Chicago

Here's the photo dump from our roadtrip to Chicago.

Waiting for dinner at Pizzeria Uno (I was a bit disappointed but then again, I'm not much of a fan of deep dish).

Smiley boy

Navy Pier

Kid's Museum

"Block Party" at the Kid's Museum

Homage to Papa Allen (she's a natural, dontcha think?)

My two cute boys

Being a paleontologist

Being contemplative

Hot 4th of July at the Navy Pier

Watching fireworks

In the Family Fun tent at Centennial Park

Having a ball at the splash pad at Centennial Park

Simon was enjoying himself so much.  Piper had a great time too, especially making friends on the fly.

I was glad for an excuse to get my feet wet; it was so dang hot.

Roadtrip to Chicago

For the Fourth of July (Rick's birthday) we took a roadtrip to Chicago.  It was fun all around despite the heat.  These are the only pics I took during the actual roadtrip portion.  I had never been to Chicago before and Rick wanted to show me the town. 

Ugg Booties

I made this pink Ugg booties for my friend Emily's new baby.  This was the second pair I had made but the first pink pair.  I think they turned out well.

Parade the Circle

There's a big parade and festival in Cleveland's University Circle every year called Parade the Circle.  We went this year and had lots of fun.  It was very steamy though.  We did some crafts and had some food.  We managed to run into some good friends too.

Here's Piper watching a puppet show.  The show wasn't of the highest quality but fun nonetheless.

 

Splash Pad

Here's Piper at a local splash pad.  I planned for her to get wet in her clothes and so I brought extras.  She had a ball and was the envy of the other clothed kids.

Updates Forthcoming

So I've been completely lax in updating my blog.  I haven't written a real post since Piper's birthday.  I'm uploading pictures of the last two months but in the meantime here's what's going on in our lives currently.

Piper is a character; she is both a hoot and a handful.  At her four-year old check-up in June she weighed 37lbs (75%) and measured 41.5 inches (90%).  She is such a cut-up and makes us laugh all the time.  Sometimes Rick and I will lay in bed at night exchanging stories of funny things she's said.  The trouble that we've been dealing with lately is that she bites everything, and I mean everything.  I recently found teethmarks on her window blinds.  I can't count the number of times every day that I say, "Take that out of your mouth."  She's also started biting her nails.  She likes dress-up, drawing, making "inventions" (usually two pipe cleaners taped to a piece of paper), pretending to be a spy, watching shows, and swimming.  She wants to be an artist when she grows up.

 

At Simon's nine-month check-up he weighed 20lbs 3oz (50%) and measured 30 inches (100%).  Now he's hiking the stairs multiple times a day and cruising around the furniture.  He has six teeth and is very smiley.  Simon loves his sister; she makes him giggle so much.  He loves to pull her hair.  He loves to eat though he can be picky.  He is a little beggar too; anytime one of us is eating anything he wants some.  I can't believe he's almost a year old.

Misty is just keeping busy.  We go to the swimming pool a lot and having been trying to keep cool.  We read a lot of books from the library and Piper and I have still been doing preschool every Wednesday.  This month our theme is art so we're learning about artists and drawing and painting.  I've read Notes from the Small Island, and am currently reading In Praise of Slowness, Omnivore's Dilemma, and Piper and I are reading The Wizard of Oz together.

Rick has made big strides lately.  Three and a half weeks ago he quit his job.  His work has something called Search Time.  It's in his firm's best interest that he get a good job so that he could then hire McKinsey as a consultant.  So currently he gets eight weeks to look for a job.  At the end of that eight weeks he could ask for an additional four weeks if he still hasn't found a job.  Right now we're nearing the end of week four and today he had his first interview with a company in L.A.  He's working on going out in a few weeks to do an in-person interview.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Happy Birthday Rick!

Today is Rick's 35th birthday!  After knowing Rick for more than ten years I've gotten to know him pretty dang well.  So in celebration of this occasion I put together a list of 35 things, in no particular order, that you may or may not know about him. 

