Dixieland Delight

My fabulous friend Jennifer got her and I tickets to go see Alabama (the country music band) at a an outdoor venue just north of the city. She surprised me and bought them back in April. I was SO excited!!! Some of my fondest memories with my family growing up (and Jennifer as well) were listening to Alabama in the car (on a cassette tape or on the radio) with our families. We LOVE Alabama. We know MOST of their songs. 

Mom and Dad watched the kids so that I could go (Alex works 8:30 to after 7 on Fridays and at 8:30 on Saturday mornings.) Charlotte woke up ready to spend the night at Gigi's. She said she needed her morning "Doe Doe".... She FILLED her cup with them when I wasn't looking. When I emptied it out, there were 14 in there. Perfect. So Mom headed out with the kids around 8:30 and I was on the road 9:30 (after I stopped and got Jennifer some of her favorites from here at "home")

I got to her place around 12:30 (by the time I parked and what not.) She was just getting home from work. It was so good to see her. Her place in the city looks like a page out of a magazine. It's beautiful. She has impeccable taste. We sat and talked ...on her bathroom floor.... for over an hour (her husband thought we were weird.) She informed me that she is pregnant and due in March :) I had a feeling before I even got there that she was pregnant...just a gut feeling :)

We headed north out of the city to venue that the concert was at. We stopped at a few stores and window shopped. Being in her first trimester, Jennifer was SUPER tired and could have totally laid down and napped for a few hours (which I would have gladly done as well being kidless and not having to worry about interruptions.) The way the venue works is that you can buy tickets to be in the seats in the stands(?) and then seats for the lawn. Thousands of people can sit on the lawn and there are big screens up so you can see the concert and on the screens and hear it live. It's pretty awesome. You takes your own chairs, food, drinks, candles, you name it, you can bring it. It was amazing. Jennifer wanted junk food. I brought her her favorite French Onion Dip ( Prairie Farms) from "home" and brought her her favorite chips. We got pizza and sweets and soda. She brought a table, candles, a blanket, we rented chairs. It was amazing. SO MUCH FUN!!!

She would be so mad if she saw this pic of herself but she doesn't read the blog so that's fine :)

She is 11 weeks pregnant here!

And she is so proud of our set up and our junk food.

The view from our seats. Straight ahead, in the trees, is the actual area that they were singing in.

It was quite a show!

I couldn't believe I was this close to them :)

Oh Randy :) 

The band actually sounded amazing!!!! Yes, they are getting old but they sounded perfect the entire time. It was so impressive. We knew all but 1 song. We sang along with them. We people watched. We walked around. It was a beautiful night out. So perfect. Afterwards we headed back to the city. We talked to David for awhile then headed to bed. We were both exhausted. I slept amazing (not having my 1 year old wake me up a few times.)

I had to get up early the next morning and leave by 7. Mom and Dad were heading down to their villa and they needed me to be home as soon as possible.

My view of the Chicago skyline as I was driving home.

Cool, right?

It was a GREAT night with Jennifer. We have been close friends since we were 16. Somedays I don't feel like we are any older than we were back then :)

The Sprinkler Park

Oh how we really love Daddy's day off. It makes it hard that he only has one day off at a time. It really does prevent us from wanting to travel a lot or go too many places. We wouldn't be able to leave until 8 pm the night before at the earliest and we would have to be home by the next night so he could go to work the next morning. SO we try to find stuff to do in the area that is fun. And now that school is back in session, there are less little gremlins running around the children's activity areas. 

On August 27, we headed to the same sprinkler park that we had gone to with Jodi and the girls a few weeks prior. Charlotte jumped right in and started showing off.

She really thought she was doing something :) Alex encouraged her to do a chin up. She encourage herself to just hang around.

Charlotte is scared of slides (she has FINALLY started going down the baby slides but the big slides are a no no to her.) Sawyer LOVES a thrill. Total boy.

He was in love with it.

She hung out at the top and pouted a bit. She eventually just climbed back down the steps.

We headed to the sprinkler part of the park. It is a train themed park...even the playground equipment is train themed. It's super cute.

Sawyer, even though he had just visited the doctor the night before, had a good time. He was acting more like himself.

Gross. She was trying to drink the water.

She thinks she is so silly.

He is always up to something....

Note the bruise under his left eye. This kid, he has NO FEAR.

Where's Waldo? I mean, Charlotte.

The 27th was also a big day for our big boy. He stopped taking bottles that day!!!

I will finally have one less thing on the counters (I HATE having a ton of stuff on counters. HATE IT.)

We also put the high chair in the basement and got our big boy a booster seat. He was climbing out of the high chair and refusing to eat while in it. So, I decided I was over the fighting. We are a high chair free house now too!

He loves it.

A River Type Of Afternoon For Family Weekend

When we got back from the zoo, we put the little sick boy down for a nap. He needed some rest. We hung around the villa for awhile and then we decided to head down to the river and walk on the sand bars.

Chad and Dad out in the middle of the river on a sand bar.

Charlotte was so excited to get out in the water.

The 'ole Miss....

Our crew... Ryan, Stinky, Bare, Kat, and Dad.

Uncle Stinky fishing off of the sand bar.

Chad. He is a part time model.

Brickyard Alley

Alex and Charlotte wading to the next sand bar over...

We are clever. Oh so clever.

Charlotte loves the water...

Aunt Kathy almost fell in back wards :)

Papa found a clam for her! She was so excited.

Our boy had quite a bit of trouble sleeping. When we got back from the river, he was awake and fussy. I spent quite a bit of time just rocking and snuggling with him. He was so warm and I noticed a few small red bumps on his torso. He didn't want to go to anyone but his Momma.

Aunt Bev brought a present for Charlotte (along with Sawyer's present). It was play-doh. She LOVES play-doh! Aunt Bev stole her heart.

The guys spent a bunch of time frying anything and everything and barbecuing ribs. They were delicious.

Grandpa was just hanging with the guys...

We love our family get togethers! We had  a great turn out even if Sawyer felt terrible.

This girl is so funny!

A beautiful sunset over the Mississippi River.

Chet even came over from a wedding he was at across the Illinois River. Aunt Bev was so excited to see her boy.

We had a great night. Sawyer slept off and on. (not great).  But he was still feeling terrible the next day. He was still running a fever and getting more and more spots on him. Since he was sick, I ended up giving up my ticket to the Cardinal game for that Sunday. Alex, Mary, Chad, Grandma Ann, Caleb, Uncle Rich, and John all went to the baseball game. I stayed with the baby boy to take care of him. Alex rode home with John, Dad rode home alone, Chad and Mary rode home together, and Mom rode home with us. Poor baby boy ended up fussing half of the way home.

I ended up taking him to the doctor Monday evening (they wanted to see him ASAP when I finally called even though I told them I was certain it was a virus.) It turns out, it was a virus. They couldn't do anything for him. I hate when he is sick... :(