Pageant and Cruise Night 2016 annndddd Moving

I was asked if I wanted to be involved in the pageant again this year.  This time it was going to be from a different perspective.  This time, I was going to be on the radio! They usually have some guy from the radio read the advertisements but they need someone to talk about the dresses and suits.  So of course I agreed.  I just can't say no.  I know the usual routine but this year they threw in something new. 

 I didn't find out until I arrived that I would also be doing the Little Miss Pageant.  Yikes! More dresses to describe.  But it was fantastic.  The little girls were adorable and easy to talk about.  The big girls were harder.  I mean really, how would you describe the black dress on the right? Black dress with silver beading in stripes... down the... front?? Seriously, one of the hardest but most fun thing I've tried.  If they ever ask me to do it again, I would try to be much more prepared. I hadn't seen any of the dresses before they walked on the stage.  Phew! That was rough.  When I was struggling, I said things like "that dress is so interesting" and "paired with sensible black pumps".  Yikes.  But other than that, the timing and information was covered so I think it went pretty well.

 Check out the winning gift bag for the Little Miss part.  That's Charlotte's doll! Or at least a copy.

 Here are the contestants.  I'm pretty sure the girl in red is flipping me off.  HA!

 After the contest, I stayed at my parents' new house.  I was planning to help them move that weekend so they weren't fully prepared for me.  But don't worry, I hooked them up with some fabulous new curtains.

 The next day we did a lot of moving but then were able to celebrate Cruise Night that night.  The kids loved riding around in the convertible.

Charlotte's hair was getting in her face so she let me put her hair in a ponytail.  Look at that face! 

 Now look at her face when she sees her high pony for the first time!

 The kids got some really good sleep that night. 

 The next day I got up early and brought home some donuts for our big time moving day.  The day before was rough (according my FitBit and the 28 flights up the stairs) so I thought some donuts would help. :)

I didn't do as much moving that day but I tried to help how I could by connecting the Bluetooth Sound system.

 The kids enjoyed "moving".  :-)

Tommy would wear jammies 24/7 if we would let him.  I just love his Thor cape.

GnR at Soldier Field

We made some last minute plans last weekend...

 We decided to go to Guns n Roses in Chicago at Soldier Field.  Andrew has wanted to see them since he was a pre-teen.  He was thinking about not going and at the last minute we decided we couldn't miss it.  We were very happy we went.

 First of all, Alice in Chains opened.  They were awesome. Totally expected.

 Concert selfie!

I really like their new album but they mostly played old stuff which was also great.

 The guy behind us kept yelling Rooster and we had to listen to that until they played Rooster which happened to be the last song.

 Then it was time for the big show!

 Axl came out ready to rock.  He's definitely aged a bit but it's been, what, like 20-25 years. 

 Slash looks exactly the same because you've never been able to see him behind the hat, sunglasses and hair.  Smart move, Slash.

 We had our Rooster friend take our picture.  I asked for him to get the stage in the background.  Well, he tried.

I tried again later but that doesn't look like a stage. Oh well.

 Axl changed outfits many times.  White leather jacket with matching hat, enjoyed. 

 Slash wore his Ziggy Stardust shirt throughout the show.

 Black leather jacket and matching hat now.  Nice!

 Ooh vest with fringe! Get crazy!

 This was by far my favorite shirt of the night.

 There were spectacular fireworks.

 Axl can still for the most part hit the notes.  I had low expectations going in and he really exceeded them above and beyond.


Here's a long video for you to view to get a glimpse into our night.  This concert was truly worth shelling out the money to be able to go.  I'm so glad we went.  It was such a great time.  It was mostly fun to see Andrew whip out all the GnR lyrics from back in the day.  He hasn't forgotten a word.  It helped that he gave me a music video history lesson since I didn't have MTV until 1999.  If you want to see a video that really explains what GnR was all about, you should watch this one.  Wow.  What was happening in the 90s???? :) Freaking dolphins??? The very last couple seconds are the best part. What in the...

Chicago Getaway Weekend

 For Father's Day, I decided Andrew needed a quick getaway for the weekend.  I found a groupon for a hotel in an awesome location and we booked it for the following weekend.

