Recent Hooks Happenings

So life has just been moving right along for our family.  I've found that I really enjoy when things are just nice and quiet.

 

Ryan enjoyed a recent trip to North Africa; there are some great stories that I know he would love to share with you.  Due to the Air France strike, his flights home ended up changing and he was rerouted through Dubai.  His team spent 24 hours there which they found interesting.

 

The girls have started back with tennis lessons which they enjoy.  Coach Chris does a great job of teaching and helping them improve but also making sure they are having fun.  It goes for about another month, so we'll see if we decide to continue.

 

Lily has joined the after school Cotillion Club which meets once a month for six months.  She loves it!  At the first meeting last week, she learned (or rather reinforced since she's known for awhile) how to properly set a table, make introductions (that's a new one) and do the cha-cha (that's definitely a new skill).  She's really looking forward to continuing this.

 

This girl can't get enough of Legos!  Her birthday is coming up, and she has said multiple times "I only want Legos and books."  Her imagination runs wild with these which is really fun to see.

 I love going to check on Mia before I head to bed; you never know how you'll find her as these next two pictures show.

 

Impromptu cuddle time!

 The girls and I visited "The Tokyo restaurant" while Ryan was away.  Always a delicious treat and provides excellent leftovers.

 So I surprised the girls with rainbow noodles with a browned butter sauce for dinner one night.  They thought it was great!  Mia called it "the world's awesomest pasta!"  Amazing what a little food coloring can do.  I gave them happy face jello for dessert which sealed the deal for best dinner ever.

 We had an early release for parent teacher conferences recently, so I picked the girls up and we had a girly lunch at The Swan House.  I love this place.

 We had the third annual ACCA Soccer Classic recently.  Here's a picture of the girls beforehand and a picture of Lily with her good friend, Avery.

 Go team!

 I was so excited to join the 2nd and 6th grade classes on a field trip to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit last week.  Can't believe I've lived in Georgia my whole life, and I had no idea this was even here.  It was such a lovely place to visit, and we learned so much about the monk's lifestyle.

 Lily and Danae were practically inseparable while we were there.

 We learned all sorts of interesting facts.

 A few of the sweet girls in second grade.

 The chapel was beautiful.

 Love Mrs. St. Hill and her second grade class!

 Lily and I met Alyssa and her mom at the park for a play date after school last week.  Needless to say, the girls were thrilled when the ice cream man came by!

 Mia was playing with my phone while cuddling with us the other day; love this sweet girl!

 Lily and I went to a friend's birthday party this weekend at Sparkles.  Wow, what memories came flooding back from all the time I spent there growing up!  Lily had never tried skating before, but she had a great attitude...until she fell in the first five seconds of trying.  She was shaken up by that, but after a few minutes break and people watching to see that everyone falls down, she was determined to go back out and learn.  I was so proud of her and this attitude!  She improved so much while we were there; it was so neat to watch!  She now loves roller skating and is asking to go all the time!

 Before heading out with Danae and Avery.

 She and Rachael both used these learning walkers which was very helpful.

 This picture is unfortunately a little blurry but Avery and Danae were so sweet to hold her hands and help her around the rink.  Her friends are so precious!

 BFF Avery as they got ready for pizza and cake.

That's what has been going on in our home recently!

A Day in Chattanooga

While Ryan was in North Africa last week, I decided to surprise the girls with a little day trip to Chattanooga.  We love this city!  I decided to start in the Children's Museum and go from there.  We ended up spending almost 4 hours there because the girls were having so much fun.  Here are just a few of the many pictures I took.

 They enjoyed making up their own duets.

 They love the creative drawing area.

 Lily loves science so this is right up her alley.

 This museum makes learning so much fun for the girls!

 Playing doctor never gets old; luckily I passed my tests.

 High flying fun on the playground.

 The water feature area is always interesting.

 They've added a rock climbing wall!

 This little ropes coarse was a lot of fun as they tried to follow their string all throughout.

 Enjoying the beautiful day from the top of the lighthouse.

 Always a good idea to stop for a reading break in the library.

 I have a feeling this will be part of our future...

 Back to the drawing board.

 Teamwork!

 We ended the day by meeting up with our friends, the Sepulveda family, who live in Chattanooga.  After Kaitlyn finished up with her dance rehearsal, we met at the park where the kids enjoyed riding the carousel, walking around the park and going on the pedestrian bridge.  Isn't this a cute bunch?

We ate a delicious dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant with the Sepulvedas.  They served this fresh fruit water that was unbelievable; I had an orange water and it was amazing.  I planned to order a cup to go to sip on the way home but when the waitress brought my refill she said it was the last cup of the day; they had sold out.  Honestly, I would love to go back to this restaurant just for this drink!  After dinner, we headed on home.  We were worn out from a fun day of play!  What a fun Saturday!

