Turning 30 is Pretty Cool!

I know I've been saying this a lot lately, but what a busy two weeks! But in such a fun way. Last weekend we had our visitors which came in to surprise Brian for his 30th birthday. It was a little idea I had way back in March and asked if some ole NC folks could come up for some Chicago Pizza and Cubs games. Jeff, Diddy, and Dagan took me up on it! Brian had no idea and was very surprised. We hung out at the house Friday night and played cards until the wee hours. Saturday the men took off for their bonding time in the city and I didn't see him again until Sunday night. Not a bad 30th bash!

We quickly recovered from that, wiped the house down a bit, and Wednesday night, right after work we welcomed my Dad, sister Stephanie, niece Lianna, and nephew Devin. Thursday morning we got up, made some breakfast and took off for Lincoln Park Zoo. We didn't know what to expect for a free zoo, but it blew us away! So nice! As you can see, Lianna realized her lifelong dream of seeing a polar bear in person! He was so cool! This was also Ben's first trip to the zoo. He loved looking around at all the people and animals. It really wore him out as you can see. He behaved very well.

Before the zoo we also discovered the Lincoln Park Conservatory. It was right next to Lincoln Park Zoo, also free. It was so pretty! My dad got some good landscaping ideas, and I just got jealous because I can't keep a fern alive! I really think both these places are worth visiting again and we have decided to make this an annual thing as long as we are in Chicago! Heck, we can do this whenever, really!Friday we spent the day around Oak Forest. We took the kids to the playground, went for a walk on the trails (Abby was glad to get some lovin), and then the kids wanted to bake a cake for Uncle Brian. They worked hard on baking and decorating it. Steph and the kids then watched Ben so that Brian and I could go out to dinner and a movie to celebrate Brian's actual birthday. It was our first time out without the baby! It was also our first movie in almost a year. It was so nice!!! We held actual conversations! We should have a date night more than just once a year probably.So, today we are catching up on housework and rest! I think we actually have a weekend at home next week. A quiet weekend! We are just so lucky and blessed to have so many good friends and family!

We'll work on some cute videos this weekend. Ben is getting quite the personality. He's really showing preferences to certain toys and going for what he wants. Still army crawling. He rocks on his hands and knees a bit but still makes it around too well the other way. I wish he would figure out how to crawl on his hands and knees because his little elbows get all bruised! But then I guess his little knees would be bruised, huh? Still sprouting teeth left and right! Things are just really good!