As I've mentioned before, we have great neighbors. Of those neighbors, there are four families (counting ours) who make an effort to spend time together on a regular basis. Coincidentally, they are also all families with children!

Easter weekend, we organized a Progressive Dinner (with kids) for our four families.

If you've never done one, it pretty much sounds like what it is. Dinner progresses from one location to the next and the party moves from one location to another. In our case, we had appetizers at Andy & Kate's house, walked down the street to Skip and Niki's house and served the kids their dinner while the grown-ups sat outside, drank wine and nibbled on leftover appetizers (which we carried with us down the street). Then we walked literally next door to Mike and Jill's where the grown-ups ate while the kids watched a movie. Afterwards, we tromped across the street like a big crazy parade to our house where dessert and coffee was served. Here's what that looked like in reality...

It was an unseasonably warm evening, and it was a lovely night for a walk down the street.

Here's the group at Skip and Niki's house all ready to serve dinner to the kids!

Niki did an amazing job preparing food for all the kids - it was delicious!

Home-made macaroni and cheese with tons of veggies and fruit for everyone. Served on lovely vintage dinnerware! 

Brooklyn and Ainsley, the oldest girls, finally had a chance to talk together!

Of course, Wyeth wouldn't part from me and Kyle. He chose to bring his food outdoors to the picnic tables where the parents were talking.

Kyle talks with Mike, Kate and Andy while Milli the Dog prowls for dropped food bits!

Niki and Jill serve drinks.

It was a beautiful evening! Sitting and talking with friends, nibbling on food and periodically checking on the kids...

Kyle and Jill chatting.

After the kids ate, they trickled out to the backyard where Skip and Niki have a pretty cool playground set. I'm pretty sure we almost maxed out the weight limit on it.

Poor Skip had to quickly remove some dog doo which would, of course, be traipsed through.

Dorien came inside to keep me company while I fed Wilder.

As the sun set, the kids slowly moved into the next backyard of Mike and Jill's house where the grown ups were to have dinner.

Jill had prepared the main course - a veritable Mexican feast!! We had a fantastic salad, chicken enchiladas, Mexican corn on the cob, rice and a tamale dish.

Jill and Kate prepare to bring the platters to the table.

Meanwhile, Mike set up a movie (Inside Out) in the loft area for the kids to watch while we ate.

It was a brilliant plan! Other than Wilder being with us, we ate our meal undisturbed!

I am getting hungry just looking at it!

Here we all our - at last! 

People, this is a seriously fun group of folks. The laughter was non-stop.

I know not every neighborhood has this fun, "neighborly" vibe, and I am all the more grateful that we found that here. Friends for our kids and friends for us!

The 1893 Chicago World's Fair introduced the Great Wheel to the world. 

The original wheel was 264 feet high with 36 cars that were more like fancy train cars - accommodating up to 60 people! 

In 1995, Navy Pier acquired a Ferris Wheel, inspired by Chicago's link to the historical wheel.

This wheel was 150 feet high and had 40 significantly smaller cars which held 6 passengers. 

The 1995 Ferris Wheel rotated on Navy Pier until 2015 at which time it was removed to make way for a larger, fancier version.

Still not as large as the original Wheel, the new one is 200 feet high and has enclosed glass cars which hold more like 12 passengers.

Brooklyn and I cheese it up in the air!

I'm not afraid of heights, but there was a distinct lurch in my stomach as our car began climbing higher and higher in the air. I can only imagine what it would feel like to go even 64 feet higher, as the original Ferris Wheel did! I bet they were scared to death! 

Our family (Wilder didn't make it into the photograph) with Chicago as our backdrop!

Looking East across the Lake and the end of Navy Pier.

Looking West to the City.

It was incredibly high up...and the view was just as amazing as you'd expect it to be.

The harbor is empty at the moment, as all the boats are removed from the water for the winter, Minus a few yachts that show up.

More Chicago skyline!

The boys- August, Kyle, Wilder, Wyeth and Dorien.

The view down into the center of the Ferris Wheel.

I was so amazed that Wyeth and the kids weren't scared! I think Kyle and I were more aware of the height than they were.

Me and my squishy little man. His first Ferris Wheel ride! 

We were given a restaurant recommendation from a friend, so we tried it out one night. The place is called Gulliver's and it's been around over 40 years which is saying something! In addition to very interesting decor, they had possibly the largest menu I've ever seen and it was all amazing.  As you can see, Wilder loved my Dad, even falling asleep on him, which is pretty epic because Ran-dad is not known for being a baby guy. He prefers his grandchildren older and more interactive. However, Wilder didn't care. He liked him.

After eating pizza, we played the Spades Game...something my mom and dad have used over the years to get people interacting in ways they might not otherwise do. You play spades, basically, but there are multiple rounds and something interesting happens each round - the trumps change, you play to lose, you switch scores, etc. I find that people drop their guards, start showing their competitive sides and have way more fun than they expect. We had an odd number of people, so I just milled around taking pictures and checking on the kids who played their own games!

