happy birthday america... and other stuff

I can't believe it's already the second week of July! Em and Nick will be coming home tomorrow ~ we can't wait to see them! :)

We've been busy already this month. On the 3rd, George, Ben, and I drove into Chicago for the Taste, just as we've done almost every year since we moved to the Chicago area in 1994. We got there right around lunchtime: and we all enjoyed some chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick for dessert, YUM!:

Then we headed over to Millennium Park. Ben and I splashed around in Crown Fountain for awhile:


Then we went to see the Bean:

and this cool new sculpture. I don't know what it's called, other than the Van Berkel sculpture, but it was kinda neat to walk on and see the different "windows" to the city:

We walked through Lurie Gardens, and dipped our feet in the water there:

After that, we headed to the lakeshore to stake out our fireworks-watching spot. We stayed there the rest of the afternoon/evening... reading, playing card games, napping, etc. Oh, and eating, of course, LOL.
We watched the fireworks which were spectacular, as always. (But I need to learn how to take fireworks photos on my digital camera!):
It's hard to tell from this picture, but these fireworks were shaped like smiley faces. :)
On the 4th, we woke up to rain, rain, and more rain. We were afraid our town's fireworks would get rained out, but the sun finally came out in the late afternoon. We had a special Independence Day meal that included watermelon, of course:
And then we walked over to the park to watch more fireworks. For as small as our suburb is, they put on a good show!:


When we returned home, Ben had a red, white, and blue popsicle before heading off to bed:
The next evening, we lit a few sparklers. We would've done it on the 4th, but didn't get home till after 11pm....
The baby robins out on our front porch finally hatched last week!
They keep Mama and Daddy Robin quite busy...
with all their little mouths opened wide like this much of the day!:
My white bee balm finally bloomed:
and also my coreopsis:
Yesterday, Ben and I drew chalk pictures on the driveway (and also played his versions of football and croquet!):
and today we went to the park:

I know Ben has enjoyed all the attention as an "only" child these last few weeks, but I know he'll be even happier to finally have his brother and sister back tomorrow! :)