Baja (Not So) Fresh

One of my favorite places to get burritos is Baja Fresh. There was one a mile from our apartment in Rutherford, NJ. My daily activity during my maternity leave with Aidan was walking to Baja Fresh with Aidan in the stroller to get my burrito. I haven't had it since we left New Jersey, but I've been dreaming about it. If you have a Baja Fresh near you, please go there and appreciate your local shop, you never know when you get another burrito.

Their website shows a location in Rolling Meadows, IL. Every time I visit Chicago, I think about going there, but the timing is never right. This trip, I vowed that I would finally get my burrito. My mouth was watering just thinking about it. Jennifer invited me, Aidan and Reese to stay with her at her hotel and I told her I would treat her to dinner at Baja Fresh.

We got ready to leave for dinner and my Aunt Jill rode with us to the restaurant. My Uncle Jeff was planning to meet us at Baja Fresh to pick up Jill to take her home. Earlier that day I drove with Jill to my nephew Elijah's birthday party, Jeff rode his motorcycle to the party and Jill would have ridden home with Jeff, however he neglected to check the weather report and as the party was ending, it started to rain. Jeff drove home to get his car and drove to Baja Fresh to meet us. Jennifer, Jill, the kids and I drove to Baja Fresh, we drove around the block at least once and it seemed like the restaurant had disappeared. I was baffled. I could swear it was right there on Algonquin Road. "WAS" is the right word. It was closed down and being renovated under a new name. I was crushed! I will have to go back to New Jersey to get my burrito after all (not a bad idea if you ask me).

Jill called Jeff to tell him that we decided to go to Gino's East Pizza instead because Baja was closed. Jill left him a voicemail message because he didn't answer. Gino's is one of my favorite places so my spirits lifted and I go my camera ready to snap shots of my kids in one of my favorite places.

Getting seated at Gino's is not a speedy process and the longer we waited, we started to get anxious and nervous that we had not heard back from Jeff and based on the mileage from their house to Gino's he should have arrived in any minute. Jill and I continued to call him and we quickly came to the conclusion that Jeff must have forgotten his phone.

We played out several scenarios out loud about how Jeff would figure out where we were:

• He would pull over and call one of us from a pay phone (if those are still around). Nope, this would not work - he does not know our phone numbers because they are in his phone address book
• He would call his own voicemail and hear the message. Nope, this could fail if he doesn't know his own phone number
• We called Kelsey (his daughter) to give her our phone numbers in case he called her. Nope, we couldn't get in touch with her either and did he know her number?
• He would drive around in the rain all night and lose his temper because we were not where we said we would be.
• We would call the hotel to see if a man with a Batman t-shirt had stopped in looking for us and give the front desk my phone number so that he could call us.
• We would order and eat dinner and laugh about this later.

He did forget his phone, he did drive around all night in the rain, he did stop by the hotel (and we missed him), we did order and eat dinner and we laughed a lot! We eventually caught up with him at the hotel and he was not mad, he was actually pretty calm. He took responsibility for forgetting his phone and I think Jill and I were both pretty shocked that he wasn't even a little upset.

Reese doesn't go anywhere without her purse.

Jennifer showed Aidan how to draw stick figures.

Jennifer snuggling with Reese and her new boyfriend Aidan. I told Aidan she was engaged. Sorry Dave, you have some serious competition! The caption of the first picture of Aidan (with Jennifer and Reese) should read, "sorry sucka!"

Incredible Hulk Birthday

Aidan, Reese and I drove up to Chicago for my nephew Elijah's birthday party.

The Incredible Hulk theme. My sister, Emily made cupcakes in ice cream cones.

Elijah giving Reese a push on the swing.

Enjoying the cupcakes

Uncle Jeff blowing bubbles for Reese.

The finale of the party... the pinata.

Marriage and Margaritas

My best friend Jennifer is getting married and she asked me to be her maid of honor.  Her mother, Debi and I hosted a fiesta themed bridal shower for her in Chicago.

Good food, good friends and great gifts for Jennifer and Dave. I loved having all her friends and family there to celebrate her upcoming wedding. The bridal shower is one stepping stone on the road to the wedding and with all the planning, it was great to see her take a break from all of it to celebrate with her friends and family.

