Sunday, May 17, 2009

Mother's Day and the 1st Cubs' Game

Mother's Day was phenomenal here! We got up and met Nannie, Pepere, and Auntie Bubbles for breakfast. Luckily, we wake up early enough to beat the rush! Grandma Sue was going to meet us too, but she got called in to work (don't worry, this story ends well). From there, we headed to the Brookfield Zoo for a very fun day of animals and adventure.

We used my Mother's Day present, a Garmin Nuve, to get us there. GPS's are so much fun! Once we arrived, it was just Nannie, Bubbles, and the Barretts for a good while. We visited the Big Cats, the Dolphins, and the Carousel while we waited for the Nustras and Grandma Sue to meet us. Jack rode on the Silverback Gorilla and waved at everyone but Nannie and Dad until we got off. I think he liked it.

Once the Nustras arrived, we took off for the Monkey house. We felt right at home there. By the time we got through all of the different rooms, we were pretty hungry so we stopped for lunch. Note to self: always bring a picnic lunch to the zoo; zoo food is expense and leaves a lot to be desired. Grandma Sue arrived in time for lunch, and she brought her wagon. We tooled around the zoo trying to see other exhibits, like the wolves and elephants. It was getting pretty crowded by then, so we finished our trip at the overcrowded Dinosaur exhibit. It might have been that this was our last stop and we were pretty tired, but we were not that impressed with the dinosaurs.

Jack was asleep before the car even started, so I think he had a great day, and so did his Mom.

We have officially started the nicer-weather-pack-as-much-as-you-can-into-the-weekend season. So this weekend, we started off with Steve running a 5K. This was his first race in quite a while, so Jack and I made sure we were there to cheer him on. As soon as the race was over, we took Jack to his first Cubs game ever. They played the Houston Astros and did eventually win despite the closing pitcher trying to give it away in the 9th. Jack slept through that, so he was none the wiser. We went to the game with our friends Kurt and Amanda and Jess. Jess was in this weekend from Texas, so we've been having fun hanging out with her.

Well, enjoy the photos. I haven't gotten to look at next week's schedule yet, so I don't know exactly what we're doing, but 'tis the season and I'm sure we have something fun in store!

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Mother's Day Breakfast
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Teaching Jack about the Zoo
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Nickie at the Monkey House
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River Otters...
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Saturday, May 02, 2009

Happy May!

We've been busy, but we're always busy, so I won't bore you with the details. Here are the fun highlights:

We went to Starved Rock/Fox River Resort for Spring Break. The whole family went (Steve, Karen, Jack and Breyer). And although the weather wasn't awesome, we had a great time. Really, you can't go wrong with an indoor pool. We even managed to do a little hiking. We will go back, and next time we will not try to use the jogging stroller at Starved Rock. They really mean it when they say it's a bad idea with all of the staircases and whatnot.

Jack is now in the toddler room at daycare. Our little boy is growing up fast. He's adjusting fairly well to the more structured schedule. He paints and draws and plays all morning. Then he usually gets a pretty good nap in the afternoon. He sleeps on a cot, which just cracks me up.

Jack is learning lots of new words lately. He now says "bye-bye," "outside," "shoes," "row," and just today... "bubbles." Now he said bubbles to Auntie Bubbles, which may seem like he learned her name first. I won't be totally convinced though until he says it only to her or in reference to her. He was saying it all night tonight and there was no Auntie Bubbles around, nor were we blowing bubbles. Time will tell.

Easter was really fun. In fact, we are still having Easter egg fun around our house. Jack loves playing with the plastic Easter eggs. He picks them up, puts them in other things, gives them to whomever will take them. It's pretty cute. We celebrated Easter twice this year, once with the Watts family (on Saturday) and once with the Reilley family (on Sunday). At the Watts house, Jack took to the Easter Egg hunt right away. He loved walking around the yard and putting eggs in his basket. On Sunday, he had a great time eating donuts and hanging out with everyone.

So now that the weather is nice, we're getting outside a lot more. I think that's been good for all of us! Until next time, enjoy the photos!

Spring Break
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Stirring the Pot
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Egg Hunting
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Playing at the park
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Easter Sunday
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Happy Kid
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Just wants to be outside
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Nap Time
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Happy Dog
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