Grandma and Grandpa Madsen Visit

First, some pictures of a seriously cute couple for your viewing pleasure.

As I've said before, I live in a crazy beautiful place. Hyde Park in October is an autumn wonderland. I can't get enough of it. We have been fortunate enough not to have been scared away by frigid weather so far, which is a very pleasant surprise that makes this place seem even more lovely. The leaves all seemed to fall at once this week, and luckily I got my camera out just in time to catch some of the colors. These pictures really can't do justice to the scenery, but here is a little peek at my world from last Sunday.

The University of Chicago is about a mile from our apartment. The campus is filled with gorgeous old gothic-style buildings that are covered in ivy. I LOVE it!

This is one of my favorite streets in our neighborhood simply because of the little cone-shaped roofs on these cute houses. I get to look down this street every time I walk to the car.

Here is one of the many beautiful towers on one of the many beautiful churches surrounding campus. The architecture here just makes me swoon!

And here is what my house WILL look like someday.

Get the picture? Chicago is beautiful right now. Not wanting to miss out, my parents flew here last weekend to spend three-and-a-half wonderful days with their grandbaby. (And Matt and me, but we all know why they really came.)

Our first stop on the way home from the airport was Giordano's to get some famous Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Nothing like it. It's definitely a favorite around here.

Grandma couldn't resist buying Josh a little monkey backpack at the airport. He loves his new little friend!

One rainy morning, we took Grandma and Grandpa to the Museum of Science and Industry. I hadn't been to any section of the museum other than the kids play area, and I was really impressed with some of the other exhibits. There's an enormous U-boat (submarine) in the basement -- the first and only one the U.S. captured from Germany in World War II. It's a pretty awesome piece of history.

As we were coming out of church on Sunday, we saw that the sun had finally decided to show its face. So we went for a glorious walk toward the university and my dad and I took zillions of pictures along the way. (There's your warning. LOTS of pictures.)

Nice pose Dad. Nerd.

I know what you are wondering, and the answer is yes, my mom did have a go on the slide herself.

This is pretty much how my dad looked most of the afternoon. He's really into photography and tries to teach me a little here and there, but I have a lot to learn. (Just as soon as I'm done with school....)

Searching for squirrels!

I hope Josh never gets too old

to give his daddy kisses!

I'm so lucky that two of my cousins live on our street. We got to visit with both families before my parents left. Here's a pic of the Clive boys with their Uncle Steve. Wonder where they got the idea for that studly hairstyle?

I love this lady.

Earlier in the weekend, Josh and I took my parents downtown. It was a drizzly day, but we did what we could and stayed pretty dry. We had to stop at this little park because Josh saw a bunch of squirrels and started going nuts in his stroller. Here he is making friends with a critter that was getting a little too close for Mommy's comfort.

We tried to hit Willis Tower that day, but the visibility was absolutely zero, so we decided to head back to the Bean. Earlier that day when it was raining, it seemed like a whole different Bean. It was all fogged up with water lines from the rain. Cool, but not the same.

I was glad it stopped raining so my parents could see this baby in its glory. On days like this, the top of the Bean seems to blend in with the sky.

The next day, the sun came out for a few hours so we went back to the Tower. Apparently, every other tourist in the city had the same idea because it took an hour and a half to get to the top. Still, it was awesome. Josh gets really excited up there. He likes to sit as close to the edge as possible and press his face against the window yelling "Oh boy! Oh boy!" Sometimes he's a little too brave for my liking.

Back at home, Josh stayed pretty busy entertaining his guests. He very purposefully took out all of these cans from the box, brought them to us in the living room two at a time, and collected them after we pretended to gulp them down. His whole process was surprisingly organized and thoughtful. I think this was his helpful way of saying, "Hey fatties, lose some weight!"

Josh was dressed like a little prep school student for church on Sunday. Notice my cute mommy's little Halloween dress. She's always so festive!

Thanks for a super fun weekend Grandma and Grandpa! We all love you to pieces!