Chicago!

We made it! The drive with S. and I. was easy and effortless. Lots of chatting and Hank the Cowdog. Getting on the airplane was easy enough because Marina made friends with the clerks and they allowed her (and us) to be the first to board the plane. After most everyone was on she went into the back and made friends with the flight attendants who let her make an announcement over the speaker, "Hi Mom!". You can imagine my slight embarrassment when everyone around us was asking what was going on and if they needed to do something because they did not fully understand the message.

Laurie is Fantastic! It's such a great opportunity to visit. She chose a wonderful hotel which let us check in at 7am when we arrived. I was able to sleep for a couple of hours and then the kids and I hit the train and the world famous St. Patricks day parade!

Now, even though Vince did not think this was the best idea for entertainment "How are you going to manage them with all those people? Are you going to tie the three of you together with a rope?" The kids were tremendous.Even with thousands of people all around us, they managed to remember all their crowd rules and I was not having to worry about them. We managed to get this close to the parade route when I found a wall and hoisted them both up. They snapped this picture from there. It was incredible the amount of people. We heard the bagpipers and we got the vibe of the thing and we all decided to bail on the whole thing. We saw Irish dancing girls walking through downtown. Marina was shoved into a 'customers only' toilet by some sneaky sorority sisters who lied to the the employee toilet police for me.

On our way back to the blue line we stopped into Nordstrom Rack for some shoe drooling. Falcom loved it!

On the train we got to see the city of Chicago and it was fun to see how people live. Marina made friends with an artist with a lip ring. He was a mid-twenties guy and very self assured (just like her). Finally she asked him, "why are you always chewing on that thing in your lip?" He got embarrassed and said, "I don't know, but I'm sure I'll never do it again!" She is really something that Marina.

Back at the hotel we met with Laurie and we spent the afternoon enjoying this wonderful pool. Laurie was able to snap some great pictures and I'll try to upload them for the next post. Today is swimming and then the musical CATS! Should be great! We'll I'd better get on with the day...