Chicago = Family

Who needs Airbnb when you have R's Auntie A and Auntie J? Ever since we moved to California almost 17 (wow, 17!) years ago, we would stay with his brother K in the basement apartment of his aunties' two-flat when we came back to Illinois to visit. There would always be a stocked refrigerator and pantry waiting for us, thanks to his aunties. Even though K passed away in 2015, we are still staying at "K's place" and still being well-taken care of by A and J!

Saturday, July 22

At the top of the list of things to do when we come back to Chicago is "see family". Next is "eat". Today we got to do both at the same time! R's cousin B invited the whole clan over to their house for dinner.

The grands and great-grands

Chicago family (minus 4)

Lou Malnati's

We ended the night playing Left, Right, Center...

Baby M practicing for the 2037 family reunion in Vegas

...and three rounds' worth of cash in my wallet!  Woohoo!

Sunday, July 23

Water balloon toss

What fun to see so many familiar faces at church this morning! There were even several folks visiting today who attended CCP at the same time we did years ago. I especially appreciated the message the pastor gave about what "home" means and the joy there is in looking forward to our eternal one. Afterwards, we enjoyed the all-church picnic in the park across the street.

Dinner at Renga Tei

We spent the evening getting a new router set-up, as well as introducing the aunties to life in the 21st century. M tutored them in the basics of using their new iPad and surfing the 'net. And J was especially happy because cousin D was spending the night so that they could hang out together.


Monday, July 24
Today's weather report: partly cloudy with highs in low 70's. Is this really summer in Chicago? I'll take it!

R and the three boys headed out this morning to find an open court to play basketball. They ended up at Proesel Park in Lincolnwood.

After they came back and got themselves cleaned up, we drove to Elmhurst, stopping for a late lunch at Portillo's.

Of course, there are Portillo's locations closer to the city, but we came out here to pay our respects to K, as well as R's grandparents and uncle (D's grandfather).

K's ivy wreath wasn't the only Cubs decor we saw

J had been asking for Oberweis ever since we arrived in Chicago on Friday, so we stopped in Park Ridge on our way back into the city to satisfy his craving.

Tuesday, July 25
Our flight to LAX departed at 10:00AM, so we left for O'Hare early this morning. Thankfully, the drive on the Kennedy is never as bad as what we usually see on the 405!

Big thanks to Auntie J, Auntie M, and Auntie A for spoiling us!

Is your refrigerator running?

While we were at the gate, we noticed that Colin Ferguson was also waiting to board our flight. He played Sheriff Jack Carter on one of our favorite Syfy shows, Eureka. But you may recognize him as the guy in the Maytag appliance commercials. Fun end to our trip!