We had a fun trip to Starkville a couple of weeks ago for the Auburn vs. Mississippi State football game. Many have asked me about whether Mark has gloated for weeks, or how it was dealing with the loss, etc. it seems like it would be extra painful since Turner dresses and cheers with the home team, and she thoroughly enjoyed herself, ringing her cowbell every chance she got! Thankfully, I love my husband dearly and seeing him happy really does make me happy. And thankfully nothing (even football) trumps that.
So I really mean it when I say I had a great time! Even though Turner hit me in the head with the cowbell at kickoff. :) Getting hit with a wild shaker is one thing, getting smacked with a cowbell is a whole other league of crazy!
The best part of going to Starkville, for any game, is getting to see sweet friends who we only see one season a year. Mark has maintained several college friendships and through the years, those friends have become like family. It's a treat to spend time with them on gameday.
Turner and Abby 2012
Mark being silly with some sparkly hair poms that Turner just had to have...we deemed these ear shakers!
And it's always fun when Mark runs into his Auburn students when we are in Starkville! Patrick and Chase are SOS Coordinators in Mark's office, and they were all smiles to see Mark, even if he was wearing maroon.
The Chapel of Memories on the campus at MSU is similar in tradition and respect to the Auburn University Chapel or perhaps Samford Hall. So we were surprised to see the fountain at the Chapel of Memories filled with bubbles, no doubt the result of a late night prank. It was quite an entertaining surprise for us!
This was a common site for me during the ballgame....can you tell how much fun they are having? Notice the blur in the first picture? That would be Turner ringing the cowbell so fast the camera didn't catch it.
After the game we were excited to visit with the Shraders for a delightful few minutes - our time with these friends from Phoenix is never long enough! Kate and Turner are always fast friends and while they ran around the green space I enjoyed visiting with Claire, Mason, and Benjamin and hearing about their upcoming play and their college plans. If you don't follow Carol's blogyou should because your heart will be blessed by her Godly wisdom, her transparency, and the sweet spirits of her Godly children.
Please know that just before this picture was snapped, Turner said she needed to hold up the shaker to cover up my Auburn skirt. :) .
The walk back to the car was a happy one, having been blessed by our weekend among our Bulldog friends!
When we started planning this trip back in the spring, we were most surprised that our search for shows in the area indicated that the musical version of "Pinkalicious" would be on tour while we were in town. Turner has enjoyed the Pinkalicious books she's read and we knew this would be right up her alley for sure!
The basic premise is that Pinkalicious eats too many pink foods (namely pink cupcakes) and she actually turns bright pink! She has to face her fears and dislikes and eat enough green foods to counteract the harmful pink cupcakes. The tunes were catchy, the actors were superb, and the message promoted healthy eating habits and positive family interactions. Definitely a great experience and one I'd recommend even if you are fairly unfamiliar with Pinkalicious the book series. We loved it!
Turner with Pinkalicious and her little brother Peter!
And though I said before we left that we weren't going to dive into the American Girl doll realm just yet, the temptation (and Mark would tell you guilt) got to me while we were there. Any mother of girls that I talked to before we left said we must go to the American Girl store while we were there - citing the seven story largest AG store in the world, the hair salon, the option to have real brunch/tea with your doll in their fancy restaurant, etc. I had rationalized that Turner hasn't shown us that she loved dolls all that much at this point in her life, and that perhaps we'd expose her to this and then see if it would be a birthday or Christmas present.
It was probably a combination of guilt and desire that motivated me to take her in the store - and once we were in I knew there was no going back. Turner has been exposed to American Girl dolls by the family who babysits her in the afternoons and summers and she actually had more knowledge than I did about this whole new world of dolls, accessories, etc. Long story short, we have a new member of our family, RebeccaRubin, who is one of the historical dolls from the early 1900's.
Turner has absolutely loved having Rebecca and has played with her and taken her with her more than I ever expected. I've also realized this provides a great venue to help family select gifts for birthdays/Christmas, and it's also opened up another website experience through americangirl.com where the games and experiences thus far seem wholesome and learning centered.
I was astounded at how many families I saw walking the streets of Chicago with American Girls in hand. Funniest of all, were the many daddies who were holding the dolls and totally owning the look! It didn't take long for Mark to get in on that fun, though here he's just holding the bag!
As you can see, Turner was happy with her new friend!
When we arrived back at the hotel it was time to gather our bags and head toward the airport, but not before we had a little photo/modeling shoot in the hotel lobby! Turner cracks me up with all her posing!
Rebecca and Turner all belted in and ready to fly home.
On our way from baggage claim to the park-n-ride area,as Turner was hauling her carry on just like her daddy, I looked down to find Turner with big tears streaming down her face. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "Why couldn't we just stay a few more days? Why did we have to come home so soon?" It took us a while to get her calmed down and try to explain that vacations must end - something her mommy and daddy struggle with at times as well. I was happy to know that we have what appears to be a lifelong travel buddy in our sweet girl.
