Chicago Trip, Day 1: The Fun Begins

I have not been a very faithful blogger, but I have a good excuse! We were on vacation!

Last night we arrived home from a very fun-filled time in Chicago with some dear friends. I am very tired - traveling really takes it out of you - but want to recount all the fun we had before I forget. So here goes.

We flew into Chicago at 9am on Friday morning. At the airport we meant our friends Adam and Andrea, gathered our luggage, and proceeded to head to our hotel. We had to navigate from Midway airport to downtown, and of course we had done absolutely no research ahead of time as to how to that. But hey, we figured that if we successfully navigated around freakin' Puerto Rico 4 years ago, we could find our way in a city that spoke English as it's official language! Sure enough we followed the sign that said, "Train to City" and we were not lead astray. Thirty minutes later we were dropped off a few blocks from our hotel.

Sadly, we started off the trip with a bit of a mishap. While walking down the sidewalk - hauling a million tons of luggage - Wes accidentally tripped over a curb and rolled his ankle pretty badly. He limped all the way to The Drake and when we got to our room proceeded to ice that bad boy up!

Here he is on the phone with our friend Jeremy making plans about where to meet. We could all hear Jeremy cackling on the other end as Wes recounted his accident!

Swollen ankle or not, we were ready to explore. We waited for Jeremy and Amy to arrive and then the 6 of us headed out to do a little damage on Michigan Ave. Well, the girls did anyway. The boys got a bit bored and wandered off back to the hotel bar.

That night we headed out to eat at a local Italian place.

Honestly, when we walked in I was a little scared. I mean, it seriously looked like a scene from a mafia movie. When our waiter finally came we didn't know what to do with his unsmiling, grunting demeanor. Finally Jeremy decided to be unfriendly right back and that seemed to make our waiter happy! So we communicated with grunts and one word answers and by the time we left we were fast friends!

I will say that when they brought out the A1 Steak Sauce I had my doubts, but the food ended up being very good - just way too much for me to even make a dent in! (It was a family style restaurant.)

After such a big dinner we elected to skip the cab ride and enjoy a leisurely walk back to the hotel through the busy city.

A Little Denial Never Hurt Anyone

Last night I got an automated phone call from Charleston County Schools reminding me that the first day of school is August 16th, and that was a mere two weeks away. I don't know what else they said after that - I frantically disconnected the call and tried to erase the words from my mind and go back to my happy place. (Otherwise known as my kitchen full of friends, cheddar corn snacks, and wine.)

As if I needed a reminder that school starts in two weeks! Heck, what I need is all that aforementioned wine to calm me down cause I have been thinking about it too much. (I mean seriously, don't you think 5 is just a touch too young to expect a child to navigate from the carpool drop-off, through the winding halls of a huge school, and find his classroom all by himself?!)

So for now I have come to this solution. I will voluntarily remain in denial. It's a valid form of dealing, right? For now - in my world - it is still summer. We are still children of water and sun, and the gang is still all here!

Weekend Recap: Friday Fun

Here is a recipe for Friday evening fun. Jump in car, head to Freshfields, grab a spot on the green....

Enjoy a refreshment

Listen to the band - dance when they play James Taylor

Spill ice cream down your face and shirt

Dance some more - feel the music!

Pose with some funny frog statues

And last, make sure to spend a little time honing your pickpocket skills. Those could come in handy one day!

Girl's Night Out

I may or may not have had to take several Ibuprofen this morning. Not that I am complaining or anything. Anytime you have a raging headache from a night out with your girlfriends it probably means you had a good time!

You see, my friends and I had to have one last girl's night out with this beautiful lady before she moves next week.

Yes, Jan is leaving our 'hood to head to Atlanta. When we first heard the news we considered kidnapping her husband Joe and forcing him to refuse his wonderful job opportunity, but reasonable thinking won out and we abandoned that plan. Now we are just sad, 'cause what will Carolina Bay be without Jan?! So, instead of dwelling on it we did what we do best. Spent time together drinking, eating, and laughing.

We may not be able to make a decision to save our lives but we can laugh with the best of them!

Oh, and never underestimate the level of entertainment that exist after 11pm on a Wednesday night. Seriously, there are always people at bars who are drunker than you who will provide you with plenty to laugh about. (You just hope that they don't "make anyone upset in their panties", right ladies? Don't roll your eyes, I am allowed one inside joke per blog post!)

Jan.... We will miss you so much but we know you are headed for awesome things. Watch out for a carload of women who may head your way every now and then - we'll bring our tents! :)

Liam: An Update

Well, it's time for an update on you know who.