 One of the reasons that really attracted me to the hotel was the rooftop pool! It was on the 5th floor and the kids loved it. We spent the afternoon there Friday. 

 Tommy practiced jumping in the pool.

 The sun came out occasionally.  It was beautiful.  It wasn't too hot or too cold.  Just perfect!

 Until Tommy swallowed a bunch of pool water and he decided to check out of pool time for the day.  Andrew was sure he was going to throw up.  I kept saying NO HE WON'T! HE'S FINE! I'm sure lots of people at the pool had their eyes on us.  Yikes. 

 Charlotte was jealous and wanted to lay with me too. Really blocked my sun but oh well.  It was pretty sweet. 

It was time to go inside and get ready for some Chicago nightlife.  

 So what did we decide to do? We were a block away from two large movie theaters so we decided to see Finding Dory.  We stopped to see the Ninja Turtle promotional statue first. 

 Then it was time to see the movie.  Andrew got a number one.  NEVER a good idea at the movie theater.  I swear it was a gallon of pop and two gallons of popcorn.  Sheesh. 
The movie was great and people actually clapped at the end.  There were some really funny scenes.  I really enjoyed Stringer Bell and McNulty from The Wire as the Sea Lions.  OFF OFF OFF OFF!!!

 We did not bring the stroller with us so we walked all the way down Michigan Ave to the Disney Store.  We really stretched the kids to their limits. 

 But it was definitely worth it for them.  Charlotte got a baby Dory and Tommy got a Jacquin.  He had never seen it before but it was basically a cheetah with wings so he loved it.  Looks like this:

He's a big fan.  So now we have to watch that show/movie/whatever it is. 

 We watched the boats on the river and took a selfie.  We stayed up way too late but it was vacation!! :)

 The next morning, we were up early of course so we headed to the Ohio St beach.  What a view, huh?? A beautiful beach too. 

 The kids were so excited!

 We took a lot of selfies that day.  :)

 Photo cred for this pic goes to Andrew.  Great shot!

 Hey another selfie! We actually thought to bring a bunch of snacks and sandwiches with us but you can still tell that Charlotte had a popsicle earlier that day.  It stained her mouth for most of the day.  Yikes, what was in that popsicle?

 We had a someone take a family picture for us.  Not too shabby.  I asked someone from the selfie generation so she knew what she was doing.  She and her friends were basically standing on the beach taking selfie after selfie so I knew I asked the right person. 

 Hey there they are in the background right there!

 After our beach day and a nap, we headed over to Navy Pier.  Charlotte HAD to ride the carousel, of course. 

 Tommy wanted to ride the Ferris wheel.  You can tell everyone is so excited to stand in line!

 The Ferris Wheel is pretty awesome.  It's so huge! We could see everything.  We went around 3 times.  We figured it would be a one and done type of thing. 

 We got to know the people in the car with us.  They took our family pic for us.  How nice!

 After Navy Pier rides and dinner, we went on a architecture boat tour.  Yay!! The kids did not know what they were getting into. 

 This is how we were able to enjoy the boat tour.  Some day they'll want to pay attention to something like that.  Today is not that day. 

 It was a great tour.  The views were amazing.  We really got an education!

 The docent was awesome. I kept looking at Andrew and saying, "Um is he making this stuff up? That can't possibly be true."  Very interesting stuff. 

 We had stayed out late enough that everything was closing in Chicago but we knew one place that wouldn't be closed... Whole Foods! There was one right by our hotel so we visited every night for snacks and desserts.  An almond butter and chocolate cup for Tommy and a cake pop for Charlotte.  I got a cannoli.  Oh man, it was amazing. 

 The next morning we got up and went across the street to the egg cafe.  Such a bad idea to go to an egg breakfast place with a kid with a milk and egg allergy.  But our waiter was an amazing professional and he found some granola cereal that didn't have any of his allergies in it and we brought our own milk so we were all set.  Plus they had their phones because they were NOT in a good mood after two late nights being dragged all over the city. 

Charlotte fell asleep shortly before we got home.  How is that comfortable to sleep like that?? Kids are amazing. 
But what a great spontaneous mini vacation we had.  It was so nice to get away and just hang together as a family.