1. His favorite food is a chocolate chip cookie dough milkshake.
2. He doesn't have a permanent favorite color.  Right now it's blue.
3. He doesn't like milk except with cereal, or sandwiches except hot ones.
4. Though he's right-handed he brushes his teeth and eats with his left hand.  He may wash dishes left-handed too, I think.
5. He likes nice clothes and shoes.  His tastes have improved more and more over the years.  He dresses better than I do and I think I may embarrass him sometimes.  He has more clothes than I do and they cost a lot more too.  I think one pair of his Hungarian Vass shoes costs more than my whole wardrobe.
6. He loves making sure his girls looks cute.  He enjoys picking out adorable clothes for Piper, and me too.
7. He's an awesome dancer and fancies himself quite the rock star.
8. He likes to sing, and loudly too, and make up new words to songs.  He enjoys good concerts.  He tastes range from Elton John to Rihanna to Guns N Roses to Jack Johnson.
9. He loves to travel and plans great trips.  I've never gone on a trip with Rick that wasn't awesome.
10. Piper has him wrapped around her finger.  He has a hard time disciplining her sometimes because she's just so cute and charming. 
11. He gives nicknames to everyone.  I think that the more nicknames he has for you, the more he loves you (I'm biased though).  At different points in our courtship and marriage he has called me: Punch, Mistress, Kinsey, Kinseybear, Kins, and Mist.
12. He is a great gift-giver.  He may not get you your gift on time but when you get it, you can tell he put a lot of effort and thought into it.
13. He's quite the world-traveler and has lived on four continents.
14. Whenever he goes swimming or wears sandals he wears a Band-Aid on his big toe.
15. He's seen Les Miserables on stage five times.
16. His favorite movie is So I Married an Axe Murderer.
17. He is a great and loyal friend.  He still stays in touch with several friends from high school and college.
18. He's not much of a book reader.  He will read travel and food books occasionally.
19. He's a ginormous Jayhawk fan.  If you've ever met Rick, especially during March Madness, this fact probably surfaced at some point.  He suggested the name Pierce when Simon was born, after Paul Pierce a former Jayhawk.
20. He has a high tolerance for pain.  He hardly ever gets sick and has taken maybe five Tylenol during our whole marriage.
21. He likes good food.  He loves checking out new restaurants.  He doesn't cook though, as Piper has pointed out.  He can be a picky eater, eschewing mushrooms, salad dressing, and peppers while ordering sweetbreads and fois gras.  He likes fancy food but craves simple food like Kraft mac n cheese with hamburger from time to time.
22. He would have made a great attorney.  His mind is very logical and he expresses himself well.
23. He and I share similar tastes in TV shows and movies.  He does favor action movies more but I can't complain too much about what he chooses to watch.
24. He's a true Idaho boy in that he's a sucker for mashed potatoes.  He asks for them almost every Sunday.
25. He likes to tell impromptu, long, and detailed fairy tale stories to Piper on occasion.
26. He is a fan of Brian Regan.  We can get laughing together just re-telling his jokes.
27. He loves Jujyfruits.
28. Some of his favorite sitcom reruns to watch are Seinfeld, King of Queens, and the Simpsons.
29. His favorite golfer is Phil Mickelson.
30. He is more familiar with the geography of L.A. than I am, and I'm from L.A.  (I can't say that I'm that familiar, so this may not mean a lot.)
31. He does not like to be tickled and almost considers it to be torture.
32. He can be adventurous and inspires me to be more adventurous and willing to take risks.  He is spontaneous too, like when he surprised me in France when we'd only been dating a month.
33. He once worked as a bag boy at Albertson's.
34. His Spanish is so good that some Argentines have mistaken him for a native.
35. He loves me.  I love him.

Happy Birthday Wick.  Thanks for all you do for me and for our family.  You put up with a lot and I'm thankful for all of your sacrifices.  Thank you for being my best friend, my partner, and my "favorite person in the whole world."