Liam. And yes, we snack while we shop. It is really the only way to make it through the grocery store without him standing up and jumping out of the cart or screaming at the top of his lungs.

Liam is 15 months and we went for his check-up today. He is doing all the things on the checklist. Walking well (attempting to run actually), saying words (Mama, Dada, Bubba, fish, more, ruff-ruff, - a random assortment I know!), he waves, he climbs stairs... basically right where he should be developmentally. He weighs 21.5 pounds - down a couple because of his high activity level - and is 30.5 inches long. 15th and 40th percentile respectively. He eats a ton, and will try almost anything you put in front of him. His favorites are yogurt, cheese, blackberries, strawberries, sweet potato, banana/avocado, and of course, Larabars of any variety. Obviously we are out of the woods as far as nut allergies! He is drinking some milk, not a ton, and lots of water in his new sippy cups. The best part is that he naturally weaned himself off of his nighttime bottle. One day he just didn't want it anymore and now he just gets a bath, reads a book, and goes to bed. For 12 hours. Praise the Lord! Seriously, it makes up for the first 11 months that we spent waking up several times a night.

And boy is he cute! Which is good because otherwise I might kill him. Not really, but you know what I mean. He. is. crazy!!!! And already very mischievous. He does all the things he knows he shouldn't and when I try to implement an age appropriate punishment he looks at me and laughs. He loves to walk up to Noah and just wail on him. Sometimes he uses his hands and sometimes he changes it up and slugs him with a toy. We are working on "no hits!" I'll let you know how it goes.

All in all, Liam is a pretty happy and healthy little guy. We are enjoying all the wonderful aspects of his personality and all the little ways that he makes our family more interesting!

Kayaking Adventures

Charleston is an awesome place to live. Seriously, there is so much to do and recently Wes and I have realized that are taking advantage of about 3.5 percent of it. We have been to the beach once this summer. Once! And, though I think I go more than some people, we don't get downtown as much as I would like. And now that Noah is older there all sorts of other things opening up to us. Like, for instance, sea kayaking.

Wes and I have wanted to try it out for awhile and we took advantage of my Mom being in town this weekend to give it a whirl. We signed up for a 3 hour guided kayak session departing at Folly Beach. (A funny story: When Wes called to book the appointment the lady asked if we each wanted our own boat or did we want to share a boat. When Wes hesitated, she informed him that they call the double boats their "divorce boats". 'Nuff said! We each got our own thank you very much!)

We got there Saturday morning and despite really strong winds and choppy waters we set out, with a guide and one other couple, to explore the water. I will confess, it took me a good 5 minutes to figure out how to coordinate working my paddle and my rudder to steer the boat. I was terrified that I would be the weak link in our group but before I knew it the other guy in our group tipped his boat and fell in the water during those first 5 minutes and I breathed a sigh of relief. While he struggled to get back in I figured out how it all worked, and by the time we were off I had things under control! (This is where I will add that Wes glided into the water and acted like he was a freaking kayaking professional and I so badly wanted to ram into him on purpose in an effort to knock him over and deflate his ego a bit. If I could have done that without turning my own boat over in the process I probably would have!)

We followed our guide through extremely difficult to maneuver choppy water over to a little island (called Long Island) that eventually blocked us from some of the wind. Because the tide was so high we ended up going further into the island than our guide had ever gone before. It was pretty cool to be able to explore places that you couldn't otherwise see in any other way.

We got all sorts of interesting info from our guide too. I eagerly listened to anything that was historically interesting and then tuned out most of what he said when he started naming all sorts of plants and animals and anything too scientific. Especially when he started yammering on about bird wildlife. (You all know how I feel about birds I think). I half listened and half whipped my head around frantically to make sure that the birds he was telling us about weren't flying to close to my boat. (Another story... Wes really perked up when he told us all about a bird who had natural bifocal vision. Oh yeah, that really got him all worked up about the wonders of the eye!)

By the time we headed back I was definitely getting tired. Kayaking is for sure a total body workout. Arms, back, core, and even my legs were getting sore. The nature stuff is great, but that was my favorite part about the whole thing. Finding new and exciting ways to fit in a workout really gets me going! Kind of like Wes and his amazing bird vision.......

We have decided that next time we are going to bring Noah back with us, as he would totally LOVE it! And don't be surprised if we start scouring Craigslist for a used kayak. It was a really wonderful way to enjoy this beautiful place that we live in!

Liam Discovers Blackberries

                                               His verdict.... Yum! Guys, are there more?