"S" is for.....

Saturday swim dates with Cousin Georgia while wearing a stylish swimsuit. Check out Amelia's rocking swimsuit. Yep, it is a hand-me-down from me. Thirty years later and the swimsuit is as stylish as it was in the 70's. Okay it looks a bit like a weight lifting outfit from the 80's but I thought it was cute! You have to trust me on this one but I have a darling picture of my dad and I with me in the swim suit. I really wanted to post it as well however in an effort to clean our condo so we could get it on the market I have misplaced the picture.

GranAnn and Amelia

Amelia got to have a lot of fun with GranAnn when she came to visit last week. They did all kinds of fun stuff:

swinging,

perusing the Anthropologie catalog,

eating (or at least trying to) ,

and lounging on the bedding GranAnn made for Amelia.

Art History 101

It seems only natural that Amelia's first art history lesson would be with GranAnn. We spent a lovely Saturday visiting the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute.

The Modern wing is really beautiful as are the the incredible skyline views from it.

It will be nice when Amelia can talk so she can tell us if it is Elvis or Andy Warhol she doesn't like.

Amelia appreciated the three-dimensionality of this piece. Although she couldn't understand why dad wouldn't let her put it in her mouth. Then again had he let her he would have had a reason to have to leave the museum.....
Here we are with the SOM model of the Inland Steel Building. I worked in the Inland Steel Building for 5 years and although I love HOK's new office I do miss going to work in Inland Steel.

After our museum going we treated ourselves to cocktails and a bottle al fresco. On Chicago's rare beautiful days there is no other way to dine than outside.

Made With Love

Yes, Amelia's darling dress was handmade by her good friend Katie. While I think the fabrics are darling Amelia's favorite part is the ties she can chew on. Thank you Kate for being such a great friend and I think you should give Etsy a shot!

Vacation Minnesota Style!

We just returned from a wonderful week long vacation in Minnesota. For those on "my" side Minnesota is a very special place for Mark. Grandma Ginnie was raised in Alexandria, MN which is a couple hours west of the Twin Cities and surrounded by beautiful lakes. Mark spent his summers vacationing in Alexandria similar to how I did in the Rockies. Aside from the Lang family the whole crazy Backlund bunch lives in the Twin Cities area. Amelia loved all the little people and we loved getting to spend an entire week with our little girl! Mark and I also got to have some fun and in the process proved that we still have a little fun in us and closed down Aunt Gayle's restaurant (Eddy's Interlachen Inn - which you should definitley check out if you are in the area) on karaoke night. The highlight of the trip was spending long hours on the deck/lawn watching kids play, catching up with family and enjoying the scenery. Thank you to everyone who made our Minnesota vacation so memorable!

The trip started off with a trip to the Alexandria Clinic where Amelia had her first non-well baby doctor's visit. We left after Amelia ripped off all the paper on the exam table and with a prescription for eye drops to cure her pink eye.

Amelia took her first boat ride and looked pretty stylish in her purple life vest. A special thank you to Lulu for loaning Amelia her life vest she outgrew.

We had a family dinner at Chet's a favorite spot for locally caught walleye. Poppy (Grandpa T) took good care of Amelia when she had had enough of sitting in a restaurant.

The lake water was pretty cold but Amelia still got in some quality swimming time. After swim lessons she looked at us like what do you want me to do in this little pool.

Mark and I got out for a little jet skiing action. Okay so I'm pathetic on a jet ski and found that 17 mph was just about perfect. Never mind that Mark and Dylan AND Nana and Lulu got up to 47.....

Here are all the great-grandkids (Brady, Dylan, Ellie, Georgia, Lulu, Amelia and Asher) of Viola and Kermit Backlund. Which one doesn't look like the other? So far six of the seven great-grandkids all inherited the Scandinavian blonde hair but it looks like baby #7, Miss Amelia is the odd one out. Yes, that is her with the mohawk.

Mark and I hosted a pizza party one night for the family. The "older" kids all got to make their own and ironically all made the exact same pizzas which of course included no vegetables (and Mark will correct me as he full heartedly considers the tomato sauce on pizza to be a vegetable). Props to Brady for managing to get an enormous amount of cheese in his mouth before anyone could stop him. Luckily we bought lots of cheese so the rest of us still got to have some. Amelia is sure a daddy's (and Grandpa T's) girl enjoying pizza at a young 8-months of age!

Amelia loved "talking" to Ellie. Ellie's mom Jill and Mark are "twin cousins" so it is fun that they both had baby girls within two months of each other.

Nana had a new sidewalk poured at her restaurant and we all marked our territory. Check out Amelia's little bitty footprints!

Amelia looks up to her big cousin Georgia and she sure wishes she could run around with her. Georgia and daddy are Amelia's favorite playmates.

Finally some family pictures.

Culture Club

We gave Grandma Ginnie tickets to Ravinia for Mother's Day and she picked All Tchaikovsky with Cannons. Ravinia is a fabulous venue outside of Chicago where you can sit out under the stars, enjoy music and a glass (or two) of wine. Amelia wasn't as entertained by the beautiful music but she did master sticking out her tongue. It was a perfect way to spend a Sunday evening with Grandma and Grandpa. The live cannons were pretty darn cool as well.

Amelia Rocks Allenspark

We have been continuing Amelia's first year tour of the US and our latest trip took us to Allenspark, Colorado. Growing up my family spent at least two weeks at the cabin every August. So many wonderful memories from the Evans family have taken place in and around the cabin. Joining us at the cabin were Auntie M, Papa and Amelia's Great-Great Uncle James and Great-Great Aunt Vivian. Amelia loved her first trip to the mountains and is ready to go back during ski season! Here are some highlights including, get excited, a VIDEO!:

Amelia read the Sunday Times cover to cover. Her favorite part was the mattress ads.

Helping dad with his mountain golf game. And yes, he is aiming for the tree. We have to get a little creative with golf "holes" in the mountains.

Playing a round of cards.
A true mountain girl in her fleece and crusty nose. Of course her friend Mindy made sure she would be a stylish babe in her Patagonia!

Amelia - the spoon is for stirring not eating.
We decided that a small mountain town's 4th of July parade is a great way to spend a holiday.
3 generations of Cheney's have been born in Chicago. Amelia's Great-Great Uncle James Cheney was born at Cook County Hospital in the 20's, Papa (David Cheney) was born in the Pulman neighborhood in the 40's and Amelia at Prentice in the 00's!

and give it up for Kansas and the ladies born there!
oh yeah, and for the guy born in Illinois. Mark and I just celebrated our 2nd anniversary but the real congratulations go to James & Vivian on 62 years of making each other laugh. Amelia isn't fortunate enough to have Great Grandparents but she is blessed to have James & Vivian.That's right, Amelia's onesie says "My Aunt is Crazy."

and finally Amelia enjoyed the mountain breeze blowing through her couple of hairs.