Busy Travelers

I feel like the month of June was a whirlwind! We embarked on nearly a 24 hour roadtrip to Chicago to visit with our family and it was wonderful! The boys were excellent travelers and I was very impressed how well they endured the ride. I can honestly say that I found it hard to keep myself from being bored, but they were fine! While there, we spent the week at the Ross Bed & Breakfast, or also known as Auntie Lisa's house. The accommodations were fabulous and so was the service. We visited the Field Museum and saw Sue (the giant dinosaur), went to the Brookfield Zoo, had an early birthday celebration for Jake, and caught the premier of Toy Story 3. Busy, busy, busy, but lots of fun! All of the kids (and big kids too) enjoyed the train ride into the city. The water taxi was a hit too! While we were there, the guys enjoyed a "Boys Night Out" and headed to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. John took them to the Metropolitan Club, located in the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) for a great view of the city. Joseph especially liked it and it was also his very first Cubs game too! As always, the days passed by quickly and it was time to return home. Thank you to Mr. Joe & Mrs. JoAnn and to Lisa and John for their hospitality. I should also mention that the Koziol's also run a five-star bed and breakfast establishment! They were very gracious to offer their home to Oma and Opa, who joined us for part of the trip. We all had a great time and hope to return soon.

On the way home, we stopped in Champaign to see Eric, Deb, and Adam. We went to this really fun restaurant called Jupiters. It was so nice to see them and we wished we could have stayed longer. Our next stop for the night was in Tennessee and we ended up driving the last leg of our journey on Father's Day. We took Brian to lunch at Cracker Barrel for the special day! (ha ha) It wasn't exactly the type of restaurant that he typically dines in, but it was definitely a step-up from McDonald's! :)

A few days after we returned home from this trip, we packed up and headed to Hollywood! Well, Hollywood Florida to be more specific! For those of you that are not familiar with the area, it's very close to Ft. Lauderdale. It was our second visit to the resort there (The Westin Diplomat) and it was just as awesome as it was last year. It's located right on the beach and it has two of the best hotel pools that I've seen. The boys and I had so much fun swimming and enjoying the resort lifestyle. Brian was teaching a sommelier course, but was lucky enough to have some time to join in the fun with us. One evening, we went to Dave & Busters and I can honestly say that the place was INSANE. It was our first visit there and I was totally blown away by the number of games in their "MIDWAY" section of the restaurant. It was like pure heaven for the boys! They loved playing anything that they could drive (race cars, motorcycles, etc). The funny thing is that you don't even have to put tokens into every game and they still think they're playing! :) The food was nothing to write home about and the service was really slow, but the arcade was definitely a hit. As far as I'm concerned though, I've seen it and don't really need to return.
The best part about being in the Ft.Lauderdale area was that we got to catch up with our wonderful friends, the McNamara family. We really miss them living in Orlando. Come back, please!!! Their daughter, Caroline, is a wee bit older than Jake and she's adorable! They also planned a Thomas the Train birthday party for Jake on Wednesday before we headed home. So sweet! We went for a swim in their pool, had some yummy pizza and of course, CAKE! It was really special.

So, we're home for now... Think we'll be on the road again soon. I shall keep you posted!