A few months ago, Jamie came up to me and initiated a conversation. Here's how it went.
- J: Hey babe? What do you think about me doing Running of the Bulls in Spain with Kirby and my dad?
- A: Hey babe? What do you think about me tattooing my face from ear to ear?
That was basically how I thought about him going to run with wild, man-killing bulls. Being the rational person that I am, I made Jamie look up the stats on how many injuries and deaths happen each year during Running of the Bulls, and they were surprisingly low. After making him sign his name in blood promising to not be an idiot, I said he could go, and I'm glad he did!
Jamie, Kirby and their dad made forever memories and I'm so thrilled they got to have this experience of a lifetime! Spain looked beautiful from the pictures, and the three of them were in the official filming of Running of the Bulls the day the ran! Kirby even touched one! So thankful the father of our child returned home in one piece and not impaled.
While Jamie and the boys were in Spain, Lucy and I went to Illinois to spend the week with my mother in law.
It was a long trip there, but we made it and Lucy ran into her Kiki's arms once we arrived at the airport.
We had a ball at Chief and Kiki's house. We really just did a lot of relaxing, playing, eating, and hanging out with this goober.
Kim was kind enough to send me off to get a pedicure and massage too! Glory glory hallelujah!
Lucy did her own Riding of the Bulls:
And Running of the Stick Horses:
At first, she was horrified of the horse, then she couldn't get enough of it!
Being an equestrian is hard work, I tell ya!
Let me tell you that that sweet blanket was Jamie's childhood blanket. I love that she got to snuggle it all week.
After a few days in Decatur at Jamie's parent's house, we made the drive to Chicago, about 3.5 hours away.
Our first stop was the Lincoln Park Zoo.
There were approximately 6 animals there. But really, the animals were all icing, and there were signs on every exhibit saying something along the lines of--"Due to the weather conditions, the animals may be hard to see." Buncha pansy animals if you ask me! Come to Lafayette, LA and I'll show you severe weather conditions!
Don't let this next picture fool you....
We weren't looking at any animals, I'm sure. They were no where to be found.
Thankfully, the zoo was free and the view was fabulous!
This was another sign that was on almost every animal exhibit:
"Animals off exhibit today."
Yeah, no shoot, Sherlock! Where were those animals! And just look at Lucy's face! She's shocked that we're at a zoo with no animals!
After a while, we were all hungry and decided to hunt for a place to get dinner. I forget the name of the place, but it had fabulous burgers and a delicious and beautiful salad bar. So that's what we did. We even had a fun window view to people watch.
After being in the car for approximately 6 hours total that day, this girl was beyond ready to get in the hotel room and run around! And boy did she run around!
She ran from one end of the hotel to the other over and over and over again!
Wild woman!
And she was loving rolling around in the big king size bed!
Oh James...can we please get a king size bed in our next house?
Kim and I went to bed at like 8:00 that night. It had been a big day and we had an even bigger day ahead of us! Full of pizza and shopping and Aunt Camie was coming in town too!
Our first stop that day was to get pizza at Gino's.
Lucy (and her mom) was so pumped!
While we were waiting for our table, a little girl and her mama came in with American Girl Doll bags. That was going to be our next stop so Lucy thought she needed to check out this doll thing before we went to the store.
This girl was so sweet and showed Lucy her doll.
And now that I look at the doll, that's the same one Lucy got!
Kim and Camie:
Love you guys!
Me and Lucy Goosey:
After pizza, we made our way to the American Girl store. Oh my goodness. This place was like 3 stories high with a cafe and a hair salon and a candy shop and more! It was like an American Girl city!
The second we walked in, Lucy ran straight to the shelves filled with stuffed animals. She has a love for those soft lovies. We walked around for quite a bit looking at the classic dolls, the bitty babies, and the dolls that you can get to look like you. We ended up going with the classic doll, Julie, who was born in the 70's. She a chic hippy doll.
But even though we were in giant store full of fun, all Lucy wanted to do was watch "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" on YouTube. My mom introduced that song to Lucy a few months ago, and Kim found a video that sings it in many different genres. Lucy is obsessed to put it mildly. So they sat on the floor and watched the video while Camie and I shopped.
And we left with some fabulous American Girl loot:
Next stop: Disney Store!
This girl is so my child running straight for the stuffed animals.
Fun fact: I used to have ALL of my stuffed animals lined up on my bed by size and height and refused to sleep in bed, because that was where they slept. And the last stuffed animal I bought for myself was when I was 21 and in New York with my family. I bought it at the Museum of Natural History. I just can't help my love for fluffy stuffed animals.
Lucy, you come by it honestly.
We spent a solid hour or more at the Disney Store.
We colored:
Tried on some sunglasses:
We had been out shopping for several hours and we made our way back to the hotel.
Lucy didn't get apparently didn't get enough while we were out shopping, so she broke into Aunt Camie's purse to see what she could find:
Little thief.
And she and Kiki spent some chill time watching that darn itsy bitsy spider....
More on the trip later, but so far, this trip was fantastic! Chicago is such a fun city and I loved being there with my favorite little girl and my mother and sister-in-law. Love you guys!
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