Weekend at JuJu's

At some point over the past couple of months Amelia has decided that Grandma Ginnie's name is JuJu. Frankly we have no idea where it came from. In Amelia's world there is no longer a Grandma G but there is most definitely a JuJu! Mark and I snuck away for a night at Kohler to celebrate our anniversary. Of course JuJu and Popper (his name was Georgia's doing) were happy to have us drop Amelia off on our way out of town. They filled their weekend going to the park, swimming and decorating cupcakes (or for Amelia eating frosting).

A Kansas Holiday

We traveled to Lawrence for the 4th of July holiday weekend. We had very lofty plans for spending as much time as possible sitting on my mom's deck, catching up with friends and family and watching Amelia enjoy having a yard to run around in. The weather had different plans for the weekend.... We did get beautiful weather Friday night and I had a great time eating Mexican food and drinking margaritas with my Kansas girls. Didn't manage to get any pictures though....

Due to the inclement weather we had to get creative over how to spend our holiday weekend. Amelia, Auntie M and Emmie mastered somersaults.

Instead of dining al fresco every night we spent QT hanging out in the kitchen. Amelia even had her first corn on the cob inside while watching the rain.

The weather meant we spent more time on the couch than I would like to admit. Here we are with our evening cocktails; beer for dad, wine for mom and a little juice for Amelia.

The rain held off on the morning of the 4th which allowed us to go visit the Meyer's new home and join in their lake's celebration. Amelia and Jack shared an entire bag of Goldfish crackers. From the looks of this picture Amelia wasn't giving Jack his share of the bag. (check out the view from the Meyer's front porch!)

On the evening of the 4th the rain stopped just long enough for us to light a few sparklers and fountains and for Auntie M to teach Amelia how to play with fire.

After checking and rechecking the radar we finally accepted that we weren't going to get a dry 4th. Mark introduced Amelia to running in the rain. The girl loved it and made good use of her signing skills by asking "more, more" everytime they got back to the garage.

And of course it was GranAnn who was waiting with a towel to dry off Miss Amelia.

Her Kind of Town

Amelia is a Chicago gal. She manages to get all over the city during a week's time. First she always travels with an entourage such as Rocky Mountain Bear, Louise and a random bear neither Mark or I swear we have ever seen (note to self ask Jenn if she knows where he came from). This was on her way to the Children's Museum with Jenn.

The girl's network is so large that even out at Midway she runs into people she knows. On our latest plane ride we were greeted at the gate by Amelia's best man Sammy who also happened to be heading to KC for the 4th of July weekend. They had a great time sitting across the aisle from each other, tearing apart skymall and eating each other's snacks.

Friday Amelia traveled to Edison Park to help teach Charlie how to swing. From the left; Charlie, Amelia & Georgia.

Friday night Amelia ventured over to Wicker Park to entertain Anna Wood who was visiting from Minnesota. The girls were very sweet walking home from dinner holding hands while wearing matching pink Crocs. The toddler's dined on French Fries for dinner and us parents enjoyed well behaved little girls and even some adult conversations.



Video: Amelia is a total Wiggleworms groupie. Today the Old Town School of Folk Music celebrated the Wiggleworms 25th anniversary with a full on concert in Welles Park. The Old Town School of Folk music knows how to throw a concert for tykes and their parents; great outdoor setting, toddler friendly time, music that engages toddlers and a beer tent for mom and dad! Her face clearly shows how serious the girl takes her Wiggleworms dancing and that she was not happy with the microphone trouble during "Milkshake."