Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Buckingham Fountain

The kids are downtown for IMSA summer camp and I thought it would be great fun to take in a few sights before we had to head home. Buckingham Fountain seemed like the perfect place to go to celebrate the new Royal Baby.
Who needs to see the fountain when you can slide down this!

Fisher and Tate were of course racing!

EB and Ellie!

Trevor, Fisher and Tate.

We got "lucky" that the spray hit while we were there.  The kids made the most of it and I think later regretted how wet they got but they sure had fun!

Friday, July 12, 2013

Low Key 40th!

Today was a hard day that was looming over me, turning 40! I decided I did not want a big celebration but rather to be surrounded by those I love, my family, my parents and my aunt. It was truly great to come home to hugs and love from the kids and my parents. It was extra special because I got to commute with Peter today, just like when I was in my 20s!  To all my friends that said Happy Birthday, thank you, it made my day.
The cake Harper made and the candle we saved from Peter's cake.  Harper worked so hard on the cake and it was delicious and beautiful.  I loved it Harper!

EB made cupcakes for me and I can tell she spent so much time on them, making sure they were perfect.  You rock EB!

We could not get a good picture,.  This is the best of the best!

LOVE the chalkboard that EB did.  It made me smile from ear to ear coming home and seeing it!  She told me there were 60 pieces of confetti on the chalkboard because she did 10 of each colors and randomly placed them!

I did not even crack out my camera for the celebration.  It was iphone all the way!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Boys Night Out - Messi & Friends at Soldier Field


I'm not sure the boys could name five active NFL players, but they could probably rattle off the world's top soccer stars in about 30 seconds.  So, it was only fitting that I made my first trip to Soldier Field after 18 years living in Chicago to see Lionel Messi and Friends take on the World.  Messi is the biggest footballer in the world right now, playing for Barcelona and his home country of Argentina.  He put together a group of stars to play a charity game in Chicago.  Turns out, Messi's friends aren't all that tight with him and most of them bailed on us before the big event.  So, what we actually saw was Messi, a few friends and a bunch of recent graduates from a great squad out of Northwestern University.  We had seen those guys play Michigan last year in Evanston so I was OK with the change, but still thinking Messi could have offered us a few bucks back.  


We were seated in the nosebleed section, but stopped here for a quick photo before exploring the stadium a little.


The boys were really excited to be sitting in "The UFO" section of Soldier Field.


We finally found our seats in the front row!


The boys waiting impatiently for some soccer.


A panorama from our seats as "The World" warms up on the field.


Our seats were obstructed by this stairway, but we slid a few spaces to the right and nobody chased us away, so it was all good.

One of the best moments came before the whistle when Tate noticed something was swooping down from the sky:


The boys were antsy for Messi to put on a show.


I have to think this one of the first times that a game at Soldier Field was not announced in English.  Instead, the game was called en espaƱol, Los Amigos de Messi v. El Mundo.  Tate, with his usual good humor and sensitivity asked everyone in a 25 foot radius: "why don't they speak English?"


Who knew the highlight would come early in the game and from such an unlikely source?  Playing for "The World," Thierry Henry, a French star from the New York Red Bulls lobbed one to former Northwester standout Matt Eliason.


Eliason handled the pass with his chest and then connected on a perfect bicycle kick for a gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!

The boys react:




That was a great shot, but everyone came to see Messi, yes?  


See Messi, there?  He scored 4 altogether.


The boys were star struck.

Then, at 68:00, Messi decided he had had enough fun for one day and bid farewell to the crowd.


Maybe he had dinner reservations?  From then on, it was Los Amigos sin Messi v. El Mundo de Northwestern Grads.  But, since nobody was trying to feed Messi goals, it may have been the best soccer we saw all evening.


When the game ended, the girls were still shopping and we were in no hurry to leave, so we went exploring.  We started with the top of the UFO.


The view was amazing.


Soldier Field in Panorama from the top of the UFO.


We paid a visit to the south side of the grandstands.



Then, the boys did some treasure hunting.  Tate found $4 and some trash.  Fisher found some treasures, too.


Tate said Soldier Field looked like a Greek Temple, so we visited the columns.




The evening skyline after the game.


The boys and the Chicago skyline.


Fisher listening for water in the fountain below.

Even though it was past 8:00, the boys had plenty of energy, so they raced across the field toward The Field.




I've never seen a rainbow in cirrus clouds with no rain and so late in the day, so I knew this was a special sign commemorating Boys Night Out!


Saturday, July 6, 2013

Girls Night Out

The boys were all at Messi and Friends and the girls and I headed out for girls night out. It was so much fun!
The girls and I headed to Frankie's Pizza at 900 N. Michigan for dinner.  They love it there and they said it was fun we could have a small table for dinner as it was just us 3!

We headed to Sprinkles after dinner and what is more fun than a cupcake ATM -- nothing.  I may have to go back tomorrow to get another and it has replaced the Hershey Factory for me!  Peter be glad!
The girls with the boxes of cupcakes!
They were so excited!
Aren't they cute?  The girls and the cupcakes!
The cupcakes, EB's, Mine and Harper's. 


We were heading to Water Tower and EB really wanted to go into the American Girl Doll store and she wanted a book about BOYS!  Who knew.   I think she will read the entire book before she goes to bed tonight.  I asked her why she wanted it and she said there are a few cute boys at school and she wants to learn about what boys like in girls.  I am so not ready for this.  I told her they would like her sweet self and she should change nothing.  
The girls must have been missing the boys because they wanted to get a picture of Lego Woody for Fisher.


I don't have pictures of the wildly inappropriate things the girls saw at Urban Outfitters.  We were looking at books and and EB mindlessly had a book in her had that looked like a kid book that was not a kid book -- check it out here if you dare.  I happened to look down and notice it and I could not stop laughing.  EB was mortified and wanted to floor to swallow her.  I take it as a good sign she is not really ready for boys!

Girls are going to be styling tomorrow with their new Keds and Hair Chalk, hence the reason we went into Urban Outfitters.

Hope your night was as fun as ours!

Friday, July 5, 2013

Sushi

Today was Sushi day and it is always so fun to see all the great sushi that Peter and Harper make together. Harper was beaming sharing what sushi she had made. Thanks so much Peter and Harper for all your energy into our fabulous dinner. So glad we could share it with Grandma, Grandpa and Mimi!
The Sushi Chefs



THE SUSHI