Why I Love Summer, reason #3

Yesterday Jenny, Abbie, Nina and I went to Marmar and Susie's for a fun visit. Abbie (almost 5) and Nina (2 1/2) bring our family so much joy! We carried out some Wendy's for dinner and hung out, dancing and playing.

look at Nina's sweet little hand on Marmar's

The girls love music! They danced and sang one of Abbie's favorite songs, "Telephone". Abbie made up a song for Brooke, but I only caught the end of it.

Road Trippin' with the Birthday Club

Sheila's lake house, viewed from the street

 I went on a road trip this past weekend with some of the ladies from our Birthday Club. Sheila invited all of us for a weekend at her lake house on Clark Lake in Michigan (about 45 minutes from Ann Arbor) and 7 of us were able to go.It was such a relaxing weekend! It was pretty much no make up, bad hair, and living in our bathing suits. The lake house has been in Sheila's family since 1973 and is now owned by Sheila and her husband, Marty. It is warm, cozy and inviting, just like Sheila's house at home (if you remember, Sheila is the one from a previous post with the cozy sun porch where we had our last birthday gathering).

Jean and I rode up with Sheila on Friday morning and the others, Teri, Trish, Carol, and Sue arrived about 6:30. We had appetizers on the pontoon boat and carried out dinner from the Beach Bar.

drinks and appetizers on the water

On Saturday, Sheila took us for a ride around the lake and then made us lunch. note: This weekend may not have been quite as relaxing for our hostess as it was for us! Sheila was very gracious:)

view of the house from the boat

After lunch, I ended up taking a quick shower and a nap to re-energize. When I woke up and looked out my bedroom window, this is what I saw.

Girlfriends solving the world's problems

I changed back into my bathing suit and joined them. We floated and laughed and talked until it started to rain. It was funny trying to tow the float back to the dock and carry everything into the house as the rainstorm moved in.

heading inside

We grilled out Saturday night (well, Sheila grilled out for us!) and stayed up late. On Sunday morning, we slept late and rehashed the weekend before everyone took off, back to reality. Thanks for a fabulous weekend, Sheila!

Fourth of July...it's not too late to blog about it, is it?

I love the Fourth of July! We have some fun traditions. The day starts out with the parade in our village. We always stand in the same area with our friends. It is usually Christy and Steve and Chuck and Teri and whatever kids are in town. This year, Jean and Mike were home for the 4th for the first time in many years and they joined us, too.
After the parade, Jack, Wayne, Sally and I went out to my mom and sister's house. This is not part of our tradition, but we were okay with that! Arne, Beth, Abbie, Nina, Kjell, and Jenny all came out too and it was fun to sit in Marmar and Sue's living room and sing patriotic songs. Yes, we did do that. I am not kidding.

In the evening, the four of us went over to Chuck and Teri's for dinner. July 5th is Teri's birthday and we always celebrate that, too. All of her kids made it a point to be there for her. Such thoughtful and loving kids! We sat on their sunporch and talked current events and politics. It is always great to hear the perspective of our 7 kids (the total number of kids between our two families), well, 8 including Joe, Caylen's darling fiance. It is always a civil discussion, with many different opinions represented. We had dinner outside and a fantastic dessert made by my talented goddaughter, Grace. Sally's Matt joined us for dessert. We got to the fireworks a bit too late to find Christy and Steve as it was too dark to locate them in the crowd. We ended up sitting in the parking lot which worked out fantastically well. We were the first ones out of there and were home in 10 minutes. Can't beat that! Here are some pictures from the day.

Sally, Keegan, Brittany and Wayne with their Indian Princess headbands

How fun to have both Wayne and Sally at the parade for the first time in a few years

my sweet fam

the birthday girl and her family

Why I Love Summer, reason #2

I love summer because I have a bit more flexibility with my time. In the summer,  I work part-time and so every once in a while I get a chance to do something that I couldn't do during the school year. A prime example: I worked til noon one day last week and when I got home, Sally was leaving to go meet Arne, Beth and the girls at McDonald's. Arn and Beth had taken Abbie and Nina to the zoo and had stopped for a quick lunch at the McD's near our house. I jumped in the car with her and got to see that cute family for at least a short time. We went over to our local park for a quick runaround and it was one of those glorious summer days. I was trying to get a picture of the four of them, but Nina (age 2 1/2!) was not interested. So funny!

Nina was not interested in being photographed!

Ok, now Nina is ready to be in a picture!

Abbie likes to pose!

NYC!

