Chi-town

My blogging mojo is nowhere to be found.

We've had a constant, awesome stream of friends and family staying out back in the lavish guest house {with private pool}, so there hasn't been much time to upload horrific pictures to the blog.

Until tonight.

But first, I should share that in my continuing pursuit for organizational excellence, I got my vehicle's emissions test AND renewed the vehicle registration today--the very last day of the grace period.

It seems like most citizens take care of things like this yearly, but I narrowly avoided a ticket in February for having expired license plate stickers.

In my defense, I had PAID for the stickers last July, but promptly lost them and didn't want to go back to get another set. Turns out, that might've been a good idea.

Luckily, I befriended the cop and came out ticket-free. {He pointed out that next time he might also ticket me for having a non-functional rearview mirror and texting at the stoplight.}

{Again, in my defense--our garage is really narrow and the mirror is holding together wonderfully considering it's been bumped at least 50 times, and I WASN'T texting at the stoplight. I was just reading the internet at a stoplight. In a car with expired stickers.}

Which leads me to Chicago.

{not really}

We had the best time with Brad's side of the family waaayyy back in early July.

The kids flew solo to see Grandma for a few days. From all descriptions, the flight was great and they had more fun than should be allowed.

Brad and I feel amazingly blessed to have parents with far more energy than us. Grandma Mac had more fun with the kids before 10 a.m. than I could hope to accomplish in an entire summer.

I crashed the par-tay on Wednesday and we went to see Peter Pan.

Holy smokes it was unbelievable! Peter Pan has always been one of my faves and this was the best production ever. We were up close and personal, which made it extra-cool.

My only complaint was that Captain Hook wasn't nearly as cute as I remembered.


Next up was the Sears Tower. I could call by it's new name, the Willis Tower, but no one, including myself, would know what I was talking about.


Last time we went, I was somewhere in the kid years, so it was fun to see it through adult eyes.

It is TALL. And tower-like.


How could Chicago NOT be your favorite city in the world?

I haven't been most places, but I'm sure it would still rank higher. And if not, I probably don't want to find out:)


The biggest change to the Sears Tower since my Debbie Gibson-loving days is the addition of The Ledge.

Didn't get any great pictures of them from the ground, but they're these *ledges* that hang out over the side of the building, 103 stories in the air.

Cue the theatrical drama.


J was doing his Michael Jordan impersonation 103 stories over a very busy street.

I'll never be asked to author a book on effective parenting, but Brad and I consider Jackson's love of Michael Jordan to be a child-rearing success.

It's the little things.

Lilly wanted to play dead. And I was far more concerned about how gross it was to have her face where thousands of people put their nasty shoes each day, than I was worrying about the glass suddenly breaking and her plummeting to her death.

It's the little things.

Thanks, Grandma, for a stellar day in the Windy City!! I didn't even mention the awesome sandwich shop we stopped at for lunch or the fact that even the airport smells delish.

If I don't get distracted by choosing new paint colors or attaching registration stickers to my car, I'll have some photos of family camp posted "soon."