Chicago

Ridiculous I know, but over two weeks ago now Liv and I braved a plane flight out to Chicago to play with Babi and Papau.  I was so nervous about the 3.5 hour flight alone with Liv sitting on my lap the whole way, but she was beyond fabulous.  On the way out there were thunderstorms in Chicago and after circling for a while they decided we couldn't land, so they diverted us to Madison, WI (where we waited for 2 hours) and then got the ok to go back to Chicago.  This made the 3 hour trip more like 6 hours.  Nonetheless, Liv was amazing.  I was the one who was going stir crazy.   (Derek likes to take all the credit for that because he found this trip made it a necessity to buy her an Ipad and load it up with movies--it worked, but I have also lost my husband to the world of the Ipad now that we are home). 

In preparation for our visit, Babi barrowed a bunch of toys from her neighbors.  Liv loved this little ride on truck which she tried to ride down the hard wood stairs to Babi's mortification.   Probably her favorite surprise was the one Babi was holding at the airport when we arrived (one of those old tickle me Elmos).  That Elmo went everywhere with her and did everything with her.  He has remained in Chicago, but we get to skype with him occasionally. 

 

Babi got a bottle of bubbles that was practically bigger than Liv to Liv's delight.  She pretty much insisted on blowing the bubbles all by herself (which is how she insists on doing everything these days)...

this usually actually ended in her eating more bubbles than blowing them.  Which has unfortunately also resulted in a bad habit that I now have to break.  I taught her how to drink water and then spit it out on the ground to get the bubble taste out of her mouth.  Should have just let her deal with the bubble taste.  Whoops.

 One morning Babi, Liv, and I went to the Lincoln Park zoo.  It's free!  We had a great time.

 And, Liv got to go to the beach for the first time (if you count Lake Michigan as the beach).  This is her with Babi's make-shift sand toys.  Liv didn't know the difference.

 

Here she is with Papau in the lake.  Liv really took a liking to Papau this trip.  She wanted him to go everywhere and do everything with her.

 
 And, I can't believe I am posting this one of me pregnant in a swim suit, but here is where I hung out most of the time.  In the shade!






 Babi and Liv also hit this little swimming pool in the back yard and we went swimming one night at my Mom's condo-- a lot of swimming, but Liv loves the water, so she was in heaven!

This is probably my favorite picture.  My nice Mom bought me some maternity clothes (who likes to buy those? I certainly don't).  At the mall, they had this cute little train you could ride.  So, I let Babi and Liv go for a ride and was the designated picture taker.  Liv freaked out that I wasn't on the train with her when it left, she screamed for me the whole time.  The conductor had mercy and stopped to let me on (for free!!! And then all the kids got two extra loops out of it with the now happy Liv).  Silly girl.
 My Mom threw the nicest little (or big) brunch to celebrate the up-coming twin boys.  All of George's family was there (reminder--he's Greek so that means he's some how related to every Greek person in the Chicago area--there were like 40 people at this brunch), and some of their neighbors and close friends.  I was stoked that Ashley just happened to be in town visiting her parents at the same time I was because she swung by as well.  So fun to see her--in Chicago!

 Now the random left over pics.  I love this one.  Liv is so infatuated with babies lately.  She always wants one to either come visit us or she wants to go visit them.  I love this pic of her holding her friend Baby Ruth.  She was so excited!  (I hope this enthusiasm remains when two new babies invade her kingdom in a few months).


 And this is strictly for bragging purposes.  My peach tree is ripe and this pregnant lady canned 24 jars of peaches this morning!!!  (Thanks so much to my good buddy Julie for helping me do it).