​Are you ready for the 4th of July?! We are working on it! My fellow Messy Mommy and sister-in-law, Holly, my niece Elanora, my sweet gals - Sophia and Stella and I went to the Vienna Beef Factory Store and Café this week to work on our prep. It was awesome!
 
I had not been to the Vienna Beef café before. My mom and I had been discussing menus for the 4th of July weekend and of course hot dogs are on the list! My mom and I chatted about the various meals and worked on shopping lists. I told my mom that I would run over to the Vienna Beef Factory Store to pickup some things for our cook-outs. I called Holly and invited Eleanora and her along. Holly and my brother Matt had been to the Vienna Beef café before and Holly said it was great.
 
I mentioned our Vienna Beef outing to my husband Tony and he asked why I just didn’t run over to our awesome Jewel-Osco at Harlem and Foster like I usually do for Vienna Beef products. I shared that this would be a fun lunch for the girls and that I wanted to check out the Vienna Beef Factory Store. My reasoning was actually more than that – I had been thinking about the meaning of the 4th of July.
 
The 4th of July is one of Tony’s favorite holidays and mine too. We love getting together with family and friends and the cook-outs, the hot dogs, the swimming, the sparklers, the fireworks and all the festivities that go with it. We remember childhood 4th of Julys with parents yelling to be careful with fireworks - Tony and Matt were always cutting it close. We recalled water balloon fights and the laughter as we grilled out all day.
 
As I was thinking about the 4th of July I couldn’t help but think about how so much of the news is negative these days and the political environment is just so awful. The 4th of July though is a time to pause and reflect on all the amazing things in our country. We are a land of freedom, independence, and opportunity. A place where you can speak your voice on any topic – even to say no ketchup on a hot dog. As we were working on plans for the 4th I wanted to go on a little adventure and shop at a place that reflected the American dream. And that lead the Messy Mommies and our messy kids to the Vienna Beef Factory Store. 

​I had looked up the history of the company and learned that in 1893 Austrian-Hungarian immigrants Emil Reichel and Sam Ladany created the introduced the Vienna Beef hot dog to the over 27 million people who flocked to the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. 

In 1894 Emil and Sam opened their first store on Halsted Avenue in Chicago. By 1900 Vienna Beef was selling its famous products to other stores and restaurants around Chicago. Vienna Beef continued to thrive and by the 1950s was sending their products to other states and in the 1960’s moved their products into grocery stores. In the 1980’s the Chicago Pickle Company and the Bistro Soup Company join the Vienna Beef family. Over the years the company has continue to grow and created a Hot Dog Hall of Fame and the Hot Dog University. This story is America. This company is the spirit of the 4th of July. You can live in this country and dream big and create something that will touch countless lives by the products you make, the jobs you provide, and the communities you support. And, the food Vienna Beef makes is awesome! ​

​So, after I read the history I just wanted to see the actual Vienna Beef place. To walk where the American dream thrives every day. Holly, the girls, and I had a ball. We ordered our hot dogs – Holly and I had to have the Chicago Hot Dog. Stella and Eleanora had hot dogs too while Sophia opted for a great grilled cheese. The fries were great and the tater tots were outstanding – so good that the girls went back for another order. The food was excellent and the sandwiches looked amazing! Every Vienna Beef person we met was great! So friendly, so welcoming – so proud of the Vienna Beef company. I even asked the person who made our hot dogs if I could take his picture! 

​The Vienna Beef café was packed with people from all different backgrounds. Everyone loves hot dogs, this place is so America. We were enjoying our lunch while taking pics and doing Facebook and Twitter videos. Our videos are funny as the girls were cracking up and I was trying to figure out how to do the videos correctly! Holly and I noticed two gentlemen behind us having lunch and we now think they may have been Jim Eisenberg and Jim Bodman who lead Vienna Beef. We should have said hi! While we are not totally sure it was them, it wouldn’t surprise us – it is that kind of place – everyone is together. This is how America should be.
 
After our awesome hot dogs I did some quick shopping and we were all on our way. It was a great lunch and I was glad I was able to touch this corner of America.
 
As you celebrate with family and friends over the 4th of July I hope you let some of the negative discourse fade away and that you are able to celebrate all of the amazing opportunities of our incredible country. And, I hope you celebrate with your family and friends and some iconic Chicago Vienna Beef hot dogs! I know we will!

God Bless America and Happy 4th of July!
 
Meg 

​You can order Vienna Beef hot dogs via the Vienna Beef website, the Vienna Store, here is the link. You can also go to your local Jewel-Osco and other great grocery stores! 

You can visit the Vienna Beef Factory Store and Cafe at 2501 N. Damen Ave., Chicago, IL 60647.
 
