Hi! My name is Appabow.

Bun in the oven

Went to the Dr today and everything is going great! Baby Delaney is expected to arrive February 24, 2012. I have been feeling good and we are very excited for the newest addition to the family. Anabelle doesn't quite understand yet, and I'm sure she won't until the baby arrives and it is more concrete. For now, whenever I talk about a baby inside of me, she just goes and gets her baby doll and says "baby?" I'm sure once she's adjusted to the change, she'll be a great big sister!

In the meantime we are talking about possible names, and nursery decorating ideas. We find out the sex of the baby in the first week of October, after that planning will be full steam ahead. Of course it would be fantastic to have a little boy and have one of each, but the ease and convenience of having a little girl and not needing to buy anything additional is pretty tempting. Guess we'll just wait and see :)

Wisconsin State Fair

On Tuesday afternoon, John, Anabelle and I hopped in the car to head up to the Wisconsin State Fair. We were really looking forward to all the yummy foods they have, and we weren't disappointed. Everything was delicious!

Corn in a cup

Cream puff making

There is nothing better than a cream puff from the Wisconsin State Fair!

Anabelle ate an entire half of one cream puff, and they are pretty big.

Cream puff mustache

Next John tried a Gyro and root beer, Anabelle and I may have eaten some of it too :)

I imagine this conversation:

"Well what are we gonna deep fry this year?"

"I don't know, we've pretty much deep fried everything, I think maybe we should stop."

"Well now wait a minute, we haven't deep fried butter yet?"

"Mmmm... deep fried butter! You are a genius!"

Seriously? This is disgusting!

John thought the Chocolate Bacon Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger was amusing.

Anabelle and I had to ride the super slide.

She loved the slide, and as soon as we hit the bottom she said "more?"

If we go anywhere and there is a fountain, we have to stop and admire it.

Rainbow Cone

I've got some catching up to do here on the blog, I've been too busy to post anything lately. But things are slowing down now and I've finally got some time. Last week John, Anabelle and I went to visit our friends Scott and Alexis. After a lovely dinner, we decided to go get some ice cream.

Rainbow Cone is a Chicago landmark that has been open since 1926. John's Grandma (Grandma Cor) worked there, and John went as a child all the time. It is one of his favorite places. Anabelle definitely loved it too, we will be sure to go back!

afternoon at the beach

Last Friday Anabelle and I decided to beat the heat by going to Centennial Beach, located along the riverwalk in Naperville. We got a pass this year and sadly it has gone severely underused, we had a great time and it really made me realize we need to go more. It is run by the park district and was recently upgraded this year with new changing rooms, and bathrooms. They added family changing rooms which are wonderful. The "beach" itself has a huge sand play area, a row of bubbling fountains and waterfalls, and then a sand bottom gradual decrease swim area. It also has a huge water slide and lots of deep water swimming available for older kids (which is nice because it keeps them out of the shallow areas). Anabelle had a great time playing in the sand, fountains, and sitting in the shallow areas of the water. She was happy to be able to run around splashing and playing. We will definitely be going back soon!

They have these cute little Adirondack chairs for kids to sit in.

Playing in the sand.

They have a huge blue mat to keep little ones from slipping as they enter the water. Anabelle liked to sit on it and pour water with her bucket.

View of the whole swim area, it is huge!

Fun Friday with my water baby!