It was one of those days yesterday. I needed to take older daughter back downtown on business yesterday afternoon; DH ended up taking a day off and we made it an unplanned for outing. It was very convenient to have curb-side delivery service for just a 5 minute visit.

We then parked at Water Tower Place ($25 parking). We ended up spending about $17 on underages for purchases at the Lego Store for the boys; the boys and DH then went to see visit the sports museum there ($18 admission and $5 souvenir picture); we ended up finding a better dress for younger daughter (fits her much better, and this was $11 over the previous dress - to be returned today for a credit); and I kicked in $13 for a pair of jeans for older daughter at Hollister. We skipped snacks or eating out because we had lunch at home right before we left. I did bring the snack bin with us, so no one starved before we got home.

It was just a fun day -- and if we can't have fun with our money that we work to save, what is the point?!

We did our road trip to Rockford to visit the Japanese Gardens. Much, much smaller than the Morton Arboretum which we frequent quiet often, but very serene and tranquil.

My parents came along and covered our $32 admission (no need to comment negatively). I packed snacks and drinks and my parents packed sandwiches items, so we tailgated. A very fun experience.

I will blog about the dress drama (my own) for the wedding, and how I ended up finding what I will wear on clearance at Nordstrom Rack for $21xx and how this put $70 back in the budget for a shopping trip to Sam's trip. (I was essentially lied to - think of the answer "No" to the question "Does this make my butt look big?") I was told that what I was going to wear made me look like Great Aunt Tillie from my parents' wedding picture 45 years ago - and that my second/third choice items actually made me look much bigger than I really am (muumuu style/patterned blousy material that cinched at the waist). Since I'm doing the reading (Gospel/homily) and know I will be in pictures I wanted to look "nice". I am so glad I was able to find a floral print sleeveless dress size 5/6 that makes me look like a 5/6 and not a 12/14.



From the gardens today.