Don's Birthday

Rebekah's been waiting all month for dad's birthday. The week finally came. First there was the making of the cake. Rebekah has been such the great helper. She cracked eggs, measured ingredients and dumped everything in. Even turned on the mixer for me! And then of course there was the sprinkles. 

Not to mention the pre-birthday taste test.

The day of she wanted to decorate the house. Mom came up with some decorations and this is the end result. Rebekah approved.

Don finally made it home from work. Birthday time! But we had to have hats, she said. I want it on record that these hats are hats I bought for my husband - then boyfriend - to wear on our first birthday together. I remember wearing his party hats alone. 5 years later: good to know Rebekah how much power Rebekah actually has.

Mom bough Pizza King Pizza for Don's birthday dinner. She made it home with the pizza but Rebekah had been waiting all week to open Don's presents so we did that first. (I originally had a longer video but it was to long to post here.)

Then dinner. Don was excited.

Which leads us to the cake and ice cream. Apparently recalled ice cream. It's a good thing other people watch the news. I brought out Blue Bell Neapolitan (our birthday tradition) and both mom and Don fill me in. So I quickly went to the small town store and picked up a totally over priced but listeria free ice cream.

Then we were back in business.

Complete with Don licking the knife. Can't wait till Rebekah tries that one.

Yum... Cake....

Then there was a car to race.

So much fun! Thanks for having a birthday Don! We love you!

Chicago: Sunday

Sunday morning we woke up and took it easy, played around, ate a wonderful breakfast, and then got on the road. Don wanted me to see the Chicago temple. I'm so glad he did. 

The gates were closed but we got a look:

Rebekah was done. She wanted to be home. No more pictures. Enough already. (Yeah, can't wait to take her to Utah. If she has a tough time with a 4 hour drive, can you imagine a 25?)

Don saw a bent fence rail. I pretended I was strong enough to break in.

Don wanted a picture of me and Rebekah. I promised her it would be the last one of the trip so she gave it her best. 

We got back into the car and started the ride home. It was not fun to be reintroduced to tolls.

This is how excited Don was to pay tolls again.

On the way home we also drove through Gary, Indiana. Home of Michael Jackson. There's a song about it in The Music Man. Sweet little red haired boy sings it (think it's Opie Taylor from Andy Griffith Show). Yeah, the town is less than the song leads you to believe. Don says it held the record for murders in the US for a while. Yikes.

It started to rain making the trip home rather long. We got an hour away and Rebekah was done with shows. So we played "I see something that starts with a G" and colored fun pictures. About 30 minutes away and Rebekah started crying, "Daddy, I wanted to go home! You're not taking us home...." very sad. And like I said, how are we ever going to handle a trip back west?

Chicago: Saturday

Saturday morning Rebekah woke up with one thing on her mind. There was a pool in the hotel and she wanted in.

I promised her we would go down after breakfast. She didn't like it but handled it pretty well. Don picked me up a omelet with bacon, peppers, spinach, tomato, cheese, onion, and mushroom that was SO good! He also had an omelet but not as "hoity toity" as mine. Rebekah had cheerios followed by fruit loops.

Finally it was time:

SWIMMING!

She was so happy she even willingly posed for a few pictures.

Don and Rebekah had so much fun! I got in a little too even though I still have an immense dislike for public pools.

We finally were able to pull her away with the promise of swimming again later. Then we left the hotel in search of fun in the city. We found the Navy Pier. Very windy and very cold.

But we had to get a few pictures.

Got to love people who showed up and ask if you wanted a family group shot.

However, those pictures were really the extent of the fun, for although this is what the navy pier was suppose to look like...

...this is what we saw. Apparently they are majorly overhauling everything. It was a construction mess! And what wasn't under construction was so packed with people that I had a hard time. Thanks to Don for navigating us through it.

So we left the pier in search of more relaxing and less under construction parks. This time I bundled Rebe in long sleeves, a hoodie, and a sweat jacket. It was barely enough. What happened to that heat wave we had yesterday?

We found a great parking space and went to look for some sights. We found the Buckingham Fountain! Well, sort of.

But here was an awesome sign of what it was suppose to look like:

Wasn't quite enough, so here's one I took off the internet. Much better.

But we didn't let it ruin the fun. Rebe and Don had a great time running around. Literally.

Lately Don had been working very hard with school and work and taxes. There was much catching up to do.

About then I realized that Rebekah hasn't seen a bathroom for way too long. Don fed the meter and we went in search. We found the Chicago Bean on the way. Rebe assured me she didn't have to go just yet so we stopped for pictures.

