Our First Family Vacation!

When Eli was 6 weeks old, we went out to Nana and Grandpa D's house for the family celebration of the 4th of July.  This was our first attempt of taking Eli somewhere else to eat, sleep and play.  Well....that didn't work out so well.  He allowed us to get only a few short hours (felt like minutes) of sleep and cried the entire time.  Needless to say, we spent exactly one night there and drove back and forth the other days.  Fast forward to this past Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  We attempted our first family vacation and the results are in......SUCCESS!!!  We stayed at the Embassy Suites Downtown, which is perfect for families and in a great location (and the cost wasn't that bad either!).  Our idea was to have Eli in the bedroom with us, but he goes to bed earlier than us and we didn't want to be subjected to going to bed at 8:00pm since I can't remember the last time I went to bed at 8:00pm (oh wait, that happened on THIS vacation!).  Anyway, the hotel was spot on.

Wednesday, we got up early and drove to Chicago with a few stops along the way.  The only exciting thing happening on the way there, at least in Eli's mind, is that he got to watch a movie on the iPad.  He doesn't get to watch the TV at home, so this was a special treat.  I downloaded Happy Feet (a penguin movie) and I witnessed two things 1) He could be content for more than a minute and 2) he LOVES animals.  This kid was laughing and giggling and after 10 minutes, he fell asleep.  So, iPad DVD is a success and I will take note for our Duluth, MN trip next month!  We got into Chicago around noon and checked in, got all setup and then off to the Lincoln Park Zoo we went.  Which, if you are going to Chicago with children, this is a must.  It's a great FREE zoo with lots of shade.  Although the animals were a little scarce and far away, Eli was still in aw of many of the animals.  If you ask me, I think the meerkats were his favorite, just like mommy!  We had a great time at the zoo and at the end, we were able to meet up with our friends (an neighbors) Grant, Lea and Michael.  Eli and Grant are only a few months apart, but they are great friends already!  Once we left the zoo, we took the long walk back to the hotel (which if you choose to go to this zoo, you should walk, parking is limited but more importantly, if you walk down State Street you can admire the amazing Brownstones that line the beautiful street).  Wednesday night, we were pooped, so we went to dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery and called it a night.  This was the night I was in bed at 8:00 since I had gotten up at 5:30 that morning worrying that I was forgetting everything we'd need (yep, I heard they have stores in Chicago, but tell that to a mild OCD person!).

Move along to Thursday.....this was the day we really came for.  The Tigers vs. the Cubs at the 98 year old Wrigley stadium.  First of all, I should mention that there were so many Tiger fans in Chicago, it was easy to forget you were not going to Comerica Park.  It was awesome to see so many Tiger fans sporting the Old English D.  It made me proud of my city and proud of my team.  Eli's first subway/train ride was in Chicago, we took the Red Line out to Wrigley, successfully.  Once we got to Wrigleyville, we walked around the ballpark taking in the sights and smells.  While Ben was taking me and Eli's photo in front of the historic sign on the ballpark, Prince Fielder walked by casually and calmly and might I add, he's a BIG man!  I was hoping Ben caught him in the back of our picture, but as I scrolled through them, I saw nothing!  Anyway, we met up with Grant, Michael and Lea at Vines on Clark.  A great restaurant/bar with indoor seating but outdoor feeling so we were able to have the boys in the shade.  I was amazed that Lea got Grant to sleep in his stroller, Eli was too amused by all the people admiring him as they walked by!  Going into the ballpark, we weren't sure what to expect from Eli, he was up early and didn't have a nap, so this could have gone two ways.  We were lucky that it took him about 10 minutes before he fell asleep on Ben's lap.  The roar of the crowd didn't phase him at all!  During the game, it was amazing to sit in the ballpark and hear to Go Tigers Go chant.....again, were we at Comerica or Wrigley?  Long day short, we left at the bottom of the 8th to grab the train back to the hotel and the Tigers won!  SUCCESS!  Thursday night we kept it low key and headed our for some pizza and then off to bed.

Friday, our last day of vacation, we got up and packed all the bags with the thought that we'd hang out in Chicago all day and drive home at bed time (8:00pm).  Well, it didn't go exactly like that.  We headed to Navy Pier and hung out for a bit.  It was super hot so we had to be cautious, so we didn't overstay our welcome there, but Eli ended up falling asleep as we strolled!  After Navy Pier, we headed to Michigan Avenue for a little air conditioning and the Lux for lunch.  After lunch, we grabbed the car from the hotel and headed to Shedd Aquarium.  Once we had our fill of fish, we hung out in the park and then made the trek home.

**Note to self, never assume a baby will go to bed at his normal bedtime when you are in a car.  Although this works for many, it does NOT work with Eli:)

I feel like the last few weeks have flown by.  Elijah has changed SO much!  For starters, I had to take him to the doctor last Monday because he has some weird rashes and found that he gained 4 ounces and grew a whole inch in 10 days!  He's starting to stand up from his crawl "stance", he's running around with his little push toy, he's communicating far more than he ever has and you can just see the wheels turning as he tries to figure out what objects are and how they work.  Although not too much is new from the last post, I wanted to at least post some new photo's and video's!  We're off to Chicago next week for our first family vacation, wish us luck!  You should also wish the Tigers luck since they are playing the Cubs and we'll be in the stands!

A Very Hungry Caterpillar.......First Birthday Party!

For Eli's first birthday party, I choose the theme based on the Eric Carle book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  From the apple cake (specially made for Eli using healthy alternatives and no red dye 44 by Sarah Walsh), to the adorable paper additions (bought on Etsy from The Paper Giraffe), to the crazy hanging lantern caterpillars (courtesy of Pinterst), and down to the food server, we followed the book.  We were able to celebrate with so many close family and friends, we couldn't be more thankful.  Eli did like his first taste of cake and appeared to have no issues with stage fright!  Enjoy all of the WONDERFUL photos taken by Aubrey Couture (aubreycouturephotography.com)!