Sally and I went on a "grand adventure" (that is an expression that Jack often uses!) to New York City last week. We flew out on Tuesday morning, July 5th and came back Thursday evening, July 7th. We packed so much into those three days, two nights. We arrived at our hotel in NYC around noon on Tuesday and were able to check in early. We had lunch at Junior's and then went for a long walk to Central Park, arriving back at the hotel in time for me to get a little nap before dinner and the play. We had decided that we were going to eat on the cheap (as if that is really possible in New York City!), but caved and made a last minute reservation at the 21 Club. It was worth it! After a wonderful dinner, we headed over to the theater to see Catch Me If You Can. We did the stage door thing afterward. I love doing that! There is a video of that at the end of this post.

dinner at the 21Club on our first night

We saw Catch Me If You Can the first night

On Wednesday, we slept in and then decided to get tickets for a matinee. We went to the half-price ticket booth at Times Square and the line was ridiculous. Our first choice was Billy Elliot and so we decided that I would wait in the line and Sally would go to the theater box office and see what she could get. She was gone less than 15 minutes and ended up with tenth row seats, 40% off. We had a quick lunch, then went to the show. There was a 13 year old girl named Maria May making her Broadway debut at that performance and it turned out that her mother and aunt were seated next to us. We loved watching them watch Maria just about as much as we enjoyed watching the play! It was very touching. They were so gracious. I kiddingly told them about Sally being a star in a play at the Children's Theater of Western Springs and they were all "Oh how wonderful!" Yeah, well, not quite the same as Broadway, but thanks! :) After Billy Elliot, we had dinner at Sardi's and then went to see Anything Goes. Incredible show! Sutton Foster was amazing. She has been one of our favorites since we first saw her in Little Women (on Broadway) in 2005.

We saw Billy Elliot on Wednesday afternoon

Anything Goes! on Wednesday night

On Thursday, we checked out of our hotel around 10, left our bags with the bellman and started hiking. We walked all the way from 49th down past 20th and over to Kleinfled's, the bridal shop that is the setting for the tv show, "Say Yes to the Dress". They were filming an episode that day and we were hoping to see Randy but no luck. We left and walked over to see the apartment building from "Friends", then caught a cab to Canal Street (the place with all the street vendors). We had fun there, then took the subway up to Grand Central Station, had a late lunch, then picked up our bags at our hotel. We left for the airport with plenty of time to spare and on the way, Sally got an automated message on her cell phone that our 7:20 flight had been canceled and they had booked us on another flight the first thing the next morning. Yikes! Well, with a bit of help and advice from my husband,  Mr. Lifetime Platinum American Airlines, we were able to get on another flight on Delta that left at 7. It all turned out fine and we had a fun experience with a caring flight attendant, Doug. He was really the first class flight attendant, but he took a liking to us and brought us wine in real glass glasses ("Drinking out of plastic cups is so pedestrian", he said). He ended up chatting us up and when he heard that Sally was a high school teacher, he told us his story of a teacher that made a difference in his life. Sally cried, she was so touched. And as it turned out, Sherry Shepard from "The View" was on our flight and Sally talked to her after we got off the plane.

It was such a fun trip and a pleasure to travel with Sally. She knows New York City better than she does Chicago and was an excellent tour guide. Lots of great memories from our three day trip!

The first video is from the Anything Goes stage door, a video of Raymond Lee who played John. 

This is a video of Norbert Leo Butz at the stage door after Sally and I saw "Catch Me if You Can". He played Hanratty, the detective and was amazing. Norbert won the Tony award for best actor in a musical.

Happy 60th Anniversary to Bucky and Grandma!

Jack's parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on Thursday, July 7th. What an amazing milestone! We had a family dinner at our house last night to recognize this achievement. We had such a great time. Bill and Marie (aka Bucky and Grandma!) brought their wedding album and we all loved looking at it. I scanned a picture to share with you. Don't you love it??? 

Bill and Marie on their wedding day

Last night was a great opportunity to take pictures of the family. We were missing Paul (who was not able to make the trip from Florida), Wayne (who was in New York), and Sally (who was there for the first hour but had to leave due to a prior commitment). I did not get a picture of Downtown Sue before she had to leave, but she was there to celebrate. Brendan's girlfriend, Megan, was able to join us. Megan had had a stressful day, taking a content test for certification for teaching special education, so we were glad she wasn't too wiped out and was able to join in the festivities. Here are some family pics:

Sorry we didn't have Sue, Paul and Clyde there for the picture

the sisters-in-law

Love them!

Brendan (my godson), me and Megan

We also celebrated Mike's birthday, which is today. Happy birthday to Uncle Mike! Here's hoping and praying for a healthy year for him.

Happy birthday to Mike!

I really am so blessed to have married into such a wonderful family. Sue and I agree that we could not have asked for better parents-in-law. Thanks for showing the next generations how it's done, Grandma and Bucky!

Cara's Wedding

Yesterday Jack and I attended the wedding of Cara and John. I first met Cara when she was in fifth grade. She and her folks, Lynn and Richard, and her sister, Rachael, had just moved to our town and we met at Jump Rope for Heart at the grade school. I became good friends with Cara's mom and the families got together for many fun times. Right as Cara was leaving for college in 2004, the family got transferred to New York City. Quite a neat thing...living in the penthouse of a Manhattan hotel where Richard was the general manager. Sally and I had a few visits there and it was such a treat! After about 2 years, Richard and Lynn were transferred back here and it has been good to have them around again. Lynn is one of my morning walking partners and it has been fun to watch/listen to all the wedding plans unfold over the past year. It was a perfect day! Here are some pictures...