Trampoline, Ballet Recital, Chicago ~ June 2013

We successfully put the trampoline together. I was so excited to finally have a yard with a fence that would allow us to have one. The kids were obviously excited and Daddy was actually the first one to jump on the tramp!

The kids were had fun running through the sprinkler for the first time in our new backyard!!

Audrey was very excited for her first ballet recital. The auditorium was full and she liked watching the other dancers and couldn't wait until it was her turn! She did a great job and danced to Under the Sea.

These are pictures of the house before the painters came.

Besides being painted medium brown, this bathroom needed lots of help before we painted it.

Aaron had a fun end of the school year party. He was pretty sad to not be returning to Olde Providence. We have had great supportive teachers that have helped AJ and been wonderful to work with throughout the years.

Aaron created the picture below. I love his drawings and the creative ways he displays ideas.

The class had a program with speaking parts that was presented to all the parents. You could tell they had spent a lot of time practicing for the program.

I took Audrey to get pedicures for some special girl time. I was getting ready to leave to Chicago with Aaron and AJ, but little Audrey will be staying with some friends from church. She was so cute and excited to have someone else besides me paint her nails.

Aaron spent his elementary years in Chicago and has many fond memories there. Neither AJ nor I had ever been there so that was our destination as soon as AJ finished the school year. Last year we went to NYC and want to continue the tradition of a weekend with just AJ to celebrate his work and efforts of the school year.We visited a majority of the most popular sites while we were there and quickly fell in love with Chicago!

There is nothing quite like Chicago Pizza!! The famous Giordano's pizza was well worth the 2 hour wait, since it takes about 1 hour just to bake. I only wished that I could have eaten more!! But it was physically impossible after only one and a half pieces. It was definitely a deep dish of cheesy deliciousness!! We actually ate it for breakfast too!

Our hotel room was unique in that we were the corner room with windows on both sides that offered us some great views of the city.

The Trump Tower on the top right was AJ's favorite building besides the Willis (former Sears) Tower since it was the tallest building.

This Chicago popcorn was something special. Serious flavors and mixes that were amazing like the cheesy popcorn mixed with the caramel popcorn. Such a perfect combination.

We had a great river boat tour with Wendella Boat company. It was a fun way to see some of the most famous buildings and skyline views!

To get to and from the Chicago River and Lake Michigan we went through the locks that control the amount of water coming and going through the lake and river. It was neat to see the water rise and fall while inside lock. Throughout our tour we saw many beautiful skyline views, buildings, a lighthouse and much more.

It was incredible to look up and see how tall the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) looked from the boat.

The Chicago "L", short for elevated, is Chicago's transit system. AJ thought is was awesome of course because its a train and the 3rd busiest and largest after NYC and Washington.

AJ loves the Willis Tower since it is the 2nd tallest building in America. He was definitely excited to go to the top and even more fascinated to go out on the ledge to see just how high he really was!

AJ loves subway trains!

We loved going to cheer on the Cubs! What a beautiful stadium with lots of character and history.

Everything was fun about the game and we even enjoyed some licorice ropes that were the best I've tasted in a long time. We had great seats, food, and memories made here today!

AJ got a certificate celebrating his 1st Chicago Cubs baseball game!

After the game we went to Navy Pier. We walked around and explored the stores, carousal, and especially the 150 foot Ferris Wheel. As a bonus we weren't expecting, they had an amazing firework show. It happened to be the last one of the season so it was huge!! AJ and I love fireworks!!

On our second day in Chicago we just couldn't resist going back to Giordano's! But we did try another dish along with a small deep dish pizza.

This is the Chicago Water Tower and Pump House. It is the 2nd oldest in the country and one of only a few buildings that survived the Great Chicago fire.

This water fountain just outside the pumping station reminded me of the many water fountains we saw scattered around Rome. The water there was so delicious!

We walked by many stores and I even got a great purse since I had forgotten mine... but this store below was neat with its windows full of old sewing machines.

These ceramic bears were in the Millennium Park on display along with the cool "bean" but is really a 110-ton elliptical sculpture that was the artists rendition of a drop of mercury. It was pretty fascinating to see.

The Buckingham Fountain was amazing! It was gigantic and one of the largest in the world. It reminded Aaron and I of the fountains in Paris that we saw. AJ couldn't say enough about it and it was just one more place we loved in Chicago.

We spent a few hours in the Field Museum. The famous T-Rex Sue lives here. AJ had just finished reading a book from the library about Sue and was surprised and excited when we took him to see her. Sue is the largest, best-preserved, and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex ever found. We also went to a part of the museum where you were the size of a small bug and experienced what life for you would be like underground.