Sweet Land of Liberty

We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend, got to see lots of fireworks, eat some good bbq, sport some red, white, and blue, hang out with friends and family, and reflect on (and feel proud of) the freedom we enjoy in our beautiful country. I know we did!

For the second year in a row, we had a cold 4th of July (and Sadie didn't get to wear her cute little 4th of July sundress...bummer!). No worries, we still enjoyed our weekend, just a little chillier than planned and a little more time inside on the 4th than normal. I didn't even take any pictures from the 4th. We went over to a friends' house for a wonderful dinner. Sadie got to enjoy some of her favorite friends, play in the cold rain (it was in the 60's and raining, and Sadie thought that was a wonderful combination....I think she was delirious from a lack of sleep!), and watch her first fireworks show (just a small one in the driveway before she got worn out). She fell asleep on the way home, so Daniel and I pulled into a parking lot and watched the Carmel fireworks show to round out the day.

The best part of the weekend was that we were able to go up to Chicago for a quick visit to the Althoffs. We hadn't been up to Chicago since before I was pregnant with Sadie (actually I would have been barely pregnant, but didn't know it yet.... for a little too much info!). Since Daniel was off Friday, we left late Thursday night and got back Saturday afternoon. It was definitely a quick trip, but well worth it. We had fun visiting and relaxing. Friday afternoon we went to the beach near downtown Chicago. It proved to be a little chillier than we were actually expecting once we were on the beach with the wind and the water (the water was a frigid 60-ish degrees). So Sadie didn't actually get to swim (and perfect her backstroke!), but she very much enjoyed the sand and getting her feet and legs wet a bit. We decided to not even put her bathing suit on. So her little white pants got a good wearing that day! Here are some pictures of Sadie's Great Lakes' adventure....

Taking it all in

Checking out the sand

Marilee and Kyle




Eating some sand



Recovering from her sand eating experience






I fought the sand, and the sand won...sing it with me!






I love it here. I'll be back soon.

Happy Independence Day everyone!