Brandon is letting me write this one which may explain to some of you why it’s late being posted. Or maybe only my mom noticed that we didn’t blog last week. Anyway, the weekend of the 2nd was a short one for us. Growing accustomed to the 3 day weekend we were sad to return to work on Monday making up for time off later in the week. We were however able to enjoy Seafair before the weekend ended.
Seafair has been a month long celebration of Seattle’s maritime heritage culminating in a 3 day fest featuring hydroplane racing and an air show. Quite frankly I wasn’t that interested in
attending, but Brandon loves the air shows. 
Consistent with what seems to be the new trend, we woke early on Saturday. We made our way to Lake Washington to secure our choice seating along the wall. We watched the hydroplanes race which was much more exhilarating than I expected. Some of the boats get up to 190 mph and you can feel it as they zoom past throwing up a huge rooster tail of wake as they go. I also enjoyed the airshow featuring the famous Blue Angels. It’s amazing how close and synchronized they can stay through all the turns, dives and upside down maneuvers. It ended up being a good time and I was glad we went.
Consistent with what seems to be the new trend, we woke early on Saturday. We made our way to Lake Washington to secure our choice seating along the wall. We watched the hydroplanes race which was much more exhilarating than I expected. Some of the boats get up to 190 mph and you can feel it as they zoom past throwing up a huge rooster tail of wake as they go. I also enjoyed the airshow featuring the famous Blue Angels. It’s amazing how close and synchronized they can stay through all the turns, dives and upside down maneuvers. It ended up being a good time and I was glad we went.
On Thursday the 7th we took an early flight to Chicago to meet up with some of my Ithaca College friends for our annual reunion. When we first graduated we were getting 
together about twice a year for weddings, but as they tapered off we decided to set aside one weekend a year for all of us to get together. The original group numbered 10, but now with significant others and children we have nearly tripled in size. Each year someone offers to host the reunion in their hometown. This year’s hosts were the Yohnka’s in Kankakee, IL. Kankakee is about an hour’s drive south of Chicago, has a number of Frank Lloyd Wright homes and receives an honorable mention in Arlo Guthrie’s song City of New Orleans.
together about twice a year for weddings, but as they tapered off we decided to set aside one weekend a year for all of us to get together. The original group numbered 10, but now with significant others and children we have nearly tripled in size. Each year someone offers to host the reunion in their hometown. This year’s hosts were the Yohnka’s in Kankakee, IL. Kankakee is about an hour’s drive south of Chicago, has a number of Frank Lloyd Wright homes and receives an honorable mention in Arlo Guthrie’s song City of New Orleans.
One of the Yohnka’s neighbors was gracious (or crazy) enough to give us use of their ginormous home while they were out of town. We spent the weekend catching up, playing in the parks, enjoying the farmer’s market and train depot museum and watching the kids (and Jon) play on the Splash Pad. We missed the DeSombres, Chris and Wyatt and Joe this year, but were thoroughly entertained by Darcy, Sam, Abby, Aaron, Rachel and Lance (ages 1 to 3).
On Saturday night we were also entertained by singer, song writer and guitarist, Lupe Caroll. I felt privileged to be attending the intimate living room performance. Lupe’s soft, sweet voice reminded me of Ben Harper’s, and I enjoyed his original songs as much as his own versions of some of my favorite John Mayer, Beatles and Van Morrison tunes. Great way to end the day!
Check him out on myspace.com!
Sunday morning after breakfast and the annual group picture, Brandon and I missed the canoe trip in order to get back to Chicago for a matinee performance of the musical Jersey Boys at the Bank of America Theatre. Jersey Boys tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons from their beginnings on a street corner in Newark, NJ to their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The story was fast paced and the music, of course, “rocked.” Brandon puts this one in his top three favorite musicals along with Phantom and Avenue Q. I would definitely recommend it.
After the show we walked around “our city.” We spent 4 months in Chicago last summer exploring and taking in most if not all of the tourist attractions. It was nice to stroll around reminiscing and seeing what’s new. The Art Institute is getting a new wing for modern art and a new walk way is being constructed in Millennium Park to the museum. We revisited “the Bean,” Buckingham Fountain and Lake Michigan. We then had a fabulous dinner at the Custom House owned by Chef Shawn McClain who also owns my favorite restaurant, Spring. We were not disappointed!
Monday morning we met up with Chrissie and Abby as Ben had a meeting for work in the city.
We walked Michigan Ave and spent some time at Navy Pier so Abby could ride the “horsies” of the carousel before Ben picked them up to go to the airport.
Brandon and I had an early dinner in Greektown. We’ve tried a few restaurants there and the Greek Islands is still my favorite. We then headed to the US Cellular Field to see the Red Sox play the White Sox. We were early enough to catch batting practice and bare witness to Papelbon’s pre game elimination. As he walked out of the bathroom in the back of the bull pen we heard him say “don’t go in there for another 10 minutes.” Thankfully that was not the highlight of the game. We also got to see Billy Dee Williams of Star Wars (Lando Calrissian) and Colt 45 fame throw out the first pitch,.JPG)
the US Navy Leapfrogs parachute into the stadium and the cast of Jersey Boys sing the National Anthem. The game was a little slow until the last few innings when Boston started to get some hits and won 5 to 1. Brandon now feels more secure that Boston’s previous losses while he was in the stadium were unrelated to his presence and we can safely attend more Red Sox games in the future.
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the US Navy Leapfrogs parachute into the stadium and the cast of Jersey Boys sing the National Anthem. The game was a little slow until the last few innings when Boston started to get some hits and won 5 to 1. Brandon now feels more secure that Boston’s previous losses while he was in the stadium were unrelated to his presence and we can safely attend more Red Sox games in the future.
Tuesday we walked around the city some more visiting the Merchandise Mart since it was one 
of the few sites we missed last summer. The 
Mart is large enough to have its own zip code and houses a number of showrooms, shops, eateries and offices. The busts of many famous Chicago retailers line the Chicago River outside the Mart on its Hall of Fame. We grabbed some deep dish at Gino’s East before heading to the airport. Gino’s has the best deep dish pizza that I’ve tried although as much as I love Chicago, I’ll take New York style pizza any day!
of the few sites we missed last summer. The 
Mart is large enough to have its own zip code and houses a number of showrooms, shops, eateries and offices. The busts of many famous Chicago retailers line the Chicago River outside the Mart on its Hall of Fame. We grabbed some deep dish at Gino’s East before heading to the airport. Gino’s has the best deep dish pizza that I’ve tried although as much as I love Chicago, I’ll take New York style pizza any day!
1 comment:
Enough about Chicago, you didn't write about the Red Sox game. They lost dismally in Boston, so maybe I am a bad luck curse. Trish
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