rotary fest {aka…heritage fest}

Posted on July 2, 2019 by tandem in love

come summer, come festivals. oh, it’s one of my favorite things about summertime!

what wasn’t a favorite was the cold, cold temps! ughhhhhh. it was so chilly the evening we chose to go. for me, a jacket wasn’t even warm enough while standing outside for hours. i saw people in short shorts, tank tops and sandals and here i was in layers, long pants, and i was super cold!

we met up with lan, avery, thuy, kim and the boys. olive and ellie were so excited to see their cousins! ellie was all about holding my hand leading up to us meeting them. as soon as she saw the boys, she wanted to be a big girl and refused to hold my hand. LOL she did her best to keep and be cool. oh my two year, going on twelve.

the kids were living their best lives – playing games, having fun, winning prizes. us adults just walked around with the kiddos as they picked what games they wanted to play. the girls were having a great time! the best part of the fest was when the boys and olive rode on the bumper cars. hc went with olive and she had a blast! giggling, laughing, and hc was a pro steering the bumper car and smoked everyone in there.

after a couple hours there, we had made dinner reservations at a restaurant right downtown, just a few minutes away from where we were. we walked right over and enjoyed the rest of our evening in the comfort of warmth.

if the weather was better, we probably would have eaten some yummy festival food and sat on the sidewalk but we wanted to be comfortable {not freezing our tushies} while we ate our dinner.

despite the cold weather, we still had a wonderful evening out at the festival. what was most important was that the kids had a blast, memories were made, and we, in the end, still ate yummy food!

yay for summer!

[olive said, “kiki! kiki! look…a big lemon!]

[everything is so bright and over the top!]

[we chose and only had time to go to the fest friday night and of course it was freeeeeeezing. the next day was super warm. go figure]

[so many plushies, so excessive!]

[pop a balloon and win a prize!]

[i told ellie to look at me]

[then i said, “look at reagan”. look at her adoring stare]

[my sweet babe]

[i love her sweet looks]

[our crew]

[oh these two]

[this girl and her poses]

[girl gang]

[everybody wins!]

[dada helping ellie out]

[did you win ellie?]

[their prizes…pink unicorns!]

[toss the rings]

[i’m not sure how long he was able to hang in there for]

[i think thuy got to 75 seconds!]

xoxo

ice cream date turned festival fun!

Posted on July 3, 2018 by tandem in love

my sister, kim, text me asking if we wanted to meet up for an ice cream date. well, yes. the only place we ever go to is everyday’s a sundae. so, we hustled, got ready within a few minutes and out the door. as we neared the downtown area, we saw that heritage fest was going on! oh my! we were so unaware.

i called my sister and we were in a pickle. we didn’t expect the crowds and the crazy parking, so we weren’t sure if we wanted to stay or go to another place to get some ice cream.

well, we decided to stay and we met in front of the shop. we discussed our options, get ice cream or walk the festival. we decided to walk the festival but needed to get out cash, so we walked to an atm and hit up the grounds.

we started backwards, the kids grabbed ice cream first, then dinner. hey, it’s summer and it’s festival season! we perused our food choices and decided between corn dogs or corn dogs or corn dogs. hahaha! festival options are limited, yummy, and greasy!

the evening weather was beautiful. the temperature a bit cooler than usual but still lovely. we walked around, sat down to eat, the kids ran off to play games, and i took a gazillion pics. the kids were so cute together. olive was loving the games and prizes and just followed the boys around. game after game after game, we called it a night after the last one they played. it was the high striker and olive really wanted to play. the mallet was heavier than her! the women running the show reassured me olive would do well. hint hint. as olive tried with all her might to swing the hammer down on the target, the women hit the weight upwards and rung the bell! that was so sweet! olive, excitedly, picked out a prize!

we walked back to the car, loaded the girls into the jeep, and told olive to hold on tight to her huge plastic blow up barbie doll {it was probably three feet tall}, so it wouldn’t blow away in the wind!

it was such a fun night…impromptu and full of fond memories. i love life moments like these. cheers to summer nights!

[she was so excited…i’m not sure for what – the jeep ride? the ice cream? seeing her cousins?]