"MRS. CLARK" bars. It will be really hard for me to call her by her new last name after the wedding, but I couldn't resist making these! 

The Margarita glasses adorned with orange and yellow poppies.

The cupcakes. Yum!

Della (Step-Mom), Jennifer (Bridezilla) and her Debi (Mom).

Jennifer and her future Mother-In-Law, Lana. Don't let the picture fool you, these two are best buds. That's one thing that Jen and I have in common...great Mother-In-Laws (disclaimer-I have to say that because my MIL reads my blog).

Jennifer and her Step-Daughter Madison. Madison flew with Jennifer to Chicago for the shower. Not only was it her first flight ever, but she flew first class. Reality quickly would set in on her returning flight where she rode coach, or as we like to call it "flying with the chickens." It was so great to have Madison at the shower to celebrate with the girls!

No shower would be complete without a game. In lieu of Bride Bingo, Toilet Paper Dress and the like, we played "Two Truths and a Lie." Each guest recalled a memory that involved them and Jennifer and we read them aloud. Jennifer had to tell the crowd which one was the lie. We all had a good laugh, several secrets were revealed and if Jennifer was still living with her mother, she would still be grounded.

Two silly girls. Look at our awesome shoes!

 Laura, Shanna, JoAnna, Jennifer, Natalie, Beth

At first she didn't believe us when we told her that you have one child for every ribbon you break. She was able to get them off most of the packages with ease and then as the gifts started to wind down it came to our attention that we needed to break a few ribbons for good luck. I eventually had to use the scissors to help her along.

Made in the USA

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska with Daryl's family. On the drive over there we were asked to stop at a fireworks shop to pick up a few things. I've never been to one of these stores and it was quite an experience. It was like Sam's Club, but it smelled like gun powder.

The irony that is not captured in this photo is the people standing out front smoking on the side of the building.

I was trying to help Daryl pick out the best stuff, but I really didn't know what a bottle rocket actually looks like.

Daryl, Aidan, Reese and I stayed at our cousins Tammy and Tim's house. The kids loved to play with their dog Charlie. Reese put Charlie's leash on him and she walked him around the house. He loved it too!

Tim's garage is the cleanest, most well organized garage I have ever seen in my life. You really could eat off the floor. Aidan thought his Camaro was the coolest!

Reese loves her pinwheel and bubbles! Thank you Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Deon for our gifts!

Tammy was in charge of cooking the burgers and dogs with Carolyn and Diana looking on, until...

we had a minor situation and thankfully did not need to involve the fire department. Jessica and Steve stepped in and cooked the remaining burgers and all of the hot dogs. We tried to keep it quiet and hoped that everyone like their burgers well done. I was really disappointed and figured I would be eating a hot dog until Uncle Deon complained that his burger was still raw and I ran over to him and took his burger, wiped off the mustard added more cheese and enjoyed the only medium rare burger in the house. YUMMY!

Now on to the fireworks. I've never actually seen this many do-it-yourself fireworks. I've only seen the professional shows in the sky like the Macy's show in New York City or the ones at local park districts. I begged Daryl to bring Aidan back to me with all of his limbs and his face exactly the way I was sending him out. Once again I was told to chill out.

Aidan had a good time, but that won't keep me from freaking out.

Aidan asking Jessica a million questions about the fireworks.

The early clean up crew.

Jessica, Steve, Daryl, Shanna and Tammy

Brad, Carolyn, Diana, Reese and Deon.

Aidan loved the sparklers. I hate them. I've spent too much time at recent wedding trying to get them lit or trying to prevent drunk wedding guests from lighting anything or anyone on fire. I hope this fad goes out of style SOON!

Pappy, Aidan, Mimi and Reese watching the show. We had a little competition going with the neighbors down the street. Their show was better than ours, but we think that they had illegal ones. Either they "know a guy" or they spent too much money.

I did end up lighting two bottle rockets toward the end of the night. It was fun, but I was done after the two bottle rockets.

Reese was the first one out.

