The Month in Review:

October 7-10: Went to Minnesota to go to Jinette and Ryan's WEDDING! Ben was a great date :) My date's car had some troubles overheating and so we spent awhile at a local DQ when we should have been at the reception. But it was a good time. Jinette looked stunning, Ryan so handsome, and the food was much better than the chicken basket Ben and I split at DQ while we waited for Al to come save us!

October 10-17 CHICAGO: The public schools in Tennessee have a 2 week October break. Wanting to do something fun with the kids that was within driving distance to TN, Fran decided to plan a trip to Chicago. Mary has been dying to go to a "big city"- her dream is to ride a taxi in NYC (big dreamer, I know!), but she and Fran compromised with Chicago. And after further investigation, we found that The Lion King on Broadway was playing in Chi and Mary was hooked. Liz came from Texas. Thank gosh too, since Liz is Mary's absolute favorite :) Highlights from the trip:

- Having the worst possible seats at the Lion King, and Mary sitting on Liz's head in order to see.

- Gracie's 2nd birthday spent in a hotel room and an ice cream cake.

- countless taxi rides.- Lizzy and I walking around Chicago looking for a laundromat!

- Liz puking from the stench of our hotel room.

- Fran and I having to explain to Liz that lunchables are NOT a midnight snack.

- Jack's fascination with the Chicago subways

- Fran being too scared to walk the glass of the Sears Tower- what a wuss.

October 31st: Halloween! Mary was Rosetta the Garden Fairy (good friend of the more well-known fairy, Tinkerbell), Jack was Thomas the Train, and Gracie was Dora the Explorer. It was an all weekend event- as we went to many Octoberfests, school Bazaars, Chick-fil-a trunk or treat, and trick or treating in the neighborhood.

Good month, good times...