We had SUCH a great Memorial Day weekend. J’s been really busy at work lately and we hold things together around here by a lot of dividing and conquering, so I’ve been saying lately that Jason and I are like two ships passing in the night. So spending four glorious, summery days together was so nice.

Our expectations on the weather front were extremely low heading into the weekend, so getting four beautiful summer days was the best surprise ever. Thanks for getting the memo on the weather, Chicago!

Here’s how we spent the weekend.

On Friday, Hudson wanted to show his dad the Children’s Museum 😃 We walked over and were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t mobbed. We spent some time in the baby playroom and also found a new little nook of the “city” exhibit that is for crawlers only!

After the museum, we got lunch at D4 where Huds tried his first fries—great success.

Jason’s long-time friend Tim was in town for a wedding with his family and they came over for a little baby happy hour on Friday night. Tim’s son Ethan is just about a year older than Hudson, and seeing the two dads together with their two boys was… too cute. (Couldn’t resist!)

Saturday morning we were up bright and early and decided to check out Seneca Park. We were the only ones there, likely because it was the crack of dawn. “Going to the park” is limited to just some time in the baby swings for now, but this will be such a fun park for Hudson when he’s walking on his own. Lots of good amenities for very little guys like him separated from the “big kids” area!

We headed over to Olive Park for another long walk in the middle of the day—nothing more beautiful than this city by the water on a summer day. Fun fact: Hudson hates grass. He scrambled up into my lap faster than I’ve ever seen him move when I tried to put him down! True city kid.

Saturday afternoon, we attempted to go sit at the riverside patio at Lizzie McNeill’s but it became quickly apparent that Huds was not exactly in a chill patio mood. So, we did what any new parents desperate to enjoy a little more time outside and a cocktail on a holiday weekend would do: bought some wine and solo cups at Target and took our show on the road. It was actually a ton of fun and I foresee many more Saturday evening wine walks in our future this summer!

My amazing Renaissance man of a husband grilled us an epic surf and turf feast of shrimp and steak, and made us huge veggie salads for dinner on Saturday night. We sat outside watching all of the boats on the water and waiting for the first firework show of the year… until we learned that it wasn’t starting until 10:15. 10:15?! Who are these people staying up that late on purpose?! I vaguely remember hearing the fireworks from bed that night 😃

 

Sunday morning I took a long solo walk—rare these days!—up the lakefront to North Avenue. Just beautiful.

Sunday afternoon was our big weekend outing: my friend Lauren’s BBQ. Her son is just a month or so younger than Hudson so it seemed like the perfect social outing for us all. Unfortunately, a quick thunderstorm cut Hudson’s afternoon nap super short and he was not exactly at his happiest. Balancing a 23 pound baby, a glass of rose and a plate of bbq is no small feat! But we made it work and it was fun to be out and about.

We finally called it and headed home for Hudson’s bedtime. We ordered some food for another dinner on the balcony when we got home and played a few hands of cards. If we’re going to be stuck at home by 6:30pm every night, this is not a bad way to be spending our time 😃

Monday was pretty quiet after so much activity the rest of the weekend, but we checked something off the list that we’ve long been looking forward to: swimming! And it went great. We took Huds down to our pool midday and he was so, so happy splashing around with us. It should be noted that I did not dunk him, which is probably the key differentiator from our ill-fated swimming lessons. So now we’re looking forward to many more days spent at the pool this summer. And also to lots of excuses for him to wear this adorable robe from Papa that was VERY big on him at Christmas, and now is just perfect. Stop growing so fast, Hudson Bean!

I took this picture this morning–we headed out for an early morning walk to try to shake some of the post-weekend blues. It was such a good one! I didn’t want it to end, though I’m kind of tired just remembering all of this–we don’t usually have this much going on. Memorial Day Weekend 2017 is officially on the books, and I couldn’t have asked for a better kick-off to summer.