Girls' Weekend 2007 (Part One)

All of the girls began to assemble on Wednesday, May 22, 2007, for Girls' Weekend 2007.

I guess I need to back track a little bit (cue the flashback music & finger wiggling . . . Doodoodoo, Doodoodoo, Doodoodoo), Girls' Weekend began in 2005, when Grandma Wyland (Christa's Grandma) turned 90. All Grandma wanted for her birthday was to have all 4 of her daughters together for a fun weekend, so that's what they all did, because when you live as long as Grandma, you can have whatever you want. Since my Aunt Cloe lives in Denver, all of the girls decided to assemble there to hold court for Grandma (who lives in Minnesota and needed a fun trip) and help her celebrate her 90th birthday. Last year, Girls' Weekend was in Minnesota and was extended to ALL girls, even the granddaughters; a very fun time was had by all . . . OK, flashback over (cue the music & finger wiggling again . . . Doodoodoo, Doodoodoo, Doodoodoo) . . .

This year, Girls' Weekend traveled to Chicago and was hosted by my Mom (who all of you know as Grandma Kathy), my sister (Auntie Mandy), and myself. We planned a lot of fun events, most of which I would miss out on since I was out of sick days from my maternity leave. This year, Girls' Weekend got even bigger, because Mara was able to come!! (Mara was an exchange student from Italy who lived with my mom and her family during my mother's Junior year in High School.) . . . and let's not forget the newest girl, Emily, was also able to take part in the fun.

Wednesday was the day that brought Mara to the states from Monaco; and Aunt Cloe & her daughter Jill from Colorado. Emily had spent her day with Grandma Kathy and Auntie Mandy getting things ready for their arriving guests and all the fun things that were planned for the following few days. When I was finished at school, I joined them at Grandma Kathy's house. Mara's plane had arrived in Chicago around noon and so she was already there. It was really fun to finally get a chance to meet her after having heard about her all of these years. Emily, having been there from the start, was already making quite the impression on Mara. When Steve got done with work, he met us there, too, and we all went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town. We had so much fun at dinner and Emily was quite helpful when Daddy needed help cutting his Chimichanga. She also got to try some water from Grandma Kathy's glass. She thought this was soooo much fun!! Around 9pm, Aunt Cloe & Jill's plane finally landed, 2 hours late, because of all the wind we were having here in Chicago. Steve and I went to pick them up and bring them to Mom's. Emily said her hi's and goodbye's to everyone and we packed it in for the night. There would be more fun tomorrow.

On Thursday, The Girls' Group went downtown to the Sears Tower & spent a very small amount of time on Michigan Avenue; which is to say that they went to Bennigans for lunch before heading back to the train. Emily spent her day with Grandma B. After school, I picked her up and we met everyone at the hotel where we would be spending the remainder of the week. Grandma Wyland & Aunt Joyce had arrived from Minnesota, and Emily was on the edge of her seat about meeting another Great Grandma. (Have we mentioned that Emily has 9 Grandparents? 5 of them are Great Grandparents. This kid is Grandparent rich!) (I should also probably interject that Aunt Barbie, was not able to come to Girls' Weekend this year due to the fact that she is in the hospital with a staph infection. We were all bummed, and missed her. As a result, there were many phone calls to Aunt Barbie in her hospital room to fill her in on all of the details.) Emily was also excited about seeing her Great Aunt Joyce again, as long as she kept her distance. (For whatever reason, Emily would start crying whenever Aunt Joyce held her. Not anybody else, just Aunt Joyce. We think she pinches babies.) Mom made a really good buffet dinner at the hotel and we stayed in, got caught up, and ate the buffet food. After dinner, Mom pulled out a bag of "Emily's" Strawberries that she found while shopping at Target. These were a dark chocolate candy with a strawberry filling in the center. She thought that they were funny because the bag said "Emily's." We all enjoyed the chocolate, even Emily. (OK, wait a minute before you all panic and call DCFS . . . Emily didn't actually EAT any chocolate, she only had a small amount rubbed onto her tongue so that she could taste it.) She really enjoyed her first taste of chocolate and is looking forward to getting some teeth so that she can actually eat a piece of chocolate. A little while later, Emily started fussing because she was tired, so Auntie Mandy & I started to serenade her with a medley from the Sound of Music. She really enjoyed this and quickly calmed down and then fell asleep. (Wait, now that I think about it, maybe this was an editorial comment on our singing.)

On Friday, Emily had a Daddy Day during the day and they really had a lazy day and enjoyed each other's company. . . Something that they both really needed. The Girls' Group spent their day at the Chicago Botanical Gardens, which Grandma loved. When I got home from work, I had a terrible headache, so I got started a little late to meet everyone. The rest of the Girls' Group went to Benihana for dinner. I opted to stay home and play with Emily after having a long day at work stuck in a conference room for a meeting. I then took a long refreshing nap and then Steve & I went to dinner, with Emily of course, before going to the hotel to meet up with everyone. Even though this was Girls' Weekend, Steve was really looking forward to seeing Grandma Wyland, and giving her his birthday wishes. We had a nice visit in the hotel on Friday night and we were really looking forward the what was in store for Saturday . . . Baby Day!

More on Baby Day later on, in Girls' Weekend (Part Two) . . . Gotta leave you all wanting more, don't we? Ha-ha-ha (a maniacal laugh).

Emily decided that she needed some play time with Auntie Mandy before we headed out for dinner. Mara watches the fun.

Here she is, the model herself, modeling off her newest ensemble. Just perfect for a hot summer day.

Here she is, helping Daddy cut his Chimichanga. What a good helper!

After dinner, Emily enjoyed making some faces at Grandma Kathy.

A nice group shot, taken by our very cheery waitress.

Emily tries taking a sip of water from Grandma Kathy's glass.

After a little bit of fussing, and a lot of trouble falling asleep, Auntie Mandy and I serenade Emily with our medley of Sound of Music tunes.

Emily is fixated on this bag of Emily's chocolates.

She could NOT keep her eyes off of Grandma Kathy's chocolate. Everywhere the chocolate went, so did Emily's eyes. She was fascinated!! Grandma Kathy was cracking up at Emily's level of concentration.

Grandma Kathy decided that it would be okay to rub a little bit of the chocolate on Emily's tongue so that she could taste it. This face says it all.

When Grandma Kathy began to lick the chocolate off of her fingers, she left her pinky unsupervised. Emily took advantage, she LOVES chewing on everyone's fingers.

Here, Emily is modeling her new sweatshirt that was embroidered by Jill. Jill had made everyone hoodie sweatshirts like this one last year (our Girls' Weekend theme was 91 Years of Love in honor of Grandma's 91st birthday). She is also smiling because she loves her Great Grandma Wyland.

Dancing with Mara to an Edith Piaf cd.

Emily is smiling at Aunt Joyce, as long as Joyce keeps her distance.