Ugh!

Sorry the last two posts are so jumbled. I was trying to re-format the pics and it just wasn't working for me, can ya tell?!?!

Navy Pier

We spent most of our day today walking around Navy Pier. (After sleeping in and watching a movie this morning) We rode the ferris wheel and played a game of mini-golf, which I won...I mean, I smoked Brian!










This was the view from the end of the pier with the lighthouse in the background, as well as looking back at the city.

We also tried some fantastic popcorn flavors...cookies n' cream, macadamia crunch, cheesy ranch, and spicy cheese. We ended up getting the cheesy ranch...reminded me of the Dale and Tom's popcorn that a previous patient from WI brought to KKI...though it had nothing on the white chocolate peanut butter popcorn!

Fancy Schmancy Arun's

We went home last weekend for Christina and Anthony's wedding (my cousin and her now husband). It had been threatening to rain that day, but it turned out to be a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding as you can see by the pics. We particularly enjoyed the crab cake, shrimp, and tomato mozzarella appetizers! Dick was the designated driver, and somehow we talked him and Mom into going out in Annapolis after the wedding. There's nothing like being at IHOP at midnight with your parents after having a few too many with your husband and brother...Linda also remained amongst the sober. I'm sure we were quite a sight!

This week was spent working...BOO! We only have 2 weeks left at our current assignment though and as of right now are not 100% of where our next assignments will be...a little nerve wracking, but I guess it comes with the territory of traveling.

We went to dinner at Arun's last night. (As Travis said while we were home, we do a lot of eating here!) Arun's is an upscale Thai restaurant that is in the "100 places to see before you die" book, so obviously we had to check it out. We have a 12-course tasting dinner decided upon by the chef. The food was out of this world and the presentation was nothing short of amazing. Check out our carrot goldfish...yes, you can dress me up, but you can't take me out! We had them wrapped up and brought them home. They were too cute to just throw out right away and I didn't feel too weird for asking since the table next to us did as well.

Flugtag and the Eagles Rock!

Brian and I attended the Red Bull Flugtag festivities yesterday at North Avenue Beach. This was Brian's 2nd Flugtag experience and my first. For anyone who has not witnessed Flugtag, I recommend trying to attend one of these hilarious events. Flugtag means "Flying Day" in German. It basically consists of teams of 5 members building a human powered plane (no motors allowed!) with a crazy theme. The team presents their plane before the judges, does a skit (this time there were a lot of straight men in Speedos...what is it with Chicago and Speedos?), and then pushes their plane off a 30foot high ramp into the water with the hopes that it will actually fly (briefly!). They are judged for distance not by where the plane lands, but by where the pilot lands and let me just say that how there were not an abundance of injuries yesterday is beyond me b/c there were some hard crashes into the water. This is a picture of one of our favorite planes, "Slay Bellz." Their skit consisted of a tribute to "Elf" and slaying of Santa's reindeer.

This was a hotdog plane that I had to to take a picture of for Dick....HOT-DOG! It didn't fly very well.
We had high hopes for this "UFO." Good umbrella concept that they attempted to spin off the platform to get some forward distance....as you can tell, it just fell in the water.
The hotdog plane in flight...didn't it just look promising?
The winners flew about 120ft in a handglider type plane...quite impressive. The best though was the "Luge" plane that fell over sideways before it even got to the end of the platform!

Please contact Brian if you are interested in joining his Flugtag team next year...he had some grand ideas!

Today was spent watching the Eagles game. (As if anyone expected us to do anything else?!) We went to a brewery called Goose Island and the accommodations were fabulous. We were some of the first few folks there and were offered the big screen downstairs to watch the game on...basically set up with big comfy chairs, couches, and tables like a living room. We had the place to ourselves while also still having a waitress...we couldn't have asked for a better set up away from home! And of course the Eagles won (dominated is more the word)...with Donovan McCutie looking spectacular.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Love and Miss you all!

Wrigley this Weekend

Greetings Folks! and welcome to the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field!!!!!!!

For the record, this is Brian; I got the honor of writing this episode's installment of our blog, hoping to bring you the true, untold, in-depth story behind this weekend's events. Well actually, I'm just going to go on and on about the game, but that's the meat of the story anyway, haha.

This weekend was Labor Day weekend, for which I think our plans were a little extra cool---the Philadelphia Phillies were in Chicago, and in a 4 game series against Chicago's beloved Cubs. As most should know, Wrigley Field remains as one of the oldest major league ballparks in America, and is a must see by itself. We trekked up to the north side of Chicago via the El, and got a few looks at the station and sidewalks (for further explanation, consult pictures of our gameday attire included below). However, we safely arrived in Wrigleyville, and went directly to the Cubby Bear for beers and brunch. Good food (a good chicken tender sandwich), good beers, and a lot of Cubbie fans setting themselves up for disappointment.

We headed across the street to the stadium to pay the proper respects, take pictures, and most importantly take it all in. Wrigley Field is an awesome place to see a ballgame...
The sightlines are good, there's an old-time hominess to the stadium and crowd, and the weather was beautiful. Wrigley obviously comes from a time when the baseball came first, and everybody went there to cheer on the Cubbies.


And in Chicago, the Cubbies do come first. We've noticed that there's so many people walking around the city with Cubs gear on, even when they're not in town or on an off day.

The stadium was filled to the brim. There was actually a great representation of Phillies fans there; apparently Philadelphia news stations were covering the mass exodus of the Phils' delegation to go root on the Phightins in Chi-town. However, there obviously were scads of Cubs fans...SRO all around the ballpark (and it's still a bit odd to see the bleachers set up on top of bars over the outfield wall full of fans catching a discounted view of the game).

The Cubs fans are passionate, but they're not as adept as us back home. There was a vocal contingent in the rows in front of us, having a lot of fun at our expense. For the most part it was back and forth, but I was being gentle with the guy since the Phils were behind at the time (and I was more than a bit out-numbered). He had a whole lot of nothin' to say, but expected to level me with this:
Cubs fan: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, well you know what they say about Philly fans? You know what they say about Philly fans?!"
BC: "Yeah probably, but speak slow, I might not understand you the first time around..."
Cubs fan: (dumbfounded silence...the kind of silence that lasted about 4 1/2 innings) They must not be too used to some good trash talking here in the midwest (because I thought that was kind of tame!)

The Phils got off to a slow start offensively, but some late game action had the Cubbies fans quiet and Lori and I dancing in the seats! It was definitely a fun time, and we took a lot of pictures to remember the occasion. (Doesn't Lori look cute in her Phillies gear?)
















Wrigleyville's got some great after-game party spots as well. There must be 50+ bars in a
5 block radius right outside the stadium. After the game, we followed the masses to Harry Caray's Tavern, John Barleycorn's, and Lucky Sandwich. More good food, some good music and laughter, and also an unexpected encounter with a high school friend of mine that I hadn't seen
in years! It was a great day, topped off by a great job by the Phils, we definitely had a great time!!!