The Girls' Summer Visit

The girls spent their summer break with Joseph and since he now lives in the area, we are able to see the girls while they're here. This summer, the girls spent each Friday with my mom so I headed over to Casa de Kimball to help out and get in some quality visiting time. And quality visiting we did. :o)

I tried to snap a candid shot of the girls between photos but accidentally got a photo of Grandma's behind instead. (Whoops!) The girls thought that was hilaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarious and giggled up a storm. I just loved their faces; the smiles in the last shot are PERFECT.

First Day of School

Great googlymoogly. Today is the first day of school for my nieces and they are now officially 2nd- and 5th-graders. Good. Grief. My sister sent along some photos of the girls to mark the occasion and, just for fun, sent photos of the girls from the first day of school back in 2007. At that time, Sarah (the eldest) was entering 2nd grade and Claudia was still in preschool. Check it out:

Here are the girls in '07:And here they are now:
W O W ! The comparison really drives it home - the girls are so mature now! Crazy. I can't believe I have nieces that are so... big. I still remember when I gave little 1-year-old Sarah a bath in my apartment at UCLA. And now she's a tween! Dang. Time is flying! I feel old.

Chicago Visitors

My nieces have been in the Bay Area this summer visiting their dad and, each week, they head over to my parents' house for a few hours. It's been a special treat getting to see them so often, since Robert and I haven't made it out to Chicago in quite some time. The girls are 7 and 10 so we've been having lots of fun Wii'ing, swimming, painting nails, shopping...


This is one of Claudia's books, Lauren the Puppy Fairy. I thought it rather fitting. :o)


Michelle and Dave made it out to my parents' for a couple of weekends, too, in and around a road trip they took with the girls to Seattle. On their 2nd weekend in Fremont, they treated us to a Giants-Mets game. It was actually my first time in the bleachers at AT&T. It was SO windy and SO cold it's also the first game that Robert has conceded and let us all leave early. I think the fact that the kids only had little fleece jackets and the Giants were up by, like, 5 runs or something in the 8th had something to do with it but still. Baby steps, people.



The girls were really very interested in the game... though not necessarily the one on the field. I found myself wishing I'd brought my DS, too.

It was so nice to see everyone! It had been almost a year since I'd seen Michelle or the girls so it was fun just hanging out, enjoying the game and chatting. Relaxed, unstructured visits are always the best. :o)

I Almost Forgot

...to share my favorite Chicago story! You will most likely not find it as amusing as I do but it's still pretty cute. I was driving (following Michelle and Andy) with Robert and the girls to get some ice cream on our last night when the conversation turned to the kids' many sets of grandparents. Claudia was describing what Andy's dad looks like and said "He has gray hair like Grandpa Pete... only it isn't bald in the middle." Hee!!!!! She made a little circular motion around her head with her finger while she said it, too, which cracked me up. She was so serious in her description - I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Ah, Claudia... she's a cutie.

Finally - Chicago Photos!

Well. It only took me a week but I finally got all my photos uploaded. I think there were about 90 total so for your sake I've selected only those that best represent the trip. :o) Our visit was great - definitely one of the best we've had out in Chicago. My sister's boyfriend, Andy, was very generous and let Robert and I stay at his place while he bunked at my sister's and it was wonderful. There was a good mix of visiting, just hanging out and venturing out to enjoy the city's charms so all in all the trip was a big success. Chicago really is a nice town and the weather was very cooperative this time around - no 100+ degree days at all! It was actually fantastic, weather-wise. Plus, it's been almost a year since I've seen either my sister or my nieces, so I'm really glad Robert and I had the chance to visit with everyone!


Robert and I really like White Castle - most likely because we only get it once a year! - and my sister always makes a point of indulging us in our craving. Robert especially loves WC and was SO excited that he got to partake on our first day in town. Michelle laughed when I asked Robert if he wanted me to take a picture of him enjoying his burgers but I knew Robert would want me to. And he did. In Robert's words, the above photo captures him in the "throes of ecstasy." I'll leave it at that.


Sarah and Claudia are really into Webkinz these days, so Sarah took a minute to show us her Webkinz site. In this photo, everyone was very focused on Sarah playing ColorStorm. It was intense, people.


We finally finished up on the computer and were headed upstairs to get ready to go to the park...


