Things I bet you didn't know Chicago Has!

This first picture is of the Lincoln Park Arboretum. Most people don't Even know it exists, and neither did Aaron and I until we moved into the area and ran across it while we were out biking. So last weekend we went down here to study for a while. Sorry the first picture didn't do well with colors, it was a gloomy day. But I played around with my camera to take the rest of these.

In addition to the garden there's the zoo (which everyone's heard of) and the conservatory. They are all great places to visit...and all free. What more could you ask for! And we'll even supply 2 bikes for the ride (though it's only a mile from our place).
So come visit!
Booxy

Need An Opinion..for Hoffmann eyes only

Hopefully this doesn't totally spoil our Christmas card but I need some opinions. I'm going to post a few pictures on the blog. Please respond with which one you like best. Number 1 is the top picture.

Wrigley Field

Aaron and I took Joe to a Cubs game for his Birthday....yes I know his birthday was in April....but this is when we got tickets for the game. We had a great day. Andy and Joe picked us up from work. We dropped the car at our place and jumped on the EL. We ate dinner at a place called Minnie's. It's a fun restaurant in which all your food is miniature, so instead of one hamburger you get to pick 3 sandwiches or pizzas that are all small. Joe enjoyed is tall root beer and pizzas. We then jumped back on the EL and headed up to Wrigley

The Cubs didn't win against the Brewer's that night, but we still had a great time. Wrigley is a great stadium and Joe was fascinated by the game. I've never seen anything hold his attention so long! Luv ya Joe! Thanks for coming up to visit us!
A. Booxy

Cute kids!

Thought you'd appreciate these cute pics of a few of your great grandchildren Grandma. They're awefully cute! Hudson pointing out his Pizza and showing me how to blow on it.
Drewber being ornery
Emitt, well, being Emitt

For those of you who wondered where we headed off to so quickly. Aaron and I had made plans to entertain Joel and Amber Virkler for the weekend. We did one of those, we new we had plans Labor Day weekend but didn't assosiate Labor Day with the last weekend of August. So over booked ourselves for the weekend. This was their last weekend in the area and were so excited to spend it in the city we could hardly turn them down. So we came home from the picnic, picked them up at the train station and then showed them the town. A very nice day which ended in ordering sushi (which is suprisingly good).

Love you all and miss you, I wish we could have stayed longer last weekend! Hope you had a great end of the day!

Booxy

Feeling Guilty.....

I'm feeling kinda bad for putting that picture up on the last post...........

Will you forgive me, Sarah?!?

I'll try to use up alot of

space, so you don't have to see it !!

Because I DO want you to check this blog, and I REALLY want you to still talk to me & love me!

:)
:)
:)
:)
:)

SO.....about this Saturday! A Bonnie, could you refresh me of the details?? I didn't write much down. (What should I bring, what time, etc) Josiah has his first SOCCER GAME at 9:00a.m., but we plan to leave right after that. Can't wait to see & be with everyone ~ but VERY dissapointed that it's quite possible Mom & Sparks won't be there. BUT I'M NOT GIVING UP - I'M PRAYING THAT THEY CAN BE HOME BY THEN!!!

And how's Grandma?

OK, I hope I've used enough room here, so our furry little friend is gone :)



Love You All!!


Kristy



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This is for you, Sarah!

OK, I'm so sorry.....I just wanted to show you the spider I caught. (this is just an image I found...but it looks just like it)

Please don't hate me!! : ) : ) : )


Are you doing ok?? Take a deep breath......it's ok......It's NOT REAL! I LOVE YOU!!

Help!

OK, I need someone to do a minor investigation for me. I cannot remember how much each of us paid for our 2 nights at Beachwalk this past May. I keep forgetting to look this up, for Klint & Sarah, and I want to make sure I give her the right amount. So if someone could look-up how much they paid us, I'd GREATLY appreciate it! (So sorry I've not gotten back to you, Sarah!)

ALSO... I'm so bummed with how they LACKED in handling our 'ordeal'. (Problems through the weekend, no lights in the guest house, etc.) I was "assured" we should get some form of refund or credit to our next stay, and I followed up 2 times, but each time I called I was just told the manager is out, he knows the situation, and I'll have him return your call as soon as he works this out with the home owner. Well, I've never gotten a call back OR a refund! Now what do I do?!? I hate being in these situations. OK....sorry I got a little heated there :)

On a different note, Mom & Dad & Clark got a 2-day pass to DC! So they took the metro in today! They were excited. Just waiting for all the paperwork to go through before they can head home! PRAISING GOD FOR HIS MERCY!!

Love you all! Kristy

more pics

Precious Aria
The kids for a photo op.
Me and Doozer
Having fun!

