Miss Independent

For those of you who don't know, Mark and I are living in a travel trailer behind my in-laws (I know, it's a real treat). We've rigged out one of the bunks with a guard so that's Launa's bed. Usually, I put her down for a nap, go inside and do my laundry and then come back out. It was about the time I thought she should be waking up when I went out there and saw the camper door was open. She was standing on the step with the door open yelling "Mommy, Mommmmmmmy!" I don't know when she learned how to get down from her bed, open the door to her room, then open the door to the camper, but it was funny. What can I say? She is my little Miss Independent.

Happy Birthday Dad!!

I'm a couple days late, but my Dad just had his 58th birthday on September 13th and I wanted to do a post on a few reasons why he's the best...

#1. He is a great listener
#2. He has a great sense of humor and can laugh at himself
#3. He offers great advice (and generally only when you ask for it which is rare!)
#4. He shares my love for reading and history so we always have a lot to talk about
#5. He cared (and still cares) more about his family and children than about money (actions speak louder than words in this case... I'm a girl and he has rarely missed any events in my life, he worked a lot but made time when we needed him)
#6. He is genuine (You'll never see him pretending, "what you see is what you get")
#7. He is a "man's man" -- loves sports, fishing, isn't picky about the house or food, etc.
#8. He is always fun to be around
#9. I've always known how much he loved my Mom
#10. He is open-minded and fair (although I have heard him say "life's not fair" quite frequently:)
#11. He sympathizes & has empathy with me through the unpleasant aspects of life
#12. He is just a good person all around.
#13. He is a patient teacher (unless we're talking about water skiing :)
#14. He takes the time to be one of my best friends

I love you Dad!! I'm so glad you were born 58 years ago!

Chicago

I recently was complaining to Mark about him missing my family vacations this summer while his mother was in the room and Voila! Two weeks later we have been able to spend the past few days in Chicago visiting my parents who are on a mission here. Even though Mark really didn't want to take Launa on an airplane he made the sacrifice of a few hellish hours traveling with our baby so my parents could spend some time with her. Thus far, it has been great! My Dad called Launa a "delight" and told me her "spunkiness" was a good thing. For those of you who don't see me often, my Launa is a delight.... sometimes. My sister refers to her as "Jeckel & Hyde" and my brother dares people to stick their face close enough for her to get a swipe at them. With that said, she gives the best tight hugs, yaps my ear off, loves animals, and is the center of my world so it's always encouraging for other people to see her sweet side. My Mom has been treating me to all of her homemade cooking, we've been doing some shopping, and seeing all the awesome sites in Chicago. Have I mentioned I miss my parents? Chicago has such beautiful parks and amazing architecture here, there's just not enough time to see everything. We did do the Sears tower tour and the city boat tour and saw all their parks. I love history and reading so I loved it! Here are the top 5 best things I got to see & do while I was in Chicago (seeing my parents was of course the highlight)

1. Sear's Tower -- They have a ton of history and influential people through Chicago history that I found fascinating and the view was amazing

2. Boat Tour -- Here you tour through the city and they point out all the buildings and where they came from.

3. Streeterville -- A man started collecting the garbage from developers and basically built an additional 148 acres in Chicago, how amazing!

4. Fat Johnny's -- Not so much my favorite food per say, but Mark loved it. It was like this lean-to shack in the middle of not a great part of Chicago. I'll post a picture, but when the cop strolled up wearing the bullet protector and his badge, I was feeling slightly uncomfortable and ready to run for the car!

5. "Naperville Walk" -- Naperville was really a quaint suburb of Chicago that had a really neat running path that was just beautiful

If I ever come back there are some other things I still have to see. Chicago is definitely a must-see city however! I'm sad to leave tomorrow. Back to reality...