how to overpack for 24hrs in a suburb outside of CHI.

post by casey

well. The subject line of this post basciallyyyyyy covers it;)

and by overpack...I mean, we didn't need our swimsuits cause I booked us a hotel without an indoor swimming pool. It's official, I've fucked up every hotel reservation I've ever made. Ever;) And I didn't need my 'running clothes' cause I for sure didn't go for a run. 

so the kids, my parents and myself took a quick trip down towards Chicago. A suburb North of Chicago, where my aunt lives. The hotel - minus the missing swimming pool - was fantastic - Sonesta ES Suites. Laid out perfectly. Mom and dad had a separate space, making it easy for them to be all: we're going to bed...good luck getting 3 kids to fall asleep, in the same room, simultaneously. Suckkkkaaaaa.

it wasn't all chocolate chip muffins and baby pandas but it went okay! My aunt did my hair and completely pampered me, which cushioned the fact that I didn't get much sleep at the hotel. The weather was gorgeous, which made being outside while Theo threw an epic fit leaving the salon (like posesseddddddd Epic. She committed:/) a little less painful. Rocky was a freaking rock-star baby on both the ride down and back, which made it a lot easier to deal with Homer and Theo's constant fighting. Dicks.

ya win some, ya lose some;)

salon mmm

my aunt does hair and she does it fabulously. Gosh, I love her skill but I love her much MUCH more. Her style. Her stories. Her passion for so many amazing things. Yep. She's a good one:)

vicki: I'll admit...our visits are 10% about the hair BUT 90% about me being able to hang-out with you and pick your brain and find out what perfect lip color you're wearing and always tryinging something new when with you, even in the short amount of time we have there. If you can tolerate more visits...I'm hoping to make them happen way more often (some with crazy kids, some without - for my sanity:).

aunt Vicki and my dad:)

i love it:) #mombob

if not for the help of my mom and dad...I'd probably have at least 2 less children now;) THANK YOU:):) 

year2: the waterpark

a few months ago we had our 2nd Annual Dells Weekend! 

i'll admit, I was a totalllllll Dells Snob initially. I'm not sure what I thought? I'm for SURE not too good for the Dells. Maybe I was annoyed that so many people went there, somehow making it less awesome/special? 

BUT I'm converted. All the way. It was a blast: you can see last year's trip HERE.

And this year was even better because baby girl, THEO, didn't scream...the entire time;)...like last year;) Her and the water are warming up to each other:)

there are still some kinks to be worked out but overall, we've got a pretty good thing going on and we all really look forward to it:)

for the past 2 years, we've gotten 4 rooms and brought our own food and at least one night, we meet up after kids are snoozing and have a drinks together - if you haven't stayed up until 2AM in a hotel room, sharing a Margarita the size of your head, or nursing boobs, in my case;), listening to 80's classics...you're missing out. BIG time;) We're considering getting a more shared space in the coming year, which could have a lot of benefits!

this time around I was nursing - wait...I was nursing the last damn time too...and there's a always a good chance I'll be pregnant at the next one and soooooo, basically, I may as well invest in a swimsuit with some sort of skirt or hope that full on pants suits become a trend;)!!!. 

Nursing and swimsuit wearing...3MO after having a baby and no where near back to your pre-baby body wassssss...have I mentioned Margaritas?!?!;)

i felt really good though and got lots of compliments on my swimsuit: find it HERE. Jacob's a big ol' Star Wars fan and so he got a kick out of this:) I switched off wearing this and just a regular sports bar with black bottoms! Comfort/accessibility over fashion this year;)

i'll leave you with a little video to wrap our time there! I think that the most wonderful part of the weekend, outside of the time spent together, is the feeling of warmth:) We go in mid-January and so sitting next to a body of water and feeling warm and having a fruity drink in hand and watching the kids play...it's a very relaxing and happy time:)

- casey