Birthday Weekend in Chicago!

Every year, without fail, I feel the need to do something significant on or around my birthday, even though I don't necessarily want to actually celebrate my actual birthday. Just do something significant... concert, ballgame, general travel. Whatever.

This year, is was a pretty standard trip to Chicago to see the Cubs. In case you haven't heard, the Cubbies are actually doing good this year. Fingers crossed. But keeping the 'hopes' in check. We left yesterday morning for the afternoon game. If it's one thing I've learned from all the games I've gone to, it's that you want seats under the upper deck, not in the sun. However, with lake winds sometimes blowing in, being in the shade can get chilly, even on a warm summer day. As was the case yesterday. Eric did a double-check before we left, and the temps were the low 80's, which was low enough to adjust my apparel for the day to jeans. And I was glad I did. Everyone around us was either covering up in a blanket they brought, or running to the souvenir shop to buy a sweatshirt. So good call on that!

This was inter-divisional play against the Texas Rangers, so while the game didn't count, it counted. Clear as mud? LoL It was actually a well matched game on paper, though the Cubs ultimately dominated. Made for a good game to watch, with an even better outcome. Once of the better games I've been to in a few years (not that any were bad games). And the win was a nice birthday present.

After we checked into our hotel, we walked down to Eataly for dinner. If you can't tell by now, we love that place. Good for dinner, good for shopping, good just to visit for inspiration. I had some stuffed shells that I hope they have on the menu next time I go. Ah-Mazing!! Funny how all of our other normal go-to dinner spots have fallen off the radar since we discovered Eataly... and they were all equally as amazing. But they have other locations is cities we like to visit, where Eataly only has NYC.

This morning, we had a quick bite at the hotel and then walked out to the 'beach' of Lake Michigan. (I will always have problems considering this a beach w/o saltwater and consistent waves) No sooner did our feet hit the sand, did it start to drizzle on us. So we went back to the hotel and got inside just in time for a torrential downpour. It didn't last long, and we probably could have went back out to the beach for a bit, but we decided to head back to Eataly and do a little shopping before heading back home. Of course, the thought being that we'd get some good food to make some good dinner tonight. Which we did, and we made and ate, since we got home so early (relatively). And a happy birthday to me, it was.

Family Meet-Up in PA

So this was a somewhat last minute trip for Eric and I. My Mom, Sister, and her kids had it planned for awhile, though... so I think it was a little easier for them.

I haven't mentioned it on here yet, but my grandmother, Nan, moved to an Assisted Living campus near my parents' in Jacksonville. But her house in Pennsylvania is still very much full from her 60+ years living there. She won't be going back there, but someone needs to go through things and either salvage, sell, or trash. And with this weekend being the only long weekend that my sister and kids truly had off, they decided to spend a few days before and after, making it a full week there. Eric and I were just driving out Saturday, and back home today. A lot of driving for a short period of time, but considering I knew this may be our only chance, I thought it was a good idea. We had no big plans for the 4th of July weekend, anyway. So there's your background.

We had great weather driving out on Saturday. And most of the day was spent driving, with us getting into the area around 5pm or so. The family was already done at the house for the day, and we decided to meet them out at Knoebel's Grove. Oh, the memories I have from that place. Even with my sister's kids, Kris and Darian - it's been about 13 years, but none the less, memories were made. Eric and I had just a couple of hours here a few years back, as well... but most of the memories are from my summers up in PA. I wish Knoebel's was a little closer for me to try to get there once a year or so - it's such an awesome park! They were actually celebrating 90 years this year! We spent the last few hours they were open, trying to catch all the new rides, and of course, ride a couple of the old favorite coasters. I so wish I had the entire day there - I always feel like I leave and realize later I wanted to go on another ride.

Sunday was a day of work. And wow, what a task ahead of us. I feel like we only scraped the surface, and that frustrated the hell out of Eric. I think he thought we'd be leaving with the house cleared out and ready for the next step (whatever that is). Unfortunately, cleaning out the house will be a multi-trip, LONG process for the family to tackle. I think my family would be happy to just have it done by the end of the year! But after a day of sorting and throwing some things out, we managed to leave with our car packed with some things to keep. My main goal was to get the old metal porch glider, which I did, but it's going to take some work to get it ready for our own porch. But I'm up for it.

Finally, today was all driving. We tried to leave early, but didn't get on the road nearly as early as we had hoped. We made a short lunch stop in Columbus, OH (which was actually well past 'lunchtime' for us), and we were lucky enough to NOT have rain up until there. But then those last few hours on I-70 had a light rain. No big deal, since we were about done with our long weekend. We got home, unloaded, and then Eric had to run to the office.

There always seems to be some crisis for him there. But alas, until we got home, things stayed calm for him on the work front. We did manage to catch the fireworks here. It was a little foggy and/or low clouds, though, so we only could see about half of them. And then more drizzle started. But at least we can say we DID see fireworks on the 4th of July.