Good morning!

I need a weekend to recover from my weekend!

Just kidding.

Kinda.

We really took advantage of the a-m-a-z-i-n-g weather this weekend and spent most of it outdoors.

Temperatures reached 67 degrees! People were wearing shorts! I felt like I transported back to summer. Or California. 

It felt amazing. And so random. Because it’s currently snowing heaps o’ snow outside right now.

So, anyway, because I knew the weather was gonna be great, I created an itinerary for our weekend. Ha. I didn’t want to waste a single second. 

Let’s back up to Friday.

Friday

Before I started work for the day, we painted. We played ‘rescue the dinosaurs.’ We went on a walk to Starbucks. And, despite doing all that, it was only 8:30am. Luckily, Ishu’s Dadi called him and read him stories on the Portal through my first meeting of the day. Grandparents are amazing.

Then, when I got to pass Ishu off to his Auntie Bella, I went to Sweetgreen’s preview event. They’re opening up a shop here in Streeterville and I signed up to attend this event which meant a complementary salad for me!

After this, made a quick detour to get my eyebrows done before parking it at a coffee shop to get some work done.

In the evening, we had happy hour in the tub. Fancy mocktails + apps during bath time.

Ishu was happy because he could go wild with the bath crayons. I was happy because he was eating and the mess was real quick to clean up. Oh, the things that bring you joy as a mother.

Ankur got home relatively early and, once we put Ishu to sleep, we watched a few episodes of Shameless. We’re still on that show. It’s hard binge watching TV shows nowadays when we’ve got a third wheel that either needs our attention or has sucked the life outta us so one of us (usually me) is too exhausted to stay awake at night.

It was nice getting that time together and even nicer knowing we had a full day of adventure planned once we woke up the next morning!

Saturday

SATURDAY WAS THE DAY.

We woke up and got ready for our full day out.

We drove to Georgie V’s Pancake House for breakfast.

It felt nice to be out in the suburbs. Ha. Parking was easy. Getting seated was easy. It wasn’t as expensive as our normal brunches around here.

After we ate, we went and walked off our meal at Chicago Botanic Garden.

The Botanic Garden has 27 gardens and acres and acres of land to explore. It’s a great place for kids to run around freely. But, our kid, of course, was very fixated on whatever was right in front of him. So, I’m pretty sure we only explored a fraction of this place. Nevertheless, it was still so fun to be outside and watch this kid find entertainment in ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.

We definitely want to go back again during a different season. I’m sure it’s so colorful during the spring and the fall!

After the garden, Ishu was pretty exhausted and fell asleep in the car on our way to Costco. We had to return a few items and get Ankur’s frames fixed. So we took advantage of the sleeping toddler and got some of those adulting things done.

I also wanted to sign up for a library card. So, we drove over to the Little Italy branch. I wasn’t able to do it because I couldn’t show proof of livin’ in Chicago. Oof. Our lease agreement was not enough to tell them I live here, I guess.

EVENTUALLY, we made our way back home and got ready for our dinner reservation on the river!

We went to Pinched on the River for some Mediterranean food. Dinner reservations at 5pm are my jam. It’s nice to be outside while it’s still light out. And you get to watch things come alive as more and more people trickle into the restaurant and other restaurants around the river.

The food was really good too. If we go back again though, I’d probably ask to be seated inside. Sometimes that area of the river can smell a little funky. Like pigeons. Or seagulls. Not quite the smell you wanna smell when you’re out to a nice dinner, y’know? Anyway, I nicknamed the restaurant “Pigeon Poop on the River” and Ankur rolls his eyes at me every time I say it.

I swear, I’m not high maintenance. I just have a really strong sense of smell (which is nice in some scenarios. Not so nice at this dinner, ha).

Sunday

On Sunday morning, we went for a toddler-led walk. There’s this underpass on our street that leads us to the lake. And there’s an option to go down a set of stairs or go down the ramp. We usually go down the ramp because we’ve got the stroller with us. But, we left the stroller at home. So, Ishu really took advantage of the freedom.

He sprinted down the ramp and then went back up the stairs. He did this 6 times before deciding to move on. 6 times!

He finally made his way THROUGH the underpass to the other side. Where we were greeted with another set of stairs. Which he went up and down a few times. Before deciding he wanted to pick up all the trash along the stairs and dump in the bin at the top of the stairs.

Can’t decide if I was grossed out or proud of the little man. Maybe a little of both.

Once he was done with his community service for the day, we walked toward the Navy Pier.

We walked around the pavilion for a bit. Ended up at the elevators (obviously) where we went up and down a few times.

Ankur ended up meeting us there and we ate a quick McD’s breakfast before going into the museum. Ishu wanted to do this climbing exhibit. We’ve tried this one before and he’s gone up a tiny bit, but has hesitated going further. I don’t push it with him; I know he’ll do things when he feels ready. And I guess yesterday was that day.

He went up with Ankur and they went all the way to the top! No hesitation. He was clearly ready. Later that evening, we went to the park. And, similarly, there is a slide that he has been hesitant about going on because it’s LONG and super fast.

Again, I don’t push him to do anything he doesn’t feel ready for. But after watching all the kids go down the slide, I think he was ready to attempt it himself.

And, he DID IT. You could tell he was a little scared while going down, but once his butt hit the ground, he stood up and jumped up and down saying, “Ishu did it! Ishu did it!”

The pure joy in his face. And PRIDE. When he decides he’s going to do something and does it.

It makes my mama heart so happy.

Anyway, he was clearly pooped after our adventurous weekend together. When we got back to our building after the Children’s Museum, he plopped down in the elevator and when it was time to exit onto our floor, he remained adamant that he stay right there. He. Was. Exhausted.

As am I.

Like I said, I need a weekend to recover from the weekend.

SO MUCH FUN. And, as I’m looking out the window today, SO happy we took advantage of the great weather!

Hope you all had a great weekend too! HAPPY MONDAY! Let’s make it a great, great week.

Questions of the Day:

What’s one highlight from your weekend?

What’s one thing you’re looking forward to this week?