Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Chicago






This past weekend Michael and I went to Chicago. We left Ava behind to stay with here grandma and grandpa (Mary's parents.) I definitely don't think that she minded at all because every time we called to talk to her she was "too busy." We barely got a hi and bye-bye. But, we were glad that she wasn't missing us a ton, because it makes it easier to enjoy being away when we know she's having a blast without us. :)
Michael and I used to go to Chicago pretty often in college since it was only a 3 hour drive from IWU.. It always made for a fun day trip back then.. and even after we got married and lived in Indy, we used to go to Chicago for random weekend trips. I remember being so glad that we could finally go for more than just the day, after we got married. :)
We started off by staying at Michael's sister Amy, and our brother-in-law Jake's house. They are on our way to Chicago, so we had a place to stay for free. We got to see their new house for the first time and it's so, so cute! Michael loved playing their new Nintendo Wii.
When we got to the city the next morning, we went to our favorite pizza place, Gino's East (seriously the best pizza in the entire world) Michael and I could do a commercial for that place, we love it so much! We walked up and down Michigan Avenue, window shopping and people watching. That's always a good time. Then we went on a boat ride out on the Lake, it was chilly, but still very nice.
Saturday evening we went to Michael's cousin, Jon's wedding, who married his college sweetheart Krista. The wedding was just a half hour south of the city. They seem really happy, which is great to see.
Finally, on Sunday we met up with our friends, Sarah and Shawn, who live in Chicago. Sarah was in our wedding. It was great seeing them, even though it was a pretty short visit since we were starting to get anxious to get home to see little Ava.
She definitely survived without us for the weekend. We are still working at getting her off the sugar high and grandma and grandpa's spoiling, though. :)

Natural Bridge, KY



A couple of weeks ago my (Mary's) family met up for a weekend in Natural Bridge, KY. We've been trying to meet somewhere every spring for a mini vacation. Since we are coming from northern and central Ohio as well as my brother and his family coming from Tennessee.... Kentucky and Gatlinburg, seem to be the most convenient locations.
We rented a chalet with plenty of room, which is a good thing since our immediate family has grown to 8 adults and 7 kids.

We had a really fun time hanging out. Unfortunately the weather was pretty rainy, so we didn't get to do as much of the outdoor stuff as we had hoped, but, the kids and the men went fishing one afternoon, so they were glad for that.
Ava had a blast playing with her cousins and we had fun catching up with everyone. Fun times.