A long, long Labor Day weekend

Playing with the interactive iPad at the Smart Museum

I know it's been a long weekend when I find myself struggling to remember what I was doing each day. And looking back, we did a lot.

Friday I had the day off, but Z was at school. I enjoyed a lazy morning recuperating from my crazy week of travel by simply hanging out at home with a friend (when does that ever happen?). Then in the afternoon I took A to the Gap to find some coordinating clothes to wear for our family pictures, which Paul Goyette took this morning. (The kids were highly uncooperative, so it will be a miracle if we have any loving sibling shots.)

Friday night we let one of our youngest babysitters (she's almost 14) tackle a nighttime gig (she only had to put one kid to bed) and we went to see Tributosaurus do Bruce Springsteen at Fitzgerald's with another couple (also Kleins, no relation). It was a great time, in spite of the heat and humidity, which only began to let up when the sun went down, and even then just barely.

On Saturday we spent the day in Hyde Park, starting with the Smart Museum of Art, enjoying a picnic lunch at the playground across from Z&H, exploring the Quads (which have changed quite a bit since the late 90s, and for the better), and finishing the afternoon at the Oriental Institute (mummies!) and Robie House (which A and I skipped, because she was getting a little wobbly).

We escaped the south side just as a thunderstorm rolled in, but it turned out the storm had already taken out most of its fury on Oak Park - the electricity was gone when we got back. Fortunately the lights came back on in time to make a whole wheat pasta, kale and bacon dish, my contribution to a last minute bbq invitation.

Sunday was the highlight of the weekend (and may just go down as the most beautiful day of weather the city of Chicago has ever seen). Josh and I left the girls with the babysitter again and went to Lincoln Park for brunch at Perennial, which we followed with a stroll around the Lincoln Park Zoo boardwalk. Sunday afternoon we went to a tomato-themed backyard party, which was really fun partly because we didn't know most of the guests - but enjoyed those we met tremendously.

Today, Monday, I was starting to run out of steam. A cold that been percolating since Friday went full running nose. The kids didn't make our family photo excursion enjoyable and our initial evening plans were canceled due to someone else's sick kids. Fortunately a long afternoon of hanging with friends, sorting through bins of winter clothes and watching my children entertain themselves kept me content. You may find it amusing that Z, after being told (repeatedly) that she couldn't hold a lemonade stand (it being 64 degrees and windy), spent an hour in the basement drawing pictures so that she could hold an "art stand," and (supposedly) sell her work to passerby for 50¢ a pop.