Ear Piercing

We broke down....Delaney's been asking to have her ears pierced, and we decided that it would be a good 5th birthday present.  We talked about it being a big responsibility, how the earrings cannot be changed for a long time, how often they need to be cleaned, and that Mom and Dad get to pick out her earrings for awhile.  Even with all of these rules, she was so excited!  She picked out a pair of pink (surprise!) studs.  She held on tight to her Webkinz and chose to have them done one ear at a time (the girl said that they could do both at once, but Laney's tough).  Her first ear was no problem at all.  A little wince, but that's it.  The second ear (her left) was a different story...she screamed after it was over.  But, as soon as she was offered a sucker, she was good.  Here are some pics...

She was so proud to show all of her friends at her birthday party, at school, and at Spanish class.  She admires them in mirrors whenever she has the chance.

Taste of Chicago

Last week I took a day off work to head down to the Taste of Chicago which is held in Grant Park in Downtown Chicago. Its sad to say but it was our first visit to the city since we came back from Singapore. We all had lots of fun and tried a ton of food (see list below). We were all exhausted after our day downtown and enjoyed finally sitting down on the Metra at the end of the day. Here is a list of food we ate:

Jerk Chicken with Red Beans
Cheesecake
Pizza Bites
Cannoli
Blue Raspberry Italian Ice
Italian Fries
Toasted Cheese Ravoli
Chopped Salad
Garlic Mozz Cheese Bread
BBQ Meatballs
Stuffed Breadstick
Steak Taco
Bao
Mini Meatball Sandwich
Lemon Italian Ice
Italian Steak Sandwich
1/2 Cheeseburger
Thin Sausage Pizza
Pierogi
Tiramisu Gelato
Sesame Beef on a stick

All of these were "Taste Portions" which means they are small sample sizes. (Just in case you thought we were struggling with obesity).

4th of July

Happy Fourth!!!  We had a fun-filled day....our neighborhood has a Bike Parade every year in the morning.  It was so fun to see so many people out and gathered together.  The parade has a police escort and about 7 or 8 cops stopping traffic at the semi-busy road that divided our neighborhood.  The parade ended at the park in the 'hood where there were three pinatas, a fire truck, an ambulance, and an ice cream truck.  Derek did a great job helping out and keeping everything organized (big responsibility for a board member!!!).  After the parade we ended up at our neighbors house and were there for several hours.  Delaney had fun playing and Derek and I enjoyed the company.  Jake missed us though...he was stuck here.  We didn't want him to come to the neighbors since there were four little dogs there and he's not supposed to do any running yet.  We didn't go to any fireworks but heard plenty in our neighborhood.  Luckily Jake's not scared.  Laney and I crashed on the couch about 9:30....we were exhausted!  

Roller Coasters

Well its official! Delaney is tall enough to ride adult rollercoasters at the amusement park....not all of them but quite a few. Melissa, Delaney and I went to Six Flags Great America on Thursday for the Annual "Garden Family Day-O Fun". Delaney was very excited about being able to ride the adult roller coasters and other spinning rides. Melissa and I thought it would be best if we went big on her first ride ever and got in line for the new Dark Knight Coaster. It is the new indoor ride held entirely in the dark. The 45min to 1 hour wait in line was harder to get accept than the ride itself. The ride itself was great and she had a good time. She had a HUGE smile on her face when she got off the ride and said "That's awesome, lets do it again". We told her that there are many more rides to try and we can always come back. We proceed to go on ride after ride. No ride scared her until we got to the corkscrew, which we all know is a looping coaster with the corkscrew part in the middle. I was a little nervous when we first got into the car because she was so so small in the seat made for grown adults. The shoulder harnesses where above her head and I thought she would be moving all over the place on the inversions. After the first loop she wasnt giggling anymore and had a look of "what the heck is going on" across her face. I kept talking to her as much as I could during the ride and told her it was almost over. Right after the corkscrew part I reached over and held her head still because it was shaking with all the turns and I think it was hitting the shoulder harnesses. When the ride was over she said, "I didnt like that one...I dont want to go on that one again". Several hours later she said she wanted to go on it again and I said I thought you didnt like it. She said "I like it medium".

Overall it was a fun day. She had her first funnel cake and as a treat leaving the park we bought her 1st ever bag of cotton candy. She liked both of them. Everytime we went on a spinning ride, she would say "I betcha mommy would throw up on this ride" (FYI...Mommy doesnt like spinning rides).