A Visit from the In-Laws

Johnny's parents are such great sports! For the last few years we have always made a summer trip to Florida. But, now that we moved away from Dallas, Dallas got slotted for the summer trip leaving little to no time or funds for a trip to Florida. And since we didn't come to them, Mom and Dad decided to come to us!

We had a wonderful two week visit in which we experienced a lot of Chicago. We started out in the city at our favorite pizza place: Chicago Oven Grinder. Simply the BEST pizza pie in the city! Then we headed over to Wacker Street and boarded Chicago's First Lady for an architecture tour on the river. This was very informative. I had no idea that so much went into the design of the Chicago skyline. While in the city we also hit Garrett's popcorn. The "Chicago" thing to do is get a blend of cheese and caramel. This doesn't sound that great, but trust me, it's fab!

The girls took a trip into the city via the Metra Train and WaterTaxi. We ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (my favorite!) and went to the American Girl store. We also shopped on Michigan Avenue.

Then Johnny, Dad, Parker, Grayson, our niece Chatlie and I all went to Toyota Park to watch the Chicago Fire take on Everton! I thought that seeing Everton in Dallas was a once in a lifetime event, but it seems we are more privileged than I ever imagined. It was a bitter-sweet game because our Chicago Fire won. Not that great for Everton, though. I think the most memorable thing about the game will be the Irish Everton fan that sat behind us and his chants in his Irish accent saying, "We're on holiday, you're in the middle of your season!" as an excuse for Everton's poor showing. Everton was in the states playing some exhibition games getting ready to start the English Premier League in a few weeks. Either way, I think we all had a great time in the front-row seats that Johnny scored us!

Since Mom and Halle were left out of the Everton game, Mom told Halle that she would take her anywhere she wanted to go. Halle picked her favorite fine-dining place for dinner....McDonald's! After that they went to Build-A-Bear. Halle got the best pink leopard you could pick out, complete with voice chips and fancy clothes. And lastly, they went back to McDonald's for ice cream! Nana loves to spoil her Halle!

Since Mom and Dad were here for two weeks, they let Johnny and I have a few days to ourselves while they stayed with the kids. (I don't know who was more excited--Johnny and me or Mom, Dad and the kids!) We didn't go far.....just to downtown Chicago, but we had a great time! We stayed at The Drake hotel which is one of the oldest Chicago hotels. Lots of famous people have stayed there, and now they can add John and Jennifer Harris to the list! While in the city we enjoyed dinner out with Matt and Mel, went shopping, went to Ravinia, and also took in a Cubs game. Talk about an action packed 3 days!

Ravinia is awesome. All summer long they have different musical talents. The best thing to do is pack your own dinner and blanket, buy tickets for lawn seats, and enjoy the music! We listened to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra play scores from E.T., Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and other great movies. The weather was perfect--in the low 70's, and we nibbled on cheese and had some great red wine. We couldn't have asked for a better evening.

But, I think the highlight of our time in the city was our Rave Run on Lake Michigan. It's great to be able to run together. I've never been able to keep up with Johnny, but it looks like all the miles I've put in have paid off. We had such a great time running along the Lake, talking, and pushing each other to finish 6 miles. At times I forgot where I was and thought I was running by the ocean! The waves were crashing and the beaches were full. Several times we marveled, "I can't believe we live here!" We are definitely going to take the kids into the city to go to the beach!

Lastly on the entertainment front, Johnny's company hosted a picnic at the Lincoln Park Zoo. We all loaded up and headed downtown once again to meet Johnny's co-workers and friends. We enjoyed a great lunch of burgers and Chicago dawgs and then we spent some time wandering through the zoo.

Although I love going to the city, it's very fast-paced and really makes me thankful that we live in Wheaton. The city is close enough to get to every once in awhile if we have something going on, and I do love the excitement of it, but I LOVE Wheaton!!!

Enough on the entertainment front. My blog wouldn't be complete if I didn't brag a bit on the even MORE awesomeness of my in-laws. When we moved in this house I claimed the back office to be my scrapbook room. The only problem is that is was covered with boy wallpaper and was very masculine. For a year now I've dreaded redecorating because it involved taking the wallpaper down. Yuck!! But, Mom, Dad and Chatlie helped me use a steamer to strip the wallpaper down. Then, while Johnny and I were on holiday, Dad painted the room for me! Then, Mom made me a new valance and roman shades. She sewed for 2 days straight to get them finished! She even bought a sewing machine to leave at my house for such projects! I am blown-away at their help and generosity. I am still arranging my office and getting it all set up, but very soon I'll post pics of the finished project. I COULD NOT have gotten this done without their help.

And, as if all of the decorating weren't enough, they are so helpful to me when they're here. They stay with the kids so I can run errands, several times Mom cooked dinner because I was running someone somewhere or had a workout scheduled, they swept the floors, washed dishes, helped with laundry, and Dad helped Johnny in the yard for hours.

So for all of you wondering how I feel about my in-laws coming for two weeks? I love it! I wish they would come back....but I guess I'll have to wait until Thanksgiving.