Chicago recap & Moving update

We've been back from Chicago for almost a week, so an update is long overdue! We had an amazing time, and I'm so thankful we were able to go. I had a great time meeting so many family members. Special thanks to Aunt Myrna for not only letting us stay with her, but for giving up her bed for us (which Ziva subsequently threw up on!) and being so understanding and flexible with us and Ziva's sleep (or lack thereof at times).

We got in Saturday night, and on Sunday we had the big reunion/birthday party for Grandma. We took TONS of pictures...this is Grandma with her grandkids and their spouses/significant others. She was such a good sport, sitting through so many pictures. It probably lasted about an hour for her...we were all joking about the paparazzi. Finally we had just one camera finishing up and every one got a disc. Next reunion, we'll remember!

Here's Grandma with her great grandchildren. Pretty amazing!

On Monday we went to Lincoln Park Zoo and spent most of the day there. It's a great zoo, and we all had a lot of fun. The weather in Chicago was beautiful the whole time we were there....it was a perfect zoo day! We got most of the family that was there together for a group picture by the flowers.

Thursday night we got to see Mexico play (and beat) Costa Rica in one of the Gold Cup games at Soldier Field, where the Bears play. It was awesome! The stadium was packed out...I've never seen so many Mexican soccer fans in one place! It was exciting, and quite an experience. When Mexico scored for the first time toward the end of the game, everyone was throwing beer in the air....we got a little drenched, which wasn't so fun, but it was kind of funny. Like I said, an experience. :)

We had planned on seeing Cubs game, but ended up just going to the soccer game instead. However, we took a drive down to Wrigley Field just for fun and to get some pictures. We were there during the game, so it was crowded and there were lots of street vendors selling Cubs stuff, and we stopped and got a stuffed Cubs bear for Ziva. She napped during the drive, so she'll have to see Wrigley next time.

All in all, we had a wonderful time. Our favorite part was just spending so much time with family. A couple other highlights were the food (amazing!!) and going to Millenium Park downtown, where we saw the Bean and played by the water towers. Ziva adjusted pretty well to sleeping in bed with us (after a couple nights, that is) and she loved having her cousins to play with. It was a great trip, and we're thinking we should just do it every year!

Back on the home front, we still haven't moved....now it's looking like NEXT weekend. I am praying even harder that we actually get to move before I have to go back to work on the 17th. Apparently the fire marshall in charge is on a little power trip and keeps finding new reasons to postpone approval of the certificate of occupancy. Oh well, we'll make it eventually. I'm just still waiting for a good reason to start packing!