Spring in Chicago

Ever since Cece was born, I've made my trips to Chicago solo since Joe hasn't had vacation time since last July and he seldom has an entire weekend off. However, he took a whole week of vacation last week to spend with my family! So, the three of us packed up our NEW MINI VAN (!!!) and set out for the Windy City.

 

Chicago, I must say. You are my devil mistress. Joe and I joked (kind of) that we need to go on a cleanse this week after all the PIZZA, the cake, the monster meatloaf made by my dad, Dunkin’ coffee, and all sorts of naughty food. In between all of the eating, we did get to do quite a few fun things that maybe burned a few calories.

We had MANY play dates with Will and Sarah. Now that we're home, Cece and I really miss Will. I miss his assortment of plaid clothing and his skeptical expressions. And let's not kid ourselves, Cece definitely misses his toys.

We visited Robbyn at Creative Cakes, the bakery where she works and where C’s birthday cake came from.

We also had a family dinner outing to belatedly celebrate all of the April birthdays (my dad's, Joe's, and Cece's!) at La Fiesta. I love how our “family" has expanded to include Sarah, Will, Robbyn's boyfriend Jay, and of course Rose. (A BIG shout out to Rose who just got pinned! She's a NURSE!) The only person unable to make it was Michael, our actual brother. And mamacita, that was some spicy, but extremely tasty Mexican food. Cece had a mini-meltdown as the meal neared its end. It was most likely because she was tired and I really hope it wasn't because any spiciness on my fingers got on her food!

Joe and I also visited the Shedd Aquarium downtown. I haven’t been there since I was in grade school and Joe has never been there, but he has recently become obsessed with aquariums and the TV show Tanked, so it was a great little family afternoon with the fishies.

Such a fun week! I very much can't wait until Joe has some more time off so we can see more of each other and do more of this!