SURPRISE!!!

This weekend Ken and I flew to the Windy City for his sister's 60th birthday on Saturday. It was a surprise party planned by her husband Gary and kids Tami and Andy, though word on the street is; Tami didn't do much.

We flew out Friday morning and, thanks to Ken's miles, were upgraded to first class, which is always dandy. The adventure really began after arriving at O'Hare and grabbing the blue-line to Chicago. We emerged from the underground for our 3-block walk to the hotel just as the sky opened up with a torrential rain. We ran for the best shelter available and began to dig for our umbrellas, which we conveniently packed at the bottom of our bags. After running most of the way we arrived at the hotel just as the rain stopped. F*ck you and your sick sense of humor Mother Nature! We spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Saturday we immediately headed over to Portillo's for lunch. They have the best Italian Beef sandwiches in town, and we always make sure to visit them at least once. After bumming around the city we cleaned up and headed to the party at a restaurant in Greek Town.

It was great to see some family and friends again and Barb was thoroughly surprised. She seemed very pleased to see Jill from Seattle and Ken had both made the trip to wish her Happy Birthday. Barb was hardly cranky from age at all.

We consumed major amounts of delicious Greek food including flaming cheese, one of my favorites. Once everyone was stuffed we played "Barb Bingo", a game created by Gary to bring attention to significant dates and numbers in Barb's life. It involved a lot of boisterous laughing and Gary had the chance to use his classroom skills to bring us into focus more than once. After dinner Barb, Gary, Jill, Ken and I went for a nightcap before retiring our bloated bellies for the night.

Sunday was spent walking Chicago. It really is a very beautiful city. The architecture is inspiring and it's one of the cleanest metropolitan areas I've ever visited. Unfortunately, Chicago only has six weeks a year with weather suitable for sustaining my life.

Later in the day we met up with Gary, Barb, and Tami for lunch hooking up with Andy, fresh from a softball game, in route. Since we were walking by, we stopped into a hotel to look at one of his recent engineering projects. For the hotel lobby remodel Andy engineered the new staircase.

Hmmm, what's wrong with this picture?

After meeting everyone else for lunch a good old fashion gab-fest ensued and we camped at our outdoor table forever, ignoring the wicked stares from the staff. After parting ways Barb joined Ken and I to finish our walking tour, ending with a quest for Garret's Popcorn, one of Barb's favorites (it really is good). We finished the day with another visit to Portillo's. You may have noticed, but we like to eat on vacation.

Monday we checked out the Chicago Merchandise Mart, which is THE center for interior design. We toured beautiful rooms full of ridiculously priced, impractical furnishings and found ourselves wishing my weekly lottery investment would pay off. They're still cleaning my drool out of the $16,000.00 bathtub I fell in love with.

We were near Andy's office so we met up with him for lunch and a final goodbye then it was off to the airport. Thanks again to Ken's miles, we were upgraded for the return as well. It was a nice way to end a really nice weekend.

Happy Birthday Barb!