Anniversary/Memorial Weekend

This was the final of 3 consecutive weekends where the household had something to celebrate. This weekend we celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary. We started on saturday with an evening out with just the parents at Moto restaurant while Zoë was watched by my friends Laura, Marian and Lauren. They were gracious enough to go on babysitting duty while we enjoyed our first night out to dinner alone since Zoë was born. For some of you foodies, you may know that Moto is famous for it's unique food preparation and presentation such as an edible menu and food served in syringes. The owner was featured as a guest on Foodnetwork's Iron Chef. Dinner was 10 courses and interesting, but we have to admit that the food was a bit disappointing and not as good as it was hyped to be. In fact, the taste was quite average. We could name quite a few other restaurants that had far better food. Nonetheless, we don't regret trying it and are considering trying the neighboring restaurant, Otom, by the same owner. After about 3.5 hours of dinner, we headed back home where Zoë was already in the crib. Laura was actively babysitting (Lauren and Marian had to leave earlier), and she did a fantastic job!

The next day the family went to Chicago's Ritz-Carlton Hotel for a special family slumber party. Since Lisa and I had a rare overlapping day off on Memorial Day, we thought it would be nice to get away from the house for a night. We therefore indulged as a family in one of the hotel's family package deals. Zoë was welcomed with toys from the children's welcome toy wagon (we chose a t-shirt for her since the other toys were too small and therefore choking hazards). We decided to order in breakfast through room service. Zoë even got to "order" French toast for free from the kid's menu which mom and dad happily finished for her. We got to stroll around the Magnificent Mile neighborhood and did some brief shopping. Most of the weekend was spent lounging in our room, eating and watching tv. It was a much needed relaxing weeked, though not as relaxing as we had truly wished because Zoë is teething now and quite irritable as you can tell from some of the photos; however, one thing we recently discovered is that she does a great job sitting up by herself!

We got back home Memorial Day where we were greeted with a neighborhood parade. After another brief walk on a nice day, we're now home where Zoë is down for the obligatory baby nap.