We had the BEST time in Chicago and it took us all a little bit to come to terms with the reality of home, work, and "normal life". Even as I type, Turner is sitting here with me asking if we can go back to Chicago one day. :) I am so thankful for the opportunity to get away and have fun with my sweet family. We are blessed.
We started our Saturday by gearing up in our best Chicago Cubs apparel and heading north toward Wrigley field. We met up with the Russell family (Russ was a friend of Mark's at Mississippi State) for a sweet reunion and some absolutely ridiculous breakfast at a local restaurant,
Tweet.
This was the neatest little restaurant - old fashioned charm with an art deco feel, a focus on local organic ingredients and spending time enjoying fellowship over a great meal. If you are anywhere near this restaurant please do yourself a favor and go! The food was absolutely delicious (see my cinnamon sugar doused gluten free pumpkin pancakes with warm maple syrup below) and the whole vibe was so relaxed and welcoming.
After breakfast, we headed up to Wrigley Field to take in the unique gameday experience that is Cubs baseball. The Cardinals were in town, so it was a rivalry charged crowd for sure! Mark was so excited about taking Turner to Wrigley for this experience!
Mark found us great tickets right behind home plate and though the sun was blazing,we were shaded and comfortable for the whole game! Though they had temps over 100 earlier in the week, we hardly got out of the 80s while we were there.. It was the perfect day for baseball at my favorite baseball environment in the world.
You can have Turner Field and all the other over-commercialized, loud music blaring, neon lights parks around the country - I'll take Wrigley over those every single time! The old school scoreboard, original architecture, and the organist who plays songs old school before batters and between innings - it's baseball how it was meant to be.
At some point during the game and many reaches into my enormous bag, I snapped a quick picture to give you a glimpse into what we take when we travel. I spent hours before this trip (mainly because of Turner's presence this time) making sure I had anything we needed in my bag. Below from top left: a ziploc bag with extra changes of shirts, my iPad and maps, the video camera, an extra pair of yellow box flops for me, the pink bag filled with snacks, the clear zipper bag filled with sunscreen/bandaids/rubberbands/medicine/Tide pens, etc. Wet wipes, bottles of water, and lots of small germ-x bottles were in the outside pockets. It is madness for sure, and my shoulders may never recover fully. But, I was happy to be prepared!
As you can see, we had a blast!
After any Cubs home win, the stadium fills with a song "Go Cubs Go" and thankfully for those of us who usually watch at home WGN usually hangs around with TV coverage long enough for us to sing along. Turner learned the words long ago and had hoped to be able to sing the song live and in person. When we found out the Cardinals were in town we weren't optimistic about those chances, but thankfully the Cubs pulled out a win and we got to sing! If you want to see Turner's reaction to her first Cubs win fast forward the video below to the 2 minute mark. It's pretty funny!
We walked all the way around Wrigley, and we passed by one of the station for the Chicago Fire Department. The doors were up and the firemen were out and about, mingling with fans, etc. We walked over to show Turner the fire engine and were invited in to see it up close! Turner even got a slide down the fire pole!
After the game, we boarded the most crowded bus on which I've ever been and started the long ride south toward the Lincoln Park Zoo. The sweet grandpa next to us was a 63 year old man from Toronto, Canada and he made fast friends with Turner. They had some entertaining conversation for several miles (complete with her seeing his Cardinals shirt and holding her nose like he was stinky - which he thought was hilarious) until she fell asleep in my arms about 5 minutes from our next destination.
We were all completely exhausted at this point (this was the third of four straight days that Turner went nap free which is not normal for her daily routine) but pressed on to the sights, sounds, and smells of the Lincoln Park Zoo. This is a beautiful zoo set right in downtown Chicago, and it's completely free!
I loved this view from the nature boardwalk!
We landed at a local restaurant called R. J. Grunts and again, found a jewel of a restaurant that had just the relaxed feel we needed after a long day. They had an all-you-can-eat, build-your own, salad/soup bar which Turner absolutely devoured. Mark and enjoyed some yummy burgers, and perhaps my favorite part of the experience was the throwback to the relaxed vibe of the 70's with top hits from the 70's piped overhead as you enjoyed the whole experience. Definitely good food, definitely a fun place to stop if you are in that area! And be sure to tell them you are a first time guest - they brought us the most delicious warm chocolate chip cookie covered in vanilla ice cream as a special thank you for stopping in!
We were so full, and the night was beautiful so we decided to walk back toward the downtown area as far as we wanted to go before boarding a bus. We passed through some of the cutest, and most hip "night-life"
areas of Chicago - Old Town was my favorite and is definitely somewhere I want to explore further when we visit again - and basically found ourselves walking along the lakefront toward downtown. I think we calculated we walked almost 3 miles! Turner fell asleep while we were walking (it was almost 10pm by this time) and the poor thing just slumped over in her stroller! We let the bus take us our last leg of the way home and put this sleepy girl (and two sleepy parents) to bed!
