Monday, May 20, 2013

Sunny day, sweepin' the clouds away

I was going to wait a few days until I collected all of the photos from the weekend, but Megan and Jason just sent some good ones over. Here's a glimpse at the fun we had this last glorious, wonderful, weekend with the Denver O'Gradys in town:
Digging / climbing at the beach
Side-by-side sliding
Getting a taste of the good stuff
Copy cat!
We were so lucky to have beautiful weather all weekend. Molly and Will (if you can't tell from the pictures) had so much fun together. They played like best pals and had no problem sharing toys. Can't wait to get these two together again in Denver this September!

Happy day

That's how my sweet little nephew, Will, wishes me a happy birthday -- happy day! So cute. More pics of Will to come in a subsequent post (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I've made promises like that before and haven't delivered. I swear, I'll write a Will post soon!). Until then, here are some pics from the weekend. We hit up the Kohl Children's Museum on Sat for Molly's friend Kya's birthday party. Then I got to celebrate my 33rd birthday this evening with 5 of my favorite people -- Jason, Molly, Jeremy, Megan, and Will.

Molly and her pal, Henry
Shopping at the mini Dominick's 
Molly and Cousin Will. All covered. Nothing to be embarrassed about here. 
After a long day at work, I got to come home to this! 
Gardening supplies from Jason. Hopefully I am able to make my class tomorrow night!
Contrary to the post title, most of the day today wasn't actually very happy. Work is insanely busy right now and unfortunately, it looks like it's going to stay that way for the next couple of weeks. Ack. I'll write when I can!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

There and back again

It should take about 5 and a half hours to get from Chicago / Evanston to Cincinnati. Molly and I did the drive in about 8. Each way!

Molly was actually an excellent travel companion. On the way down, we did stop for a longish dinner at Steak 'N Shake (her favorite) and had to take a few extra bathroom breaks, but she never complained about being in the car and I only had to break out the DVD player at the very end of the drive. What set us back on Friday, aside from traffic in Chicago and Cincinnati, was that I rear ended a car on the highway. Scary! It was a very mild fender bender, as far as those go. Traffic came to a sudden halt and I just couldn't stop in time. We didn't hit the car in front very hard, but it had a hitch on the back, so there is a little damage to our car and the truck we hit has a big dent in the bumper. Everyone was okay, but I just hate that it happened.

The drive back was drama free, so you'd think we would have shaved off some time. Nope. I saw the signs for Fair Oaks Farm, a dairy farm about 80 miles south of Chicago, and decided that Molly needed a treat. The original idea was to just poke around a little bit and get some ice cream. But then I found out that tickets for the tour were free for mothers and kids under 3, so decided, why not? We took a bus ride around the dairy farm and saw the cows and learned about the milking process. It was actually pretty cool. The farm is completely sustainable, so the guide spent a lot of time talking about how they convert the cow manure to energy for the farm. At the end of the tour, I asked Molly what she learned and she proudly (and loudly) announced to the entire group, "That cows poop!" Ha!

I am so exhausted, I'll save blogging about the weekend in Cincinnati for another day. But here are a few highlights from our girls only road trip:
All packed up and ready to leave. Molly was SO excited to go to Dana's house
First taste of Skyline Chili -- Molly liked the cheese
Nothing runs like a Deere
Checking out the cows -- they had Molly's full attention

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Save the date

Three of the brothers O'Grady -- Jason, Jake, and Jon -- were accepted to show and sell their artwork at the 2013 Evanston Fountain Square Art Festival! Consider this your invitation :)

One of Jason's first screen prints - our city by the lake!

What: Screen prints you just gotta have

When: July 6 - 7, 10am - 6pm

Where: Sherman & Church, Evanston, IL

Why: Because you love and support them...and...because you need some new stuff on your walls!