Nashville with the Girls of 3602!

Through life you find your way into different groups of friends... Well this weekend belonged to the girls of 3602! These are my roommates from my semester off college when I worked for Walt Disney World in 2001! These girls hold a special place in my heart and my life so getting to see them all again was nothing short of FANTASTIC!

When we all left Disney we made a pact to meet up every year well life happened and the last time we all had gotten together was in 2004! WAY TOO LONG!

A lot has changed since 2004 when we all got together; we were all still living the 20 something lifestyle of clubbing and shopping and had the "living life for me" mentality... So this time was very different...

We have 2 new additions to the group with Maggie and Olivia who are actually just a few months apart in age. And we are expecting a new addition in August the first boy! Samuel I can't wait to meet ya!

Our weekend started with a drive down on Friday. Ida drove down from Minnesota to our place early friday and we left Noblesville around 2 ish... It was great to have the time with her, she is a great companion on road trips! I have to say Kentucky is Paaaaaaaariiiiiiittttttyyy!!! If given the chance I would love to explore Louisville in the future! Anyway by the time we got into Nashville we were all pretty spent so we passed on meeting the rest of the group for dinner... So we didn't start are visit with the whole gang until Saturday.

In lieu of a bunch of site seeing we all celebrated the coming of Samuel and got to be a part of throwing Kate a baby shower! Which meant we got to go shopping!! The baby shower was a surprise for Kate, so Barb headed over to hang out with Kate while we shopped, and then we went to Kate's apartment to hang out with her until it was time to head out for the shower errrr "lunch" which really was lunch but it also was a baby shower at this brewery!

Olivia and Maggie bonding at Kate's!

Maggie playing with Lucy

Ida and Barb catching up on the couch!

Seana given Jack some love

The whole gang plus 2! Left to Right Me, Jessica, Barbra, Ida & Kate

Off to the shower!

Kate with her now hubby Jason and one of her favs and mine Eeyore!

the gang posing with Kate and her box of goodies from all of us!

After the shower we walked the shops in this area of Nashville! They were very cute shops... except for the Hoarder shop (kitchen gadget/tea shop gone wrong) there were piles of tea and stuff everywhere... no organization to it... just stuff not pretty...

But here is a shot of Maggie trying on a cut hair clip/hat thingy

We stopped at an icecream shop and it turns out they have a baby special "two for tuesdays" We actually didn't notice the sign until after we downloaded all the pics! Priceless!

Winding down at the hotel, Maggie eats a rice rusk and plays with Mommy's hat!

Sunday we had breakfast at Kate and Jason's it was delicious! Waffles and Omelots!! Yum! Oh and Mimosa's which I didn't take a part in.

Jessica and her daughter O!

Maggie discovered a yellow ball

That afternoon we went and saw the Grand Ole Opry resort.. it was a very beautiful Mall/Hotel...

Seana and Maggie!

Maggie hanging out in her stroller

Left to Right Ida, Kate, Jessica, Me, Seana & Barb (I love how my spouse gets to be an honorary member of the group!)Olivia and Maggie in their strollers

On our return trip we took on an extra passenger Jezabel who is now Ida's cat! Jason and Kate decided to give her to Ida since they were expecting a baby and didn't want the cat in the mix. She was a great rider, didn't make a peep the entire trip to Indy! Now I hear there was some issues once she was in Minnesota but they got handled!

What a great trip.... I can't wait for the next one!

Chicago!

I have to love Seana's work sometimes... She had a training in Chicago at the beginning of June... so guess who got to go hang out in Chi Town!!

The trip was really great, we didn't do a lot of sight seeing during our time there. But we got to see some old friends which is better than sight seeing any day!

Before we could visit anyone we decided to try out some Chicago Deep Dish Pizza at Gino's (this was recommended by Maggie's occupational therapist who grew up near Chicago) We ordered a Sausage and Cheese pizza with the sausage rolled out as a big thin patty! Very good...I personally thought there was too much cheese... I think Seana is still craving more of this pizza!

