock buildling in perfect view and then beautiful water as far as the eye can see. The water really does look like an ocean. With all of the boats dotting the water, it makes for a gorgeous picture. I didn't take my camera to the beach since I didn't have anyone to watch it while I played in the water. After several hours, we caught the trolley and went back to our hotel. It was time to get ready for dinner. We walked to the Weber Grill and ate in the covered patio area. The ladies sitting next to us told us that our little ladies were very well-behaved and cute. That was nice to hear. The food was beyond delicious!

Following our dinner, we set out on foot to go to Millennium Park as well as the Buckingham Fountains. It was quite a trek, and we were amazed at how the girls walked such a long part of it (even Keirah). On the way there, we walked along the Chicago River and took in some of the beauty of it all. I took several pictures.



At Millennium Park, we enjoyed the fountain and the "bean". Buckingham Fountains are located in Grant Park which is a few blocks down from Millennium Park. They look gorgeous with the changing lights at night, but they also shoot up higher in the day. I have included pictures of the fountains at day and night.

Following the trip to the parks, my camera was dead. The shots at Buckingham Fountains were not exactly as I would have liked, however I had to basically turn the camera on and click. That is how dead it was! We trekked back to the hotel. We saw them doing some major work at the Jay Pritzker pavilion in MP (picture above as the massive steel going everywhere). We wondered what they were setting up for--turned out to be the Oprah show we would attend a few days later. We grabbed some drinks at the corner grocery right by our hotel and took our girls so they could go to bed after the long walk! A wonderful day to celebrate Labor Day!

Shopping

After a cooped-up rainy weekend that we girls spent cleaning, we enjoyed some shopping tonight since Josh was off. I almost panicked yesterday when I looked at Aliyah's closet and realized that she has barely ANY long sleeved shirts and NOTHING as far as things for church for fall/winter...and I mean NOTHING! In fact, if I factored in all of the shirts that were size 3 & 4 that there were, she probably only had 3 or 4 in the correct size (she's 6 but can wear smaller clothes). I guess if I could bank on it being warm here in Illinois (haha), we would be fine. A trip to Gymboree was in order since I had a 20% off coupon. It was quite a profitable trip since the most expensive item that I got was only $10.79 and it was a skirt. I got several shirts for like $5.79. Now c'mon people...big "W" isn't even that cheap or that cute! Not only that, but it was earn the Gymbucks time!
We also took a trip to Target. We didn't go for anything specific, however we found several items that we anticipated buying on clearance!! My towel bar for the bath was on clearance, and we got a triple rod kit thing for our huge window. I am very excited about this one...we put it up just a few minutes ago. It allowed us to have sheers which I hadn't used before, but had in my closet. The reason we hadn't used them before was because we couldn't find a rod that would fit within the angles with the other windows--this one worked!! It was on clearance for $14.78 and I'm thrilled with it since it looks GREAT!
Following Target, we went to pick up a few things at Sears. We ended up at K-Mart to see if they had a trampoline that was in their ad. They were $80 cheaper than big "W". K-Mart had it in stock (surprise) and now the girls have the trampoline that they wanted for their birthday--using their b-day $$. I think we'll put that together on the weekend (Josh will during my garage sale).
All in all, it was an fun evening and there was much laughter and just lots of fun being all together. I love them so much!! I am blessed!

Rainy

I'm beginning to think I may need to develop feathers and webbed feet. That may work better for the weather. My thought this morning was "man, Noah and his family must have been pretty depressed after 40 days/nights!" We are on like day 4 and I'm sick of it! I feel like I live in Florida rather than Illinois. I have lived there and survied a hurricane for that matter. That said, I must say that I'm thankful that we are just getting rain here and NOT hurricanes. Those poor people in Texas and along the Gulf!
This post will be many thoughts--no theme--it's Sunday and rainy so there!
Yesterday, I stayed busy the entire day by organizing closets, doing dishes, home-schooling, putting up shelving and filling it, pricing stuff for a garage sale, cleaning out toyboxes, straightening the girl's bedroom, toyroom, & doll room, and doing laundry. I have most of the stuff ready for the garage sale, but I just need to look in a few more places. Every time I have a garage sale, I do it with full intention of getting rid of everything that needs to be gone. We shake our head in disbelief every time a sale rolls around as I manage to find so much stuff considering we only had a sale 4 months ago. Crossing fingers**maybe this time!

