Blessings, Bliss, and Bailey: July 4th in Chicago!

For sure, one of the perks of living in Cedar Rapids is the quick drive to Chicago. I LOVE Chicago. Some people like New York, some like LA, but me... I LOVE Chicago. It is so clean and the architecture is classic. Great food, lots to do, and easy to navigate.

It also helps that Christian and I have some really close peeps there too! Pat and Logan went to college with Christian and I - (Pat is actually from Winston-Salem, so Christian knew him there) and Christian's brother Ryan and his wife Jen are both residents at Rush Hospital in Chicago. On top of that we have a few other friends spread out about the city - so needless to say, it is an easy trip and ALWAYS fun!

We headed up Wednesday and stayed with Pat and Logan - they have a 9 month old - Collins. She is presh :) We had to really drive home to Bailey "No hitting the baby!" before we left - especially after our gym incident...
Thursday afternoon, Logan and I left the kids with the boys and headed out for a pub crawl that ended up being more like a high end Cocktail Crawl... We had a mission to only go to rooftop bars and sip fancy drinks :) It was a blast! The highlight was going to the Trump Building for drinks only to find that the cheapest cocktail was $35!!! So, we settled for a Rose' - it was $20!!! We both agreed that the prices were a little excessive... It was a great view but SUPER windy! At one point we are cracking up because we could hardly have a conversation - our hair was whipping around like we were in the eye of a hurricane! That in conjunction with some Hipsters sitting next to use bragging about how great Bel Air is and the waitresses wearing what looked like flight attendant dresses from the 70's ruined the vibe... We left after our wine :) Luckily there were 100s of other great watering holes to head to :)

Pat is a fan of Paulinas Meat Market so he and Christian headed there to buy what Logan and I considered a RIDICULOUS amount of meat. I mean, I had the freaking meat sweats after that meal! Anyhow, we reserved a grill at their condo and headed down to start our cooking process... and what a process that is. When you live on the 41st floor and the grill is on the pool deck, and you have 2 babies things can get crazy. Christian was for some reason manning the brats and corn because Pat was positive that someone "stole" his aluminum foil at the grill. As he is walking around checking everyones station, Christian discovers that one of the ears of corn is on fire! He closes the grill and reopens, now TWO ears of corn are on fire! He grabs one of them with the tongs and starts waiving it in the air - then it slips from the tongs and a huge ear of fiery corn goes flying across the deck! Like 4th of July fireworks! Logan and I are mortified... we take the babies and get the hell out - LOL!
I swear, with Pat and Christian, there is NO telling what will happen!!!
Once in their condo, the sun went down and we could see literally 100 fireworks shows at one time. They have a panoramic view from their place overlooking Lake Michigan - and you can see clear out to the suburbs. It was really cool :) Oh, and we found the aluminum foil...

On Friday we headed to Ryan and Jen's place for the weekend. They live on what is easily one of the nicest streets in Chicago - right in the center city. Space is limited but the ability to walk anywhere more than makes up for it! We headed to their rooftop pool Friday night to grill out and chill and once again ate more freaking sausage! I told Christian I don't want another piece of encased meat until next year!!! Then we headed up to their apartment. That was when Christian decided he wanted what we will all just refer to as a "growth" on his arm removed?!?!? Of course Ryan has a complete surgical bag - so, out come the needles and scapulas... I seriously almost vomited. I couldn't even look... Christian loved it and sipped a beer the entire time! Boys.

Saturday we took Bailey down to swim and had lunch and after that Jen and I dipped out for a pedicure. Then we met back up with Pat and Logan and the 6 of us with 2 kids took the river taxi to Chinatown for dinner. We seriously had the BEST Chinese food I have EVER had! The taxi was the highlight on the way home - Bailey slept the way there so she was super excited on the way back - she LOVED riding on the boat and the views were spectacular at night riding into the city.

All in all it was an awesome trip! We headed home Sunday and this entire house was asleep in bed by 8:30. We had too much fun and I seriously feel like I blew a wad! Now I will enter into my fiscal remorse mood :( lol!

One thing that Christian and I talked about on the way home is how well Bailey does when we travel. She is a soldier! She just comes along, sleeps wherever, and has fun! It makes me realize that this girl was born to travel and with the fact that Christian's work has been talking more and more about our imminent overseas relocation, I am ready! He heads back to Asia in a couple of weeks and I am considering going - and now, I may even bring Bailey!

On another note, I have surrendered to potty training. I should eat my words from a few weeks ago when I said that it was easy... She was doing great - picked it up in like 3 days! Now, she seriously tee tees her pants 10 times a day. She will NEVER nor has the ever pooped in them - only tee tee. At first I thought it was because she was playing and didn't want to quit to go potty - but now, I swear she does it on purpose. I have asked 1000 people what to do... the problem is, it is not about her not being ready - she knows exactly WHAT to do, HOW to do it, and WHEN to do it. She just doesn't want to... I have read that this is just a battle of "wills" - and that she realizes that this is one thing that she can control and to give her the complete control...
So, this morning I gave her a choice of panties or a diaper thinking that there was no way she would choose the diaper... but she did. So, Bailey is back in a diaper today... SMH. Oh well...

We had a wonderful July 4th even if we spent it in diapers :)

xoxo