[my silly girls]

[she’s so cute]

[she was being sooooo silly]

[rapunzel]

[she loved her princess dress]

[my babies]

[rotary fest]

[the crew]

[they love each other]

[i caught this cutie pie trying to catch up to the group. it was so cute to see her hustle]

[she’s all caught up to the group]

[olive loved the blow up character behind her]

[gosh i looooooooove her. them. my girls]

[eating ice cream]

[kisses for her daddy]

[eating corn dogs and fries]

[overwhelmed by the plethora of prizes]

[picking out prizes]

[showing off their prizes]

[she was so excited that the bow lit up!]

[games, games, and more games]

[the mallet was heavier than her. the women running the game was so kind. she hit the bell so olive could win a prize!]

[what makes these kids happy…]

xoxo

summa time

Posted on June 26, 2018 by tandem in love

the few weeks before independence day can be so intense! there are so many things going on, i don’t have enough of me to be able to enjoy all the fun summer activities!

to kick off summmmmmma time, our neighborhood friends invited us to a local jubilee. that weekend was a h o t one. sizzling! we decided to watch the live bands and enjoy the festivities on the coolest night of the weekend, although is was only 90 degrees and humid that day. eep!

hc and i took the jeep there…the most perfect weather to do so! we left the same time as our neighbors, dianna and todd, and we all walked to the jubilee together. our other neighbor friends, john and laura, had already secured a spot for us by the stage.

naturally, the boys hung out and us gals hung out. we gabbed and the men talked about their manly things. after a bit, hc and i wandered off to do my instagram ‘things’ and then grabbed some grub from the healthy section of the jubilee. hahaha! cheesy tater tots, hot dogs, and other bad things for my summer bod. bahahahhhhhaaa!

we actually, really enjoyed the music! the first group was a little bit country and the second group was a little bit rock n’ roll. the latter group was a great cover band! the musicians and the singer nailed popular songs of the past! hc made a comment about how some cover bands try to add in their own twists but we love it when a cover band nails the songs as we know them {and this band did just that!}!

after a few hours, i nudged hc to go. it was after 9:30 {oh, we’re so old and with children} and we needed to get home to put the kiddos to bed and send my sister home {always so thankful for her being available to watch the kiddos!}!

we are so grateful for our awesome neighbors! we really had a wonderful time with our SE crew! cheers to more fun summer festivals!

[me, diana, and laura]

[all the healthy food you can eat!]

[heart attack on a plate]

[hc, john, and todd]

[summer time]

xoxo

festival

Posted on August 1, 2017 by tandem in love

summer time.

i love warm weather, being able to just hang outside and be comfortable is something we look forward to every year. cold chicago winters gives you a different appreciation for the summer season and along with warm temps, brings festival season around here!

i thoroughly enjoy jubilees, festivals, carnivals…you name it, i love going to any of the named events. summer isn’t complete unless you attend at least one!

with olive being three years old, she has this new awareness and enjoyment that has arose and i find so much satisfaction and joy in seeing her content and happy!

we hit up a fest close to home. it was a festival that i actually attended while growing up around here and it was pretty cool to be able to bring olive. of course, they have rides, games, really bad food for you, and plenty of libations!

parking can be a b*tch around there but we were lucky enough to find a close spot {riding into town in hc’s jeep!}. we walked into the fest and grabbed some drinks first {priority people!}. we decided stroll around and check out the offerings. we did a once over and decided to grab some grub. if you’re on a diet, you’re screwed. no festival foods for you! we ate really unhealthy food and continued to check out what this festival had to offer.

one big mistake was taking olive near the rides. she isn’t big enough, so there was no way she could go on any of them and fact: hc and i will not, i will repeat, will not go on any of these carnival type rides. we don’t like them. we don’t trust them. we don’t care for them. she was so upset. she didn’t have a tantrum or anything of that extreme but she did cry. i felt so bad for her but that was a solid no – no rides whatsoever!

anyhoo, we walked around a bit more, explored, play some games, and then called it quits. everything currently revolves around ellie’s nap times right now, and we needed to skadaddle to get her to bed for the night.

i’m all about olive’s first time experiences and i was super happy she was able to enjoy our time at the summer fest! it was a fun family evening together! happy summer y’all!