"Thanks for the steps!"

One of our favorite things about our new yard is the landscaping. It is really well done and all we have to do is maintain it (not as easy as it sounds!). I noticed the other morning, though, that MacKenzie was hesitant to go out to the grass because she had to cross the rocks. I love that we have rocks instead of mulch, but they are uncomfortable to walk across. It became obvious that action needed to be taken so we stopped at Menard's that afternoon and got MacKenzie some steps. (Boy, she is spoiled!)

I was amazed that the second we put the steps in place and MacKenzie came out and inspected them. She was so pleased with us, thank goodness. ;) (I'm fully aware that she is a dog. I just really love her so keep your judgements to yourselves!)

The things we do for love. ;)

Grams visits

My Grams stayed at our new house with us last week, but I did not take any pictures because it was a really hectic week. We celebrated Grams' 77th birthday with her by taking her to Olive Garden. She paid us back by telling Jackson about her bra buying experience with mom earlier in the day. I laughed so hard at how embarrassed Jackson was to hear about an old lady buying bras. I love that wild woman!

I did get the photo above from my Mom of Grams when she visited Kylie, Nick and Alex, though. (She headed to Evansville for a weekend after she stayed with us for 3 days.) Alex does not look nervous at all that my crazy Grams is in charge of pushing him around Wal-Mart. ;)
They took him for his first carrousel ride. I think the he looks a little unsure.
I just loved this photo of Kylie and Alex. I cannot even deal with how big he has gotten! I cannot wait for him (and his family, of course) to visit us on Labor Day.

Chicago

I visited the "bean" in Chicago's Millennium Park on Monday night after training.
I noticed that Chicago had a Cosi restaurant- one of my favorite breakfast places ever. We had one in my office in Boston and I went there- A LOT! I told Jackson that we just had to dine there this morning...so we did! :) It did not disappoint.
We could not have been visiting the city on a more beautiful day. The above photo was my view while eating my breakfast. It was awesome. I LOVE big cities.
We talked over to Millennium Park again so that Jackson could see the "bean" sculpture, too. They also had these walls of water that kids were playing in. It looked really fun! The faces on the walls were a little creepy, though.

I love the bean! If you're interested in the how/ why of the bean, you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate
From the park we headed to Navy Pier to explore. We intended to walk, but got all turned around. The world's nicest cabbie (I'm not kidding. He was a dream!) picked us up and whisked us over to the pier. It was super nice!
The views of the city from the pier were phenomenal.
I really love skylines from the water. It was just such a gorgeous day today that my photos almost look fake to me!
We took a water taxi from the pier to the Willis (Sears) Tower. I intended for us to get to go up to its 103rd floor observatory, but the line was 1.5 hours long so we skipped that. Bummer. We did, however, eat at a great stir fry place in the Tower that was awesome. The last time that I was in Chicago they were building the Trump Tower pictured above. It is now complete and gorgeous.
I was fascinated by these cars that were backed in to this circular parking garage. Isn't that wild?!
I was blown away by how odd this building was! Anyway, we walked around the city for a while this afternoon and then called it a day and headed back towards Indianapolis. It was a really fun, short getaway. I now love the Windy City and I used to always say it was my least favorite. Go figure!

"Root, root, root for the CUBBIES!"

I had national training for work in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday. It was really fun! Honestly. If every work day was like that, I'd never complain. I learned a lot and met a lot of the people from other offices that I work with and enjoy. We had some fancy dinners, drinks and laughs. It was awesome. I checked the Cubs schedule when I got booked for this training and saw that they'd be home playing the Washington Nationals on the Tuesday evening that training ended. We decided that Jackson would drive up Tuesday afternoon to meet me, go to the game and spend an additional day in the Windy City.

After I finished training (and took a nap. Whew! I'm not as young as I used to be and my colleagues are professionals at going out, I swear) Jackson and I headed to Wrigley to catch my first Cubs game. It was Jackson's first time actually going into the stadium- last time he went to a party on a rooftop deck overlooking the place. We stopped at the beer garden across the street for dinner. It was really good and Jackson looked down right adorable. (Excuse him for wearing a Red Sox hat to a Cubs game. I was annoyed, too.)
We scalped tickets because we were unsure how the weather would be. It was PERFECT! We could not have asked for a better evening to catch a game at Wrigley.
We actually had good seats, but my photos do not portray that. :/
Jackson was really excited that the Cubs were playing that Nationals because he went to church with their closing pitcher, Drew Storen. I was able to get a photo of Drew mid-pitch. Yeah! Unfortunately Drew's team bested the Cubs, but we still had a nice time at the game.

We rode the EL back to the hotel and crashed. It was so nice to be able to use public transit again- Indianapolis needs to get on it!

Helpful

A few weeks ago Jackson, with Susie's help, installed some new cabinets in our laundry room. MacKenzie- ever the helper- made sure that Grammy had the ball in her lap ready to throw! ;)

Wake up with a dog...

Jackson goes to the golf course to work on the grounds crew on the weekends (free golf is his reward) REALLY early. Last week he let MacKenzie out of her cage on his way out and she took his place in the bed. I woke up to her sleeping with her head on Jackson's pillow and everything. I laughed so hard.
She even looked unhappy to be moved, just like her dad! ;)

Mr. Big

My Mom got to go see little Alex this weekend and sent me this photo with a caption reading, "Hi Aunt Ninny!" Can you even deal with how big he has gotten?! I hear he even has a little of his Aunt's attitude as he threw a fit when his mommy told him "no." A boy after my own heart. ;)