Where's the Walkers?

Ten points if you find us. 

We are in the middle - there is something brown (maybe a cart) in front of us. Don is behind taking the picture. 

That's my hand - see if that helps you see our reflection.

We resumed our search and found the working restroom after sorting through the many that were shut down. We made our way back again sporting Rebe's preferred form of transportation:

She is so over that stroller!

On our trip back we found Lincoln.

I tried the Lincoln pose. Pretty sure I don't cut it.

Beautiful views! The parks were so well thought out and orderly!

We were having so much fun Don went one more time to feed the meter. Here's Rebekah waiting very patiently for her dad.

Then there was more playing to do. Rebekah loves jumping on her daddy. But seriously, who wouldn't?

We walked across and saw the walk by the lake. Don and Rebe had a picnic while I took a closer look.

Rebekah was talked into a few more pictures. I love lake Michigan!

Don kept snapping away. Guess he didn't want to be the only adult in the pictures.

We found a pretty cool car related work of art and since Rebekah and Don love cars we stopped for a closer look. She promised me that she and daddy would teach me about cars someday. 

A view of the park with the city skyline.

Rebekah wanted to walk through the beautiful flowers. She asked if she could pick one and was bummed when I said no.

Then she asked if she could pick this one. I told her I didn't think it would fit in the car.

It was getting late. Rebekah noticed Don and I were getting tired so she helped by pushing back pack in the stroller.

A beautiful day in the city! So nice to be together and play. We made it back to the hotel for more room service and a show. Rebekah wanted to watch Cars with her daddy. It was her first full length show. To her credit she made it about 20 minutes into it before she asked, "is this the end...?" Then continued to ask every 5 minutes or so. Rebekah decided we were all tired and it was time for bed. She turned it off and tucked us all in. Nice when the child puts us down.

Chicago: Friday

Chicago. I've always wanted to see new places. I love lake Michigan. Beautiful city by the lake? Chicago sounded like a must. So I talked to Don and he said pick a date. I did. That one didn't work. So I told him to pick a date. He did. I booked a hotel and plans were made. Finally the day came. Rebekah was WAY excited.

We got to the zoo in great time. It was made even better when Don realized we gained another hour thanks to the time change. Yay for more time at the zoo! (Notice our long pants and long shirts. Accuweather did not prepare us for the heat wave we experienced. Don even indulged my fear of sunburns and bought way over priced sun screen for Rebekah.)

First Rebekah wanted to see the monkeys. It was the most active monkey exhibit I have ever seen! They were swinging all over the place! We watched for a long time. Then Don pointed out the following creature. The image of an anteater I had in my mind had nothing on the real thing:

Then we watched the gorillas get fed. There are incredibly large and intimidating creatures.

Rebekah was fascinated!

I tried to get a few of the following pics with Rebekah but she has been an unwilling participant lately. She was, however, willing to take one of Don and me. Pretty good for a 3 year old!

Then we stopped for some lunch. Rebe and Don studied the map.

While the adults finished eating, Rebekah tried incredibly hard to make friends with two ducks. One in particular. She couldn't figure out why the ducks were unwilling.

Then we went to the underwater exhibit. Cool sharks.

We found a bear eating (or rather scraping and sucking off) the marrow out of a bone. Yeah. That was an experience. Scary.

Then Rebe found a duck that WAS willing to be her friend. (Apparently the girl behind her was willing too. Wouldn't leave her alone even for a picture.)

This was one of the few trips we remembered to bring the stroller. However Rebekah still has her preferred mode of transportation.

But she second favorite is:

By this time Rebe was hot and tired. I feel so bad I dressed her for cooler Indy weather. Don had planned for a dolphin show we we made it there and rested a bit.

She cooled down and, with the help of mama's sunglasses, was even talked into a picture!

The much awaited dolphin show finally started. I didn't know what was more fun: watching the dolphins or watching Rebekah.

A bit of the fun:

After it was over we went in search of much over priced and over frozen snow cones.

We saw a few more exhibits and then treated Rebe to a much desired park excursion while Don watched the stroller.

We ended up closing down the zoo. On the way out we stopped for one more picture.

Okay, maybe two more pictures. This one was Rebe's idea. I hear I have Don to thank for that smile and wave.

Then we drove through crazy Chicago traffic (Chicago traffic seams more aggressive and meaner than New York traffic - but that may just be because I've been in small town Indy for so long) and made it to the hotel where Rebe promptly put Frank the Frog to bed with a bed time story.

Don ordered room service for dinner. I had scallops. So good. Then I read Rebe some books and we went to bed looking forward to another full day.