Summer of fun, sun, bacon and gnomes...

Oh my gosh!  Apparently, I went out, worked hard to get my blog designed, got the new design up, and promptly forgot to write anything.  Awesome!

So - how have you been?  I haven't been writing in these parts for so many reasons, one of which is supreme extreme business.  Not just extreme, but supreme extreme.

This has been such a crazy summer.  The weather has been bi-polar (pretty much business as usual in the Upper Midwest).  We've had some birthdays, visitors, so much going on.  Let's see if I can get some of it out.  And, of course, there are pictures.  I mean, it wouldn't be a blog of mine without pictures, right?

One of the biggest things that has happened to us this year is that we finally got a dog.  Oh my, how we have been wanting a dog.  First we had to get a fence, and then a dog door for when we were away.  With the help of a friend, we found our Joe-Joe.  He is a super-sweet and loving dog.  Sometimes, you forget that when you add to your family, it's not just an adjustment for the newest member of the family, but for the entire family.  We've spent the past 8 months or so getting used to each other and our quirks.  Joe-Joe has some problems with separation anxiety.  He pees in our house when we leave him alone.  We are still working on the best way to deal with this problem.  We've tried a few different solutions for this, but none have worked.  Our next move is to hire a dog walker for the days we are not at home, and crate him for those days.  I'm not real fond of the idea of crating the dog for long periods of time, but I'm also not fond of pee in my house.

Joe-Joe can show some other behaviors that we have learned to deal with - namely jumping on the table when no one is around and getting into the garbage.  These are a bit easier dealt with by making the table top and garbage much less accessible to him.  All in all though, he's a sweet friendly dog and he is really a part of our family.

Speaking of family, we had to put down my cat in late June.  This is the first time I've ever had to be there with a pet as they died.  My heart still breaks when I think back to leaving him there.  That was one of the most emotionally wrenching times of my life.  I miss my Mackles all the time, and hope that wherever his spirit is, he's with a family that loves him as much or more than we did.

Ok, I have to move on from that.  In July, I turned 35.  Good God, only 5 years until 40.

We've been pretty active this summer; walking trails, riding bikes, running.  We also made it a point to sign the girls up for tons of activities through our park district.  We've done swimming lessons, Little Chefs, Super Sports, Baseball, Floor Hockey, etc.  Thankfully, with all of this, we were able to luck into finding cheaper child care, with more activities.  Whoot!!!

Lots of family came to visit us this summer.  My dad and step mom and their dog came and stayed with us for a week.  It was really their first time to Chicago, and we had a good time showing them around.  The family really enjoyed having them come and stay.  They were so relaxed and just really seemed to enjoy being here and being with us.  We are looking forward to the next visit!

My little sis came to visit twice!  And the second time she joined us for our family vacation/last hurrah of the summer.  We took time off of work to do a small trip to Michigan (which was super fun even though we basically ate, and walked, and window shopped, and ate, and swam in the hotel pool and ate).  We didn't go for long, but also did some touristy things in Chicago such as a boat tour, and taking pictures at Jeweler's Row, or at State Street, or the Picasso in Daley Plaza.  I'm not going to bore you with all of those pictures, but there are definitely a few to see.

Sandwiches as big as your head, with a pound of bacon. B.A.C.O.N.

Olivia participated in the town-wide gnome hunt.  Like a scavenger hunt for gnomes.  She had a blast, as did we all searching for those crazy gnomes.

The place that we went has a Christmas Store that is as big as 6 football fields, and is open all year long!  So much fun to go to a Christmas store in a sundress!

 

We seriously had the most beautiful day!

While we waited for the locks to let us into the Lake from the River.

We also got to visit with a my aunt and uncle and cousins, cousins spouses, cousin kids, my other aunt and uncle and cousins and even an exchange student!  I've done our 16.5 mile bike route with the hubs, little sis and even with Olivia!  Almost every waking moment I've been trying to move more and be more active. Hmmmm... sounds like another reason I haven't been writing.  Now that the summer is over, this happened:

That's right.  My baby started pre-school.  *sniffle*

And mostly because this picture is too cute not to share, from having dinner with the aunts/uncles/cousins/exchange student/Geraldo etc.  Mia stole my aunts glasses.  She is the cutest little old lady/young hipster I've ever seen.