I've got the best friends

Some friends are on holiday in Ibiza, they saw this and thought of me. Or at least thought of my bar.

Urgh. Too hot for a Clark

42 feels like temperature yesterday. Far too hot. Luckily the apartment is nice and cool.

Sleep, precious sleep

Florence slept for over 11 hours last night!  There were a couple of squeaks during the night but she managed to put herself back down without the need for more food.  Good girl.  Now to make a habit of it.

1st in ages

First bit of baby sick on me in ages.  She had the cheek to laugh at me afterwards too.  Bloody thing.

WTF

Turned on the TV a couple of days ago and this was on!

What the fuck is it?  And where can you buy those clothes???

I'm so funny

Florence laughing at Daddy.  She even likes watching the video back.

Thanks Flo

Just got back from a walk and got completely soaked.

It's been raining all morning and supposed to rain pretty much constantly over the next couple of days but Florence gets quite annoyed when cooped up for too long.  It's been fine as it's been mostly dry and hot this past month and I can just take her on a long walk.  Today is terrible though and can see me getting very wet pushing her about.  This morning she'd fallen asleep within 5 minutes of getting outside but in that time I was already soaked.

On the plus side I got to wear my new pair of jeans.  I've not worn jeans for over a month as it's been so warm.

As long as Florence is dry.

Crime scene

I really shouldn't let Florence eat raspberries unsupervised.

Girl and the Goat

No, this doesn't make me the goat.  We went to Girl and the Goat last night (baby sitter Jess to the rescue).  It's one of Chicago's best restaurants.  And was very good. 

http://girlandthegoat.com/

We had roasted beets, roasted halibut, grilled chicken, fired lamb ribs, green garlic pierogies (I don't know so don't ask me) and goat belly with lobster.  Oh and we also had some cheese and pavlova.  Urgh.

It certainly wasn't cheap but I think it was probably good value.

Things I want to do whilst in Chicago

• Eat a deep dish pizza. Tick!
• Go to the baseball.  Tick!
• Buy a hot dog from a street vendor
• Fire a gun
• Buy a news paper from one of those machines
• Be involved in a high speed car chase through a narrow alleyway

I've found the alleyway... 

Gelato rose sculptures

On a walk after lunch on Saturday we found this ice cream shop.  They may the ice cream cones look like flowers.  It was pretty pricey but was impressive.   Style over substance though as it made not getting your hands covered in sticky ice cream virtually impossible.

New PB

New personal best!  Thrashed it.  And that's with a dodgy ankle.

No comment

There's an Indian restaurant near us called Gaylord.

Selfie photo in reverse for some reason.

Can I beat my lap time?

There's an athletics track close to our apartment so thought i'd do a lap.  I'll try and beat it tomorrow.

Allowed out to play

April's had a night out and an afternoon off the baby this past week so I was allowed out to play last night.  I decided to go to try out a few of the bars in the local area.

Some were good.

Some made me feel old

Some were great.

Ribs Sunday!

Is that a thing?  It is now.  We went to Southern Cut Barbecue yesterday for lunch and I had ribs.  We were supposed to go their on Saturday but decided against it.  With nothing in the house for lunch we popped in.

It was fine.  Not great, but fine.  The best part was the ability to order meat by the half pound. 

I felt a little dirty after this

Donation dogs 

You have to slip the money in their little coat.  

Breakfast

Avocado, egg, bacony cheese

Goose Green Brewery

After a walk to Old Town to their arts festival we decided to walk a little further to Goose Island Brewery.

Flo enjoyed herself

I'm pretty sure this restaurant is mentioned in the profanisaurus

How annoying

I think i'm suffering from this again

http://www.watdefu.com/2010/11/bloody-ankle.html

My ankle was a little sore last night before I went to bed.  I hadn't twisted it or anything it was just sore.  This morning I had a definite limp.  Just now, when I got up to get a glass of water I could hardly put any weight on it.  FFS.

I'm pretty sure it sorted itself out after a day but it's a little disconcerting considering I did nothing to damage it.  Maybe it was the years of rugby and weighing too much...

Secret weapon

This baby bouncer has been great these last couple of days.  Flo tires herself out, then falls asleep.  She did it twice yesterday and twice again today.

The secret weapon is also having old reruns of Star Trek Voyager on the TV.

Hmm, maybe I won't go outdoor swimming this week

I might get electrocuted

At least it's warm.

Flo's been having trouble getting to sleep at night

So sometimes I take her out for a little walk as she usually falls asleep shortly afterwards.

It's not much fun as it's eating into my free / rest time, but on the plus side I get to see Chicago in a whole new light.

I wondered why it was a little quiet

This parenting lark is easy

New bar

We found a new bar on Tuesday.

April finished work a little early so we decided to make the most of the early evening sun.  We'd been meaning to go to this roof top bar for the last few weeks.  The wind was cool in the afternoon but when in the sun and in this sheltered spot it was really nice.

Expensive though.  Maybe not go there every week.

Before we leave

We've got a list of things we want to do in Chicago before we head back to the UK. 

Most are food or booze related, but seeing a show or two at Second City is one of them.

I wonder who she gets the cheeky face from

The coffee table in the apartment was a little wobbly so the leasing company swapped it out with this nice new one.

Someone managed to pull down April's knitting pattern.

Someone doesn't even look sorry.

I wonder who she learnt that from?

Yet another swim

It was another hot one on Thursday, 24 degrees by 8am, so I took Flo for another swim (first time on my own).  I think we might do this every morning if the weather's half decent

Watching the football

England won 2-1, not a great game, but I got a nice break from the day job.

My favourite pump was the blue fist in the middle here.

Some other great beer pumps.

Walk, walk, walk, walk, sleep

Giving April a break yesterday I decided to take Flo on a little walk around the city.

New breakfast place found

Cupital

Florence wasn't impressed by the menu.  

We liked it though