We had so much fun with everyone. My only regret is that the weather was terrible. It rained almost the entire time we were there so we didn't get to sight-see as much as I would have liked. Next time it will be better and we'll make it to Omaha for steaks.

Ready for a swim?

Reese thinks she needs goggles for swimming.

Even if it is only 6 inches of water.

We did check out a really big pool at the new Carondelet YMCA pool. We attended a free Moms Like Me event and I'm glad we did before we sprung for the full season membership. Turns out Reese is not ready for this. She just wants to sit on the side and play with shovels, watering cans and buckets. Aidan didn't want to leave and spent all of his time on the jungle gym that is in the water. Maybe next year we'll all be ready.

Mother Hubbard (aka Reese) reminding Aidan that he needs his sunglasses and water shoes.

Like mother like daughter. I would much rather sit on a chair with my towel and worship the sun too!

Vandalism Doesn't Pay

On a recent lunch date with our friends Evie and Noah, I was in the process of getting Reese strapped into her car seat and I asked Aidan to wait on the sidewalk for me. After getting Reese safely in her car seat, I called for Aidan to get into his. On the way from the sidewalk to the car seat he told me that he wrote letters on the window so that people would know to go to that store and he pointed to the Radio Shack in front of our parking space. I smiled and nodded half-paying attention to what he was telling me until the words were actually absorbed into my brain. HUH? YOU DID WHAT?

I looked over at the Radio Shack window and sure enough, there were Aidan's hieroglyphics written in red crayon. I asked Aidan to step out of the car and I grabbed a few baby wipes. Evie looked on wondering what we were up to. She was shaking her head and laughing, knowing it's always good times with the Gourleys.

I walked Aidan up to the window and asked him to wipe off the crayon. I made it clear to him that we do not draw on windows. I held back my own laughter, because let's face it, this was funny.

I will say that the baby wipe is the one tool that I cannot live without. It can clean anything including crayon off the window of a Radio Shack.

After Aidan got the crayon off the window, we walked into the store to speak to the manager. The manager came up to me and asked if she could help me. I said, "No thank you, but my friend would like to speak to you."

With his head down, Aidan mumbled, "I'm sorry I drew on your window." The manager looked at me for translation. I asked Aidan to repeat himself and to look at the manager. He repeated himself and received a "thank you" from the manager and we left the store.

I got Aidan in the car and looked over at Evie who was still laughing and I shook my head and laughed too. Crazy kids!

4's a crowd

I had the pleasure of seeing what it would be like to have 4 children for the day. My friend Jenn's kids Abe and Jude spent the day with us. I was nervous about how I would entertain all of them all day.

They were dropped off by 9 am and were scheduled to be picked up at 4 pm. At 10:00 am Abe asked me to call his dad to see if he was on his way. I tried not to take it personally.

I decided the best thing to do would be to walk the kids over to the park and let them play until lunchtime. Naptime would follow and then more playtime and then pick up. I hope we are all not ready to kill each other by the time 4:00 gets here.

Abe

Aidan, Abe and Jude trying to get up the slide. I didn't have the heart to tell them that this wouldn't work and the mom in me just wanted to sit back and watch them wear themselves out.

Reese and Jude. This is a rare sight because these two are always at each others' throats!

Snack Time!

We walked to the park and one of the neighbors drove by us and was staring at us. She passed by us again on our way back home. This time she stopped to ask me if I needed help because she thought I was having car trouble. Nope. Just taking a walk with 4 kids in the suburbs.

Before lunch Abe and Aidan started to negotiate naptime. This is one thing that just really burns my toast. Toddlers, let me just tell you that you will be taking a nap EVERYDAY. It is not up for discussion. The word "nap" sends chills down my spine because it is supposed to be a treasured "mom-time" and it is instead a crap shoot. I informed Abe of something that Aidan already knows, but chooses to ignore...I have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to napping. Don't ask me about naptime and I won't tell you that I don't care if you don't sleep, just please keep quiet for approximately 1.5 hours. THANK YOU.

Everyone napped except for Aidan. When the others woke up we went out front and painted and drew with chalk on the driveway. The kids all had a good time and until it rained, we had a masterpiece on the driveway and sidewalk.

Reese

Abraham

Jude

Aidan