Some Pics from the Kaufmann Vaca

The boys excited to go to the pool.
Our evening "walk." Good thing we have enough adults for piggy back rides and pulling the wagon.
Fun times at the pool. The kids loved the water.
Just a precious pic.

A Belated Birthday

Since we decided to move the weekend of my birthday we put off celebrating it. Then life got busy, and we had visitors...and so on and so forth. So 2 months later we went to the John Hancock building 95th floor restaurant. It gave us a beautiful view of the city and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast. They even gave me a little key lime pie with a candle in it and on the plate wrote Happy Birthday in chocolate...cool huh?

For those of you who remember my friends Amy and Ashley from nursing school here we are at Ashley's baby shower. She got married last summer and now lives in Cincinnati but Amy flew in and Ashley's friends from here in Chicago threw her a nice Baby shower....It was great to see the girls and spend time catching up on all our lives.

Road Trip...

Hello everyone!

I posted some of these pictures on my blog, but I wanted Grandma to see them!

The 4 of us REALLY had a wonderful trip. (It was really nice to have 4 drivers). We enjoyed our time together and were so thankful that everything went so well!



Love to you all! Sarah

5th of July

We had a great 4th of July weekend. Friday we bought a bike for me. We decided to take it on it's maiden voyage up the lake shore and back through the city. Bike riding through a city is a fabulous way to not only get to know a city, but to spend a beautiful day outside. Not too strenuous. Saturday we spent sailing and having a cook out with friends. I'm sure you'll all be glad to here, I did not get sick this time. The wind wasn't real strong, which made the expert sailers a little sad...but I enjoyed it immensely! This is the boat we took out
Heidi and I basking in the sun.
Then today we had church, sang at the nursing home and then went out to Eisenmann's for another cookout and some great games of volleyball.

I'm going to try a new idea for our blog. Can you come up with something unique from your town. Like sailing, growing up I never associated Chicago with sailing. Then again, maybe that's because I have a father who gets motion sickness faster then I do? I'll be posting more things you probably never new about Chicago over the next few months....once I figure out how to upload my pictures from my cell phone.

Love you all!

Bloomington...

Mom, Emitt & I were in Bloomington for a SHORT time this week. Mom graciously came with me and watched Mr. Mitt while I hung out with the Fab 5. I was sooo excited that Chelby and her kiddos were at Grandma's when we showed up yesterday.

I tell you what...it was more of a challenge this time to take pics of Aubrey & Emitt than in February. This is about as good as it gets! :)

And, sweet little Chasers is getting so big!
Great seeing you Grandma. Thanks AGAIN U. Denny & A. Bonnie for your hospitality! Love to you all!

Just a few more pics

One of our first overnight guests

Drewber was one of our first overnight guests. He was the easiest hosting I've ever done! He rode around in the stroller all evening and the next day...



We took him to our market, past the art fest and then down to Michigan Ave. What a trooper.


We pretty much wore him out. He layed down with me (so fun) and fell fast asleep on our bed. He's so precious!

The new place (2of3)

First pics are of the biggest apartment kitchen I've ever seen! This is only 2/3 of the cupboard space (I have a pantry too!). I love it! Not Grandma's cookie jar on the cupboard. Sorry these pictures were taken while still cleaning up so the place isn't really clean.



Here's our bedroom, which is the world's longest room. I still haven't measured the length, but as you can see we have a bed, a bookshelf, our dresser and right behind me taking the picture is our armour. It's large enough to need two seperate ceiling light fixtures. We're still working on decorating the walls in here.


This picture is one of my favorite parts the the apartment, the fireplace. It currently doesn't work, but it sure looks cool!

And finally, our study, which is a little bigger then our last place and does fit our air mattress. So now if you come over you can have your own bedroom with the air mattress. We really love our new place. The apartment is just enough bigger to give us the perks we were looking for, plus two walk in closets and extra storage place. It's only up one flight of stairs and we love the neigborhood. It's walking distance to the beach, only a couple blocks from a grocery store and about a mile from the Magnificent Mile....so come visit!

Long awaited post. 1of 3

I hope that everyone hasn't completely quit reading the Hoffmann blah...we're sadly missing Sarah's posts since she now has a very entertaining blog of her own. Lizzie, I could use some help here!
Well, first off here are my wonderful helpers for our move Memorial Day weekend. The kiddos were troopers. They made more trips up and down our stairs...and with their short legs they had to take twice as many steps! Thanks for helping us move!


After we moved we (actually the men) took them to Lincoln Park Zoo for the evening while us women did some shopping and went and picked up the Pizza. We were all very thankful for the beautiful weather!