For our first visit we saw Paula, who is the mother of one of my exes. She has a heart of gold and I love her! We met for dinner and got to catch up and the best part is she came bearing gifts! Thank you Paula for all the wonderful treats and your wonderful company! We ate at this fantastic little italian restaurant called Cafe Zalute & Retro Bar. Paula went to school with the owner so we even got special treatment!

Next up we saw Cliff, it was great to see his face! I got to see his "gaming" apartment which had the coolest set up for playing video games, however, not the best spot for Maggie to explore! We had lunch together and got caught up on life... he is going to school to be a nurse and just got done doing OB and delivery so we talked a lot about Maggie's birth. I forget the name of the restaurant we went to but I had a very tasty burger!

On Thursday we met up with Dan, who happens to be one of my exes. Also a great guy! We met up for lunch and got caught up. He recently got married so we chatted about his wedding some, and discussed what he has been working on now. We ate at this pizza place I really liked...the name has slipped my memory but very unique and not deep dish!

That sums up the visiting portion of our trip, I failed to get photos of Cliff and Dan oh well maybe next time.

I wanted to see my dear friend Barbra while I was in town but she was fighting a brutal case of the sniffles and we didn't want to chance Maggie getting sick.... Luckily I will be seeing her shortly for our Nashville reunion trip otherwise I think I would have chanced it!!!

During the week Maggie and I spent a lot of time hanging out in the hotel... it was nice to just be... no dogs to watch after, no chores to do... just Maggie and cable... I will say I was disappointed that the hotel didn't have the food network. I took some fun candids of Maggie playing in the hotel.

Maggie on the move and cute as ever!

Looking out the window

watching a plane fly by

Enjoying the view of the rooftop


The one sight seeing event we did was The Shedd, which is Chicago's Aquarium! Great facility... they have one heck of an Amazon exhibit I loved it! (side note as a kid I watched the National Geographic special on the Amazon quite a bit since we had it on video)

Looking at the Amazon exhibit!

Ooh Jellies!

Posing with the Chicago skyline!

We wrapped up our Chicago visit, by ordering two Chicago style hotdogs at a hotdog cart in the park next to the Aquarium! BEST hotdog EVER hands down... I love the Chicago Style Dog!

New Job~New State

So Seana has accepted an offer with a new company as Director of Technical Publications! She starts July 6th! The catch? Well the job is in Connecticut!!

The good news is they have an office in Indiana as well, and she has worked it out to where, she will be working her first 4 months in Connecticut and then will be back in Indiana by November. This of course is if she can ensure that she is no longer needed in Connecticut by November.

Seana has a lot of work ahead of her to achieve her new goals!! I am so proud of her... and it looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me in getting us packed and organized for Connecticut!

Reaching arms make me smile

Who knew that Maggie grabbing my pant legs to pull herself up so I can pick her up would make me so dang happy. Happy like the inside of my heart is dancing kind of happy. My big girl can crawl and does all over the place (I am sure you have seen the videos.) Along with all this crawling has come a wonderful side effect ... when she wants me to hold her she crawls to me (usually half crying) and then reaches her hands for me. My heart is elated just writing about it. Another thing she does these days is when I come home from work she will fuss until I come say hello to her and give her kisses. It is a highlight of my day. There is just something wonderful about my baby girl being able to express what she wants – usually to be snuggled and that sometimes she wants me to do the snuggling. Complete joy.
Some other highlights

1. Three of her nicknames remain intact – pooh bear, captain, and Sweetie Pea.
2. Right now she loves to pull herself up on things and then shake them as hard as she can. I have no idea why but it makes her smile and giggle
3. She has started making crazy noises when she inhales. Like she squeals with happiness on the inhale so it sounds like she is trying to catch her breath in a high pitched tone. Odd … but cute
4. When you pretend chase after her she tries to crawl as fast as she can to escape.
5. She has started eating puffed cereal … which as it turns out I also enjoy eating.