Labor Day in Chicago

We were all so excited to head to Chicago over Labor Day weekend.  We actually let the girls miss school so we could leave Friday morning.  Both girls did well on the plane; they both just turned on our iPads and watched movies the whole time.  When we arrived, Grandma Jan picked us up from Midway.  We headed from there to the Shedd Aquarium.  We had never visited before, but it was really neat.  I let Ryan take all the pictures, but he's out of town right now so I don't have those pictures...another time.  Anyway, it was a fun visit.  We all really enjoyed seeing the sea show where dolphins, whales and a sea lion do cool tricks.  They even had a little rescued dog come out, so they could show that they train dolphins very similarly to how we train dogs.  We also visited the kids' area, watched a 4D Ice Age movie, saw several cool exhibits and ate a bit of lunch.  Of course, we had to visit the gift shop too.  The girls had been saving up their money and choose to spend it there.  Lily bought a stuffed beluga whale and bookmarks while Mia bought an Octonauts bath set.  They both loved that Grandma Jan surprised them with pretty rings and Octonauts books.  It was a very fun way to start our trip.  We went from there to David and Jan's home where we met up with David.  We ordered some famous Chicago pizza, and we just enjoyed an evening together at their home.  It was so great to be together!

On Saturday, we were expecting it to rain pretty much all day, so we planned a low key day.  David picked us up from the hotel and we enjoyed a delicious breakfast together before heading to their home.  Turns out a drop of rain never fell but that's alright.  We stayed at David and Jan's the whole day.  It was the start of college football season, so we had that on and simply enjoyed being together.  The girls had a blast playing with their dog, Taz, reading their books with Grandpops and Grandma Jan and playing with their new toys.

On Sunday morning, David picked us up and we went to a different breakfast spot that we all enjoyed.  Then we all headed over to the Hancock building and went to the top.  It was a beautiful day so we had some great views.  The girls pretended to wash windows while we were in line.

 With Willis Tower behind them.

 So happy to be with Grandpops and Grandma Jan!

 We love this beautiful city!

 Our family.

  When we left Hancock, we visited the neatest Italian store ever, called Eataly (get it..."eat" "Italy").  I could have spent hours there.  The first floor was filled with all sorts of fun cooking items for your home, an amazing dessert bar where we bought delicious chocolates and a Nutella bar; that's right, a whole bar where every item is made with Nutella.  On the second floor, there were so many different areas.  We picked up some fresh cheese, ogled the meats and seafood area, perused through the oils, vinegars and sauces and stopped at the homemade pasta area.  We bought bowties for the girls and then I got a pear and pecorino ravioli (out of this world delicious) and prosciutto and cheese ravioli (also fabulous).  I made a quick browned butter sauce at home and it was wonderful.  David and Ryan bought and shared two different sandwiches which were wonderful.  I want to go back here every time we visit Chicago!

Back at the condo, the girls separately took 1.5 hour naps which is kind of crazy since they typically don't nap anymore; they were exhausted though!  I'm pretty sure at some point throughout the day, we all took naps!  After that, David arranged for us to go on a boat tour of the lake which was lovely.  It was really neat to go up and down the shore to see this great city.  I'm so glad we did that.

After the boat tour we headed back to their condo where we all enjoyed Jan's famous spaghetti and meatballs; there's none better!  Jan had taken the girls to a nearby store too where they purchased desserts to celebrate Ryan's birthday.  We were all so glad that Nick got back in town and was able to come join us for awhile; we always enjoy time with him.  Unfortunately Brock wasn't able to join us; hopefully next time!

Finally it was time to head back to the hotel one last time.  We packed up and headed to bed.  On Monday morning, David picked us up and took us to the airport.  It was another easy ride.

I think we're all looking forward to our next trip back up to Chicago!

Name Change

After almost 6 years, Mia has decided it's time to change the name of her special toy that she loves to sleep with. From now on, apparently Glowie will be Mia Jr. Love it!

A Weekend in Tennessee

This past weekend Ryan had a retreat to go to, so the girls and I wanted to do something fun.  We were excited to join my mom for a quick trip up to Tennessee to visit my grandmother.  We don't get to spend much time with Granny, so we knew this weekend would be a wonderful time.  We got in on Friday evening, visited for just a bit and then headed to bed.  Saturday came, and it was a beautiful day!  We were ready for a day of fun.

 

4 generations in Granny's front yard. 

 Granny with the girls and me with Mom.

 The girls couldn't wait to get back into the huge tree in Granny's yard.  They love climbing it.

 We left about 11 and headed over to Gatlinburg for lunch at Pancake Pantry.  It was delicious!  The girls were thrilled with their breakfasts, so they wanted to snap pictures.

 Always a good choice for yummy food.

 After lunch we visited the candy store next door because it's always fascinating to watch them make their own taffy, roll it out and package it.  It's interesting to watch the process.  Of course, we bought a few pieces to snack on.

 

After that we headed over to the trailer for the afternoon.  I have so many memories of coming up here over Spring Break as a child and spending time with Granny at the trailer at Outdoor Resorts.  There's lots to do there, but I was pretty sure the girls would have a blast playing in the creek that runs by her property.  I was right.  They played for over 4 hours without a break; they didn't stop for a snack or the bathroom.  They laughed and had a great time.  I took a lot of pictures, but I made several collages and put them on here instead of individual pictures.

 They had a lot of fun with leaf races over the little waterfall.

 Faces of pure happiness.

 They had a blast jumping off the waterfall.

Lily said this was her favorite part.

 What a great way to spend the afternoon!

Luckily I had followed Mom's suggestion to bring a change of clothes for them because they were absolutely soaked.  They changed and we headed over to The Apple Barn on our way home.  We had a little bit of wait, but we enjoyed the shop during that time.  I had never been here before, but it was a delicious meal.  We ended up not getting back to Granny's until close to 10, so were all worn out.  On Sunday, we had a little bit of a lazy morning together before we drove back home.  This was such a wonderful weekend!  I hope we can do it again sooner rather than later.