Hello Third Trimester!

We have officially made it to the third trimester! Just in time for the heat wave that has been hitting. I'm starting to feel baby move more and can actually see it from the outside now. 

28 week bumpdate!

I am still craving watermelon.  Too much water or carbs makes me nauseous.  I finally had to stop running last week (not that I was doing much of it anyways).  During a workout at Orange Theory, I made it about 5 minutes in and had awful cramping and hip pain.  So I will be walking the Red White & Boom 5k with my dad tomorrow instead of jogging -- which I'm more than okay with!

Next week, I got in for the gestational diabetes test. 

We had an offer accepted on a new house in Blaine and accepted an offer on our current house.  We close on the new house July 26th and close on our current house August 2nd, pending everything goes well.  

Babymoon

Joel and I went to a former teammates wedding in Chicago and decided we would make it our babymoon.  We packed a lot into the four days we were gone.  We stopped in Rockford and stayed the first night with Joel's grandma.  It was so great catching up with her and seeing her place and looking through old family pictures.  She even suggested we go to a vegan restaurant for dinner! (Although, I suspect she regretted that once we got there - it was actually a vegan brewery and it was definitely louder than any of us expected, but delicious!).

Friday morning, after breakfast with Grandma at Mary's Market, we headed into Chicago to start being tourists.  We wanted to try to save money, so we stayed outside of the city closer to Evanston.  Note to self: pictures on hotel sites aren't always representative of the place, which I should've learned with all of our house shopping!  The hotel we stayed in was in an interesting part of town on the Red line.  Joel and I hopped in the very aromatic elevator and tried desperately to avoid a contact high, then dropped our stuff off in the room (which had removed it's safety latches from the door) (also of note, the shower fan was literally a fan and it's motor mounted into the top of the shower by twistie ties - we did not turn the fan on)... We walked the 5 minute walk to the train and figured out how to buy tickets.  Once we got into Chicago, we found the bean and got a picture then walked along the lake.  I got Dippin' Dots outside of the Shedd Aquarium, where we decided to hop on a water taxi over to Navy Pier to do a River Architecture Tour.  It was quite hot so we found a seat in the shade during the tour and enjoyed 75 minutes of history along the river. After the tour, we did some more walking and found dinner at Gino's East.  Joel and I split a pizza and then made the trek to the train back home (where I had a VERY uncomfortable interaction with a fellow rider...).

Saturday morning we hopped onto the train and headed into town to find some breakfast.  After breakfast, we walked to the Shedd Aquarium and actually went in this time.  We watched a dolphin and whale show, explored the exhibits, and pet sting rays! I squealed the first time I touched it, I definitely wasn't expecting it to feel so soft and squishy.  The woman that was working the area said that the sting rays actually like to be pet and called them puppies of the sea.  One of the little ones would jump closer to the surface of the water as it passed by Joel to get pet.  After the aquarium, I got Dippin' Dots again (baby gets what baby wants) and we walked over to find some lunch.  After lunch, we went to the Sears Tower to head up to the Skydeck and Ledge.  Unfortunately, it was a 2 hour wait, and we needed to head back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. 

We decided to drive for the wedding instead of take the train, and it ended up being a good choice.  The wedding was on the third floor terrace of the Loewe's Hotel and was absolutely gorgeous.  The bride was stunning, the venue and the guest accommodations were fabulous.  One of my favorite parts was the doggie treat bag they handed out from their dogs to ours :)  Joel and I danced the night away with some former teammates and had a blast!

Sunday morning, we woke up and drove into the city and found breakfast at a cute little diner that was delicious! We headed back to the Sears Tower to get there right after it opened, and were able to get up to the Skydeck within about 10 minutes.  It was terrifying! I managed to walk myself backwards out and not look down just to get a picture with Joel.  He thought it was a great idea to do a handstand on the deck!  After the Skydeck, we hit the road, stopping in Madison to eat some Hu Hot :) 

103rd Floor Led of the Sears Tower