July 7-18

Go get something to drink and make sure you're comfy-this is going to be a long one!

First off, the birthday girl! Seven. Man alive.

At the family party.

As is our tradition, a picture the minute she turned 7.

Getting a manicure (I caved).

 Chicago! We left on Thursday for the weekend family union. It was an action-packed weekend!

Treats beside the Chicago River because we had to get up early to catch the train into downtown.

First stop: Sears Tower!

Mugging for shots outside Sears.

Most of the cousins reuniting. They have such a great connection.

You can stand inside a plastic "box" 102 stories over the street. It was a somewhat freaky feeling at first, but very cool.

First family photo this high in the air!

This was while we were waiting for a taxi. You can just grab a bike and take it somewhere else and park it. Some day we might do this!

The kids' first tax ride. We squished six of us in there (my cousins Jessica and Amy were with us).

Seven of us-Kate came along for the day. :o)

 Our destination? Water Tower Place-eight stories of shopping -but we were interested in just two stores...

This entire city scape-background, sky and everything-is built of Legos. Joshua and Ryan headed here.

Bella, Kate and I headed here. We had some birthday shopping to do!

The latest "Doll of the Year" is Isabelle-close enough. Bella stops her shopping for a cookie break (the best kind).

Kate and Bella now have matching glasses!

 Saturday was reunion day! We all met at Jeff's to enjoy time as a family. Altogether, there were 37 of us! We were only missing April and Rachel.

Carl and Lally's children: Judy, Richard, Sheila and Shirley.

The cousins in birth order: Jeff, me, Erika, Eddie, Shari, Jessica, Lori, Amy, Kevin and David.

The cousins' children (minus April and Rachel). Lori is at the end with Cousin #18 due in December. The ages range from Brian who is 22, to Jacob, who just turned 1!

 Sunday we all went to different churches, then met up at Portillo's for lunch. More fun!

I'm pretty sure Brian unhinged his jaw to get this double burger in his face!

Just like Uncle Jeff, my kids adore their cousin Brian!

Aunt Sheila and Lexi.

Random cousin-ness.

This. This is the one I tried to bring home with me. He is adorable.

Even Uncle Richard played with him, and Uncle Richard only likes girls.

Bella is listening very intently to whatever it is Aunt Sheila is saying!

Lori with Zoe.

The young ones did this on their own-grabbed a bunch of high chairs and made a train. Naturally we all helped them scoot around the party room we were in!

 Monday was another day downtown. This time we went to Navy Pier with Jessica and Amy. It was quite the travel day!

First we got on the train. Uncle Jeff pulled out his phone so he and Ryan could watch themselves travel on the map program.

Then we got on a water taxi! It was raining, but we didn't care. It saved us a loooonnnng walk.

Then we caught the free trolley. By the time our water taxi ride was over the skies had cleared!

Always beautiful. The ferris wheel wasn't running because it had rained all morning.

It has its issues, but Chicago is a beautiful city.

The sky, the clouds and the light all combined to give Lake Michigan a beautiful turquoise color. It was great for pictures.

I know his eyes are closed in this one, but they were closed in every shot! It didn't seem like it when I checked my phone after shooting. Oh well...

 After the train, the water taxi, and the trolley, we boarded a double-decker bus for a tour.

Here's our ride! Ironically, it's plastered with an ad for visiting Michigan!

Ryan started out strong...

But in the end, the bus just lulled him to sleep.

 Tuesday morning we met at the motel to say goodbye. I didn't get any pictures of that, but Bella got a ton of selfies. Look at my crazy girl. (I have tried-literally-more than 10 times to get these pictures to load correctly and I can't figure out why they aren't. Sorry.)

On our way home, we stopped off at the Shedd Aquarium. Bella grabbed my phone and took over 120 pictures! She's certainly a shutterbug!

How cute are these two?

Not even gonna bother trying to flip this. But I love it.

This is called a sea dragon. God has created some truly amazing animals!

Little girl dreaming of swimming with dolphins.

And that's it! At least for now. We're in the last few weeks of summer break (what?!). Bella has been in MO with Maga and Papa, and Ryan and I are headed there tomorrow for a few days. More pictures when we return!