The Parrillo Family

Earlier this month, we packed up and went back, once again, to WDW for a trip that included a stay for NYE, but also for a half marathon.  Both Nat and I were set to run it.  But then, something happened.  And due to lightening, they canceled it. That didn't stop Nat from going out and running the 13.1 miles on her own!  What a woman! I posted about our most recent trip down to see The Mouse here .  This marks the 10th trip for us. This one was the most different.  We did things we've never done.  We tried to run the race.  We resort hopped.  And we were joined by Grammy and Granddad for a few days. Here's a few photos to mark the trip. We met a few of the women of MainStreet USA.  Including this suffragette and entrepreneur. We were there for NYE.  That was pretty special. The fireworks show that we watched from the Polynesian was incredible. We rode one of our favorites in Epcot.  And positioned the kids ...

Over the past six-plus years, we've posted numerous times about our family taking part in elections and going to the polling place as a family each chance we get.   Here's the latest one of those posts from this past fall's general election showing Nat and the kids voting and all of us staying up late to tally the (unfortunate) totals .  We've been engaging the kids at each turn in voting since they were very small.   Here's a bunch of the voting posts going all the way back to when Eloise was just a little thing that we carried into the voting booth ! So, it was a natural extension of that engagement in the process for Nat to work with the girls around the Women's March that she and her mother and sister planned to participate in down in the Loop in Chicago.   I'm sure Natalie can provide much more color, but the pictures tell the story.  After talking to our girls about the process  (see the 'what does the President do?' brochure on the ta...

For the third (I think?) year in a row, we brought the kids and met their cousin, Aunt Sisi and Uncle Bill along with Grammy and Granddad at an early Holiday Open House in the Western Suburbs to meet Santa and his reindeer. Here's the post showing photos from the same event last year. Like in year's past, we first were able to meet some of the reindeer.  Sadie loved petting them and learning all about them from the elves. The line was long, but the team at Wannamakers has set up some cute photo ops including this one in the little red car with a Christmas Tree attached to the roof. And then it was 'showtime'!  Let's meet Santa and tell him what we want for Christmas. As you can see, Frank couldn't get out of there fast enough!   *Feets don't fail me now!* But the girls?  They hung right in there. And were able to spend some time with Santa to tell him what was on their list.  SD said she wanted the American Girl Camping set. ...

We're a divided house.  I'm a White Sox fan.  Nat is a die hard Cubs fan.  And with the Cubs being the best team in baseball and not just being in the World Series but also winning it, the excitement has been contagious with our kids.  Just look at the three of them wearing their Cubs gear.  Nat was so happy to share this fun experience with them.   Ellie stayed up late on a couple of games to take it all in.  And the song "Go Cubs Go" was being sung all around the house.  Even Frankie sings it! But, Nat's excitement wasn't just about the Cubs winning, it was about having Grampy see *his* team, the Cubs, who he's watched for 90 years finally win the whole thing.  So, Nat and Aunt Sisi and Grammy along with SD went out to get Grampy Ray a "W Flag" to fly at his house in the South Suburbs. Here's SD and her Great Grampy 'Flying the W'! And here's SD with Grammy and her dad out front of his house.  How happy was he that...

We weren't in Coloma for the 4th of July for the first time in many years because we were in Europe with the Marini family and arrived back on the 3rd, so this year, as the holiday weekend wound down, we were able to join the Moran's and the girls' Uncle Bill, Aunt Sisi and Frank's bestie out at the Naperville Ribfest.   We've been to Ribfest in the past, but I don' think I've posted any photos here on the blog before.  The Ribfest is what you would expect:  bbq and carnival.  They also have music acts, but we didn't go for that.  We were there for the ribs and pork and to win a few carnival games for the girls.   That's Eloise up there posing so proud with her giant, stuffed Emoji that we won at a game.   And here she is taking in some soft serve with her Godmother Aunt Sisi: Frank the tank was there, too!  Here he is goofing around with Granddad.  The jetlag really hit SD hard and she fell asleep in Grammy's lap...

Over the weekend, we gathered at Aunt Sharon's house and our 'own' house (Thanks, Marinis!) to celebrate the Moms that we love.   I've posted photos from Mother's Day celebration here on the blog that was all the way back in 201 1 when Eloise was not quite two years old.  Sadie wasn't quite in the world yet!  I also posted some photos in 2012 when SD was, indeed, in the world.   There's also this post of Eloise's first-ever Mother's Day card .   This year, we started the day with breakfast at our own house and some home-made gifts from the girls to Nat.  After a nice walk to-and-from Church, we went over to Aunt Sharon's house for brunch to celebrate with Noonie and the Coyles and Dyers as well as Grandma and Grandpa Marini and Aunt Lisa.  The Swiss Family Marinis were missed!  But...we *did* do something on Mother's Day for Sadie's Godmother Vic, so I'll post about that another day. I posted about Natalie and Mo...

This photo comes courtesy of Aunt Sisi and shows our boy Frankie and his bestie cousin swinging on the swingset that Granddad built for Uncle Peter.  He recently retrofitted it with two kid swings.  These two are just a month or so apart in age and I can see many a weekend spent together at Grammy and Granddad's house together. Eloise has a cousin that is that.close in age too, and it has been wonderful to see them grow up together.  I was never that close with my cousins, but I'm hoping that these two sets of cousins will stay close as they grow up, even if they're living in the city vs. suburbs or even Elmhurst vs. Switzerland! Also... Compare this photo above of the Big Beef with his *first* swing ride that took place almost exactly a year ago .  He's soooo much bigger!  But still loves the swings!

Right after Thanksgiving, the Morans' hosted a wedding shower for Charlie and Sasha out in Naperville.  It was Paris-themed, and in typical Moran-party-fashion, Dianne, Natalie and Elise did a bang-up job with the decor and food. Eloise played the part of hostess well.  She always does.  She was up front, welcoming guests 'to Paris'.  With her beret, flag and mustache! Ellie wanted to make sure she had a photo with the bride-to-be, Sasha! The happy couple. In addition to the sign you see above (wow...what a sign!), Ellie made her own chalkboard sign that says "Welcome to Paris" that was prominently displayed in the front hall. The Rostans showed up strong for the shower! Here's Noonie and Grampy Ray: Sasha and Molly: A big contingent of Moranimals and two Silvers.   Look at those 'staches! And even Frank got in on the action.  I brought him over to the shower as it wound down.  He found a good sp...