Eric and I went to Chicago by ourselves for a mini-vacation this last weekend and had a blast. We dropped the girls off at grandma Margie's house on Thursday morning, and then ventured out on the open road. It was about an eight hour drive and I had forgotten how EASY a car ride can be...without children. It was actually kind of relaxing. Eight hours of Eric getting to listen to the music of my choosing...over and over again.

Part of the reason we went was to see my friends, Courtney and Susan, who live there now. We got to Court's house and had dinner and drinks. Susie came over to hang out for a while as well. It was a fun night and we very much appreciated the Miller's hospitality. On Friday we took the Miller kids to the pool, and Eric and I got to sit back and watch Courtney chase them around, while we lounged. Although, I'd like to think we helped her out in some way. That night we took the train downtown for dinner and drinks with Courtney and Luke. We found an adorable little restaurant with an outside table for plenty of people watching. Then we headed out in search of  a place to have a couple drinks. It was $9 beer night at most of the spots we hit, so we didn't get too crazy. The Millers got back on the train home and we stayed at an old, but somewhat fancy hotel just north of the loop. The neighborhood reminded me of those streets in New York City they're always showing in the movies.

Saturday morning we took a Segway tour around Chicago and that was super fun. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it. I have some videos of us on the Segways that I need to screen and see if they're blog-worthy. We didn't take many pictures, but I'll see what I can come up with..so this post isn't so naked ;)

After the Segway tour, we went down to Navy Pier and practically melted as it was about 95 degrees with 100% humidity. We had a couple beers to whet our whistles and then went on a little boat ride on Lake Michigan. We ate dinner and then headed back to our hotel to freshen up. We found a little strip of nice, but cheaper bars, and hung out like we were in college again. We got up early and decided to try to make the 8:50 train back to Courtney's house, where we left our car. We grabbed a taxi, and made it to the station with time to spare (so we thought). But once we got inside the station, we had no idea where to go. Finally we heard someone say something about a train leaving in 2 minutes, which made that departure 8:40. So we were literally running to catch the train, and it took off just as we stepped inside. For some reason, the metra website was 10 minutes off, go figure.

We made it back to Lincoln around 6pm and picked up the girls, who I was missing like CRAZY. I was so ready for a little break, but by the second night, I was ready to see them again. Thanks to grandma and grandpa for watching the girls, they had a blast!

We went to Kearney this weekend for Jenny Hamilton's wedding, she's Eric's former co-worker. Their reception was at the Minden Opera House, which was beautiful. Well after the reception (which consisted of Ivy bouncing a balloon in people's food and faces, and Ada running onto the stage) we headed back to Kearney to stay with our good friends, the Townsends. Ada went to sleep when we got there, but Ivy stayed up with Evan and Gage and played for a while. They let her drive their motorized car, which about gave me a heart attack. She loved it, but I was more excited when the battery ran out. The next morning, we awoke to a yummy breakfast casserole and a charged car battery. Ivy didn't waste any time until she was dragging Evan around the backyard while he held onto the tailgate. It's all fun and games until someone gets backed over. I don't have a video of that, but I will post one of Ivy driving as soon as I can.

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We spent the 4th of July in Okoboji again this year and had a great time. We stayed at Crescent Beach again, and they got a new water trampoline this year, which was fun for all. The weather was beautiful the whole weekend, and we only got rained on for about 5 minutes on Sunday night. The girls played in the sand and water most of the time and loved it. We went to my aunt Luann's cabin on Saturday for dinner and to check out the new place, it's lovely. I went to the Barefoot Bar with the cousins later that night. We watched the fireworks in front of our room Sunday night and that was very fun. Ivy met some friends that she was able to play on the beach with, so she had a great time the whole weekend. Here are a few pictures and a video from the weekend.

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Just thought I'd make myself a quick note that I got a job offer tonight for a job that I had applied for a couple months ago. I was really interested in it, so I'm excited to get started. I will be a network engineer for Cost Effective Technologies (CET), which is an IT outsourcing company in Lincoln that supports small to medium sized businesses. My first day will be Tuesday, July 20th!

So any time we go to Menard's, it turns into more of a play date, rather than a shopping trip. Usually someone watches the kids play while the other one shops. This time the girls loved the little play house there and I got this cute video of them playing peek a boo in the windows.

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Well I've mentioned before that Ada loves music and dancing, but I thought I'd post this video to illustrate it. By the way, I in no way advocate this song's message it just has a good beat...and kids like to dance to it.

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Eric and I went to see Damien Jurado tonight at the Bourbon Theatre in Lincoln. Openers were Ember Schrag, Manny Coon, and Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground. It was a good show all around, but made me sleeeeeeeeepy. Here's a video of the song 'Arkansas' from Damien's newest album.

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We made the trek down to Bella Vista to celebrate my grandpa Ivo's 85th birthday this weekend. We met the family in Kansas City on Friday night and hung out at the hotel and went swimming. Then we headed to Arkansas on Saturday morning for a fun-filled couple of days. When Ivy saw the lake behind grandpa's house, her chin hit the floor. She couldn't get in the water fast enough. We spent the bulk of both days in the lake swimming and went on couple boat rides. Ada spent about an hour in the lake splashing around so it was fun for her too. Here's a video of grandpa blowing out his candles, and some pictures from the weekend.

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I had to dedicate a post to my sisty ugler in honor of her moving to Lincoln this weekend. Some of you may remember my toast at her wedding in which I blubbered through tears about how I've always followed her around and wanted to be just like her. I went to college in Kearney because she went there...didn't even look anywhere else. Well the tables have turned it seems, since she followed me to Lincoln...kidding, I know that's not the reason...but I'm going with it. Glad to have you back Dawn (et al)!

Just wanted to post a little something about a couple shows I saw this month. Eric and I went to see Lincolnite Joshua James at Knickerbockers downtown on May 4th. He was a great performer and had a great opening group. On May 9th, I went to see Kaki King in Omaha with my friend Valerie. She's the only female on Rolling Stone's "guitar gods" list and she didn't disappoint. She played a great set and was amazing to see live. Here are a couple little videos from the shows if you're interested...

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