henry does chicago

On July 1, Dameon turned 30! We celebrated in style in the big city. I did an okay job of taking pictures along the way, but not great...so these are just snippets of our trip. Also, before you see any of the pictures I want to address the elephant in the room. The elephant called My Terrible Haircut. Yep, got it the day before we left. Totally not what I was picturing. My bangs were chopped. I mean CHOPPED. Add to it the fact that it was 150 degrees outside and the results are seriously terrible. Just putting that out there. Okay.

On Day One we arrived late afternoon, checked into our hotel (fantastic location!) and walked a ways to Weber Grill Restaurant for supper. It was super yummy and the birthday boy got a free dessert. Bonus!

Day Two included breakfast right across the street at a great pancake place, a trip to the (free) Lincoln Park Zoo, and a trip to Navy Pier...

The zoo had an indoor exhibit for little kids that was air conditioned. It was my favorite for that very reason. Henry liked climbing through the tree house and peeking through the windows.

 They also had an endangered species carousel, so we couldn't pass that up!

 Supper at Navy Pier. Did I mention it was hot? It was HOT.

Day Three took us on a very long morning walk to Millenium Park. Henry met the bean. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (or CFO as my band director husband calls it. He would. :) ) was having an open rehearsal while we were there so Dameon and my parents took that in while I entertained the little guy in a shady spot that had steps. That was all he needed to be perfectly happy. :)

 That afternoon we went to the beach, which was only about three blocks from our hotel. It was another first for Henry. We were surprised at how brave he was about going into the water. We were not surprised at how much he liked the sand.

After the beach, Dameon and I went to dinner to celebrate his birthday while Mom and Dad entertained Henry. The restaurant was a little fancy for our taste, but enjoyable.

Day Four was the fourth of July and also the hottest day. We kept Henry indoors almost all day, but we got a chance to meet up with some friends who live in Chicago. That night we had our last meal there and it was probably the best. A restaurant right up the street from our hotel just happened to have great pizza, great atmosphere and an out of this world cookie pizza for dessert. We also got to see fireworks over the lake which Henry really enjoyed. He kept saying, "Stars!!" We had a great time and will certainly go back to Chicago again someday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAMEON! YOU'RE THE BEST!

A must-read

I've done my fair share of reading when it comes to parenting topics. From breastfeeding to sleeping to vaccination to discipline to starting solids...the list goes on and on. Last fall my cousin, Heidi, gave me a few books to borrow. It takes me a loooong time to get through a book but recently I got around to reading BIBLICAL PARENTING by Crystal Lutton. Wow! It is by far the best parenting book I've read. The book teaches that we should parent our children to reflect the way God parents us. When we look at Scripture we see that God parents us on the basis of grace and through that, he provides a perfect parenting model for us. The book is a pretty quick read and extremely worth it! I just ordered my own copy from Amazon so I can finally send Heidi's back. Read this book! And let me know if you want to borrow my copy :)