March: Dallas

had such an awesome weekend in texas with trish, leslie, and surprise visitor LAUREN!
trish and lo conspired to surprise les and me, 

and they pulled it off without a hitch!

after scooping me up from the airport, we drove through some darling dallas neighborhoods

and we had brunch at the delicious breadwinner's

after a night of revelry at trish's brother's & fiancee's place,

we had another great breakfast.

this time we saw santa claus in texas in march.

we wandered in and out of darling shops

trish showed us a really cute part of town

of course we all got slices of pie from emporium pies

more shops!

i ran a half marathon

saw some gorgeous neighborhoods along the race.

it was unseasonably windy, damp and cold!

not unlike chicago!

after the race ...

we all had mimosas!

well, almost all of us!

worst service ever leading to FOUR hours at the restaurant.

but the best company a gal could want!

maternity pics

i was dying

sweet lo and trish

thanks to trish for being such a great hostess, 

and to lo for making the drive from oklahoma!

March: Brookfield Zoo

We picked an awful day to venture to the Brookfield Zoo. Well, venturing out to the suburbs wasn't so bad, but venturing once we got out of the car was just not fun. It was absolutely freezing outside, i had no gloves while pushing a stroller, and it felt like the longest walk in such frigid temps just to get to a friggin indoor exhibit. I thought it wouldn't be so bad in the teens, but must have been a negative windchill or something!? The place was empty, which would normally be a good thing, but i also couldn't find anyone who worked there to help me find somewhere -- anywhere -- to see animals inside. I probably couldn't find anyone in the seeming ghost town because no one else was crazy enough to walk around in those temps. Do they have no maps here??? i finally went into a food court on the edge of the zoo and someone directed me back into the main area to the monkeys/apes/gorillas.

Turns out this is a really nice zoo! There were a lot of indoor exhibits and they were all done so well! It was like a cross between a museum and a zoo!

So once inside, things got way better as Piper loved everything! While it was brutal once we finished an exhibit, because we'd have to go outside again, overall it still ended up siding on a good day. Piper wanted to run the whole way through everything, between pointing out animals, and then seeing the next ahead. This is why I have no photos. Graham wasn't feeling that great (all the more reason i really shouldn't have subjected the kids to wandering around lost on a freezing day), and he was kind of antsy the whole time. I imagine that on even a slightly warmer day, it would have been perfect. I know it'll be better next time because I'll know my way around. It's also probably super pretty in the spring/summer. However I imagine on the really nice days, the place turns into, well, a zoo!

Before the zoo, we went to an independent grocery store that I'd read about, to pick up some lunch items. Weird thing about me, I really like grocery stores! I have more pics from the grocery store than from the zoo.

I mean, I really liked this grocery store.

(Looked like he was in a little nest)

i mean, i took pictures of the meat, and i don't even eat meat?

March: Botanic Garden

On a slightly warmer day in March, we drove out to the Botanic Gardens. We've come as a family a few times, and Graham and I used to come and walk around when I was on maternity leave. I wasn't sure what to expect in the winter, after Christmas decor season had passed.

Like I'd been finding for so many places (uh, but not that aquarium), we almost had the place to ourselves. It was so pretty and peaceful. The ponds were frozen over. The gardens were covered in snow. And Piper could run all over through the paths and the gardens. And splash in the sun melted puddles.

We checked out a few of the indoor tropical rooms, but it was pretty similar to the Garfield Conservatory. So we spent the afternoon on the paths, in the low winter sun.

It felt so good to be outside!

March: Piper, Pipes, Pips, Pippi, Pippity Dips

March: Aquarium

We went to the Shedd Aquarium on "Residents' Day!" That means we got a major discount, as Illinois residents. These days are scheduled on a mix of weekends and weekdays throughout the year and are rumored to be nuts on Saturdays or Sundays. So wue tried to go nice and early, and pulled into the parking garage next to another family. They asked us which way to go, because they'd never been there before and they'd just completed their FOUR HOUR drive to get there! anyway, luckily we managed to get in line before the masses arrived! Once inside, I let Piper out of the stroller and there was really no getting her back in after that. Therefore I have only a few, and not so great, pictures from the day.

We spent as much of our time as possible in the special exhibits, where it was less crowded than in the main exhibits. But as the day wore on, the place just got ridiculously crowded! We went to the dolphin show, and Piper was in heaven. Graham was just hungry and wanted to crawl in the floor.

Piper took it all in, running from tank to tank. The last time we'd gone was over a year ago, when she was a year and a half. She liked it then, but this time was truly excited about everything. But probably her favorite part of the day, to my dismay, was the 4D Dora show ... Which is one of those 3d movies that sprays water in your face, shakes your seat, and fills the room with artificial banana air freshener. I don't even remember how it really tied to aquatic anything, but i guess it did end in a scene with a plane flying over the ocean. But to a two and a half year old, it was pretty cool. Can't imagine what she'll think when she actually wears the accompanying 3d glasses!

March: And Such

Let's see, March was pretty cold overall... The month started out with some surgery for Graham, a sick Piper, and with me stepping on and cracking the iPhone I'd just received to replace the one that had gotten stolen in Feb. Smooth.

We played inside lots, had a cold st. patrick's day (elaine gave the kids feative attire from ireland though!!), we camped inside (hilarious), we ventured back to the nice WARM Garfield conservatory a time or two (even successfully making a play date of it), we facetimed peeps (like leslie), mama took to the running path on the weekends, OMG! we went to ikea and even though it's just a store it was awesome and essentially a sprawling play space for piper (and since it wasn't crowded, I'm just saying I think my kid was well enough behaved), we had a couple more play dates at miss Amanda's, and even a play date with Christine who was on Spring Break!

(We also went to the Aquarium, Botanic Gardens, and Brookfield Zoo, had Easter, celebrated our 5 year anniversary with Patrick, and I went to Dallas, but I'll pull all those pics separately!)

post-surgery

st. patricks day in chicago, 2013 

camp larkin

with little eloise, a friend's daughter

doesn't graham look scandinavian at ikea?

swedish meatballas!

food, kids, and cartoons at ikea ... i'd probably come here all the time if i ever stopped working again.
i want to say it's a great free activity, but somehow it still cost me $$$ in unnecessary stuff (i can't even tell you what i got, except the best play mat ever. which only accounts for a small % of total spend, so who knows what else we bought).  maybe it's best i stay away.

those dots, this made me miss norway!

piper told me that was her bed.

graham & grant playing at school.
a few times while i was on leave, we went over to miss amanda's to play, just to keep the kids social.

christine pushing pipes!

c

can you find the snow angel?

this is the old train line outside our window; it's being turned into an elevated 3mi long linear park!