michael hadn’t seen his family for awhile so he thought it would be nice to stop off in chicago in between zagreb and irvine.
we were able to pack a lot in during this little trip. we arrived at o’hare on monday afternoon. we found our van and were able to get loaded (4 carts worth of luggage) and on our way fairly quickly once we were past the customs and baggage areas.
when we arrived in bradley at the busby’s house we were greeted by mr. and mrs. busby, stacy, kaleb and aiden. we hadn’t seen the boys in 4 years and stacy even longer (i couldn’t tell you the last time!) we settled our junk in and then had a great dinner of hamburgers and hotdogs from the grill. after that we just took it easy for the rest of the night.
on tuesday, stacy and the boys had to go home since brent was leaving town. michael had an appointment to see his old colleagues at aventis. the kids and i just hung around at the house. mrs. busby had to go back to chicago that night for work on wednesday.
on wednesday we went to chicago for a quick tour. we saw mrs. busby’s apartment first and then headed downtown. by the time we got there it was around noon. the kids and i were all starving. we were also all dying for chinese. we asked mr. busby where a good chinese restaurant was…he didn’t know. but as fate would have it, michael turned around and lo and behold, we were standing in front of hot woks-cool sushi. we were thrilled! (mr. busby had suggested soup and sandwich which i wasn’t in the mood for.)
the family at hot woks-cool sushi
my sushi selection
i think everyone was happy with their food with the exception of mr. busby. michael ordered some really nice crab rangoon and spring rolls for us all to share as a starter. he ordered a wonderful beef with broccoli as his main. kaity ordered a bento box which was very good. thomas, tyler and i had a sushi selection which came with soup.
mr. busby had a spicy chicken salad as his main course. he was extremely unhappy with it to say the least and said that it was inedible. he couldn’t quite describe why though… michael tried it and said it was alright. he said he tasted something that might have been coconut milk but it wasn’t horrible to him. needless to say, i don’t think mr. busby was thrilled with my choice.
afterward we walked over to millennium park to see “the bean”. i have wanted to see it for awhile. it’s really pretty neat. i think the guide said it was 35 tons of steel.
there happend to be some sort of children’s festival going on and a drumline was performing. i LOVE drumlines and this group was really cool. we hung out until they left and then decided to walk back.
we walked past a thai festival in front of the picasso sculpture. we bought a couple of souvenirs. in the distance we could see the joffrey ballet. it was pretty cool since we could see them dancing in a big glass window on the top floor. then it was time to head back to the metro. wow is that a long ride back to mrs. busby’s apartment.
she came back to the apartment after work not long after we got there. we had been goofing around with her pictures on the wall and it was hilarious when she noticed. let’s just say that i’m a tiny bit obsessive compulsive about pictures being straight. so i walked around her apartment and straightened the crooked pictures. michael made fun of me and put one whole wall askew. goofball!
around 3.30 or 4.00, we headed to stacy’s house in kenosha. it takes about an hour to get there. kaity and i rode with mrs. busby and the boys all rode with mr. busby. it was a nice ride. aiden and kaleb were waiting in front of the window when we got there….so cute!
stacy’s house hasn’t changed much but they remodeled their downstairs bathroom and it looks great! we hung out for awhile chatting and the boys playing.
we had said all week that we wanted to go to red lobster so when a dinner idea came up, we mentioned that. i mentioned it in the car and back when we were still in bradley. we were really looking forward to red lobster after a year! it turns out that there isn’t one in kenosha but there is one in gurnee which is like 20 minutes away. apparently that was too much effort so michael said ok…tell us where you guys would like to go then. his mom then said well it’s up to you. argh! we already said what we wanted…red lobster! so they suggested texas roadhouse. stacy called to do a phone seating. we’re supposed to put our name on the seating list and then it would go faster. well, apparently when we got there, they hadn’t put our name on the list. double argh! so we waited about 30 minutes before we were seated. it didn’t seem like any of the adults were in a great mood so, so much for a great family dinner. at least the boys had fun together though.
after the dinner we went back to stacy’s and talked for a bit more. all of the sudden, we see mr. busby in the hallway putting on his coat and shoes. mrs. busby then says, i guess it’s time to go. so we’re on our way again. another hour to chicago and then two more to bradley. by peotone, i couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. what an exhausting day!
we’ve driven by this seafood restaurant often and i’ve been wanting to try it so this seemed like the perfect occasion to do so. it’s called king’s fish house. it has a great atmosphere and excellent food. michael had the wild british columbian dungeness crab platter and i had the wild alaskan red king crab platter. the food was absolutely amazing. i was stuffed by the crab alone but the sides were excellent so i tried to force as much down as i could (the true american way). i had a couple of gin and tonics which complimented the meal perfectly. because it was our anniversary, the restaurant gave us a free dessert. we chose the key lime pie which was perfection! 