Builder Kyle

Many mornings we pull out our materials and begin building giant castles for our zoo animals, dinosaurs, or loveable Toy Story characters rights after breakfast. Check out our latest creation.

Blake Shelton, Wrigley Field!

Saturday night, Chris and I went to the Blake Shelton Concert at Wrigley Field - Chris's anniversary gift to us. Two pretty well known country groups opened for Blake (Dan & Shay; The Band Perry). We had great seats, perfect weather, and a wonderful time. Both of us were surprised that we recognized way more songs than we thought we would.

"Sittin' By the Side of Road in the Middle of ..." Wisconsin!

Last Wednesday, Kyle, Amy, and I packed our bags and took off for Stevens Point, WI to spend the day/night with our good friend, Liz and her two kids, Thomas and Abby. Stevens Point is about 4 hours from Chicago. Half way into our trip up there (i.e. Madison), a steel beam flew into the road taking out 4 cars in front of me, and unfortunately our car, as well. All 5 cars pulled off the highway with flats. This was such a bummer considering our car is only 2 months old, and we had been making such good timing up until this point. Later on, I learned that one of the car's tire rims was completely dented, so I guess in some ways we got off lucky. After a tow truck came and put on our donut, we drove to a Walmart tire center to try to get the tire replaced, given that we still had 2 hours left to drive there and then another 4 back on Thursday. After waiting a while, we learned that they would not be able to do it since none of their tires matched our tire speed. There was a Subaru dealership in town, but unfortunately they needed over 24 hours to get my tire. Finally we found a bit of good news at a Tires Plus. They sold us a cheap tire that matched the speed of our other ones, but suggested we order our exact tire from our Subaru dealership as soon as possible.

Well, long story short, we arrived in Stevens Point 3 hours later than anticipated, and ended up having a wonderful visit. Kyle and Thomas played with Thomas' cars, basketball set, and slide. We also took the boys to the park and the library to play, and enjoyed a few meals out while getting to catch up. Looking forward to our next get-together already!

Happy Birthday, Dzia!

Tuesday, July 15th was Dzia's 88th birthday. A bunch of us (Mimi, Me, Kyle, Uncle Kevin, Auntie Jane, Auntie Karen, Sarah, Uncle Mark, Kelly, Reagan, Boo, and of course Dzia) celebrated with a yummy brunch at Kappy's in Morton Grove. Kyle loved the balloon centerpiece. Dzia loved his Patrick Kane Jersey from Uncle Mark and Fam, a perfect choice considering Kane is number 88.

Cubs Game 7-13-14

We couldn't have asked for better weather on Sunday, July 13th. Plenty of sunshine smashed between two rainy Chicago days. The game started off pretty ugly with the Cubbies down 0-7 by the third. Fortunately, things picked up and the game got pretty exciting actually. By the end of the 9th, the Cubs only lost 7-10. We'll take it.

Anniversary Dinner

Chris and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary on July 10th with a dinner out at RPM Italian, a relatively new restaurant in the River North area owned by Bill and Giuliana Rancic. The menu reminded us of tapas style dining, only with Italian dishes. Basically your party orders a bunch of small plates ("cicchetti") and shares them around the table. We ordered provolone stuffed peppers, white figs with gorgonzola, walnut and saba, prime beef meatballs, handmade cavatelli (pork and beef ragu), maine lobster ravioli, and donuts with nutella for dessert. Yum, yum, yum! Everything was delicious. The only problem was that (as with tapas places), we were filled when we left the restaurant, but hungry later!

Gramma "GG"

While away on vacation, we got some pretty tough news. The worst news that I've ever received, that's for sure. My Gramma passed away on the night of Tuesday, July 1st at the age of 91. Apparently everyone, BUT ME, knew this would probably happen while we were gone. I was in shock the moment I got the news, and I'm in shock now. I know it happened, but I still can't believe it happened. My Gramma was one of the most important people in my life. I've cried every day these past 14 days, and as much as I'm taking the advice she wrote me to "enjoy each day" to heart, I'm sure I'll continue to shed at least a few tears every day for quite some time. Love you, Gramma.

Some things I wrote about my Gramma on her online book:

"Moon of my life, my sun and stars" .. Gramma I will miss you for always, love you for ever and ever and ever, and happily cherish the 30 years of wonderful you brought to my life. I'm grateful for the sound example you set, for your positive way of looking at the world, for your beautiful hands that I'd give anything to hold. For you. I hope you're 35, dancing with Grampa on the kitchen floor, and making Christmas Eve dinner.

"I carry you with me into the world, into the smell of rain and the words that dance between people and for me, it will always be this way, walking in the light, remembering being alive together." Such a hard day. A hard week. Thank you for all the love that surrounded me and my family today. Miss you, Gramma! Love you. You'll be in my thoughts and prayers always.

My Gramma on vacation.