Our Super Summer Vacay, Part III

{Read Part I here and Part II here}

Things immediately got better once we arrived at Aunt Kathy and Uncle Joe's house in Elmwood Park. Tucker was there, chillin' and it was SO good to finally squeeze his little cheeks. Sassy was over-the-moon thrilled to meet her new baby cousin, and I was equally as thrilled for her, as I had spent the past 6 weeks hearing about how excited she was to meet him. I knew she was looking forward to it, but her little smile lit up like sunshine. It was adorable!



Little A was pretty amazed, too. She spent the first few days of our trip saying baaay-beee, baaay-beee over and over and over.



The girls wanted to hold Tucker and play with Tucker and feed Tucker every moment of every day, and I was prepared for that. That's not to say it didn't get a bit wearing after two weeks, but I am glad they had such a great time getting to know him.

After getting in some good visiting, we shuttled over to Kelli and Randy's new place in Forest Park. They have the lower level of a pretty cool old building, and it was really open and spacious. The downside... no A/C. I about died on the spot. It took some getting used to (and some industrial sized fans blowing in my face while I slept), but all ended up well.

Kelli had training for work Monday-Wednesday of that first week, so we all packed up and spent the day at Aunt Kathy's with Uncle Rick and Kaitlin. The girls had a ball terrorizing bonding with tucker and swimming in the pool. Here are a few shots from Monday...

Sweet Baby T:



Little A sampling Uncle Rick's brownies... see how happy she is when she eats??



Randy & Baby T. Randy had active duty while we were visiting... you didn't think I could possibly pass up the money "man in uniform" shots, now did you?



Tuesday, we did a bit more of the same. Hung out at Aunt Kathy's house. Swam in the pool. Played in the backyard. Ooh'd and aah's over Tucker. Took a trip with Kait to Target. The usual.

Sassy did a lot of this which made her this...



Little A and Tucker were like this...



Wednesday, Tucker went to "daycare" while the girls and I stayed back at Kelli's house. We waited for Kaitlin to pick us up, and the morning looked a little something like this...



Once we were able to convince Morty that his cage was a nice place to be, we set off for a day of lunch and shopping at Woodfield. Ah, Woodfield, how I love thee. How my wallet loathes thee.

Macy's, Sephora, C.O. Bigelow, H&M, The Disney Store, Janie & Jack, Hanna Andersson... 'nuff said.

By Thursday morning, Kelli was finished with her training, and we had a big plan. our goal was to get a decent picture taken at Portrait Innovations of all 3 cousins to give Aunt Kath for the 4th. It is her holiday, after all. We went to The Glen, did PI, had lunch at noodles & Co (when are we getting one of these?) and hit Carter's. All in all, a success.

Some adorable pics of Tucker pre PI photo shoot at Kelli's house...



We spent the majority of Thursday night playing with Morty in the backyard. Sassy was a bit whiny when it came to being knocked down all the time by the dog, but Little A devised a system... as soon as Morty would approach her from behind, she would squat down low to avoid being knocked over. It was seriously the funniest thing to watch!



The awesome foursome:



Sassy and auntie Kelli playing "supermodel"...



Auntie Kelli & the girls:



Strange, silly, sweet Sassy:



The 5 of us spent most of Friday running errands and getting things ready for the 4th of July party the following day. We visited briefly with Ty and my Mom, who arrived from Kansas around 6:00 PM before heading back to Kelli's to start our cooking marathon. Once we were finished, and all the tupperware and bowls and containers were packed in the fridge and ready to go, Kelli and I sat outside ALONE and had a couple of nice cold beverages. By the time we turned in, we knew any sleep we could manage would be beneficial.

After all, the following day was to be the party of the year...