Strawberry Fields

Strawberries!!
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

On Saturday, Liz and I brought Megan, Jake and Madison to Bristol, Wisconsin to go strawberry picking. The girls had a good time. You can see from Maddie's outfit that those were some juicy strawberries! Here's the process: pick two, eat one. Jake sat in his stroller at the end of the row and ate way more than the girls did. The weather was much better in Wisconsin than it was in Chicago - we picked the perfect day to head north. After picking, we drove to our cottage and had lunch, then headed over to the beach for about an hour. We headed home once everyone started acting a little "tired" (a nicer word for crabby). All in all, a good day!

Mmmmm.....Cake

Mmmmm.....Cake
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

We celebrated Jake's 1st birthday yesterday with a little BBQ at our house. He did a great job on his cake and was kind of upset when we took it away. The weather was a bit steamy, but cousins Maddie and Lili had no problem with that - since they had the slide running into the pool and only slowed down for cake. Megan was a bit of a sideline gal and was a little more adventurous once everyone left. Jake was too hyped up to take his usual afternoon nap, but stayed happy so we didn't mind. All in all it was a good day and all of us slept well last night!!

Oh My.

IMG_0110
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

I don't have a particular story to go with this one. I just thought it was a funny picture. Jake looks totally crazy - and I just had to leave the "red eye" in.

Party at the Zoo

Megan & Maddie
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

This is Megan and her cousin, Madison. Maddie's 3rd birthday is today and she had a really cool party at Lincoln Park Zoo yesterday. Even Jake (who learned how to point on Saturday) had a great time checking out the animals and hanging out with Ann (and eating pizza, of course). We got there early to try to see the giraffes and polar bears - unfortunately neither were outside. The kids got to feed cows at the party and check out all of the animals in the farm area. They had pizza, ice cream and cake. We were on our way back to the parking lot with her other cousins, Lili and Pierce, and of course had to stop for a ride on the carousel. All in all, a fun day at the zoo -- and both kids fell asleep on the way home. Woo hoo!