Wrigley Field

John and I went to Wrigley Field in July when we were out in Chicago for my work and to visit Missy, Greg and the girls. I know, it was like over a month ago when we were there, but my digital camera battery had died and we had to buy a disposable. With that being said, I am not very good at the whole dropping off of film and picking it up, etc. since all of my pictures go from my digital camera to my computer. What's really cool is that you can just get a disc with all of the pictures on it for about $5 and your disposable camera is instantly turned into a low quality digital camera (the pics didn't turn out that good!)



Besides for its popularity for being one of the oldest fields and having its "brick wall" in the outfield there were some pretty cool things we found out being there. Across the street from the stadium on right field and center field, the people who own the buildings actually built patios on top of their roofs so that they could view a "free game" at their leisure.



We were almost jumped by Cubs fans because we were representing Philly on their turf. John did sport Emily's Cubs hat just in case. We also hung out with the "unofficial mascot" there, finding this out about him when we got home

"The Cubs have no official mascot, though a 'polar bear' looking mascot, which had no name, and was not popular with the fans, was used briefly in the early 1990's.[Currently, however, the Cubs' un-official mascot is a formerly homeless man named Ronnie Wickers, who goes by the nickname of "Ronnie Woo Woo."[6] Wickers is not employed by the team, but is seen daily at games and outside the park, dressed in full uniform, usually with a hula hoop or jump rope. Wickers is the second fan to reach this status, the first being "Gary The Drunk" in the 1980's thru mid 90's.Wickers, however, is much more popular. He is known for his trademark yelling, for example "Mark.... Wooo! Grace.... Wooo!," and has been adopted by fans as a part of the culture at Wrigley Field"

So, my question to all of you out there who may be Cubs fans - Who the heck is this bear we were hanging out with and why can't I find any info about him on the web. From the research I did below, he is not "Ronnie Woo Woo" (Ronnie doesn't wear a bear uniform", he is not a homeless man and according to this website, the Cubs do not have a mascot at this time.

Hmmmmm......

OC,MD

Some of you may think I am crazy for saying this, but I am pretty much VACATIONED OUT for this year!! I don't know how John feels but I feel as if I've been away more than home!!



Anyways, at least we have had the opportunity to spend some quality time with our family on most of these getaways!

We took a long weekend from Friday to Monday to Ocean City, MD, our family's old summer stompin' grounds. My mom and I were calculating it and we had gone there every single year from the time I was 2 up until the year my father got sick. We only missed one year and that was because we went to Myrtle Beach, SC.


It was fun and sad at the same time. All I could remember was our whole family being there, me, mom, dad, my brother and his rugrats. Most of this past weekend was reminiscing about all of the summers we all shared down there! My mission this week is to scan in pics of some of those old memories.


So, a few things I thought I would note from this vacation:

1. My mom almost got us arrested for crossing a major intersection when we were not permitted to. She was disapointed for 2 reasons - the first is that she really wants to be arrested by Sean Quinn, not a MD State Trooper. The second is that we actually didn't get arrested or a ticket just a warning slip.

2. I think my mom actually had more fun with John than with me. I took a catnap after being out in the sun all day and woke up to find myself all alone - low and behold they were down the boardwalk once again at the 'ole Sandbar and they actually cleaned the bar out of their Coors Light!






3. Fishtails - No explanation necessary! Didn't make it to Seacrets - but I'm sure that will be our Lewes, DE Rendezvous with Dave & Jen like we did last year!






Bittersweet is how I would describe this vacation. Ocean City will never be the same without my dad and his Scribblers!

Down By The Seashore

Everyone knows John and I LOVE the beach and both for different reasons!
I love the sand, the ocean and sunbathing, John loves the laid back atmosphere, the drinking and the smell of the ocean (one scent he can actually smell!)

This past weekend we went down to my in-laws house in North Wildwood - This is the week that all of their friends get together. We had a great time on Saturday, there was an awesome Bar-B-Que fest going on so we got to hang out there til all the other nerds showed up.

Here are some moments we captured...



Bunch of NERDS!























John eating a mound full of horseradish


















Beautiful Sunset on the Bay

CHICAGO!

This past week I had to go to Chicago for a work trip, so like all of the other "work" trips John and I have been going on, we decided to make it a vacation/work trip!

I flew out last Monday, then John joined me on Wednesday night, but it was more like Thursday morning with his 8 hour delay!

We were in a great hotel, it was in the heart of the city right by lake Michigan.























