After much frustration with Bella getting cut and having to have stitches, and then their normal groomer quitting, we have been in frazzle mode over where to send the girls to get their hairs chopped. But, I have good news..we have found someone/somewhere to go!!
When we went to pick the girls up after their first time there, I was very pleased. Not only did they look wonderful (I told her their safety is more important to me than every hair being cut exactly perfect!) but they seemed to like her too. She led us back to where she kept them boarded, where she trims, etc. It made me feel much more comfortable sending them back there! And last but not least, the best part of it all...they no longer look like dirtballs!! Yay!!
The only thing good about this disgustingly hot weather we've had lately is it is perfect for ballpark outings! After returning home from vacation, Ryan and I were watching the news and saw a clip come on about the following evening being "bark in the park" day at Principal Park in Des Moines (where the ICubs play). We thought the girls would love to go because we had been away from there for awhile and we would love to go to spend a little more time outdoors before school/work starts up again. That is exactly what we did!
We spent the afternoon at home, in the a/c, getting ready for a HOT evening. About 5:30 we decided to leave the house and head for the ballpark. Once we arrived, we saw dogs galore. Dogs of every shape, size, and kind. It was absolutely insane. We filled out a form for them and headed in to find our seats. We had purchased our tickets online the night before so we actually had front row seats which was kind of fun and probably better for the girls.
We weren't sure how they would act since they are quite human these days. They aren't around dogs anymore at all like they were in Iowa City and when they see a dog around the house they usually get pretty upset but I think that may be more of a territorial thing. I was a little nervous about it but I shouldn't have been. They did absolutely wonderful. Our seats were 1-2 and the man sitting beside us in seat 3 had a very big dog that seemed very well behaved. He (Willy was his name) would sniff the girls occassionally and vice-versa but nothing more. They all minded to themselves very well.
Impressed with the girls good behavior, we were pretty happy, but the downside to all of this was the extememe heat. I had snuck in the girls water bottle contraption for them but it was SO HOT even with that. They were literally panting the entire time we sat down. And, to top it off, the sun was only shining on the section with all the dogs. It was uncomfortable to say the least. Ryan and I were even sweating just sitting there so we decided to get up and go walk around and check out the fountain all the kids were playing in. Many people had their dogs up there too. Some dogs were laying in the spraying water, others were biting it, and some owners were basically forcing their dogs in it. We, on the other hand, just kinda hung back and got the girls feet wet to cool them off. It seemed much cooler up there than in our seats and we could still see the game.
Then, after all the big dogs had left the fountain for a minute, guess which little monster decided she would help herself to a dip?! My little Bella. I would pull her away and about the time I turned around she was literally swimming in the water...again. She has loved swimming since she was a pup and still does to this day! She is ornery.
We ended up going back to our seats after the sun had set a bit and it had cooled off. The girls didn't seem hot at this point and everything was good. Ryan even bought them some nachos! Then, with only a couple innings left, we decided to head for the car. The girls had a hair appointment in less than 12 hours and we were still tired from a long week. Of course a trip to Des Moines wouldn't be complete without Starbucks though. We headed there, got ourselves something, got the girls their puppy lattes and headed home. It was a fun, family filled evening!!
Enjoy the pictures!! Poor Dezi was soooo hot. Still hot... Even sweet Bella who never gets hot was on fire. Can you see Willy? He just wanted a little sniff of the girls every few minutes Best friends watching the game awww..our heaven sent gift! Bell's turn... It FINALLY cooled off at this point This dog is part of the game, every game. He was soooo neat! He would take the home plate umpire a water, wait for him to drink it and put it back, and the take two waters to the other two umpires. He must have been very well trained. The girls couldn't even wrap their heads around something like that let alone do it! Bella after she had been swimming. She was actually getting pretty dry at this point but looks absolutely disgusting. I shouldn't even put this disgusting picture on here but it was funny. What are they so excited for you may be wondering?! Puppy Lattes from Starbucks! They were EXHAUSTED when we got home. They crashed on Ryan's lap immediately. Little did they know, they had a hair appointment in a few short hours ;)
When I was just a child and an adult would ask me what I wanted to do when I got older, I would always reply with "feed the dolphins/penguins at the zoo." Pretty big dreams and aspirations huh? I really set my bar high :) Well, even though times have changed and I have since decided teaching is more up my alley than feeding the dolphins, I still LOVE to go to the zoo, aquariums, etc. My grandma always says I've loved it since I was a kid and nothing has changed!!
While in Chicago, Ryan and I kept seeing signs and brochures everywhere for the Shedd Aquarium. I had never heard of it but KNEW it was something I wanted to do while we were there. So, the day we were checking out of our hotel, we decided we would swing by there and then head home. That is exactly what we did!
