We FINALLY got to see the polar bear. How cute and wonderful is he?
And he got to see us. What fun.
And they have sprinklers like every good zoo should.
And after all that, some Jamba Juice, and Sanfrantello's for dinner. Isabel went NUTS for the pizza. They put it in front of her and she dove in. Thankfully it wasn't Too hot. She might not have cared if it was so long as pizza was in her mouth. lol.
We then headed to Brookfield Zoo with the Grandparents. It is a HUGE zoo. Almost too huge to see in one day! Anastasia loved the sea lions, dolphins and the "Fari Train" (Safari Train).
Watching the sea lions swim is really fun:
Before we left we had to see the giraffes per Anastasia's request. Then we rode on the carasel which was really fun:
Until it started moving. It was a bit of an overwhelming day for a 2 year old.
After the zoo we had an insanely wonderful meal at Connie's Pizza. It was heavenly. Delicious pizza, and scrumcious tirimisu. The best I have ever had.
I love Millennium Park!! All the gardens and promenades, and exercise classes in the park on Saturdays:
And of course the bean: 
Here is us taking a picture into the bean:
Isn't that just the craziest thing? Anastasia loved it. Don't you love how both of my kids are picking their nose in that picture? lol. I think it is called the skyscape or something nice like that. But really, it is just a giant, reflective bean. Am I right? Unfortunately the big fountains were closed because of technical difficulties, but with some Jamba for Nick and a latte for me we went to Buckingham. Buckingham Fountain that is.
I love how Chicago feels old and new all at the same time. When I walk around among the old buildings and parks, I can almost see horse drawn carriages, and families in Victorian attire sporting parasols and prams walking to the beach or along the old streets. And in some places... I can almost see Al Capone. Definitely my favorite city!
This is how we light the candles. 
Anastasia is a good candle blower outer.
Corn, soy, clouds and flat flat flat. In Lafayette we got to hang out with Annie and Martin and their adorable girls. Girls girls girls!!! ;) Nick and Martin went shooting. What else would they do? We girls hung out at Annie's cottagey house and took a nice walk around Lafayette and just had a great time. Its funny how Annie and I are into the same things, and Nick and Martin are into the same things... we live parallel lives in other parts of the country. I think stopping in Lafayette on our way out of town should be a tradition! It makes leaving so much less depressing when we get to hang with good friends. :)
The hats were my favorite part. But I think these will be the only handmade outfits theses teenie little dolls will ever get. The sleeves on the flower dress were more than I could bear. Never again. I also made the little fairy book on the left below (notice a theme yet?). It is just some sketch book paper, a few printed fairy coloring pages, folded and sewn together with a cereal box. Easy peasy, and practically free.
I found the flower fairy coloring pages here. I adjusted the printer settings to print 2 per page and they were the perfect size. I know there are a lot of folks who are anti-coloring book, but I don't have a huge problem with them now and again.
I also added some Fairy stickers to some of the pages. My mom picked me up a Cicely Mary Barker fairy scrapbooking kit which had really lovely stickers.
I am thinking when the girls are older, these would make really great travel journals. Just put in a little drawstring bag with a glue-stick and a pen and colored pencils, and wa-la, you have a cheap creative outlet and documentation of all your adventures. And even though I am really usually a crayon and colored pencil person, long trips in the car generally weaken my lofty ideals and "less is more" mentality, and so when I found this Color Wonder stuff on clearance, I couldn't pass it up.
Ok, and let me tell you, I tried out the finger paints, and this stuff is AWESOME. I mean, really, really neat. So much for my lofty ideals, I have sold out. Actually when I was small, my mom used to buy me and my brother those magic ink activity books. Did you ever have these? We only got them on trips, so they were really really special. Color wonder is the new magic ink and more open-ended in my opinion. I am really hoping they buy us a couple of fuss-free hours. At least from Anastasia's end, I am a little more worried about this little monster:
Notice she is bathing in our sink with NEW faucet from Ikea. The greatest thing is there are actually handles (instead of previous nubs) and a faucet that swivels which is why Isabel is smiling in the picture, and not crying because she bonked her sensitive little head. For her, my mom bought her a backseat mirror that lights up and plays music. She rarely sees herself in mirrors, so I think it will be interesting for her for a little while. A friend lent us some baby toys she hasn't played with yet as well, so hopefully that will entertain her when the novelty of the car wears off.
I am hoping and praying the rest of us don't get sick, and that Anastasia doesn't get any ear infections because we have a very fun vacation to look forward to.
Can you believe Anastasia is only 3 lb.s heavier than Isabel? Weird. Anyhow, we had a great Independence day, and I hope you did too. We ended up going to a BBQ at Bridget and Jason's, and then having one with my parents later at our house. Yum. I think this is the only time of year I eat a hot dog. And I love it. Otherwise I skip the processed meat-like thing on a bun. The fourth is a great day to celebrate our awesome nation. It means something more though to those in our own neighborhood. Our neighbors are great. Classic, wonderful rednecks. The 4th of July is of great importance in our neighborhood. It is a day to try and outshine one another in the realm of illegal (in Va) fireworks. My neighbors had AMAZING fireworks. Really amazing. Just as good as any small-town firework display except better because if the kids freaked out, we just walk inside our door. And, no crowds to have to deal with when leaving the show. Both girls were entranced by the fireworks and we even did some sparklers. So I decided I am going to spend the 4th of July at home from now on!!
I put a little basket of toys on the bottom shelf for her too. It gets me an extra 30 minutes of sleep in the morning. yeah! And I made Anastasia a very buggy lunch last week:
