Also, Happy Father's Day to my own Wads, who set the bar high for my expectations for what a father should be:) And finally, Happy Father's Day to Emil, who has become such an important part of my life, and has always been a wonderful father, grandfather and friend.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Happy Father's Day
So I know I'm a month behind in my regular blog posts, but I'm going out of order to give on-time kudos to Matt, the best Daddy a kid could have, and the best husband a girl could have. I actually wanted to do a similar post on Wednesday (and would have if I had more time that day), singing Matt's accolades as a husband and father, totally unrelated to Father's Day. On Wednesday morning Matt woke up at 3am and heard it raining hard. He knew it had been raining all the night before, so had that certain knowledge that our basement was going to flood again. So while me and the kids slept blissfully unaware, Matt single handedly kept our basement from flooding and the playroom intact for his rug rats by staying right next to our sump pump for 4 hours and manually turning the upper pump on time and time again so that the basement didn't flood. Success!! Then he went to work all day at Paschen, with just a few hours of sleep under his belt. That story is just a glimpse into the sacrificing, caring, always ingenious husband/father that he is. Whether he is getting the family groceries, making real estate portfolio deals, rigging up a pulley system for Luke's fort, or helping me choose which shoes go best with my outfit before work - he is IN IT 100%, 100% of the time, giving us the most wonderful life. Thank you for everything, we love you so much!!!
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Homebodies
We spent the whole weekend bumming around - no complaints here!
| Just a regular Wednesday afternoon for this kid - not too shabby. |
| Friday morning fishing with Dad |
| Friday evening we went to a street festival & concert in Lake Bluff. If you closed your eyes and ignored the millions of kids, it almost felt like you were back in Chicago. |
| There were SO many kids everywhere in the Lake Bluff green, our kids loved it. |
| Saturday morning breakfast al fresco |
| Swim time again - sitting in the garage sale lounger |
![]() |
| Sat night we had our two neighbor families over for dinner. It was what we had hoped for 6 years ago when moving here, friends to call at the drop of a hat to come over:) |
| We were going to try and sleep in the tent that night - my childhood tent that Mom and Dad gave us - but the forecast was calling for rain so we didn't end up sleeping out there. |
| Claire had a playdate with Sopia on Sunday |
| Matt pulling Luke on the sled |
![]() |
| Visit with G&G B |
![]() |
| We walked to the huge park next to their house |
| Luke doing sand angels |
| Walking back home through the pretty ravine trail |
| Claire wants to do everything Luke does - including riding his big boy bike. |
| Luke driving his tractor all over the yard |
| I took Mom and Dad to the airport for their trip to Russia and Finland on Monday. |
![]() |
| Bumble bee girl! |
| Picture Mom and Dad sent from Moscow, so cool! |
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Boat Excursion
Matt and I did a wild and crazy thing last weekend. We took the big boat, so Donna & Emil's boat, all the way down to Chicago to listen to the Jack Johnson concert down at Northerly Island. I LOVE Jack Johnson, and I love the idea of listening to Jack Johnson on a warm summer night from a boat on the open water, with a cocktail in hand. All of that came true, plus or minus a bit (the minuses really having to do with me feeling a bit seasick from some wavy waters). All in all it was really fun! It started with almost a 2 hour trip down the Lake Michigan coastline, watching as the skyscrapers became larger and larger. By the time we got down there the sun was setting and the sky was on fire, it was so gorgeous. Then we dropped anchor and had dinner and drinks while the opening act band played. We listened to Jack play his awesome music, and it was as if we were actually at the concert it was so close. We could see the Jumbotron of him on stage and everything. Matt was awesome handling all the boat stuff, including anchoring it among tons of other speedboats and sail boats. We got to watch the fireworks that Navy Pier puts off every Saturday night, and then started the journey back home in the pitch black night. That part was a little scary, you couldn't see anything. We didn't get back to the harbor until 1am, and I feel asleep on the w ay back so I wasn't a very good first mate! It was quite a memorable experience, but not one we're going to be doing every day we decided.![]() |
| She likes to wear her shoes outside, even when she's wearing her footie jammies. |
![]() |
| Garden is starting to grow! |
| Totally capable of climbing up and down couches now, it is so nice not to worry about her taking a header off of as much stuff anymore |
| Dinner at Shannon's with her super cute pup, Porkchop |
| Michelle & Shannon |
![]() |
| The house we swim at also has beach access, so later in the year when the water is warmer we do open water swims, too. |
![]() |
| View up at the pool. That's the infinity edge we're looking at. |
![]() |
| Matt & Luke met me for lunch on Friday as a special treat for me. |
| Saturday I had my Kellogg girls' brunch at Keli's new house in Elmhurst. It was soooo beautiful, out of a movie! |
| Doesn't think look like it is in a commercial or something? I am obsessed with the front porch, complete with front porch swing! |
| Setting off on our adventure! |
| The lovely city approaches |
| Captain Matt setting the anchor |
![]() |
| We had a marvelous time together. We were anchored right next to the museum campus, so in the background you can see the Planetarium and the Shedd Aquarium. |
| Sunday morning Open Lands trip. We didn't get much sleep that night! |
![]() |
| Spumoni and Luke running down the path together |
| Throwing rocks in the river |
| Mom, Dad & Grandma came down for a pool day on Sunday |

![]() |
| Yes, that is Dad & Mom in the pool! It was that hot that even Mom went for a dip, borrowing Luke's zebra. They were playing with Luke in the water |
![]() |
| Grandma kept the kids company on the chairs. While Grandma was sitting here she looked over at cutie Claire smiling over at her asked me "Don't you just wish you could keep them this size forever?" |
![]() |
| This is as good as the 4 of us selfie is going to get. |
![]() |
| And Luke's gone... |
| He's back! |
![]() |
| Hi there! |
| Any night where rice is on the menu means that rice is going to cover our floors. Here is Luke trying to sweep it up. |
| Let me in!!! |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)





