When we first got there, we actually thought we were in the wrong spot. It turns out, the Shedd Aquarium, a planatarium, a museum (with dinosaurs!), and Soldier Field are all side-by-side. How cool is that?! After the initial excitement, we started to look for somewhere to park. We could find NO parking garages that accepted credit/debit cards..what the heck?! They all needed cash. Finally, a lady had showed us a parking garage that was under Solider Field and you could pay with debit at a machine before returning to your car. So we did that. We parked 4 storeys under Soldier field, grabbed Ryan's wallet, my camera, and headed in. We didnt want to have to carry our cell phones around (which is not like me at all) but figured we wouldnt be gone long either so it wouldnt be a big deal just leaving them in the car.
What we thought would be a fast trip through Shedd Aquarium turned into a 6 hour adventure!! We waited in line for nearly an hour and a half (crazy huh?) and finally got in. Once at the ticket counter, they asked us several questions about which shows we would like to see and which we didn't. We were somewhat clueless but ended up paying a little more to watch a dolphin, sea lion, and whale show..good choice! Then, we took off through the amazing aquarium. Soldier Field as we were pulling up yay!! Shedd Aquarium I thought this wall was really pretty...it was outside soldier field and had names of fallen soldiers in it. Another view of Soldier Field I LOVE this quote..it gives me goosebumps! more birds on the hunt for fallen food. this statue/fountain was really neat and huge! This picture was taken after we had already been in line for about 20 minutes..crazy! we were getting close to getting in the door at least at this point. I was so anxious I started snapping shots of the city one more time. The ceiling indoors..isn't it pretty? This frog looked so fake, it was really neat! blue smurf-like frogs Herky and Kinnick Kind of gross, huh? This lobby could be one expensive dinner if he doesn't watch it! :) Gross. Awww, I love star fish This was before the show had started. The water indoors sat right with the lake..isn' that neat? Then, when the show was ready to start, they dropped down curtains so it was totally dark in there and played a video on the windows. JAWS
Upon returning to the car, I automatically reached for my cell phone. DEAD. It is a blackberry so of course it was still on, but it said it had too low of a battery for service---strange, because I had charged it the entire night before. Then, I reached for Ryan's...DEAD. Same story. At first we didn't know why both phones were dead when we had only been in the aquarium around 6 hours but then we realized it was because we had parked so far underground that our phones were literally searching for a signal until they died! Poor things :)
Ryan just got his phone about a month ago so he didn't have a car charger and of course my car charger is in my car. Knowing we needed to first call Curt and then Shelly (who would both be wondering why we hadn't answered) I insisted we stop at a Wal-Mart on the way home and buy a charger. So, that is what we did. We left Chicago, got stuck in stand still traffic for a couple hours, and finally made it to a Wal-Mart. I knew people had probably been trying to figure out when we'd be home but I had NO IDEA Ryan's entire family would think we were missing!
It turns out, Curt had tried calling me several times. I didn't answer, so he tried Ryan. No answer from him either. Curt became worried saying "Audrie ALWAYS answers her phone" and called his mom who tried calling us. When she didn't get ahold of us, she called Bob and then Sarah who also tried reaching us. With nobody being able to reach us, Shelly then called the hotel we had stayed at and ask what time we had checked out. They literally thought we were missing! When Ryan's phone finally got charged, my first instict was to call Curt because I knew he would be wondering where we were. I felt so bad when we finally got ahold of everybody and found out they were all worried! What an interesting string of events :) On one hand, its funny to laugh about now, but on the other hand, I truly appreciate everybody worrying about us and actually caring where we were. We wouldn't go missing for long with Ryan's awesome family, thats for sure! Thank you guys :)
After the long car ride there, the Cubs game, and the extreme heat the previous day, Ryan and I were happy to sleep in the next morning. I think we slept until about 9 or 10 and decided to get up and start our day. Instead of ordering room service, we threw on some casual clothes and headed down the street. Just around the corner from our hotel was a little "corner bakery" that was basically like Panera. We had our minds set on breakfast food but once we got there, we realized lunch sounded so much better! So, lunch is exactly what we did.
After frolicking in the streets downtown for awhile, we headed back to our hotel and got showered and ready for the rest of the day. First stop: The Magnificent Mile, aka Michigan Ave....yes please! :) MAC at Macy's?...I die!! Tails in the City?...I die!! Pandora?...I die!! Starbucks on every street corner?...I die!!! So, you can tell how that excursion went :) ps-why didn't anyone warn me that I needed STREET shoes when shopping on Michigan ave?!
