Happy 4th!

The 4th of July has always been my favorite holiday and I'm so glad that it is here again! I hope everyone is enjoying their day! 

Last night we had the "privilege" of watching fireworks from  the lakefront with 1.2 million other people. Although the fireworks were absolutely breathtaking, the crowd was less than enjoyable. So, seeking serenity, we are loading our bikes in the car and heading up to Wisconsin to do some touring!  Enjoy the 4th!

Travels

It has been a few weeks now since I said I would post pictures..so here goes. Jason is in Seattle for an Optometry conference so the house is quiet...too quiet. I'm beginning to feel like an "empty nester." He will be there through Sunday night and I might be a baby but I'm missing him like crazy! He is staying with Bethany and Kate Thornton and Mom and Dad Barnes are going to meet him for the weekend so it is nice that he gets to see family, I wish I was with him!!

Flying over the Mission mountain range on my way to Montana...or Seattle, then Spokane..and eventually Thompson Falls!

Got to spend some quality time with the brothers... this is at one of the two dams in Thompson.

Of course we had to roast some hotdogs! Mandy and their new puppy..

We headed over to Ronan for a day of preps and to spend some time with Beth before convention. Despite the downpour of rain we had quite a good time driving golf carts and tractors, moving woodpiles and tables. Here I am using sheer manpower to carry my precious cargo.

Mom and Beth at preps.

The old roommates reunited...it was soo good to be with them again!

Back at home, Jason took me out to a new Latin restaurant for my birthday! It was an awesome evening. That is my shiny new bike/birthday present in the background..I love it!

Last Saturday we went out for another birthday dinner with some of Jason's classmates...it seems like all we do is eat! Then we watched the fireworks off of Navy Pier which are amazing. The city of Chicago spends an insane amount of money in the summer, shooting off very impressive firework shows every Wednesday and Saturday night. We can see them from our living room, but this was the first time watching them from the park.

Home

We're back! And finally out of the rain! We had an awesome time in Montana and were so refreshed by Convention, but it does feel good to be home. I didn't take too many pictures but will try to post a few of our time with family soon. Hope everyone is having a wonderful June!

Giant City State Park

We had a couple goals for Memorial day weekend; get out of the city, experience quiet, and enjoy some sun...we did manage to accomplish the first and last goal. We headed down to southern Illinois ending up about 6 hours from Chicago near Carbondale, and found a nice campground on a lake...only to find out that our neighbors were living at the campground for a month and found it necessary to run a generator and radio. So with quiet being out of the question we decided to go for the sun. The first day we did a little hiking and found some trees to climb and great rocks to boulder on.

On our second day we set off on a beautiful 12 mile hike. The woods were awesome as well as tick infested...yuck yuck yuck!

All in all we had a great time and would go back in a heart beat.

I'm flying out for Montana in the morning and Jason is going to join me next week for Ronan! We're very excited to see our families as well as some Mountains. Maybe we'll get quietness afterall!

Hotdogs, coffee, & US Cellular

US Cellular field is only a couple blocks from our place and on game nights we hear the homerun fireworks. So staying loyal to our neighborhood...at least for one game...we bought tickets to see the Sox beat the pirates. We ended up with really good seats, the sixth row off the grass. It was a low scoring game, but we had just as much fun watching fans as players.

Italy in a day

Today after morning meeting we ventured to a new Costco, and were surprised to find that the Leaning Tower of Pisa was on our way! It's in Niles, IL and was built as a replica of the tower in Pisa, Italy. It is about 70 feet shorter and only leans 7 feet versus 15. We thought it was pretty cool none the less. It's amazing the places we've been able to see without leaving the city!



We strapped on our rollerblades and headed out for some exercise the other night. We headed along the marina and found a neat trail through a little nature preserve/bird sanctuary where we were threatened by adult geese protecting their gosling. Sounded very similar to a hissing snake!

May Flowers

After surviving our fair share of April showers we are finally seeing the benefit. Tulips and daffodils are everywhere, green grass is showing and the water has returned to the city's many fountains. I took advantage of our nice weather today for a bike ride along the lake. Unfortunately, Jason is once again in finals week so he wasn't able to join me. He has been very busy studying and has one exam down, only four to go! After this week he will officially be in his 3rd year of Optometry school!

Melissa and I in front of the Buckingham fountain.

Millennium Park

Jason's friend Patrick stopped by for a short visit a few weeks ago. We really enjoyed seeing him and wished he could have stayed longer!