Millennium Park

Millennium Park is....wow, what to say! First of all, it is a huge, 24.5 acere park now connected to Grant Park. It contains all kinds of sculpture, amazing landscaping, an outdoor concert venue and is probably one of the most popular destinations in Chicago. I'll get to the best part, people watching in a bit. Let me at least appear to have paid attention to other things besides the crazy people in the park!!

I was completely impressed by the flowers and landscaping. The views of the city were none to shabby either. It was odd to me to see huge buildings and yet be surrounded by vibrant flowers.



I loved seeing "The Bean" which I discovered is actually called The Cloud Gate. I like "The Bean" much better. It's basically a big, stainless steel bean. Loved it! It's also lots of fun trying to take your picture with its reflection...and as Chris also discovered, it's fun to mess with other peoples pictures!





Ok, so now lets just stop with the nicities and get down to what was really so great about the park....the crazy, wacky people who were in the park! I love people watching! It's the best!! I'm not sure how best to prove how good the people watching was other than to show you the pictures and tell you about the pictures that got away.

There were several wedding parties in the park for obvious picture reasons! I guess I have missed out on the newest wedding trends, but I believe this is what hooker brides ask their best friends to wear.



I think she was actually proud of her dress. Can you tell? And, these poor sailors got sucked into nearly ever photo opp with every bride.



Ok, sing along with me now...."One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong!"



Now here is just an example of a people watchers dream come true. You got bad bridesmaid hanging out waiting for her photo opp, the other bridal party whoring out to the sailors and then you have Asian girl that just appears out of no where and practically starts undressing herself for her own photo opp. WOW!!!!



And then, just when I thought is was safe to leave because all the great spotting had been done, in strolls Miss Thing In Pink! Hold the boat folks, I'm not going anywhere.



and....she brought her pimps along too!



Yup, my friends, you can't make this stuff up!!!



Oh...and there was more. It was like worlds collide when the "Bad Bridesmaids", met up with the "Good Bridesmaids" and the "Vision in Pink" for a photo opp all together. Wow! Then, right after all that cleared out we had a crazy old guy dressed in a bag pippers uniform, with no bag pipe, that came strolling by saluting anyone who would make eye contact with him!

Truly, it was complete people watching fullfillment! A dream come true.

Chicago!

Chicago was fantastic. Chris and I had a wonderful weekend together (just the two of us) celebrating 10 years ago that we "reunited" in Chicago! We had a blast and the weather was gorgeous...almost too hot!

After dropping the boys off at G & G's house Friday evening, I drove to Napanee to meet Chris. I had forgotten that Napanee is home to a very large Amish population. I was reminded of that Amish population as I was driving down back rural roads in the dark trying to dodge buggies and cycles! Yikes!

He and his crew had a Friday night football game at Northwood High School. It was the first, in a long time, that I had a chance to watch him officiate. I enjoyed myself and got a good taste of high school and middle school children. Mine are never allowed to grow into that breed! Agh...they were awful!



After his game was done we drove on to Merrillville to spend the night. It was well past my bedtime but I managed to stay awake for some food at Buffalo Wild Wings! I guess that is a standing tradition that the crew always eats there after a game.

We drove into Chicago on a beautiful, sunny, Saturday. For old times sake we went past downtown and into the Lincoln Park neighborhood, where Chris had his apartment. This is the same small apartment that we managed to co-habitat for a few months after we were married. We took a few pictures for the boys to see where we used to live!


It's the building with the black door.

We then proceeded downtown to an early check-in at the Renaissance Hotel. The hotel and the room was gorgeous. We have stayed at many different Renaissance Hotels and they have never let us down. It was perfectly situated on the river at Wacker Drive. Which was a great spot to walk to Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park. Millennium Park was an event all in itself and worthy of a second post!



We joined the thousands of shoppers and Chicago Marathon Runners who were walking up and down Michigan Avenue. To our disappointment, FAO Schwartz had closed their store. We had hoped to do some early holiday shopping for the boys. Oh well.





After relaxing, after all our walking, we got ready for the highlight of our weekend. A virtual beef feeding frenzy was in store for us at Fogo De Chao. It was the most full I have ever been after a meal. The food was amazing. And, it just kept coming and coming for as long as I could take it....and the mashed potatoes were great too. I finally had to stop after I thought my button on my dress jeans was going to pop off and wound some other diner. And, as if that wasn't enough...the amazing wait staff overheard us talking about our 10th anniversary and brought out this huge piece of chocolate cake with "Happy Anniversary" written on the plate. We were both surprised! It was all I could do to walk out of there.

It was a beautiful evening to walk and we had a great time! After an hour or two I started to feel like I could breath again...I really have never been so full. Thanksgiving meal has nothing on that place.

Sunday was the Chicago Marathon. Obviously, we were not running the race, but we watched it from the 18th floor of our room. That is about as close as I will ever get to a marathon! Runners started going by on the street below at 8:00. You could tell the real runners from the fun runners. The real runners were hauling ass and had the trucks with the camera guys following them. The real mass of runners came by much later!

We headed back to pick up the boys Sunday and just hung out for the rest of the day. Thankfully, Chris took today off, so it was nice having him around for the long weekend.

I can't thank Chris enough for remembering this special anniversary for us and for finding a way to make the weekend happen. Thank you for handling all the arrangements, reservations and taking the time off to spend the weekend with me! You are the best! I'm looking forward to many more anniversaries with you!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my Grandma, Mouse. Yes, that is what I call her and I always have. Don't ask, I don't know why! Anyway...Happy Birthday to Mouse. When I called her this morning in Michigan she was debating going to "see the Indians". Which is code for going to the casino. Good luck if you go!

These were some pictures the boys sent to her today!

Miss You!

Chris is headed out for business to Colorado today. Sniff, sniff...I will miss him. I'm always sad when he isn't here! Fly safe, Hun! Funny, I always told him that when he traveled every week....like he has any control over his flight!

But, I definitely have something to look forward to while he is gone. Chris and I will be headed to Chicago next weekend to celebrate a 10 year anniversary. It isn't our wedding anniversary, but it is the exact weekend that we "reunited" 10 years ago. We are both very much looking forward to roaming around Chicago together, just like old times!

I'm on my own till Thursday, so hopefully my little dudes will behave themselves. Have a good week everyone!

Post Turtle

I get lots of e-mail jokes and such, but this might be my new favorite!

This is the best short summary of the Palin phenomenon.

Post Turtle

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old Texas rancher, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President.

The old rancher said, ' Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle.'

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was. The old rancher said, ' When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle.'

The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain.

"You know, she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with."