When Uncle Robert was distracted by Michelle's Dyson. Holy bejeezus, Robert has wanted a Dyson since the dawn of time. He is in LOVE with those vacuums!!! I'm not kidding. Robert will be a very happy man when we scrape up enough funds to actually buy one for ourselves.


Of course, nothing would do but Robert had to vacuum. And vacuum he did... so much so, in fact, that my sister had to actually ask him to stop when she got on a conference call for work. I don't care how much he loves it - our child will NOT be Dyson McCauley. Mm mmm.


Naturally, we went to the park on the hottest afternoon of our visit. Bleh. So we only stayed for about 45 minutes or so. Still, the kids had a good time challenging Uncle Robert to a few races.


Robert was a good uncle and let the girls win... but I don't think running in flip flops helped his case any. I also raced the girls a couple times and I didn't let them win. They just did. (Auntie Lauren has asthma!! C'mon!!) ;o)


On Friday night, we all headed down to The Hideout to hear the Waco Brothers play. I'd never heard of the Waco Bros. but they put on a very good show - lots of upbeat songs you could dance to (and when I say "you" I mean you - I didn't dance). Robert and Andy geeked out over their love of more independent-minded music and I sat in the corner drinking water like an old lady. Still, I did enjoy the outing and I know Robert really liked it so I was happy to see him have someone to share his love of... let me be nice and just say 'other' types of music. The dude in the photo above is a member of the Waco Brothers' opening act, a Welsh mens chorus. Robert thought the guy's tie-as-headband look was HI-larious so I snapped a shot for him.


Okay, I did dance a little. A very little. And I guess I had fun. Gah.


Ah, now this is more like it. This is my version of Robert's "throes of ecstasy" photo. I have always, always, always wanted one of those frosted cookie cakes from Mrs. Fields but have never had one. Every year I'm tempted to buy Robert one for his birthday (so I can eat it) but at the last minute I feel guilty usurping his special day's treat and I get him something he wants. Bleh. Anyway, the whole cookie cake thing has long been a dream of mine and when we all headed out to the Gurnee Mills Mall on Saturday to buy the girls some school clothes, what did I see but a Great American Cookies stall. And what did they sell but cookie cake... by the slice!!!! Oh, man, I was so on it. I was super excited and ate every morsel of my piece of cookie cake. And it tasted just as delicious as I'd always imagined it would. I was in heaven.


Me, Andy, Sarah, Michelle and Claudia (Robert is the camera man) taking a cookie break at the mall. I'm the slowest eater on the planet so, of course, I'm holding everyone up. Whoops.


Too cute!


And here we all are, post-mall, having dinner at Pete's Pizza. We always have a food checklist when we hit Chicago and authentic deep dish pizza is usually on it. Again, I'm the slowest eater so my piece of pizza is in the shot. Sorry.


Ugh. If you know me at ALL, you know I don't like cats. Blech. They crawl on everything, their hair gets everywhere and it's so fine it feels like it's flying up your nose or something. Brrr. Love dogs. Not so keen on felines. Plus, I have a slight allergy to cats so that probably factors into it, too (Michelle has two cats at present so I was sure to pack my Nasonex and inhalers for the trip!). I was surprised, however, at how much I took to one of my sister's cats - Lovie. He had a lot of personality and once I deigned to pet him, he was a big ol' love bug. Yes, he shed all over me and I had to be careful not to rub my eyes and blah blah blah but he was a sweetheart. My mom - who hates cats more than I do - just about died when she saw this picture. I may never nuzzle another cat so at least now I have proof that I did do it. Once.


This is a photo of me shouting 'cheese curd!' (if you're retarded like me and have seen The Prince & Me you'll know from where that expression comes) while Michelle sorts through the girls' haul of school clothes and Claudia models her new pajamas. I don't know - it had been a long day, I guess.


And here's the final photo of our trip - Robert, myself, Andy and Michelle at a pasty leg convention the Cubs/Giants game on Sunday afternoon. Andy's house is in Wrigleyville so we were able to walk to the game and back - it was awesome!!! And his seats were on the aisle, perfect for a bathroomaholic such as myself. The day was perfect! :o) Plus, the Giants actually won and Robert toned down his cheering and booing a bit so it really was a great day. (Robert is looking sideways at the wife of the man who took the picture - she's saying something about the dude not being able to see without his glasses and Robert was distracted. Oh well.)