Sweet Home Chicago...

A couple of weeks ago, we had the opportunity to visit my absolute favorite American city...  Chicago!! :)    For those of you that know me well, you know just how much I love this city!!  I love its character, the architecture, the vibe, the shopping, the bars, the Cubs...  I pretty much adore all that the city has to offer!  So, I was quite excited when Brian agreed to head to Chicago with me for the weekend!

We had such a fun time while we were there!  We wandered through the city, strolled down Michigan Avenue and did a little window shopping, checked out a few bars in the Lincoln Park area, visited some great friends, and had an overall fabulous time!!

I'm already looking forward to my next visit... Which I'm hoping will be in December as I really want to check out their German Weihnachtsmarkt... I'm hoping it'll make me feel like I'm back in Germany for the holiday season! :))

Hello, Chicago!! :)
(This is the giant mirrored "bean" which is located in Millenium Park)

I just love the skyline of this city! :)

No worries... The buildings aren't really bending... It's just Brian's crazy camera lens! :)

Under the "L"...
(The "L" is Chicago's downtown transportation... It's an above ground subway system that runs through the city.)

While we were there, we had to hit up a Michigan State bar and check out the game...
Let's Go State! :)

Enjoying the day with Dave and Katie! :)
It was at this bar where Dave informed me that he has now officially known me longer than he hasn't known me... How crazy is that?!  Yikes!  Looks like we're getting old!! :)

Brian and I enjoying watching MSU win!! :)
Look at that cheesy grin of mine... Can you tell I was excited to be surrounded by some of my favorite things?!
I was with my adorable hubby, I was in the city I love, I was watching my favorite team/school play football, and I was sharing the day with some wonderful "old" friends!! :)  

Me and Sparty! :)

Dave and I couldn't leave the Tin Lizzie without having a little fun with Sparty...
I mean, he's our beloved mascot from our alma matter and all! :)

Strolling through the city on a beautiful late summer day... :)

Katie had to get in on the mascot action too!
Here she is with her beloved Husker! :)

Chillin' in my favorite city! :)

How cute is he?! :)

A view of the Chicago skyline through the "bean"...

So pretty!

One last view of the city before we headed out...
Bis spaeter, Chicago!!
Can't wait until our next visit! :)

A Day At the Zoo...

My sister and Kaden came down to visit us a couple of weeks ago.  We had such a fun time while they were here!  We spent a day at the Detroit Zoo, went for a couple of rides in the Jeep (which Kaden loved!), spent some time hanging out at the mall, ate some yummy ice cream,  had dinner at Eastside Mario's (our favorite restaurant), played outside, and just had an all around great weekend! :)  Thanks for visiting us, Stacy and Kaden!!  Can't wait 'til we can do it again!

We went through the Dinosauria exhibit while at the zoo...  It consisted of life-like, animatronic dinosaurs that moved and roared and snarled and even spit water at the unsuspecting passerby...  Needless to say, it was a pretty cool exhibit to experience! :)

Kaden really enjoyed the exhibit!! :)

There was even a section where the kids could be "paleontologists" and dig for fossils and see dinosaur teeth, claws, and skulls... 

Our little penguin... :)

The three of us... :)

Our attempt at a self-portrait! :)

Going for a ride in the Jeep... :)

Kaden loved the fact that he could climb into the back of the Jeep... :)

Love this pic!!

We convinced him to climb up into the tree so that Brian could take some pics of him...  He was not exactly thrilled with it at first, but he eventually relaxed and started to enjoy himself. :)

Labor Day Weekend 2011...

Wow!  It's already been two weeks since Labor Day and I'm finally getting around to writing about it... Needless to say, we've been keeping ourselves quite busy around here!  :)  We've managed to finish the bathroom project, I started my Master's class, we took a quick trip to Chicago, we brought Riley back home, and we've just been trying to get back into some sort of routine around here...  There definitely hasn't been too much down time as of late. :)

We had such a fun time up north for Labor Day weekend!  It was so great to spend time with family while we were there. :)  Our weekend consisted of spending a lovely evening with everyone at our family reunion, helping my dad cut down trees in the front yard, shopping in Traverse City, volunteering at a concession stand at the Labor Day Softball Tournament, and simply hanging out with the fam.  It was a great way to spend our first Labor Day weekend back in the U.S.! :)

Getting ready to cut down some trees... Yikes! :)

Isn't he such a little cutie?! :)

This is where things got rather interesting...  See that tree that is being cut in the right corner?  Well, the intent was to have the tree fall between the small maple tree and the tree that is already laying on the ground...  My dad's only request was that it not harm the maple tree.  Can you guess what happened after that? :)  The tree ended up having a mind of it's own, and it somehow fell in the exact direction we had hoped it wouldn't... Directly on top of my dad's maple tree!  Oops! :) 

Kaden is such a good little helper!! :)

That was a whole lot of brush to haul! 

Jason and Kaden giving the thumbs up after a long day of stacking their "winter wood"! :)

Working the concession stand at the all night softball tournament...   :)

Brian and Grandma hanging out... :)

Spending time with the family at the reunion...

The kids were having lots of fun! :)

Jason was clearly mesmerized by the windchimes! :)

Aunt Karen and Brian making some authentic German gluhwein... Yum! :)

Holy Batman! :)

The whole fam! :)

Mom and Dad... :) 

Happy Labor Day!!

After three years, we're finally able to celebrate Labor Day weekend once again! :)  So, we're all packed up and headed up north for the weekend...  Can't wait to spend the long weekend hanging out with family,  grilling out, enjoying the beauty that is Northern Michigan in the summer, watching my brother's all-night softball tournament, and soaking up the last little bit of summertime before autumn gets underway!!

With that said, I wish safe travels to all of you that are off on new adventures this weekend (be it here in the U.S., Germany, or anywhere else for that matter! :)).  Have fun, be safe, and happy Labor Day to you!! :)

Let's Go Tigers!!

My brother, Jason, came down to visit us a couple of weekends ago.   While he was here we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather, so we headed to a Tigers game... I mean, what else do you do in Detroit during the summer?! :)  The weather was great, the Tigers won, and my brother and I enjoyed having time to hang out... Overall, it was the perfect way to spend a summer afternoon. :)

 Jason and I at the game! :)

 The Detroit skyline from Comerica Park...

 Jason enjoying the game...

 We ended up getting tickets for standing room only, so we basically wandered around throughout the game...  While we were standing in this area, we came across two guys who had seats, but since it was so hot out, they had decided to get up and walk around.  When they realized that we only had standing room only tickets, they gave us their tickets to use instead.  How nice was that?! :)  We ended up finding the seats, and...

 ... this was our view!!  

Row 27 directly behind 3rd base!! :)  How awesome were those seats?! :)

 Since we were so excited to have such great seats (normally we end up with seats in the nose bleed section as we're too cheap thrifty to spend alot of money on regular seats! :)), we asked the usher to take our picture there... Well, instead of taking the picture of us with the field in the background (like we had hoped), he took a picture of us with the crowd behind us... Nice! :)

 Posing with the Tiger! :)

After the game, we went back to our house and grilled out for Jason's birthay dinner... New York Strip Steak (from local grass fed cattle) with grilled veggies, homegrown salad (from our neighbor's garden), and corn on the cob (locally grown)... YUM!! :)  What a great way to end a fun weekend with my brother! :)