(Disclaimer - we love hot dogs and wanted to write about this great American hot dog story for the 4th of July. This is not an ad. Vienna Beef  - we’d love to interview Jim and Jim sometime! And, the Vienna Beef social media folks are rock stars! Also, I pulled pictures from the Vienna Beef website for the history portion of this post. You can find more great pics on the Vienna Beef website.) 

For many of you, summer break for your kids has been in full swing for several weeks, but if you live in the city of Chicago, you are probably just settling into the new routines of summer break.  If you have a kid who says they are bored (already!), why not take them to your local Chicago Public Library branch and sign them up for Rahm’s Readers Summer Learning Challenge.  The program, supported by the Chicago Public Library and the Museum of Science and Industry, challenges readers to read only 20 minutes a day (or more!).  Each child aged 0 to 13 who signs up for the program, receives a booklet in which the Museum of Science and Industry shares several Brain Games that are fun and easy to do at home to help kids discover and create new things. You may even want to head to the Museum of Science and Industry to check the exhibit “Brick by Brick” or “Robot Revolution.” The library has scheduled some great programs for kids throughout the summer. You can find more details about the reading challenge and the programs being offered on the library’s website at https://www.chipublib.org
 
Eleanora has participated in this program since preschool.  She loves to take her book bag each week to our local library branch and fill it up with books to read, check-in with the volunteers to track her summer reading and enter the weekly raffle drawings for free books.  The challenge theme is “Become a Superhero This Summer!” Eleanora  began her transformation into being a SUPERHERO by kicking off the challenge with a quick read of the graphic novel, Roller Girl, by Victoria Jamieson. She gives this book two-thumbs up and says that the main character has many qualities of a superhero!  This is a book she thinks you should check out this summer! 
 
I asked Eleanora to come up with a list of ten additional books she would recommend to friends and readers of our blog.  (She did want me to point out that the books are not listed in any particular order and if she could have given more than the ten I asked for, she would have plenty more titles to suggest!).  Happy Reading – I hope to see you and your little super heroes at the library or maybe even at the Museum of Science and Industry this summer! 
 
Eleanora’s Suggested Summer Reading for 9 to 12 year old kids:
Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein
The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
The War that Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Out of My Mind, by Sharon M. Draper
Waiting for Normal, by Leslie Connor
One for the Murphy’s by Lynda Hunt
Crenshaw, by Katherine Applegate
Baby Mouse (series) by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
Stuart Little by E.B. White
A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen

​Some family rituals are great like eating dinner together and playing board games. Other family rituals can cause a few headaches! We have a great Father’s Day gift that can help save some headaches in your house!
 
In our kitchen we have a bowl for keys and my husband, Tony and I almost always drop our keys in the bowl. This simple ritual keeps us from scrambling for missing keys as we are dashing out the door. Keys are easy in our house.
 
I cannot say the same about Tony’s wallet. That is until recently! Our ritual had often been chaotic when it came to Tony’s wallet. We would be ready to leave our house to go just about anywhere and Tony would ask where was his wallet. We would do a fast search of the house with us yelling back and forth. Sophia and Stella would dart around the house trying to help their dad. I would yell for Tony to check near his office desk while I searched the living room. I would then scan the kitchen while Tony checked upstairs. This routine happened all the time! Sometimes it was a quick search and sometimes it was not. Often it was a headache.
 
Last weekend Tony, the girls and I ran into Best Buy and as we were heading to check out we saw a “Tile” display. According to the advertising you buy a slim “Tile” and can insert it into your wallet, car keys, purse, etc. and then you download the app. When you can’t find your wallet or keys you go to the app and it sets off an alarm. You can quickly find the missing item! From the marketing we thought it looked great and just might solve our wallet headache.

​Once we arrived back home Tony set up the app in a few minutes. The Tile and app are very cool! You simply insert the Tile into your wallet and download the app. To test it out, Tony let Stella and Sophia hide his wallet around the house. He would then set off the alarm to find his wallet. The girls loved hiding his wallet in the kitchen island, under pillows in the living room, and on a chair in the dining room. The alarm was great and the girls had a ball watching Tony search for his wallet. One of Tony’s favorite features is the “view on map.” If you lose your wallet or iPad or credit card somewhere you tap on the app and the map will show you the location of your missing item. Very cool!
 
While Tony has only had the Tile a week, it has already ended the wallet headaches in our house! Tony is a happy dad!
 
I have an amazing Dad, Sergio and Tony is an awesome father. I'm constantly trying to think of different gifts for Father's Day. If you are trying to think of something different and clever for the dads in your life check out a Tile! Here is the link to Tile at Best Buy! Happy Father’s Day!

​Meg
 
(Disclaimer – I thought this was a cool product and wanted to share! Tile and Best Buy did not reach out to us but we would love to talk to them – we think this is cool!)