Memorial Weekend

Jeez, I'm so behind on my blogging! I'm going to lose all of my new followers pretty soon if I don't get going here!

So we had a wonderful Memorial Weekend. The weather was beyond gorgeous. Warm and sunny during the day and cooler at night for good sleeping! After the winter we had it is so nice to be able to enjoy being outside!

On Saturday we went to Brad's aunts house for a barbecue. We had good food and even played some games. It was nice to be there and get to know Brads family. They are nice people and I am excited to be joining our families.

On Sunday I made a bird bath using Terra cotta pots. It's an idea I got off of Pinterest of course.

I painted them using the same paint that I used on my front door a few years ago.It's good exterior paint and I love the color.

 

The we put put them together. First this way.

Didn't really like it that way.We wanted it just a little bit taller.

So we put them this way.

Much better.

The bowl is a old pasta bowl that I got at a garage sale or a rummage sale several years ago. It's been sitting in the basement all this time. I never really put pasta in it because it's a little pitted inside and it just never seemed clean enough to me!

It's  perfect for my birdbath though!

 

+

Rich approves! I stenciled some birds on it and we put it together with some glue and a couple bolts.

Here it is in place in the backyard. I put a few rocks and some water inside.

And within a few hours there was a bird in it already! I love it!

On Monday we had the kids over for a barbecue. They were duly impressed with my craftiness!

It was a perfect weekend!

Until the next time.....

Chicago Part II

After we had lunch we decided to walk to the Navy Pier, which is something I always wanted to see.

We moseyed our way around lots of tall buildings and lots of people!  One of the highlights for me was seeing the Cloud Gate  sculpture otherwise known as "The Bean"

Because it just looks like a big, shiny bean!

Reflecting the beautiful sky....

And the buildings surrounding it...

And lots of people looking at it...

And even me taking a picture of it! (And my hair looking lovely in the Windy City!!!)

We eventually made it to Navy Pier.

Which was crowded and mostly under construction so it was somewhat of a disappointment, but the view from there back to the city was very nice!

And of course, it's always nice to see Lake Michigan! As a side note, I didn't get any pictures but a lot of the tour buses that were driving around had Pure Michigan ads on them! Cool!

Comfy looking cement benches!

This parking structure was crazy! I would be scared to park in this thing!

 So that was our little Chicago getaway. We walked about 10 miles I think and wore ourselves out but we  had a great time and plan to go back again soon!

And Brad's last day there was Friday so now he's home again and him and Shauna can start serious wedding planning!

Chicago

Shauna's fiance Brad has been living just outside of Chicago for the past 7 months for his job. Since he was just a stones throw from the city we figured we would tag along with Shauna for a visit last weekend. Neither Rich nor I have ever spent any time in Chicago.

Brad actually was living in Westmont, which is west of Chicago so after driving the four hours to his apartment, chilling out for a hour or so we hopped the train into the city. The train station is only about a mile or so from the apartment.

This is the train station. It was closed for the weekend so we waited outside by the tracks.

Here comes the train. It was actually coming in backwards!

Since the station was closed for the weekend we bought our tickets after we got on the train from the train officer when she came around.

She was a little bit scary!

The train stopped every few miles so the trip into the city was actually about 45 minutes.

This picture was taken through the train windows which were tinted.

This was taken on the platform outside of Union Station.

This is the Willis Tower, used to be the Sears Tower. It is one tall building!!! You can't see them very well but at the top there are 4 clear platforms called Skydecks that jut out of the side of the building that you can stand in and look down. We all declined to try that!!!

After a quick lunch we made our way to Navy Pier seeing all sorts of cool stuff along the way.

More on the next post!