I like to be encouraged, don't you? I love hearing good things that happen to people or ways God has worked a miracle. Of course nothing is a suprise to HIM, even though it may be a surprise to us. Today, some friends at church in our SS class shared a praise. This has all taken place in the last 5 days or so. They just had a baby girl and there were complications as far as strict bedrest for like 6 weeks, extra hospital visits, and a longer stay in the hospital for the baby--she's doing great now, BTW. Well, they didn't have maternity insurance anymore because well--this was a surprise type thing. Anyway, the had a pretty large amount they owed out of pocket (like 80% of the bills)!!! Now, if you have had a baby recently, you know generally how much a regular non-complicated one costs...add in complicated, high risk, longer stay, extra hospital stays etc...let's just say they anticipated paying on this bill for quite some time. Well, the company that he works for was sold to a different set of owners. If I understand correctly, the one that sold decided to give all of the employees there some $$. If you know how God works...you have already guessed it...the amount they are getting covers ALL of their medical bills!! How awesome is that?!? I could have jumped for joy for them right then & there!

I think I will take advantage of this rainy afternoon to rest and then maybe finish up some stuff I want to get done. I'm proud to report that my project of transferring VHS to DVD's is finally complete!!! Gotta love the DVR for being able to do that.

Well, rest sounds delightful so I will blog about Chicago another time.

Chicago Part II

As long as it has taken me to get to Part II, it may take the rest of the month to write about our trip.





We woke up early on Labor Day. We headed out around 9 am in search for a McDonalds. Well, the streets were literally quite empty. Since it was a holiday, people were not out and about very much yet. We found a McDonalds, however it was closed--yes what is that all about? Well, we ventured further to the River North district and found the Vintage McDonalds. It would suffice for breakfast and we were starving after our 2 mile walk to breakfast. Maybe it was not 2 miles, but it sure felt like it on a hungry tummy. I think that's the secret. If I lived in Chicago, I would be thin and fit. One literally has to walk quite far to go to a restuarant. Our plans were going to be to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo. However, since we did not see much advertising as to the best way to get there, we were still figuring it out. I was given a brochure on the way into McD's that was for the Chicago Trolley's double decker buses. It looked quite fun, so we decided to ask when we were finished with breakfast. The buses were waiting right outside McD's. We decided to take the ride on a whim. We got seats in the back on the top. It was the perfect time to ride. There was barely any traffic, the sun was gorgeous, and there was a nice breeze. I grabbed my camera and began snapping away. I have a penchant for architecture and historical buildings. The wealth of information that was spoken on this tour was unbelievable!! You could get off and get on at any stop you chose, or stay on the bus the whole time. We liked the guide, so we stayed on through all 13 stops...and a few more.






For example, this building is Merchandise Mart. It is the largest building in Chicago (most square footage). It takes up 2 whole city blocks and is a zip code all it's own. It takes 4 mail carriers all day to deliver the mail in this one building. Of course, there is so much info...I couldn't share it all on this blog or this post.

Chicago received this gem when a girl decided to go to NYC to sing in the Opera. Her hopes were dashed as they said she wasn't good enough to sing. When she came home to Chicago, her father had built her her very own Opera House and gave Chicago not only her talent but this beautiful Lyric Opera.
Do you know what this one is?? If you guessed Sears Tower, you are correct. This building has 16,000 windows in it. It has automatic window washers to take care of all of those windows. Also, it is said that the architect of Sears Tower, got his inspiration for the top of the building from a pack of cigarettes--the varying heights. This is the tallest building in Chicago.

I thought this building was lovely with the American Flag.
Chicago's flamingo.
Columns in Millennium Park

Thank this one for the gum...it is the Wrigley Building.
I will describe this just as the "Judy" the tour guide did..."this is Donald Trump's first erection in the city of Chicago". I could have died laughing. Anyway, I suppose so...it is the 3rd tallest building in Chicago and is quite magnificent. It sits right on the Chicago River and next to the Wrigley buildling.

Just across the street from the Wrigley Buildling is the Tribune Building. It looks beautiful in the day or at night. It features pieces of many famous places built right into the walls. This is not an exhaustive list, however a few: Coliseum, Great Wall of China, a moon rock, Taj Mahal, World Trade Center, Fort Sumter, etc... You can actually touch most of the pieces--not the moon rock. It is in a case.

The magnificent Jeweler's Buildling. Back in the day, the jewelers would drive their car all the way up to the middle of the building via an inside ramp. They would get out on like the 80th floor and that way, the jewels they had with them would be safe. The infamous Al Capone, would often sit up in the speak easy and drink cocktails.

Since I have hundreds of pictures from my visit, I will stop here for this post. I have many more to show and much more to tell. I told Josh that I easily would have 2 months worth of blogging out of this trip! I won't drag it out that long though. I hope to be able to post tomorrow. Hope you have enjoyed your mini-tour of the city of Chic-A-Go meaning "smelly onion" . Chicago got it's name from the Indians that settled there and gave it the name due to all of the onion plants growing along the river.