Here you go MOM!

HI :)

Okay first of all....some pictures of my adorable nephews, because they are cute and I don't know if my parents have seen these pictures yet :)

Just hangin' out...Carsten likes to have a pouty lip, even if he's not sad.

LOVE them...seriously, could they be any cuter???

Can't believe he's 5...that just doesn't seem possible!

Now that that's taken care of....where to begin?

I am currently in Aurora :) I didn't have to work this weekend and we didn't have anything going on at home, so I decided I should make the trek to come see Josh this time. 3 hours in the car by myself was not super fun...but I made it!

Yesterday was a long and busy day, but it was fun. Josh doesn't venture out much at all besides to go to work and picking up dinner or something, so we had to get groceries and get a few things for around the apartment.

First we went to his work, and he showed me around a bit. It's pretty nice. They have a foosball table in their breakroom...how bad can it be?! The building that he is in is really pretty. The inside has all real flowers everywhere like you are walking through a forest or something, it's pretty neat!

Then we made a few other stops, went to Sams and bought another air conditioner (it is waaaaay too hot in the apartment!), and to Meijers for some groceries. I found this:
Of course I bought it. It was on sale, otherwise I wouldn't, because it's regularly like $4-$5 dollars, plus a $1.50 deposit, but it was on sale for $1.74, so it wasn't as bad. But I just had to try it!! Delicious.

Then we found lunch at Panera and headed home. First thing on the agenda? Hook up the new air conditioner! It seems to be helping a lot, now we just need to find curtains for the slider so the sun doesn't absorb all the cool air and we'll be all set! After our big morning of shopping and HEAT, we decided a nap was in order and ended up sleeping for 3 hours...haha. I guess we were tired! After our nap we got up, ate dinner, and got ready to head into town :)

We decided to try out the train. I can take the train from Kalamazoo all the way to Aurora, so we decided to check it out and see if I'd be able to handle it. I think I could, it just stinks because on Fridays it leaves at 2:30 or 9:00. Since I have to work...I would have to take the 9:00 one, and that doesn't get me into Aurora til about 11:30. Which I guess isn't a big deal because it's not like we'd have any big plans, it just makes for a long day. So we'll see.

Anyways, the train was fun! On the way there we sat on the upper level, so that was kind of cool. It's about an hour and fifteen minute ride, because there are about 12 stops. It's interesting to watch people come and go on the train...you can tell the people who do it all the time and people who have never done it before, like us.

Once we got into Union Station, we started walking. We had about 2 1/2 miles to get to our destination...NAVY PIER...which is why we chose to wait til about 7:00 to go, in hopes that it wouldn't be so hot. It was still hot, but it wasn't as hot as it would have been with the sun beating down on us. On the way there, we took in the sights:

Chicago at night is so pretty. I love it!! While we were walking we saw one of the area's where they are filming Transformers 3! It was pretty cool, we saw a bunch of cars piled up like a car chase/crash had just happened. I told Josh we'll have to watch the movies now so we can feel special LoL After a bit more walking we finally made it to....
Navy Pier!! I have always wanted to go to Navy Pier, but when we came with Mom and Dad they were never really into it (crazies!). So last night I finally got to go, and it was amazing! We are definitely going back, because we didn't get to do the one thing I really really wanted to do...
....ride the Ferris Wheel!! The line was super long and we wanted to be able to walk around and check everything out before the fireworks started, so maybe next time :) Plus, Josh is not a big fan of heights and he was pretty sure he would die on it!

We walked to the end and took it all in, then found some Ben and Jerry's and staked out a spot for the fireworks show. We didn't really know what to expect, they do fireworks every Wednesday and Saturday nights, so we didn't really know if they were going to be fabulous, or just a quick little no big deal display. Well, we were in for quite a surprise, because they put Michigan's fireworks to SHAME!! They were soo good!! Take a look...
Seriously, the best fireworks I've seen. Soo awesome! They play them to music too, which was kinda cool. They said that they matched the beat to the fireworks, but we didn't really get that too much...but it was cool all the same :)

After the fireworks, we started walking back to the train station. The last 2 trains leave at 10:40 and 12:40. Since the fireworks didn't start til 10:15 and then we still had a 2 1/2 mile walk back...there was no way we were going to make the 10:40, so we just started slowly walking back along with the other throngs of people. That was interesting....the crazy people come out at night, that is for sure! We stopped at 7-11 to get a drink, and this lady freaked out because someone accidentally nudged her bag while walking through the crowded store. And I mean freaked out like yelling and waving her hands, the whole bit! I guess she had something pretty special in that bag....we'll never know.

We made it back to the train station at about 12, so we had a good 40 minutes to sit, which was nice...because we were tired and our feet were killing us! So we sat and played Yahtzee on Josh's phone (oh modern technology, where would we be without you?) then finally boarded the train. The ride home seemed a lot longer....and we almost got puked on....but we finally made it back to Aurora around 2am. When we got home...we showered and crashed!

Now it's Sunday morning, 11:30....and Josh is still sleeping! I must have tired him out last night with all our adventures, he never sleeps this late! :) Today is going to be much more low-key. We are thinking about checking out the outlet shops over in Naperville, and then we have to figure out where the washing machines are at this apartment complex. They claim each building has laundry...but we haven't seen it. Other than that, it's going to be a lazy day I think. Which sounds good :)

After being here though, I'm feeling kinda bad for the hubby. When I am at home, I still have the option of seeing my friends or family, and I get to be with the kitties and everything is still familiar. Here, he's all by himself. There's really not much to do at the apartment, and he doesn't know anybody or want to go out and do things by himself....so I feel bad. Plus, it's hot! Hopefully now with the 2nd air conditioner that will help. But still. I feel bad for him. It's so lonely. I thought I had it bad and he wasn't really missing me...but now I see....I'm pretty lucky. Hopefully this 'season' doesn't last too much longer because it's not much fun for either of us.

In other news, Rick Porcello came back up from the Mud Hens yesterday and pitched the second game of their double header, and pitched an awesome game! They still lost...but it wasn't because of Rick! He pitched 8 innings giving up only 6 hits for 1 run, 99 pitches total, with 71 of them strikes...nice job, Ricky!! :) I for one am so glad to see he is back! :) I even wore my Porcello shirt yesterday and Josh said we were probably going to get mobbed for wearing a Tigers shirt when the Cubs were in town and the Sox just lost...haha. But no mobbing, just a few dirty looks.

Alrighty well, Josh is finally up so it's time to get this day started :) Hope you are all having a fabulous weekend!