Mother's Day/Birthday

I was going to try to do something clever with this title like "Birthmother's Day" or "Mother's Birthday," but both of those didn't sound quite right so you're stuck with the boring slash!

We had a fabulous weekend and I had an equally fabulous birthday.  Saturday we went to the Botanic Gardens with Donna and Emil to celebrate Mother's Day and the flowers were spectacular!  The pictures below don't even do it justice, it was just so gorgeous.  I'm a glutton for tulips, and they were at their peak.  I have really only come to appreciate the beauty of gardens just in the last few years, and now I am borderline obsessed.  Now I know why my parents always wanted to go to "boring gardens" throughout my childhood, which I never appreciated.  Later that day we headed up to Wisconsin to spend the rest of the weekend with Mom and Dad - who were newly back from their time in Florida.  So nice to be able to just drive an hour to see them again.  They hosted a lovely party for my birthday and Mother's Day on Sunday, and the nice warm weather continued which meant lots of fun outdoor time.

Monday, my birthday, I took the day off of work (a tradition I began a couple years ago, and one I'm really into!) to spend the day indulging in fun activities with Matt.  As in past years we went canoeing, but this time we brought Luke along.  He did great and we had a really fun time.  We thought he would be bored after about 5 minutes, but he was pretty into it the whole time.  He liked looking for "secret streams" off the main riverway, and yelling "DUCK!" when we would get too close to a passing tree branch.  He also brought his "fishing pole" and spent much of the approx 120 minutes casting his line and reeling it in.  The rest of my special day consisted of a swim in the pool, a couples massage, a sushi dinner out and then birthday cake.  How awesome is that day?  Wish I could do it again tomorrow!

Claire wore her flower shirt and shoes for the trip to the gardens.  So funny still to see her in blue jeans.

Playing the "Let's Go Fishing" game with Grandma and Grandpa

Checking out the ducks at the neighborhood pond

Mother's Day present for Mom

At Wirth Park on Sunday - my first time back to this park since I became a parent.  Wirth Park is where the pool is where I lifeguarded and trained every summer.  Considering it with new eyes I again have a greater appreciation for this park than I ever did as a teen.

Luke and Claire running the bases

We put Claire to work "passing the cards" between people.

Presents from Grandma

Canoeing on the Des Plaines River on Monday.  Brought back memories when we had PJ hanging out with us in the middle seat:)

Going down a "secret stream"

It was a nice afternoon to take a dip, have a beer and listen to Jamaican music.

typical

Luke's still getting the hang of chopsticks, but can put away miso soup like nobody's business,

When I came back to work on Tuesday my team had decorated my office for me:)