Going into L’s summer vacation, L had high hopes for being productive and J had decided to enjoy the summer and spend some time on self reflection (because it’s all the rage now). While few of what we did could be listed as “accomplishments”, we did do a lot and the past two months flew by. Here are some of the highlights.

The Crepe Cake

We kicked off summer break with J’s sister’s celebration of a new job offer and birthday. L made a delicious green tea layered crepe cake.

Milwaukee, WI

We walked a lot and ate a lot. Our two favorite things to do.

J learned that L likes toffee and heath bars. We also took an introductory to hang gliding lesson.

Camping in Michigan

J has some friends who love to camp. Every year we try to join them on at least one trip. This year’s camping trip was in Ft. Custer, Michigan over July 4th weekend. It started out well… people (maybe just J) relaxing around the campfire, catching up, smelling nature, smoke, and bug spray.

We were sleeping when our HOA managers were frantically leaving voicemails on our disconnected phones.

When we finally checked our emails, we learned that our condo flooded and was leaking three floors down. The most recent communication indicated that the facilities guy called a locksmith to break into our unit. We couldn’t reach him to get an update though.

We cut our trip short, packed up and headed back to Chicago. J drove slowly because the car was making a loud helicopter sound.

The tires were loose (we found this out later).

And, the locksmith broke our lock. He had to return twice to fix the lock so we could get into our unit.

Not to let the hassles of life ruin the rest of our weekend, we made sure things were stable around the condo, fixed the car and installed new break pads, and proceeded to visit the Columbus, OH relatives.

Ridiculous Creatures

With a number of out of town trips coming up and close friends leaving Chicago, we needed some help watching the two other members of our immediate family that live with us (M and F). In typical urbanite fashion, we sought out a local pet service instead of asking our neighbors.

To use the pet sitting service, we had to find a local vet that offers emergency care. After suffering through three bumpy blocks of sitting in cat carriages strapped to J’s shoulders, M and F decided to show off their cuteness in the vet office sink.

This photo is even better.

We had to warn the new pet sitters that M likes to hide in the closet during thunderstorms.

Baltimore and Washington DC

We went on a trip to Baltimore and Washington DC with L’s aunt (Aunt L). We dragged Aunt L to a crab shack in Baltimore, made her eat a liquid olive and ride a segway.

Aunt L suffered through our wanderings and made it back in one piece.

The memorials at night have such a different feel.

L’s attempt at organizing

J checked out the book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” in hopes that L would read it and be inspired to be a bit tidier. L read the book and took the first step of the recommended tidying process, which was to consolidate all her clothes in one pile.

L’s clothes remained on our dinner table for many weeks.

L finally did go through the rest of the steps and her clothes are now amazingly organized. J did not take a picture to document L’s success for fear that the photograph would suggest completion and L would stop tidying.

Boston, MA

J had to go to Boston on a work trip over her birthday. L had never been to Boston before and came along.

L thought that J’s favorite cake is carrot cake and got J a slice on her birthday.

We both worked most of the time we spent in Boston. Our trip ended with a quick bite at a tiny sushi place decorated with drawings (a lot of pokemon) on styrofoam plates.

Belated housewarming / J’s birthday

We finally had a small housewarming as the summer was disappearing quickly. G made J a spectacular pineapple birthday cake.

In a pickle!

Our big trip this summer was to Banff and Jasper. Canada is beautiful. The photos can be found in the gallery section.

The only thing worth mentioning in words (that the photos might not do justice) is that we were caught in a blizzard. The snow and wind hurt our faces and we could not make out the trails.

L thought we might die and prayed. J insisted on taking a picture.

We hiked for over 8 hours, trailing behind a couple with a GPS and Arc’teryx winter coats who were worried about frostbite. We were wearing rain jackets and cotton gym pants.

When we made it down from the mountain, our lips were purple and J still can’t feel part of her hand.

It was still an overall wonderful trip.

J = Marshmallow

This year seems to be a big year for our friends getting married.

Wedding #1:

J cried. Like the sobbing kind of crying. Here’s J with the brides.

Here’s L looking like a mysterious lady.

Wedding #2:

This was at a petting farm. We had a grand time.

At some point, J put her head down on the dinner table and L continued dancing the night away.

Wedding #3:

The third wedding this year was for J’s ‘little brother’ (P), one of her closest friends. J met another J at the dinner table. We talked about pretty deep stuff as far as conversations between wedding guests go.

L was a pill and wouldn’t let J take pictures.