We had a great overview of the city with shopping, sightseeing, & good food. Thanks again to my Dad who was working hard while we were playing during the day & for making our trip possible!
The girls so excited for their first visit to the American Girl store!
Brook's purchase
The girls wanted to walk with Anna each morning
Yum...the Hershey store
On the Chicago Riverwalk along the Chicago River
Italian dinner
Naomi, Isabella, & Anna at the beach
Jumping in front of the bean at Millennium Park
At the Museums of Science & Industry...curious minds want to know, Why is the sky blue??
Eden, Lynn, & Brook on the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier
My girls & I went to Chicago a few days last week for a girls trip with my family. My dad had a business trip in Chicago, so he invited all the ladies of the family to join him. We all made the trip but Nicole, who is in the middle of school and working. We missed you Nicole!
We loaded up in cars & took off for the long, uneventful drive to Chicago. We spent a few days there & were back home before we knew it. It was a fun trip & the cousins enjoyed being together, of course! The best way to tell a story is by pictures. As always, I have so many pictures, so I will make this a 2 part post on our trip (even though these are just the highlighted photos :))
Chicago theater
Isabella & Anna on the double decker bus
Double Decker bus tour
I took Brook & Eden to a space museum.
Walking on the moon!
Watch out NASA!
The girls with star rocks
Isabella looking over the city from the skydeck
The girls on the skydeck, which is a glass ledge you can stand/sit on that looks over the city. Very cool.
Sitting over chicgao
This is the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) which holds the skydeck on the 103rd floor
Trump Tower
Downtown Chicago
Interesting apartments with parking garage below...notice the cars are backed into their spaces.
And the great way to end our first day of sightseeing, deep dish Chicago pizza!
Today I have a simple recipe to share. You may have seen this, as I just pulled this out of one of my magazines. But I tried it, & it was so yummy!
Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
1 pkg. cream cheese, softened ( I used lite cream cheese)
1 can sweetened condensed milk ( I used fat free)
1/2 cup whipping cream ( I used fat free cool whip)
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 c. fresh strawberries ( I admit, I only had frozen strawberries at the time I made this)
3 graham crackers, coarsely chopped ( I used 2 1/2 sheets of crackers, but you could use more or less)
Mix first 4 ingredients with mixer until well blended. Freeze 4 hours or until almost solid.
Beat cream cheese mixture with mixer until creamy. Blend berries in blender until smooth. Add to cream cheese mixture with chopped graham crackers; mix well. Freeze 8 hours or until firm. Remove from freezer 15 minutes before serving. Let stand at room temperature to soften slightly before scooping into dishes.
And it really tasted well & looked pretty in this cute little dish that belonged to my grandmother!
The last 2 weeks have brought out all forms of emotions in me because of my health. Most recently, frustration, with a small dose of anger. Apparently, I will not have any clear answers because the doctors just don't know the age of these blood clots. I have been told they were a few weeks old & they were a few months old. There seems to be different interpretations of my ultrasound & follow up treatment. I will have a follow up ultrasound in August to make sure no new clots have formed. I don't really know where to go from here, other than to wear my compression hose & keep living.
In the midst of my range of emotions, there is still so much to be thankful for, which I haven't forgotten. When I was pregnant with Brook & took shots, Isabella would always help Avery. This time, she didn't want anything to do with it. Brook, however, took the role of rubbing my stomach with alcohol before Avery gave me the shot. Then she would sit by me, hold my hand, & rub my arm. So sweet! As Avery says, don't forget about the caregivers! Brook came up to me yesterday & pointed out a website for compression hose. I'm guessing not all 7 year old kids are showing that to their moms!
Several things that do make me feel better are food, especially chocolate, & looking at our sunflowers!
My dad brought us a chocolate Eiffel Tower from his layover in Paris last week on his way home from Saudi Arabia. Pretty & yum!
One more thing of interest, with the recent discovery of blood clots again, that is the very topic that led me to start this blog. If you look under the topic of health, you will find my very first blog entry. I never thought I would be talking about it affecting me again. Once again, I say thank you Lord for sparing my life thus far.
Monday afternoon, I told the girls "Momma needs a night away". So, we packed up our bags, hitched up the camper, & all left for an overnight camping trip Tuesday. We drove to Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky, which is a short drive from Memphis. We had camped near there before & really liked the area. I was so, so ready to be there. I could hardly wait. For Avery & I knew that when we arrived, we had a huge surprise in store for the girls. And I was pretty excited about it too. This is how excited the girls were when they found out what the surprise was....
If you couldn't tell from all the squealing, it was the Greens!! It was the greatest moment seeing the surprise in everyone's faces. Avery & I had planned this with Jimmy last week, so we pulled off the surprise for Laura & all the kids. There were some happy hugs going on!
Together again!!
It sure had been a long month for these girls, but they picked up like they never missed a day seeing each other. Now the family fun began & here are lots of pictures!
The guys vs. girls played a game of baseball
Lake swimming
The older girls
All the girls, including Libby who also surprised the Greens with their family for dinner
Sweet friends
Silly fun in the camper
James & the girls
Laura & I in front of their RV
Love this family!
Ready to roll in the RV
Dr. Green to the rescue
Sad to see them go :(
This was just what the doctor ordered....relaxation & good friends. We enjoyed it so much & even got us thinking about going camping more. But then look what happened on our way home....
The side of our camper flew off while driving down the interstate! Oh well, there will be more on that story at a later date!
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