Ok, so after the fun time of Sand Day on Friday 7/11/14, the Gruenhagen/Desai bunch flew in late that night. The twins, Kirin and Kali, are both Noah's age. We all woke up on Saturday morning, happy to be together again!
On Saturday afternoon we hosted a BBQ with family and friends to celebrate their visit. Isaac was in on the bags tournament!
We had a ton of kids here, we got out the slip n slide and had children congregating all over the house. It was a lot of fun!
Meera and I were happy to be able to enjoy some adult beverages. It seems that each visit for the last 4-5 years has involved me being pregnant. So this time was a refreshing change!
Later that night a poker game ensued, (WHICH I WON!), and decisions were made surrounding beverage consumption that may not have been the best...
...which lead to a morning like this...
But we all recovered and Mike took our guests into the city to see some sights. Meera and the 6 year olds braved the ledge at Willis tower. The 30 something year old menfolk chickened out!
Smooth train ride back to Roselle!
Then on Monday, we took our friends to Brookfield Zoo. Kali's favorite was the giraffe!
Just a little monkeying around...
The 4 "big" kids!
Fish Face!
How to pose boys...just gather them together and count yourself lucky if even one looks towards the camera!
Meera, Jason, Kirin, and Kali!
The Rodriguez Brood!
Another highlight was seeing the baby gorilla!
It's Ice Cream o'clock somewhere, right?!
Underwater dolphin viewing was also a hit!
Fun times in the photo booth!
We relaxed that evening by watching old school, animated Robin Hood.
Aunt Meera lead a yoga session too!
On Tuesday we got some outside playtime in, met up with Britt and Quint and their baby Georgia, and packed up for the Dells!
We managed the 3 car, 3 hour caravan just fine despite construction and rain, and ended up a at Great Wolf Lodge on Tuesday afternoon!
Ordered some Moosejaw Pizza for dinner which was delivered by moose!
On Wednesday, we headed on a duck tour. Ducks are amphibious vehicles which drive on land and then convert into boats. They had a shuttle from our hotel, it was perfect!
Uncle Mike knows how to keep the minions happy, buy a GIANT popcorn!
Mommy-selfie!
The hour long tour was very beautiful!
I'm pretty sure Sam ate the entire way!
This is what the duck vehicles look like!
2 babies, tuckered out!
Family selfie!
We are still shocked at how good this photo turned out, everyone is actually looking at the camera! Quint had to miss out due to some stomach troubles.
Our 4th floor balcony afforded us excellent sunset viewing!
And, we were walking distance to Buffalo Phil's train restaurant. Never mind the Abby-photobomb!
Train delivered food = happy Kirin!
They even sent the train with bubbles too!
Train dessert, pretty awesome!
Meera, Britt, and myself handled this bottle of vodka in one night. It was not pretty!
Love hotel snuggles with my baby!
By Thursday we had some TIRED kids. The little ones passed out just after lunch while still in the noisy waterpark!
We bid farewell to the Friesells and headed back home. The big kids lost their minds in the car. A lot of giggling was going on.
We spent a day recovering and doing laundry. The kids had some park time. (Noah is not pictured as he was busy yacking the contents of his stomach in the baseball field nearby).
We had to take our friends to another favorite spot, Oberweis!
Fortunately, the polar vortex (which had made the weather unseasonably cool) had moved on, so fountain time was on!
One last park trip with everyone!
And one last selfie with Aunt Meera!
It was an amazing week with amazing friends. It's so wonderful to know that we can live more than 1,000 miles apart and go 2 years without getting together and still just pick up and have a wonderful time! Many thanks to Meera and Jason and Brittney and Quint for coming out our way. We are so blessed to have great friends like you all!
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