Above, my dad explains the rules to Linda, Alina, Kate, Corey and Susan.

Kate (with Grayson) sits beside Kyle who plays across from Andy (Kate's husband). Susan is seated beside Andy on the couch. Kate and Andy live on our street and have three kids who have a standing Sunday play date with my kids. Kate is a Chicago native and her husband is a Massachusetts native, and they have some pretty amazing accents between them. They probably say the same about me and Kyle. I love them. Kate seems to know everyone in this city. She's fantastic! 

Kate's daughter, Keira, played the Squirrel Game with Wyeth. 

Meanwhile, my mom made sure the dining room group was playing correctly.  My dear friend Alina reaches across to her daughter Chloe who is seated beside Alina's husband Jonathan. They are in the Navy and sadly, will be moving to San Diego in a month. I'm not happy about this. They have quickly become people we love dearly.

At the other end of the table, Corey (Susan's husband) faces off with Linda, another neighbor of ours. 

Corey and Susan are fellow believers as well as homeschoolers of their four children and they live around the corner from us. 

It's so bizarre to me to live so close to all your friends. Or rather, have all your neighbors be your friends! We see each other outside all the time as we walk our dogs or go to the park. It's a completely different way of living than I've every experienced. Very communal, in a way.

Moving clockwise, Kyle sits by Andy who is teamed up with Linda on the couch. Corey, my dad and Alina's son, Harper, observe their game. (Harper is Wyeth's best friend).

What I love about games like this and nights like this, is that people become friends who might not even meet otherwise! The common denominator among all the different people was me and Kyle.

We so desire for God to use us in this community as a light shining for His glory, sharing the love of Christ to everyone in our neighborhood. The harvest is ripe, and we pray that God will use us as His workers! 

Another view of the gaming...there were a few other people who came but were unable to stay for the game time. I was still glad my parents had the chance to meet them.

A roomful of kids playing Mexican Train Dominoes....a beautiful sight!

Harper entertains himself with Legos while the big kids play. 

One activity my kids had determined to do with my parents was to fly kites. As you know, Chicago has some epic windy days - perfect for kites. Plus, we happen to have a huge open space just steps away at Touhy Park. Mom and Dad brought some new kites, too, which thrilled the kids.

I went for a run while they got started on a sunny, chilly day.

In the middle of Touhy Park, we let the kites loose! Wyeth watched.

It was my first time to ever fly a kite, if you can believe it. 

I found it to be slightly addicting. 

It was also an activity that attracted other kids, which was pretty cool.

A sleeping Wilder even got to ride! And somehow, he didn't wake up!

Mom and I teamed up across from our men. 

It was so much fun being with them. 

In a way, our moving to Chicago has blessed us with the opportunity to spend time alone with them for the first time ever in our lives. It was truly precious time that I cherished.

My precious Dad. I was so happy to spend time with him, and see him enjoying time with his grandkids. I know it killed them when we moved away, taking 5 of their babies. It was definitely not a move we made lightly...it's been a move 20 years prayed over. It's never easy to do something that you know causes pain to people you love, even when you know it's the right thing for your family. 

For that reason, seeing my children soaking up their presence was like a balm to my heart.

Turns out, the Ferris Wheel ride ended up being something that just Kyle and I did with our kids. The cars were enclosed and meant for a group of 10 or so, but my mom is claustrophobic and there was no way she would have been able to be enclosed in the cars. She and Ran-dad charmed the Navy Pier manager while we made our rounds into the sky.

I'll do a separate post with more pictures from our ride. 

It was fantastic!

Hello from the top!

From Navy Pier, we walked south to Millennium Park and Maggie Daley park. It was one of the first warm days the city had seen this winter and the place was packed. It was actually kinda scary trying to keep an eye on my 4 active little ones amid all the other kids. I definitely wouldn't have attempted it without Kyle and my parents.

It was such a fun place, though! So many different play areas, and man, just the beautiful skyline all around you! It was pretty great.

There were several specific play areas dedicated to the younger set which was much appreciated by Wyeth (and will be by Wilder, one of these days).

The park weaves around and guides you back to Millennium Park and the Bean, etc.

I still can't believe I get to enjoy this architectural eye candy.

Across the road is where the symphony plays during the summer months.

Here we are looking into the Bean! 

From there, we walked about a mile north to where our car was parked. 

In typical Chicago fashion, as we were walking down Michigan Avenue, in a span of 5 minutes, the temperature dropped 40 degrees. I kid you not. We went from sweating in the sun to freezing our buns off.  It's something we have been told about, but you almost can't believe it's possible until you experience it. 

While at our house, my parents also participated in our 3rd floor reno - my mom brought her wallpaper stripper, and she and my dad removed all the wallpaper from the 3rd floor. I was incredibly grateful! And relieved to find that there were no unexpected cracks hiding beneath it. 

All in all, it was a truly wonderful week. I was sad to see them go, but so thankful for our time with them!