Every day is a beach day

יש לי יום יום ים

יש לי ים יום יום...

Making the most out of living 5 minute walk from the beach. I think i had a little too much sun today though...

Sent from my iPhone

Beach ready

Seesaw

big sister to be

with a little more practice, we may not need to change a single diaper!

Tricycle!

We took Ella to the toy store to try out bikes, thinking that we'd get out of there with a simple scooter like the one she tried out in California. It took us a good half hour to get her from the front to the back of the store (she had to check out all the toys in between!), but then she was very excited to test drive every single bike in the bike isle. The scooters were not on display so we couldn't test drive those, and we ended up getting a shiny tricycle (that will probably last till the end of the summer before her knees hit the handlebar) and a helmet.
Now getting her out of the store was mission impossible, after she discovered the auto aisle next.

anyway, after daycare we ran outside with the new bike for the first time. i think she would have taken them to bed with her if we let her!

After two laps around the park she got a little tired and changed strategy:

ABC solo

songs in her repertoire:
* ABC
* Twinkle twinkle little star
* Ring around the rosie

Chicago Brauhaus

To celebrate what is probably grandpa and grandma's last night in Chicago before we move, we ventured to Lincoln Square to a German restaurant "Chicago Brauhaus".
(Thanks Nicole for the recommendation!)
Everything we ordered was delicious!

Ella took over my Goulash Soppe ("I-wannnit!"). i need the recipe.

The rest of us had the Schnitzel, the Brauhaus Special, Sauerbraten, and Kassler Rippchen.

Of course beer was not excluded.

I think the potato dumplings are kartoffelknödel, which we were introduced to a few years ago when we had a great afternoon with Birgit. Actually, everything reminded us of that day in Frankfurt!


We made sure to take some videos and pictures to share the fun...

zoo

 

Ella's cheese face
 

Ella and grandpa comment that the rhino is "all dirty now. it's all dirty now. yucky yucky".

Grandparents!

Ella was giddy with excitement when grandma and grandpa popped their heads in :)

Hi Sahana!

What a pleasant coincidence! We ran int sahana and her mommy just under our building! They were headed down to the beach, so we joined them.
The girls were very happy to meet each other outside of daycare, and were holding hands all the way to the beach. Sahana even picked dandelions and gave them to Ella.
Yayy!

Too big

Ella is too big for this. Ready for real big girls' bike.

Yellow morning

storm

a lightning storm blew through Chicago last night, followed by hail and rain. i tried to capture some of it before the rain started and ruined our visibility:

...at the same time in the other room,

ring around by the 3rd coast