7 Quick Takes - Chicago, 'Frozen' Dolls, and Potty Training

Back for another round of 7 this morning, and linking up with Jen and the crew per usual.

St. Stanislaus, Sanctuary of Divine Mercy, Chicago

1.)

We had our first "little vacation" as a family to Chicago last weekend and it was such a blast!  

You would have thought Addie was in heaven with seeing the tall buildings, going to the Lincoln Park Zoo, taking the "L" train (or is it EL for elevated? I think Chicagoans are still debating), which she thought was a real choochoo train, going to the Disney Store on Michigan Ave., and staying at Lizzie's house to boss Wilson the dog around.  

And then we got to end the short trip with going to St. Stan's Divine Mercy Shrine for mass on Sunday morning.  

It was just what we needed as a little family!  Thank you, Hinards! 

The girls were ready to get out of the car after a 3 hour drive and then an hour of parking, so Addie made sure to strut her stuff once she was free of her car seat!

We had to see the Gorillas, of course! 

Favorite pic of AJ.  Maybe ever:

Squeezing in an hour at the zoo was well worth it! 

Lizzie and Jon making a feast!

2.)

Saturday morning, we had some fun at the park before heading downtown after naps and I just couldn't help but snap some pics:

Yes, 10 pics of the slides is necessary ;)

3.)

Then we had to be tourists and go downtown (via the choochoo train) to the Disney Store (Bill's idea), thinking we could find the girls some plush Frozen dolls. And boy were we ever wrong!  The employees pretty much laughed at us when we asked where the Frozen stuff was.  I didn't think they would have them in stock but didn't know there was a craze about all things Frozen until after we left the store.

We had so much fun just dancing around the store and looking at everything, though, and decided on Minnie and Daisy plush dolls!

4.)

BUT THEN, while Bill was in line to check out, he saw an employee bring up the Animator's Collection Anna and Elsa dolls.  People started going up to the counter to ask about them and the guy said you've got to wait in line.  So Bill stepped up and asked if they were for sale and the guy said, "Yep, first come, first serve."

And Bill was like, "I'll take both," which made people behind him pretty upset! 

Again, I had no idea how lucky he was to get them until after we left and realized they are sold out at all Disney Stores (at least for now).

We scored!  And Addie's pretty excited about them!

5.)

Since there aren't enough pics in this post(!), I thought I'd put in a few more.

June and Zeke wagon riding - 

6.)

In women's small group this week, my sister and I (mainly Katie) threw a bridal party for our friend who's wedding is around the corner.  

It was flower/spring themed and look how creative Kate got:

These were our name tags!

And we had to have cookies for dessert! 

7.) 

And finally, although we've had to wash the futon cover and couch cushion covers in the past two days because of two accidents, and have had multiple tears and fits, we are definitely making ground with potty training and Addie couldn't be more excited about being a "big girl"!

And this morning, because she got to the 10 mark, she got a toy:

Although this is what I feel like at the end of the day - 

Happy first weekend in May!