Chicago: Memory Lane, Wedding Aisle, and Wis Dells Scenic Path

We’re baaaaaaaack! From Chicago this weekend, that is. We were off to celebrate a weeding of one of Caleb’s confidants in grad school, Micah. It was a blast being at the wedding and seeing three boys laugh about how life is now in the professional world. I did not understand half or any of the verbiage they were using but it seemed very higher ed. One of the friends came from Missouri with his wife so we shared a hotel together and hung out the whole night. It was great to see them and to catch up.

The wedding was gorgeous. I loved the feel of it, almost like a Martha Stewart spread for the tables and the floral. They had the whole night at the wedding which was great for all and there was no dance. Instead, they played the movie “Father of the Bride” in the gym. We did not stay for this portion but sure thought it was a great idea for them especially.

The night prior to the wedding, Caleb and I came down to the condo in the Dells and hung out eating frozen pizza and watching a movie. In case you were wondering, “Aloha” is literally one of the worst movies to watch. It is pitiful. Caleb and I started out the morning leaving early enough to get into Chicago to eat our traditional breakfast at “Baker & Nosh” on Wilson where we went every Saturday living in Chicago. It was so nostalgic and I was so happy to be back. We got the last of the treccia (pastry) by literally 5 minutes and that is what we were looking forward to the most. Thank you very much! Please see link below to see how to make it and also the owner of this fine establishment.

http://wgntv.com/2015/08/04/lunchbreak-treccia-from-baker-nosh/

We also played cribbage, another tradition, but the master, Caleb, schooled me. After breakfast it was time for a walk down memory lane to Andersonville to see what was new or changed and then Caleb got his hair cut at a local barber. He waited it out two months to get his haircut and man did he need a beard trim. Don’t get too excited, he only cut two inches. That is a lot to cut off, I know, but for that face hang-piece it is minimal. He looks oh so good! Before we went to the wedding, we stopped by "Oven Grinders" downtown Chicago and ate THE BEST PIZZA by far for me. It was like a casserole and was just so delicious. Peeps need to visit this place ASAP.

Adding to the scatterbrain of this post, we woke in the morning after the wedding to free hotel breakfast and a journey to our church in Chicago. This weekend was a lot of driving but each destination was worth it. At church, they are doing my favorite series where they take a song and its lyrics and hone it back to Jesus in some way. This sermon was about a song written by the songwriter in “Once” and it was acapella. It would be great if I could think of the song, but I cannot. You are welcome. Pastor Kevin came to the service with his wife and all I could do throughout the sermon was thank Jesus for saving his life in the scooter accident and pray to Jesus for continued healing. For those that do not know, Kevin Bruutsema was involved in a hit and run while he was riding his scooter. He is not mobile from the neck down and isn’t to the level past a 4th grader for social interaction. HOWEVER, he was fully at church this weekend and remember stories that Pastor Chad was telling through out the sermon. It was incredible to compare the before, during, and after accident progression. After the service, we chatted with people from our former small group and headed off the Nathan and Kelly’s for the NFL fantasy draft.

Oh man, did we miss our nephew Miles like a ton. Walking in the door and him acknowledging us like we have never left Chicago was great thinking back. He misses Caleb so much and even told the group on Sunday that Caleb is his “best friend sometimes”… precious for a 7 year old to affirm Caleb. I stunk doing the draft but all others in the room did great. For some reason, I cannot do picking players that are not on Green Bay and taking players that “should” do well this season. I will get better and I will beat my siblings this year. I hope.
After the draft, Caleb and I went back to the Dells and hung out for the night before waking the next morning to go for a walk to High Rock on the river and just lounged around. A very relaxing weekend.

Woof, this post was way too informatory and long. Please remind me not to get this excited about a weekend again.

Week 30

As long as a cucumber… 16 inches and 3 pounds. Holy cow… that is crazy business and doesn’t seem like a cucumber measurement at all. It sounds huge though. I think I am in for a wake-up call when this Gibster is born in 10 weeks ( I hope not sooner!)
A wrinkly brain and smooth skin are the progressions of my child this week, both good things to focus on lil one!
Lastly… Gibby has enough strength to hold my finger. Oh for cute, am I right. I want to hold your hand, lil one. Stay safe in there.
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I try really hard to protect my belly but sometimes when you trespass on DNR property and have to squeeze through a fence… you bruise your belly and have to make your first call to First Nurse. All is well with the baby but mom sure felt the pain of being quite larger than last time going through that fence.
I don’t sleep through the night any more and am okay with it. I am getting used to being tired throughout the day and having no energy when I get home. I am secretly loving this stage of having a reason to lounge but I know I should buck up and keeping these muscles strong.
I am working on getting my feet up so this swelling that has begun stays put where it is but some of my shoes are not quite fitting. Oh well, it is apart of the mom-to-be gig.

Wausau weekend is ahead, Caleb couldn’t be happier to have a home weekend. No driving for him!