a cousin’s wedding in nashville

A few weeks ago we met most of my immediate and extended family in Nashville for my cousin Kelley’s wedding. It was the first time my extended family got to meet Harper and my sister’s daughter Avery.

Our first stop was the Nashville zoo where we met my Aunt Lynn and cousin Sara and her kids. The girls loved it! Such a pretty and natural zoo.

Me and my cousin Sara are both due a few weeks apart!

My sister and her husband and daughter, Avery.

The girls are checking out the giraffes!

My dad and brother

Me and my niece

Grandpa and his granddaughters!

Checking out the camels

Needless to say, the girls were tuckered out!

The girls played on the playground for a while before we went to the rehearsal dinner.

The next day we walked around Centennial Park with the girls in matching shirts – oh the cuteness!

The girls with Gramoo Julie!

Later that evening we put on our dresses and went to the wedding! The girls had fun and were pretty well behaved – luckily the ceremony was short!

The gorgeous bride and her father (Uncle Jim)!

Then we took a few more pics before heading to the reception.

Harper was so excited to get dolled up in her dress, bracelet, necklace and sparkly shoes!

Lisa and her mini-me!

Then the real fun began – the girls tore up the dance floor!

We did some spinning and Avery and her daddy did some dancing too!

Where’s Avie?

Here I am!

OMG I’m having so much fun!!

The girls got to meet Great-Grandmother for the first time!

Here’s my dad with his six siblings and parents – the whole crew!

Cutting the cake

The next morning the whole family met for breakfast.

Grandpa and Gramoo graciously offered to rush through their dinner so they could take the girls back to the hotel for bed so we could stay and enjoy the reception. And when we left, we got back to the hotel and I realized I left my phone at the reception! I blame the pregnancy brain! Luckily, my Uncle Jim grabbed it and brought it to me the next morning!

It was a fantastic weekend seeing family I hadn’t seen in years! We had a late flight back that night and got home around 1am. The next day was Harper’s 2nd birthday! So we took the day off and had a fun family day – stay tuned for pictures!

monkey in pink sunglasses

Last weekend we hit up the Austin Zoo (thanks to a Groupon) and Harper loved it! She would point to all the animals and, to my surprise, was actually pretty good at finding them in the distance and when they were somewhat hidden. She loved the big cats (there was a big black panther that looked like a giant Margot!) and squawked back at the parrots. Each animal we walked up to, she’d sign and say “mo mo!” and we’d move on to the next animal. She wanted to walk around everywhere herself!

We saw tigers, lions, a panther, deer, goats, pigs, parrots, lemurs, and a peacock who walked right in front of me.

And we saw this funny looking monkey in pink sunglasses!

And then the monkey disguised herself as duck with a hat on. But she’s not fooling me!

i’m coming home via chicago

Chi-town. It’s our home, yes, but there’s so much to do here that we’ve never done. We had been putting off some of this fun for years. So we decided to spend a night downtown and see how it felt to truly be a Chicagoan. I’m glad we chose a weekend that was scorching hot. But lots of fun was had nonetheless.

We started Friday morning at Rock Bottom watching the World Cup with my B.I.L. and S.I.L. U.S. vs. Slovenia was a pretty exciting game – I wouldn’t have missed it. Screaming, clapping, falling off chairs from excitement, and toss in a momosa, a bloody mary, and some beers.

Yes, we were totally robbed that last goal. That was hard to watch. But we’re happy with a tie. And the day must go on.

After the game, we headed up to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was so hot and sunny that day. The poor animals didn’t move too much.

Although, there was this one meerkat who loved to pose for the camera!

“All right Mr. De Mille, I’m ready for my close-up.”

After we headed back to the hotel to relax, a big storm headed into Chicago. We watched it swoop in from the 28th floor of the Sheraton. It was nasty – it even took out a window of the Willis Tower! After the storm quickly passed through, we met up with my S.I.L. and her fiance and our friends Sara and Brady for dinner at The Publican. They’re known for their seafood and pork from local farms served family style. It was delicious!

Then we headed up to Fado’s for some drinks.

The next morning we headed to Navy Pier to ride the ferris wheel.

And then we boarded a boat for an architecture tour along the river and Lake Michigan. We learned so much about the architecture and history of Chicago. Plus, we got an incredible view of the skyline.

The sun was pretty hot out there, and it got in the way of a lot of my pictures.

There’s the Sheraton – where we stayed for a night!

After the boat tour and lunch we headed to the Art Institute to check out the new modern wing.

Don’t look too closely at a Seurat, or you’ll go nuts like Cameron did in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” is one of Drew’s favorites.

After the art museum, we spent the rest of the afternoon in Millenium Park.

Taking pictures of “the Bean” was pretty fun. Although, that thing is covered in fingerprints. Someone needs to shine her up!

After all that walking, I was more than happy to sit and stick my feet in some cool water. Apparently, so was everyone else.

After grabbing some pizza, we headed home to chill out. We always need a little break after vacation to – you know – rest up. Whew – vacation takes it all outta ya.

See the rest of my pictures from the weekend on Flickr.

*Blog post title is a lyric from the song “Via Chicago” by Wilco

summer arrives with a length of lights

We officially kicked off our summer last week by celebrating our one year wedding anniversary with a weekend getaway to Madison, WI. We had wonderful weather for a trip to the zoo, where we mingled with goats, bears, and many various species of birds. It was a great chance to use my DSLR outdoors. We strolled along State Street, hitting a few bookstores and a little bit of UW-Madison.

We dined at Johnny Delmonico’s – a great local steakhouse – and had the most fabulous steak, wine, and dessert. The next morning, we hit the practice greens where Drew gave me tips on putting and chipping.