I arrived in Chicago June 29, a mere 2 days after Erik and I moved into the new apartment. My Dad and I had plans to go to lunch, but we had to cancel them because he had to work instead. So I hung out at his house.
June 30 - MaryEllen, my Dad and myself went to the Museum of Science and Industry... All Dad really wanted to do was go on the tour inside U-505. When we couldn't he was pretty pouty the rest of our trip there. We did however get to see the new U-505 exhibit which was pretty interesting, and well put together. MaryEllen want to see the plastic people exhibit it was interesting and disturbing all at the same time.
That evening I got to hang out with Alex and Yvette. It was so nice to see them :)
July 1 - MaryEllen, my Dad and myself went to the Shedd Aquarium which was fantastic as always. I love going there! There are so many cool exhibits: the oceanarium, the wild reef, and many other really neat exhibits. After exploring the aquarium, I met up with my good friend Paul at the Taste of Chicago. There we feasted on various foods including the surprisingly delectable fried twinkie. We also went on a boat tour of the lake. I also lost my glasses while we were at the Taste.
That evening Paul and I met up with Alex and Yvette and saw War of the Worlds. I thought it was OK, but I wasn't overly thrilled with it. We went out for dinner and ice cream afterwards. It was a fantastic day.
July 2 - I spent the day with my best friend Susan and her little niece at the HIP. We had a great time. Susan's niece was adorable. We parted ways in the early evening, I made my way back to my Dad's house. A little while later my mom picked me up and I spent the rest of the night at her house. We watched Meet the Fockers, which was pretty funny.
July 3 - While my Mom got her nails done, I got a chance to hang out
with my younger cousin Katie, who at the time was very pregnant and who as of yesterday is the proud momma of a little boy named Alexander(pictured here is the happy family, the gentleman at the back is Javier the proud father). It was really nice to visit with her.Later on in the afternoon my Mom and I met up with Susan and headed down to the lake to find a spot for the fireworks. We had a great time! I shared with Susan the joys of a fried Twinkie. We had snacks, played Uno, and genuinely enjoyed each others' company. The walk to the train was amazing, the streets were completely engulfed with a literally sea of people. The trip back to the car on the train was a long one, and about a minute after we left the train station to walk to the car it began to rain. Luckily the car wasn't very far.
July 4 - I spent most of the day with my Mom. We did a little shopping and then she dropped me back off at my Dad's. At Dad's we had homemade pizza for dinner.
July 5 - Quiet day at Dad's. Stopped at Aunt Connie's and Grandma's for a little bit.
July 6 - Ellie picked me up from my Dad's, we had lunch with Alex and then headed to Rockford.
July 8 - Mom Noble, Ellie and myself got our hair cut.
July 9 - All us girls (Barb, Mom, Ellie and myself) headed to Wisconsin for a day trip. We went to New Glarus, which is a cute little Swiss Village. We had lunch, walked around the town and had some ice cream. I had a flavor called Orange pudding. It was really tasty, creamy orange ice cream with maraschino cherries and nuts, Yummy!
After New Glarus we headed up the road a bit to Mt. Horeb, where we traveled down the Troll-way, and stopped at the International Mustard Museum. The gift shop was bigger then the museum itself. I was happy to discover that the gift shop offered more then just mustard (which I hate, btw :P).
July 10 - Barb, Ellie and myself took a beginning stringing class where we learned how to make bracelets and necklaces. Barb let Ellie and I pick out some beads to bring home, so that we could continue creating jewelry at home. We had SO much fun!
July 11 - July 13 - I had lots more fun in Rockford! Erik's family is awesome, I love them so much :) Ellie and I made lots of necklaces and bracelets, went shopping and generally goofed off. Mom taught Ellie and I the basics of how to quill. I worked on finishing an embellished journal cover for my cousin's birthday gift. The last day of my visit I got to see one of the hospitals where Barb delivers babies. Ellie took me back to my Dad's, and I took her out to lunch. I was sad to leave Rockford, I was having SO much fun.
July 14 - Saw my Dee and Simon. Went shopping with my Mom, we had a really nice time.
July 15 - Dad and I were supposed to go to a movie with Dee, but she completely forgot about us. Dad and I ran some errands. Picked up Dee. We had pizza and watch Friday-night SciFi. Over the course of the day I developed a killer migraine and consequently wasn't very good company.
July 16 - Dee and I hung out in the morning. My Mom picked us up in the afternoon. We had lunch and then went shopping. Dee was very excited about getting clothes for her birthday. After our shopping trip we went to other cousin Jennifer's birthday party. I started not feeling good while we were eating lunch, so by the time we got to the party I was feeling seriously sick. Mom took me back to my Dad's house, Dee joined me later. I continued to feel sick most of the night...
July 17 - Irish Clowns picnic... It was horribly hot, and we got a little bit of a late start... I really did have a good time though :) I thought I was going to be hot and completely bored. I stayed in the shade and played games and talked to my Aunt Cindy and her husband Abel. Aunt Connie, and Simon were also there; as well as some of MaryEllen's family. The food was good and I had ice cold cider (oh how I love cider, I tried some new cider Wood Chuck Pear Cider) Originally we were going to celebrate my grandmother's birthday at the picnic, but because of the weather Grandma opted to stay home, so we had cake and coffee at Aunt Connie's and gave Grandma her gifts there.
July 18 - Dad got sick while at the picnic, and was still doing pretty bad the following day. We were originally going to have father-daughter day; a movie, some lunch, maybe glow-in-the-dark mini-golf.... Instead I asked Simon to take me over to Mom's office, so I could say goodbye and take her some stuff that I needed shipped back to Virginia (I had more stuff than what was going to fit in my suitcase). I then took Simon to lunch and then over to Wright to meet my former manager. Afterward Simon dropped me off at Dad's where I proceeded to wash my clothes and pack.
July 19 - Dad took me to Mr. K's for breakfast, and then to the airport. The flight went OK, and arrived on time. Erik picked me up at the airport and then we went to lunch.
Since I've been home I've done most of the un-packing and Erik and I have discovered how cool our apartment complex's pool is.
That pretty much concludes what happened over my visit to the mid-west. :)
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