At Last!

I realize it has been waaaay too long since the last update, so there is a lot to catch up on.



We'll start with our trip to Chicago. Nora and I left on Friday, July 16 for Chicago, braving the airplane alone. We were upgraded to business class which Nora thouroughly enjoyed. Here she is, warm nut bowl in hand (I ate the nuts) and pillow next to her sitting in my seat. She was sooo good on the flight, many passengers commented on her great behavior.

After dinner with Bruce, Meghan, Claire and Jason, we headed to our hotel. Nora did some exploring in the morning.

After showering with me (because I couldn't leave her roaming free in the hotel room), Nora primped in the mirror.

Then, we headed off to meet up with the dinner crew again, along with Grandma Barb and Grandpa Dan at the Lincoln Park Zoo. I'm not sure which Nora liked more, the animals or all the other kids.

It was there that I said my tearful goodbyes; I was staying in Chicago for a work event for a few days while Nora went to stay with Grandma and Grandpa.

She visited both of her Great Grandmas (and Grandpas) while there. Oh No! I just accidentally deleted the photo of Nora playing with Jeff's cousin Bennett and I can't get it back without reloading all 17 photos...sorry, we'll have to go without that one.

Here is Nora playing with Grandma Barb's childhood chair and Great Grandma Margaret.

She enjoyed the playground nearby, and even did some rock climbing! I thought her first time doing that would have been with daddy, not her grandparents!

Nora enjoyed her time with the Grandparents (and vice versa). They were nice enough to send an account of every day's activities, complete with photos. It was the highlight of my work days to read them each night. On Wed July 21 I met up with Nora in Milwaukee and we flew home. It didn't go quite as well as the trip there, but we made it. After 6 days to himself, Daddy sure was glad to see us!

So, on to other things. Here is a random photo of Nora's hair. For real. She'd had a ponytail in, and pulled it out as usual, but her hair would not go down. I kept trying because we were out in public shopping, but no luck.

And then there is food. Sometimes Nora doesn't eat. Sometimes she eats a lot and gets really messy, like this.

And sometimes she prefers to play with her food and grind it in her hair instead of her teeth.

She likes to wear this great hat, then gives it to Jeff and I to put on too.

The weather here has been quite hot and unfortunately the pool heater is broken so we haven't gone swimming. Her and Finn had a great time playing in his water table to cool off.

On Saturday while Jeff was biking, we had bagels (which Nora loves). She walked around the house for 30 minutes munching off this bagel.

And when I say walked, I mean she walked. She is walking about 85% of the time now, though does like to hold on to my finger when in the grass. Other than that, she's off wandering about the house and enjoying it!