There was something in the air that night...

Arrival:  ABBA cover band from Sweden.

Bex was in charge of the edibles and most importantly, the presentation!

Friends from work:  Glenda, who is camera shy and Lori, who is not!

Bex was feeling her cuteness last night and rocking the self portraits.

Margaux waiting to get into her Burley for a bike ride.

My friend Bex and I headed up to Ravinia last night to see the ABBA cover band from Sweden called Arrival.  The weather was looking precarious but it only sprinkled a bit during the song "Waterloo"!  The place was sold out and as per usual, it was a super fun night of dancing and laughter and wine.  I always sit and marvel at how happy everyone is when they are out picnicking and enjoying music on a summer night under the open sky.  Life should be a big huge Ravinia!  (Except the part where flaky parents bring their kids along and let them run wild and ram into our table and spill wine all over us.  I hate stains and I hate to see good wine go to waste!)  We met up with a couple of my friends from work, Glenda and Lori, and we also visited with another coworker during intermission, Beata.  Beata's brother and sister-in-law are visiting from Poland and it was very nice to meet them.

Amazingly, I didn't feel too bad this morning and Patrick, Margaux and myself rode our bikes to the grand opening of our new neighborhood playground at Rutherford Sayre Park.  It's so cute!  There is a brand new playground/water play area and little meditation garden that is sponsored by the Chicago Botanical Garden Society.  There were snacks and refreshments and choo choo train rides.  Sadly, I forgot to bring my camera!  (Because we document our entire lives these days, huh?)  The park is very close to our house and I am looking forward to spending a lot of time there with my little girlie.

Shrek The Musical

Shrek The Musical is in Chicago for 8 weeks and we had the pleasure of seeing it last night, it's opening night!  Patrick has been shooting it during the preview period and thought that Margaux and I would enjoy it.  It's a risky thing taking a 21-month old to anything requiring over 2 hours of sitting!  She did pretty well by making it through the first half.  She was getting antsy and chatty and so Patrick took her walking downtown while I stayed for the rest of the show.  (He'd seen it in it's entirety more than once!)  I absolutely loved it!!!  The second half after intermission was my favorite with the best song and dance numbers.  Go see it if you get the chance!

In other news, Margaux got two beta fish this weekend while out and about with her daddy.  She is very intrigued by fish and we had been talking about an aquarium, but we are starting small first!  The fish don't have names because when I tried names on them Margaux looked at me and then them, in confusion.  They are just "Fishhh". 

Last but not least, our little girl started walking in late June.  We had been a bit concerned about her delay with this, but she apparently just likes to work on her own time!  Our pediatrician doesn't get concerned until after 17 months and when he assessed her and found that she was developmentally perfect in every other way, he gave us a referral to see a pediatric neurologist just for peace of mind.  We never got an appointment, long story.  So anyway, she is still very cautious and hesitant but we are confident that she will be running around and carefree about it in no time! 

It's been a nice summer for us so far, hope it has been for you too!

Fourth Fun

So I was originally supposed to work on the 4th of July this year because it was my scheduled holiday, but a very nice coworker agreed to take my shift for me.  We decided to head up to Traverse City, MI and visit Patrick's sister and her family. We didn't get a very early start on Saturday and so we missed one of the gorgeous sunny days, but we awoke to perfect weather on Sunday morning and decided to head out to the Sleeping Bear Dunes.  I have not been there since I was a toddler and I have no idea why...it's absolutely gorgeous!  I could live on the top of those dunes and just stare out at the beauty for the rest of my life.  The legend of the Dunes is bittersweet and we bought the award winning book about it for Margaux when she's a little older.  Afterward we took a little drive through Glen Arbor where there was a 4th of July parade and then made our way to North Bar Lake back in Empire.  Patrick and I both agree that it's the greatest freshwater beach we have ever seen!  A beautiful Lake Michigan beach seeps through some dunes creating an inlet into a small, very blue lake surrounded by sand dunes and woods.  We soaked up the sun and then headed back to Traverse City to watch the fireworks from Kim & Mike's boat that was anchored in the bay amongst all of the Cherry Festival action.  Yesterday we all decided to go canoeing on the Platte River.  We have heard and read a lot of good things about this river and it's all true...very pretty and crystal clear.  We enjoyed walking past the final stop where the river empties into Lake Michigan.  The water was very warm until you crossed the invisible line into the lake where it became quite chilly!  We swam around and I found a little Petoskey stone for Anna to polish and add to her rock collection.  We ended the long holiday weekend with a yummy dinner (Mike is a grill genius!) and watching Hot Tub Time Machine.  We were sad to head back home today and we are looking forward to our next trip up north.