The Blessing

One of the parenting practices that I inherited from my good friends the Donleys, was to sing Sam a blessing every night before bed. The blessing is from Numbers 6:24-26, and it's an arrangement by Rick Carlson. Sam now knows the blessing by heart and will sing along. He usually gets the last word of every sentence! Here he is singing along with a cd of the blessing Mike had made.

A new phase

So, I think we have a talker on our hands. Sam is talking non-stop...repeating everything we say. Some of his favorites are "gotcha" and "oh boy."

Here's a quick video of one of his favorite greetings!

Out on the boat

This past weekend my parents came down from Minnesota to spend some time with us. Sam loved having their undivided attention and Julio and I enjoyed some free time to get away. On Saturday we spent the afternoon downtown in Millenium Park and then our friend Bruce, treated us to an evening on his sailboat.

Sam LOVES boats. He has one he plays with in the bathtub and he even named the captain of his boat "Bruce." He went crazy when he saw all the boats in the lake. Bruce had a little life jacket and captains hat for him. He even got to drive the boat! (with Bruce holding the wheel as well). It was a cool evening, but we enjoyed good food, good conversation, and a great view of the city. It was definitely a highlight!

Captain Sam

Not to sure about what's going on!

Driving the boat!

Giving grandpa a turn to drive

Enjoying the evening!

More summertime fun!

We are trying to enjoy being outdoors as much as we can, as the reality is nice weather in Chicago doesn't last forever. Ironically, every time we've gotten out the grill this summer it's rained! (4 times in total) We've still enjoyed grilling in the rain and enjoying the time to hang out with friends. We are so thankful for our neighbors, the Mohns, and Sam especially enjoys his time with them. He gets very excited when he sees any of them. Here his is chilling with Amara!

Sam's first corn-on-the-cob

I hardly ever get to get out by the lake, so the month of August I decided to take a morning walk each Sunday before church. There's less traffic Sunday morning which makes it easier to get to the lake and so far we've had beautiful weather. Sam has come with me, while Julio prefers to get some extra sleep. Here are a few pics from our walks. Sam loves to go to the dog beach and watch all the dogs...

Summertime fun!

All of a sudden I realized summer is almost gone and we haven't even gotten to enjoy it. So, I packed our weekend with summer fun activities :)

I was thrilled Friday morning when I got a message from a friend saying she was going to be in town for the day and wanted to know if I wanted to go hear live jazz music downtown at the Drake hotel that evening. Of course I said yes (with Julio's permission :) It was so great to be downtown, catch up with Kathy and hear some great music. I'd never been in the Drake before and it was definitely worth the visit.


Then on Saturday morning I decided Sam and I should go to the zoo while Julio had to study. So we drove to the Lincoln Park zoo and miraculously found parking after 20 minutes and enjoyed a couple hours of looking at the animals. The zoo is free! It's such a beautiful area I can't believe it was my first visit. We'll definitely be back! That evening Julio made hamburgers on the grill....yummy!

He really was enjoying himself!

This favorite part - the monkeys and gorillas

Then on Sunday after a great morning at church and an afternoon nap, while Julio headed off to a church function, Sam and I met up with Liz and Kellyn for a nice stroll in Lincoln Square and a great dinner on one of the restaurant's outdoor patio. So good to catch up and share all of our crazy adventures in life and motherhood.



So there you have it...an intense but fun weekend in Chicago!