The last month or so

has been loads of fun.  I've been all over the place, which is pretty easy to do when you're "houseless."  I went to Georgia and spent 3 weeks there.  Then I spent a few nights with Amy and Tom.  Then I came back up to Chicago to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, David's 30th birthday and Riley's 1st birthday.  It's been a summer full of BIG events!

We've spent a lot of time at parks, enjoying the warm sun.  

We've been so busy having fun, I forgot all about blogging!

Arriving: Chicago & Naperville

Thursday afternoon, I loaded up the girls into the Business Class car on an Amtrak train and we headed to Chicago.  My decision to change to first class was made at the last minute and I am so glad I did!  I intend to go first class anytime I'm on the train.  It made such a difference with the girls because there was so much more space.

I actually got my own seat, since the girls were small enough to share one.  Riley's face in this one

cracks me up.  

We had a small delay of 30 minutes.  This is right before our backup into Union Station.  

Hannah looked out the window for the last 30 minutes of the ride.  

There was a small delay in David getting to us also.  So what does a person do, at 9:30 p.m. in Union Station with two small kids.  They get ice cream.  Or TCBY if you're a stickler.  

Yesterday, I spent the day in downtown Naperville with Aunt Debby, Carolyn, Will and Emma.  

Hannah, Will and Debby looking in the fountain.  

Hannah's hair is so long!  I forgot how long it is because it's in a braid so much.  

Will and Hannah, in front of the fountain.  

I pushed Riley into the flowers so she could play with them.  

A few flowers were sacrificed.  

We walked around, did a lot of window shopping.  Picked up some cupcakes from Sugar Monkey Cupcakes.  After dinner, Debby, Carolyn and I went back downtown and walked around.  I picked up a shirt from White House Black Market.  It was the first time I had ever been in this store.  They've got nice, dressier type clothing.  What I found most interesting is that nothing wowed me on the hanger, but then when I saw it on myself, or Carolyn or Debby, it totally wowed me.  Then we sat in front of the river and had our cupcakes and wine in celebration of Mother's Day.  The cupcakes are fantastic.  I had a chocolate cherry cupcake.  It was phenomenal, especially the icing.  And I'm not an icing person, I normally scrape it right off.  All in all, it was a pretty fabulous day.  

A Last Minute Trip to Chicago

Last week, David and I made a last minute trip up to Chicago.  His grandma, on his mom's side, went in to the hospital on life support with a 7 day directive.  This meant that she would only stay on life support for 7 days.  We found out Tuesday afternoon, we left first thing Wednesday morning.  David had an appointment at the VA clinic in WInston-Salem that day, that we could not change, so we drove there first and spent about 5 hours there.  At 330, we began our 12+ hours drive to Chicago.  It was such a long day.  We pulled into is grandma's house at 4 am NC time.  We've made a joint decision to not drive through the night anymore, it's just too hard.  I mean we get there at 3 am, Chicago time and Hannah's up 3 hours later.  The drive itself was uneventful, with only a little bit of snow.  The visit was nice, considering the circumstances.  His grandma did pass, very early Friday morning.  His other grandma turned 88 while we were there, so we were able to join in the birthday celebration.  We went Lucky's Sandwich Shop, the Science and Industry Museum, Half Priced Books, and Trader Joe's (I'll blog about that in another post).  Hannah loved the baby (Sir William) and she loved helping out with him.  

Putting make up on Carolyn

Great Grandma Cernock needed some make up too

David instructing Harrison and Hannah and the GI Joe figures

Hannah helping feed Sir William (Baby Will)

Happy 88th Grandma Cernock

Guesstures

Lori and Harrison