Midwest Travel

Our move was getting complicated. Move out and move in dates were off by a week and we knew we wanted to head to Illinois for a few weeks to visit family and friends. Our apartment in Atlanta had a move out date of June 30th, and our move in date in Dallas was July 7th. We decided to go up to Chicago mid June and spend a few weeks there and a few weeks in Jacksonville/St. Louis. Well, the movers hadn't quite told us when they would arrive at our place, and by the time we knew it- we had to cut our time in half with traveling to Jacksonville. Daniel needed to be in Atlanta to "supervise" the movers so that took up three days. It was a little messy- but it all worked out in the end. At least we have all of our stuff. And I didn't realize how much stuff we actually had until I started to purge my items. I'm not a hoarder by any means, but I do like to keep a few things "in case" I need them for future use. 

So we set off to Chicago and spent two weeks there. We met up with our friend Ross who had free guest passes to the Brookfield Zoo. It was a perfect day weather wise and the girls had a lot of fun. 

What is it with statues that kids like so much. I mean the animals are just a few feet away......of course most of them are sleeping half the time- but AZ just wanted to pose with the statues. 

She was excited to see the zebras out and about. 

These stick your head in the hole pictures are always a favorite of Arizona's. Ross had fun with it too obviously. 

        Arizona is really good at taking photos. 

Seeing family is always nice- and it's even nicer to see friends who just make moments more fun. Sadie and I had a girls night out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and were acting like a bunch of hooligans at a Meijer. This chick always makes me laugh. 

My mom babysits my cousins kids- Jocelyn and Jacob Monday thru Thursday. The girls were able to spend the mornings and afternoons playing with them. It's so much easier watching four kids I think. The older ones are really good at entertaining each other and being a big help with the younger ones. 

I also met up with my friend Cassie(who I've known since we were babies) and her sweet girls. It was a girl party at the park. We played for almost two hours and had the whole park to ourselves. It was so fun catching up and not awkward at all. I sometimes feel like when you meet up with an old friend- you are either searching for something to say and things just stall- but Cassie and I just picked up conversation like it was no big deal. She's awesome!! I wish we had gotten a pic together. 

Auntie Lorena reading bedtime stories to Arizona. 

          The Fam together on a Sunday evening. We're a pretty good looking bunch.