On Thursday night once my training endedx John and I strolled out on the town and hung out at the House of Blues.

Friday morning we headed out to our cousin's Mis, Greg, Emily & Olivia. They live right outside of the city, so it was convenient to make this a nice family vacation. It was the first time that we had been out to visit them so we were very excited!

Friday afternoon we all went to the Arlington Park Racetrack and we hung out in the picnic area. It was a lovely day and the girls had so much fun taking pictures of the horses &v the track (and us of course!) That evening we sat around the fire back at the house eating pizza and playing games. It was fun watching the girls try to stay awake as long as they could, it was just like Aiden & Riley. In fact, it was so cute when we first got there, they thought we were bringing Aiden & Riley with us because whenever they are in town from Chicagp we are usually with the boys and they are attached to us by the hip.



Saturday we went to a Civil War Encampment in Barrington, IL. The girls had a lot of fun asking questions to all of the people working there about their lifestyle, what they ate & wore and their living arrangements. Saturday night we saw an awesome Fireworke display.



Sunday we all went down to Wrigleyville (pics to follow, had to buy disposable camera) and we hung out around the Stadium. Unfortunately, John and I had to catch our flight at 6pm, so we couldn't go to the game, but it was neat to be hanging out down there at all the little local bars/restaurants. You could even catch a glimpse of the game near the right field corner. And I got to high five a Cub!

We had a great time visiting our family this past weekend and we can't wait to see you guys in a few weeks!

Pictures from Our Trip

Here is the Photoshow of our pics from Europe. It has a really cheesy song, I couldn't figure out how to change it so I would suggest turning the volume down! Enjoy!

Europe 2007

Europe

Well, we are finally back! I never thought I would be so happy to land in Philadelphia Airport!! Saturday was a looong day! 11 hours total on a plane, 4 hrs sleep the night before, 6 hours sitting in an airport, and when we arrived in Philly, it was another 6 hours of time that we gained.

So, here is a rundown of our trip. We first went to Paris, France. John's sister Danielle went with us for the first week, so while John was working we got to go and see all of the sights.



Day 1
Mostly Travel, we lost 6 hours getting there, so we just unpacked, caught up on sleep, got room service and watched a movie

Day 2
Danielle and I went to the Musee D'Orsay (lots of Monet, Van Gogh, etc.), had lunch at an awesome cafe and figured out the Paris Metro system (their subway)


Day 3
Danielle and I took a full day tour of the Louvre (where the Mona Lisa, Turkish bath, etc. is), Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. We had lunch in the Tour de Eiffel restaurant Altitude 95, very nice view. I got a drawing of myself outside of Notre Dame by one of the street artists, ver cool!



Day 4
Relaxed in the morning, John came back from work early and we went to a nice restaurant down the street, drank wine

Day 5
Eurodisney, or Disneyland Paris as it is called now. VERY BAD! Do not go to this place! IF I was Disney, I would be ashamed to have this park under my name

Day 6
Unfortunately for John, this was his last day to get a chance to see all of the sights and it rained. We did manage to take the Bat-O-Bus (a boat/bus that runs down the Seine river and stops at all of the tourist spots) and walked around the Eiffel tower with him




Day 7
Danielle gets her flight home :-(, we take a plane to Dusseldorf, Germany
Arrived in Remscheid, Germany, met up with John's co-worker Adrian, had dinner at the hotel

Day 8
Lounged around in the morning, finished my book, walked around the town
John came back from his meeting, we went out to dinner with the Faiveley Transport Group



Day 9
Packed up, left for the airport in the afternoon (glad to leave Remscheid, it is a stinky, smokey, dirty little town!) Flew from Dusseldorf to Copenhagen Denmark
Arrived in Denmark, took train to Landskrona, Sweden. Pretty cool, we took a train across the ocean.


Day 10
I took a walk around Landskrona in the morning. It is beautiful, right on the Baltic Sea. I took a boat over to the little island of Ven, very nice. John and I went out to dinner with the Faiveley grpup. Good times, great people! ALso, most of them spoke English which was a plus!

Day 11
John and I hung out, we met up with his co-worker Yohan (John in Swedish) and his fiancee. The four of us went out to dinner and for some drinks.



Day 12
Travel back to US, boy has this been a long trip!!

So that was a shortened version of my diary from the trip! I wanted to keep a diary for our kids to read someday. I remember reading my Memmy's from all of the trips that she'd taken and I just loved reading all of the stories!

Here are some more pics...