After shopping for quite sometime, we headed to Navy Pier. We wanted to buy tickets for the evening cruise/firework show and figured we needed to be there early. I had called that day and the lady said they were nearly sold out and as soon as we could get there, the better. That is exactly what we did. When we showed up, we were a tiny bit overwhelmed by all the different boat choices, companies, etc. but ended up choosing a boat and bought our tickets.
We then had several hours to kill before our boat ride (it didn't start until 9:30) so we decided dinner would be a good option. I kept saying I wanted a coldcut sandwich because the heat makes me not hungry but Ryan was insistent on restaurant style food, so...he won. Harry Carey's restaurant was the place we went. It ended up not being bad at all and they had SO many food choices, we were both satisfied. Also, how could we go to Chicago, go to a Cubs game, and not pay our respect to Harry Carey?! Not to mention, they had TONS of Cubs memorabilia and famous people's pictures hanging up including the ever-so-gorgeous Derrek Lee and Tony Parker ;)
After dinner, we walked around the Navy Pier for quite sometime. It is actually a really neat place that I would recommend to anyone visiting Chicago. It is not a carnival-like attraction but more a boardwalk type attraction. There ARE rides, but that is not the main idea. There are cruises, bikes you can rent, small malls you can walk through, tons of ice cream parlors, theaters, etc. It was really neat. And it wasn't dirty...at all. It was actually very pleasant. My favorite part? All the little birds hunting for food you may have dropped! Of course I about died when I stumpled across a doggy supply shop when Ryan was busy looking at sports everything. I just couldn't get enough things to tell the girls "I'm sorry" for leaving them :)
When it was finally time to board our boat we were more than ready! We had been gone all day and thought there was no better way to end the night than with a nice evening cruise to watch fireworks. That "nice evening cruise" we thought we purchased turned into an "extreme thrill ride" though haha. Literally. They had sold so many tickets that evening that we ended up getting put on the "extreme Seadog" boat which goes super fast and crazy! We boarded and the atmosphere was so fun. Everybody was laughing, buckling up, and putting on ponchos! I looked at Ryan thinking "surely we won't get wet, will we?!" but went along with everybody else. As the "tour guide" introduced herself, she explained the significance in buckling up, remaining seated, etc. She also said if you're pregnant you must get off or if you have any type of diability you must get off... I knew right then we were in for something. Then, as our boat began to take off, crazy hip-hop music came blasting over the speakers. We suddenly went from 0 mph-6000 mph in no time! We were the last boat to leave the dock, and the first out on the open water. That is where it all began. Our cruise was no longer a cruise but more like a day on the lake with friends..in a huge boat! Though it was nothing like we expected, it was absolutely the most fun thing we did the entire trip! Our captain was absolutely nuts! He was doing cuts and turns, flying through the air, etc. I literally could not even hold my camera up in the air when we were going really fast. It was SO SO fun though. After 60 minutes of burning a hole in the ozone layer and killing every fish below us, Pedro calmed down and took the boat into the no-wake zone for us to watch the fireworks. They were absolutely amazing! My face was numb from the wind slapping me for an hour and my makeup was less than disgusting, but the fireworks sure did make me forget that! They were beautiful. --Go to www.seadogcruises.com to check it out--
After getting off of our thrill ride, we got a snack and a drink and "yo cabbie'd" it back to hotel. It was a long day but definitely the most fun I had had in a long time. I think I went to bed with a smile on my face! :)
This was when we were first leaving the dock..can you tell how fast we are going already?! This was when the fireworks had ended and we were pulling in to dock.
After shopping for quite sometime, we headed to Navy Pier. We wanted to buy tickets for the evening cruise/firework show and figured we needed to be there early. I had 
called that day and the lady said they were nearly sold out and as soon as we could get there, the better. That is exactly what we did. When we showed up, we were a tiny bit overwhelmed by all the different boat choices, companies, etc. but ended up choosing a boat and bought our tickets. 
sandwich because the heat makes me not hungry but Ryan was insistent on restaurant style food, so...he won. Harry Carey's restaurant was the place we went. It ended up not being bad at all and they had SO many food choices, we were both satisfied. Also, how could we go to 
Chicago, go to a Cubs game, and not pay our respect to Harry Carey?! Not to mention, they had TONS of Cubs memorabilia and famous people's pictures hanging up including the ever-so-gorgeous Derrek Lee and Tony Parker ;) 
that is not the main idea. There are cruises, bikes you can rent, small malls you can walk through, tons of ice cream parlors, theaters, etc. It was really neat. And it wasn't dirty...at all. It was actually very pleasant. My favorite part? All the little birds hunting for food you may have dropped! Of course I about died when I stumpled across a doggy supply shop when Ryan was busy looking at sports everything. I just couldn't get enough things to tell the girls "I'm sorry" for leaving them :)
