Eloise's 2nd Birthday Party

For the past 9 years, Andrew and I have had a tradition that whenever we drive past the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum we say it faster than the other person. We lived on and just off of Fullerton for 4 years, so we passed by often and got pretty good at it. Pegynotbartnaturmuseum. (Not as good as Bucadibeppo but that's another story.) This past Sunday, we celebrated Eloise's 2nd birthday at this very nature museum. We had 18 children and their parents plus our families and friends to help us celebrate. The kids enjoyed an animal show complete with a walking stick insect, a box turtle name Pretty Girl, and a fox snake. Some of the brave children even wore the fox snake around their neck as a necklace. We had a craft table with various activities including face painting, making masks and coloring butterflies. We filled up on pizza, gummy worms and swedish fish, and of course, birthday cake. The guests could enjoy the terrace and bird walk, plus explore the entire museum, including the beautiful butterfly haven.


We are amazed that our little girl is 2 years old already. On one hand we feel like she was just born and keeping us (me) up at all hours of the night, while on the other hand it feels like we've known her our whole lives. It's debatable if Eloise will remember this 2nd birthday party, but we know that we always will!

all photos:

Eloise's 2nd Birthday Party

Then and Now

Eloise 1st Birthday cupcake

2nd Birthday cupcake

Time flies when you're having fun! Happy 2nd Birthday to Eloise!!!

Happy Birthday to Griffin too!
This photo was taken at his birthday party the next day.

Beaver Fever

We ♥ Beaver Creek, Colorado! We spent the most wonderful 4 day weekend in Colorado to celebrate the wedding of Andy and Mandi. The wedding itself was on the mountaintop at Beano's Cabin and was intimate and personal and so very Andy and Mandi. The scenery was breathtaking, the vows tearjerking, the porcupines brash, the dinner exquisite, the music fantastic and the entire night was completely memorable.

the Idema's

Saturday was spent watching Michigan's victory, lounging in the sun by the pool, and taking the chairlift up the Rocky's for a 3+ hour hike. This hike was a highlight for us. The beauty is indescribable. So are our friendships. We love our EGR friends and always have the best time when we all get together.

On the way to the airport on Sunday we allowed ourselves extra time so that we could take the especially scenic route along Highway 6 over Loveland Pass. When we got out of the car at almost 12,000 feet elevation we noticed immediately that the temperature had dropped 40 degrees (to 43 degrees). And the view...WOW.

We are thankful to Andy and Mandi for this opportunity to spend a fall weekend in their beautiful state. And we are also extremely appreciative to Hamma, Dave and Molly B for dedicating their weekends to driving to Chicago and watching Eloise. To spend 4 days with our friends toddler-free was amazing...thank you!

click for our photo album:

Idema Wedding - Beaver Creek, CO

Veronica the Ironwoman!!!

* more photos to come...

We were so thrilled to cheer on Veronica at Ironman Wisconsin in Madison this weekend. The race day on Sunday began at Lake Monona with a 2 mile swim. We loved cheering on all of the swimmers and talking to the spectators and learning more about the race day events and athletes. We were really impressed with not only the amazing level of fitness, but also the overall organization of the competition. There were volunteers everywhere who quickly removed wetsuits, slathered sunscreen and cheered on the athletes with great enthusiasm.

Veronica had an extremely impressive swim, finishing 26th in her division with a time of just over 1 hour. With a wave and a smile, she was off to the 112 + mile bike ride (finishing several minutes faster than her best case scenario prediction) and a strong finish with a full marathon run (are you kidding me?!). We loved the yellow "V" visors and posters that her mom made and felt so proud and excited to be there with her and her family for this amazing accomplishment. Congratulations!!!

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy 60th Birthday Grandpa Walker,
Happy Birthday to you!

Tony Bennett and The Allman Brothers

This past weekend, we celebrated Tom Walker's upcoming 60th birthday with Tony Bennett. We took the metra up to Highland Park, spread out our blanket and enjoyed wine and apps to the amazing voice of a very impressive 83 year old Tony Bennett. He put on an incredible show with all of his favorites. We had a terrific time!


Last night, Andrew and I and our friend Mr. Slovick went to see The Allman Bros and Widespread Panic at Northerly Island. If you haven't seen a show there yet...GO!!! It is an amazing and pretty intimate venue with the lake and beach steps behind the seats and the entire skyline behind the stage. There is not a bad seat in the house, plus they sell 24 ounce beer silos. Thank you Mayor Daley for being so sketchy and tearing up Meigs Field in the middle of the night. The show was awesome. We danced like fools and had such a great time. And they played Melissa for their first encore...it doesn't get any better than that.

Greg Allman, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks and Buddy Guy

The skyline at night