Nanny Noni in Chicago 8-10

So....Tim was offered and accepted a job in Chicago, WOOOHOOO! Now this means they want him to begin NOW, but he has "things" he has to do first in order to make a move across the country with his family. This is where Noni [me] comes in : } They asked me to meet them in Chicago to stay with Emma Mae while they house hunt and check out schools for Emma. I arrived on Sunday evening and helped out until Wednesday morning and had an AWESOME time.
T&T plan to use the L-train for the majority of their travels in town. Taking the L gets Tim to work downtown in 10", plus a 10" walk to the train versus ~45" drive on the congested highway. We drove past the place Tim will be working at. The next 2 pics are views from the car. Quite metropolitan!!! He has to wear a suit and tie every single day : }

These are a few pics of the downtown streets of Lincoln Park. This is the area they will be living in. It is so quaint and has a very vintage feel. Reminds me of my childhood in St. Louis skipping down the sidewalks, riding my bike and playing hop-scotch. I saw many young moms pushing strollers just walking about and several getting on and off the L with their kids and strollers. Absolutely loved this area!

We had lunch to celebrate everything that was planned for and accomplished during this trip. They found their home and Emma's school. Here we are at Pot Belly's known for their sandwiches and they were really good.

While T&T were visiting schools, Emma and I walked the streets and talked with the locals. We came across this wonderful girly-girl shop, Stinky Pants. We had a blast in here. Emma was as excited as I was to check everything out. She did make out pretty well with a new raincoat and matching boots. The temp this day had to be in the 90's and it was humid. She "had" to wear her new coat and boots in case it rained! : }

Just a few shots of what the downtown area looks like. Their home is on one of the side streets walking distance to the downtown and L-train.

You can see the L-train tracks going over the street here.

Look at the old rennovated buildings. Love it!

OK, so on Monday, T&T left at 7:30am and returned around 4ish. Emma Mae and I literally played ALL day. This is the game "Hungry Hippo's" with play dough. We made pink fish for the hippo to eat and a black bird to sit on his back. Then Emma decided she didn't want the hippo to eat the fish, so we had to make little blue eggs and place the fishes in a pond of their own : }

T&T took us out to play miniature golf after dinner one evening. Emma wanted no instructions what so ever, she knew how to play this game. It was so funny! She did it and felt accomplished in the end!

Here's T&T totally veggin out from their first day of house hunting. They have so much on their platters right now and persevere on. There IS a light at the end of this huge tunnel.

We were all just sitting around talking about the days events, and Emma had ALL this energy. So she decided she was going to put on a show for us. As we're all sitting on the couch, she comes in with her new panties I brought her on her head and her new PJ bottoms wrapped around her shoulders. She starts singing [with her eyes closed] and dancing around on the mattress [her bed on the floor]. It was quite delightful and gave us a much needed laugh after a hard day.

Emma and I played Go Fish cards which she loved and caught on to rather quickly. Below she is making those eggs for the hippo to eat, while pushing the fish away for safety. The fish are those little orange things with black eyes : }

We took a break from the hotel room and walked around outside for awhile. We looked at all the flowers, the pool and checked out every hallway. She took this pic of me which I think is very good and centered.

Here she is just talking away and walking around : }

We sat for a few minutes on a patio outside and she starts to look into my purse. I asked her what she was looking for and she says, "Something exciting Noni, show me something interesting" LOL to say the least. We dug around until we found my "saw" [nail file]. That kept her busy doing her nails then mine. Between the shopping, eating, Starbuck visits, playing, reading, looking at flowers, taking many pictures, doing our nails, checking e-mails, watching movies of Veggie Tales.....Emma Mae is quite her Noni's grand daughter. We are two peas in a pod and I LOVED every single minute spent together.

Here she is sending her Papa an email : }