Memorial Day Weekend--- the Suburbs of Chicago!

So the week before Memorial Day Weekend was finals week. Of Derek's third quarter. The great thing about the third quarter of the first year is that there's a 7-week break between the third and fourth quarters. The awful thing about our first year is that Derek will be spending 6 of those weeks in Texas doing Officer Training with the Army. So it was only natural that we take a trip to one of our favorite suburbs to see some of our favorite friends, namely (but not limited to) the Borgs. (We stayed with them in their newly remodeled home--- it's beautiful, very tastefully done.)

So we left town Saturday morning, spent 6 1/2 hours driving to West Chicago and got there sometime around 3 or 4pm. We hung out with some old friends in the pest control office there, had some AMAZING beer-basted ribs (soooo tender) and watched.... what else?... Sports Center. Utah Jazz game (I think. I fell asleep, I was so tired from the trip.)The next day we relaxed in the morning, then went to Brookfield Zoo, noonish, of course the busiest time of the week. It was super fun, though, and Avril had a blast. We went through the Butterfly Pavilion, did the whole Dolphin Show thing, and checked out the Children's Zoo as well. It was pretty fun.Monday was spent doing some lovely shopping... A fresh mall! Who knew I would miss it so much?! It was nice to go shopping with Jodie, too. She's super mellow and just great to chill with. So after I bought myself some hot new clothes (3 pairs of pants, a t-shirt & a new hoodie), we stopped off at Target and I found the CUTEST pink vintage bike. I love it... $120 isn't so much, is it? Unfortunately, we had no way to get it home, so I'll have to keep watching for something else.

After that little foray to my two favorite places that I miss most in the 'Ville (the mall & Target), we met the boys at the pool at our old apartments for a nice little dip. Avril was a little water-shy at first, but once she got into it, she really got into it! Jumping off the edge into Daddy's arms, she'd yell out, "1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10... ok, children, on your mark, get set... GO!" Then she'd sort of shuffle toward the edge and leap into Derek's arms. Absolutely adorable.

Meanwhile, Xandri tried to maintain some level of sanity while her crazy parents tried to get her to dip her little toes into this horrible, cold water and Daddy kept dripping it on her head. She was holding on by a thread by the time we got out of there.
Tuesday we had a fabulous lunch at Bada Beef-- an absolute must if you spend any time in the area. Our friend Kyle is their customer of the week right now (and with good reason). The gyros there are to die for.

We left Tuesday night after a delicious dinner at On the Border with our friends Zack & Rebecca-- from Hawai'i. It was a great time catching up with old friends and even doing a little "rekindling" of old friendships. I'm so glad we spent that weekend enjoying ourselves with our friends. It'll be something to hold me over for a while as I begin a lonely 6 weeks here without Derek. It also makes me really grateful to have such great friends both there and here in K-ville.