Kay 30th Bday - Mar 1

Nadine's best cousin Kayleigh was having a big 30th birthday party, so decided to fly over to Rochester to celebrate.  We also had not seen Ralph since he left Pittsburgh from being in the hospital for 6+ weeks, so we were really looking forward to the weekend.

We arrived on Friday and stayed at Ralph & Olga's.  We also officially celebrated Christmas by giving them their Africa gifts from our Honeymoon (a Lion & Lioness, for King & Queen of the jungle).  On Saturday we into Rochester to setup the 90s-themed party for Kayleigh!

The party was at the old bowling hall in the church where the Lippa family used to have parties decades ago, Saint Boniface.  The party was great fun and visiting, and when Kayleigh stood up to say Thank You...she dropped the news that she was pregnant!  Wow!  We were so happy to be there to hear that news!  On Sunday we headed back to Chicago.

First time seeing Ralph

Silly parents, and Africa gifts from our Honeymoon!

Mother & Daughter

A funny baby photo of Nadine (center), Kayleigh (right) and Nick (left)

Kayleigh & Alex drop the surprise that they are pregnant!

Nora 2nd Bday - Feb 19

Since we had not yet been to Jackson Michigan where Tanya & Manny had moved to right before our wedding...we decided to travel over for a day trip to celebrate Nora's 2nd birthday...along with several other birthdays in the family! 

The trip went by smoothly and we got to their apartment in plenty of time to celebrate with dinner, cake and presents!  Manny's family was there too, which was nice for Nadine to finally them!  It was fun to watch Nora play with her new gifts, and laugh and giggle.

We wanted to stay as along as we could, but it was time to head back to Chicago.  We drove through a little lake effect snow, but arrived home safely!

That's one happy birthday girl!

Happy Mommy and Nora!

Happy Daddy and Nora!

What a February birthday bunch!

Nadine 32 Bday - Feb 12

For Nadine's 32nd birthday, we planned a full day in the city the Saturday before and also celebrated on the day itself.

On the Saturday before, we drove to Rosemont Blue Line subway stop and rode into the city admidst the snow.  Our first stop was to visit a Turkish/Russian Bath House for some R&R!  We arrived, got changed in our separate locker rooms, then met in the common area in our robes.  We decided to first explore the Russian Steam Room, and it was intense!  We walked and sat down, and very quickly the jewelry we were started to hurt our skin!  Our wedding bands and Nadine's earrings were absorbing the heat and transfering them our skin...we didn't realize the room temp would be 120+ degrees!  We also noticed our breathing was getting short, so we just decided to get the heck outta there!  Ha!

We decided for a more calm experience, we each retired back to our locker rooms to soak in the hot tub and get ready for our massages.  We each got an intense 90 minute message (Dave's first!) and it was painfully good!  They found all of our tight spots and of course it was done too quick!

Next we made our way to a matinee showing the Broadway Play HUMANS.  It won several Tony awards and it was about a family from Scranton!  The was great and touched very close to our own family experiences. 

After the show, it was time for some dinner!  Nadine found a fun spot in the West Loop called Girl & The Goat...and we didn't have reservations, but we got lucky when two people got up from the bar, lucky birthday girl!

The final part of the night was Nadine's accidental invite to a Valentine's Day singles party, ha!  She joined the Arlington Heights Young Professionals group on facebook, and then was told about a social function in the city.  She thought it'd be way to meet Arlington Heights people, but instead it was for all singles!  We had some awkward conversations, made the best of the situation, and then decided to head home.  It was a great day!

On Nadine's birthday we celebrated with birthday pancakes and also had some Paczki (poon-chkey) because it was Fat Tuesday!  There were Nadine's first and Dave got them from a local bakery just down the street.

The bar of the Bath House

Outside the Theater for the play

Our seats for HUMANS

Walking to dinner, we found the bridge that smelled like Chocolate!

Dinner and Drinks at Girl & The Goat

32nd Birthday pancakes

Birthday Paczkis!

A photo from Nadine's birthday while Carnegie Mellon 

(pictured with Adam & Nitin)

Michigan-NW: Feb 6

To celebrate Ed & Debs birthday, we invited them down to Chicago for the Michigan-Northwestern basketball game.  Dave was transitioning between working at NTI and starting with Carbon, so he stayed home to entertain.

Ed & Deb came down the day of the game and visited Wilson to see where Nadine works.  They loved the tour, each shot a couple foul shots, and got ready to head to the game.  We got to All-State arena early enough to see both teams warm-up, it was great!  Michigan was highly ranked but playing as a visitor is always tough.  The game was low scoring, and unfortunately Michigan ended up losing!  (Michigan would go on to win all their games until losing again in the National Championship game!)

After the game, we went home and had a little blueberry to celebrate (or drown our sorrows!).  The next night they hung around for all of us to go out to eat for birthday fajitas, and we even ordered maize & blue drinks!  Overall it was a great time,

A "Go Blue-berry" pie to celebrate

Even the drinks the next night were maize & blue!

Visiting Wilson before the game!  Deb made her first free-throw!

Pre-game photos

Our seats at the All-State Arena!

Photos from the game!

JJ Grey - Jan 25

To finish off our exciting first month in Chicago, we saw JJ Grey in the Chicago theater in downtown Chicago.  We first grabbed dinner at The Berghoff Restaurant, a famous German restaurant within walking distance to the theater.  Nadine and Dave split beers & pretzels (of course!) and a few other dishes.  We laughed thinking about our times in Germany only 3 years prior.

The Berghoff Restaurant Sign

Nadine having a beer...or three!  (look at that pretzel)

Chicago Theater sign with JJ Grey

Waiting to get in the cold!

JJ Grey

Bulls-Warriors: Jan 17

Nadine and Dave took quick advantage of being in a major sports city and being able to see the premier sports stars of today.  The Golden State Warriors were in town and we bought the cheapest nosebleed seats we could get, we sat in the very last row, but could still see the action with Steph Curry, Clay Thompson and Kevin Durant...oh yeah, we watched the Bulls too in the arena that Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen played.

During the 4th quarter, we snuck down to the lower bowl and tried to catch a glimpse of the superstars from much closer.  We saw just eng

Our nosebleed seats

Pregame huddle with several Hall of Famers!

Banners for Jordan & Pippen

Steph Curry shoots the ball

Kevin Durant shoots the ball

Seeing the players up close in the 4th quarter

Dave 33rd bday - Jan 7

Dave celebrated his 33rd birthday in Chicago (614 S Dunton Arlington Heights to be exact), just 3 weeks after moving from Scranton.  Nadine cooked Dave breakfast 33rd birthday pancakes to start off the day.  It was followed up by a birthday dinner at Boston Seafood for some amazing seafood plates (Dave's parents joined for the dinner!)   The day ended with the only beer perfect for celebrating #33....Rolling Rock (33)!

Birthday Pancakes - 33 years!

Is that a tie?  Or a shirt with a tie?

Look at that seafood feast!

What 33rd birthday isn't complete with Rolling Rock (33)!