Fun with family, friends, and neighbors

There's been a little delay between installments of my moving update because, unfortunately, it seems my camera may be broken. I was unable to retrieve photos from it until I ordered a new USB adapter. My dad currently has the camera and I'm hoping he'll be able to figure something out, but, as silly as it is to feel this way about an inanimate object, I kind of feel like a part of me has died!

In any case, the adapter arrived, so I thankfully have my pictures. And so begins Part 3: Fun with family, friends, and neighbors.

Drew's birthday snuck up on me only 4 days after moving in. He kept telling me he wanted to play with his friend Ben (from home in Georgia) for his birthday, so, knowing that wouldn't be possible, I wanted to make the day fun and distracting. So, even though I sort of swore off themed birthday parties after his 2nd birthday (until he was in school and really cared about it), I decided to make his birthday kind of fun by surprising him with a "Paw Patrol" party. Paw Patrol is a cute show he likes to watch about puppies that help "save the day" in various ways. (P.S. We did have a fun play date with Ben before we left to sort of celebrate Drew's birthday, but how quickly we forget).

Birthday present from Nonny and Poppy-
lots of work to put together!

As we settled in, we got a chance to meet a few of our neighbors. First we were surprised to find a sweet welcome gift on our doorstep from neighbors across the street.

After some of our last experiences with neighbors, it was definitely refreshing. (And please know, we actually had some awesome neighbors at home, too- they weren't all bad! But having flowers stolen definitely left a bad taste in our mouth).

Later that week we made our way over to say thank you, and Drew hit it off immediately with their 7-year-old son. Even more exciting is that they have another little boy who is only a month younger than James. Though they're not quite at the age where they can play together, I foresee many happy play dates in the future.

Drew playing with his new friend.
Photo taken from our inside our living room

During our chat, the neighbors informed us that the next morning, July 4th, there would be a neighborhood parade. We thought it might be a nice way to get to know the neighborhood, so we decided to join in the fun. We definitely enjoyed the walk around a few blocks while chatting with many other neighbors who have children Drew and James' age. My parents happened to be working at our house and snapped some photos of the parade going by...

Oh hai!

James in awe of the fire "f***"

Look how big the wheel is!

All the kids

July 4th was certainly a busy day because shortly after our parade we had our first "guests"! Friends of ours from Georgia moved to Michigan last winter, but ended up moving from there to Chicago the same weekend Jason and I arrived! Kevin and Chrissie (and their 1.5-year-old daughter) live only 30 minutes from us now, so we thought it would be nice to get together with some familiar faces. They came to check out the Naperville "RibFest" for lunch with us- an annual festival where contestants compete to serve the best ribs.

I didn't get any pics of the delicious ribs,
but here are cute kiddos waiting in line

They stayed through dinner and fireworks. We had plenty of fun in the backyard, enjoying Drew's birthday trampoline. Adults included! Fireworks weren't so much of a hit- James screamed until we hid inside, and their daughter fell asleep within the first few minutes, but being able to view them from our front yard made all of that so much easier!

Adult fun until the kids crashed our party

Though we're still working through unpacking (and missing our friends back home), having so much fun with family, friends, and neighbors has really helped us to feel at home quickly here.

Since it took me so long to get this part posted, I've built up another stash of photos to share. Next up will be our adventures exploring what Naperville has to offer.