chicago: the new naperville

part two of my chicago trip was to attend mommapalooza in munster, in (aka: the new naperville... disclaimer: that's only funny if you were there or are from munster or naperville). anywho, what is this mommapalooza that i speak of you ask? well, i'll tell you. as per my usual, it begins with a story.


back in september of 2004 i gave birth to e. she was one of around 5 babies in our church nursery at the time. we attended a church in the city that was filled with young, unmarrieds or newly marrieds. i think they always had someone to staff the nursery, but until january '04, there weren't any babies to be put in the nursery on a regular basis (the lovely lady in charge of the kid's kingdom at the church now would laugh out loud if she were to read this- currently, it is a thriving place filled beyond capacity on a regular basis).


in october, my dear friend veronica felt led to start up a mom's group for the five of us with babes. she was kind enough to wait until i was ready to join. each week, five of us mommas would meet, do some form of a book study and then venture to einstein's bagel shop for lunch. somewhere in that first year, a new mom or two joined us and then again in august we had another bunch join. i think at the start of year 2 we had about 15 moms. each week we did the same thing- study, chat, pray, share all things mommy, and eat lunch. it was divine. those tuesday mornings were a sacred time for me. i didn't schedule doctors appointments, i didn't work at my school, and i cried on the few occasions that e was showing signs of a cold and i had to miss.

somewhere in year three, a few of us momma's made the migration to other cities. and the one thing that we universally missed about our days in the city was mom's group and the intimacy that the core group brought. i know that group continues to this day and is a blessing to many-a-momma, but there was something beyond special in those first few ripe years. the core group of us shared something that i personally think was beyond unique. we weren't really friends going into the group. but came out richly blessed and bonded to one another afterwards.


and so last summer, jennifer (forgive me if i have this wrong and am giving credit to the wrong momma) came up with the idea of a once-a-year get-together with the core group. it would include moms and their first born babes (we've all gone on to have more children and it would be impossible to house that many). i was due with poppy last year (or overdue if you really want to know the facts... are you getting sick of me telling you that?) so could not attend. but as i told you in an earlier post, this year, mommapalooza was a sacred weekend for me. it had been on the calendar for months and i planned on being there.


so without further ado, i invite you in on mommapalooza 2010. it was amazing. to be greeted by each of my dear friends and exchange hugs. they melted me. those tears that started pouring on the city street as i left jen, just kept pouring. i was overcome with joy to spend the weekend with these women. i was inspired by them, encouraged by them, refreshed by their laughter... i could go on and on. it was truly a wonderful weekend.



we spent a lot of time sitting around the island in the kitchen chatting, catching up, pontificating about life and mommyhood, politics and food. we told funny stories and reminisced. and most of us pretended to help out in the kitchen, but you can see from this picture who REALLY did all of the work (along with our hostess with the mostest who worked her tail off ensuring that we had a great weekend).

and we might have made our pregnant friend lindsay make us some cocktails. if that isn't a good sport, then i don't know what is.

and did i mention that we did a lot of laughing? so much so that my cheeks hurt by the end of the first day!

this is sweet vicky and her wonderful hubby joe. joe made grocery runs for us, assisted with marshmallows roasts, and did a whole lot of other stuff to make us mommas have a great time.

gigi, the bravest of them all, caught a frog and was a good sport about passing it around for the other kiddos to hold.

and after frog catching, the kiddos chilled on the couch and just enjoyed being together.

there might have been a few moms enjoying the bouncy house as much (if not more) than the kids. but i'm not one for naming names.

the kids thought this was a hoot... well at least one kid did for sure!

it was beautiful to see how these kids that i have known since their early days have grown.

and grown...

and grown. there was swimming,

and picture posing,

and maybe even a water balloon fight.

the weekend ended with swag bags for the kids from vicky who might have turned into martha stewart when nobody was looking. she swears that she isn't domestic, but what i saw tells a different story.

and then it was time to say goodbye. it was sad, but i left feeling refreshed and joyous that i have these amazing women in my life. being with them for the weekend was indescribable and i am beyond blessed to have them in my life.

i love you girls! here's looking forward to mommapalooza 2011!