We arrived in Chicago Wednesday evening, and it was so nice to see our good friends, Scott and Tony! They are fabulously gracious hosts as well as old friends.

Tony had to work Thursday and Friday, so we went our separate ways during the days. Thursday, Simon and Mike went to the Field Museum downtown, and Scott and I did some window shopping and had lunch around Oak Park. It was delightful! I also discovered another great little yarn shop, and a fun bead store!

Scott had a previous commitment to lead a movie viewing and discussion Thursday night, and the three of us joined him. We watched the movie Up in the Air and then discussed it with several folks from his church community at Unity Temple. The movie was interesting, the people were fun to talk to, and we had a great time. Afterwards, we met Tony back at their house and had some delicious casseroles that he'd made (he's an amazing cook!)

Friday morning Scott and the 3 of us went downtown to the Shedd Aquarium and met up with our friend, Ken (I know him from a great discussion site all about words!), who lives North of Chicago. Even though the place was REALLY crowded, and the day was horribly HOT, we had a very nice time. It was good to be together, and cool to see the fish and other aquatic animals.

There is a new show at the Shedd, however, called Fantasea, which I felt was dumbed down for the masses. They didn't talk about the animals at all, they had people in fantasia-like costumes interacting with the animals and were trying to make the standard animal show have a plot of some kind, but the result was really just a silly, fluffy thing instead of the meaty, intellectual kind of show I'd expect from a world-class aquarium.

Friday afternoon some heavy storms came through Northern Illinois, and all of the power went out in the neighborhood. Tony came home from work early, we ordered pizza for dinner (omg, Gepetto's pizza may have ruined me for all other pizzas!), and we had a really nice time talking on the front porch. Despite the inconvenience of no power, we still had a lovely evening.

This morning we were up early to pack the car and face our last drive to bring us home. Tony ran out to their local Farmer's Market and bought us some delicious fresh donuts for breakfast (yum!), and we finished up the milk from our cooler. Mike drove us home, and that's it!

We had some great discussions today in the car and I have some wrap-up lists for you, which I'll post tomorrow. See you then!