Surprise Visit to Chicago

By: Ann

About two weeks ago on Wednesday, Jason, Athena, and I flew to Chicago to surprise my brother, and later step-dad and mom who were driving through.  We haven’t seen the Chicago gang since Christmas, so the trip was long overdue.  Ever since I found out my parents were traveling through, I knew I really wanted to plan the surprise.  Dominique kept the secret ever since May.  It was great.  My brother was super surprised.  Unfortunately, he had a DJ event that evening, so he couldn’t hang out too much the first night.

The first day that we were there, we kind of took it easy.  Jadyn, Caleb, and Cory had swim classes in the morning.  I dressed Athena up in her little swimsuit so she could enjoy the water, which she definitely did.  She nearly gave me a heart attack by running straight into the water with her shoes and clothes on.  This kid has no fear.  Luckily, she ran into the wading section; however, the water level rises pretty quickly.  I have to get her into swimming lessons.  I have to get myself into swimming lessons, while I’m at it.

In the process of getting my little fish out of the water with all of her clothes on, I dropped my iPhone in the water, total immersion.  The next 24 hours my iPhone spent some time in a bag of dried rice, while I prayed that my phone would work once again.  My brother took my phone to a friend of his who fixes iPhones, and it was as good as new in a couple of days.

As soon as I find my camera, I will post pictures from the pool.  the rest of the day we took it easy, again.  Athena was still recovering from the long flights.  We did have a mini campfire in the backyard later that night and cooked smores for the kids and pina coladas for the adults.  I’ll have to steal those pictures from Pauel somehow.

[simage=1761,max,n,center,][simage=1745,max,n,center,]

After (or maybe before) the smores, Athena and Cory decided to put on a concert for us.  It was very cute.  I was waiting for someone to open up the piano, because I knew as soon as Athena saw the piano keys, she would go wild (which she did).

[simage=1751,max,n,center,][simage=1752,max,n,center,][simage=1756,max,n,center,]

The next day (after swim practice) we decided to go to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.  This was the day my parents were supposed to arrive, but we were thinking they wouldn’t arrive until 5pm or so; however, we didn’t take into mind the time change and the chance of, literally, no rush hour traffic on a Friday.  More on this later.

The zoo was great.  I know I’ve seen giraffes before at other zoos, but these giraffes looked so…clean and well-groomed.  They also had camels at the zoo, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen in real life before.

[simage=1723,max,n,center,][simage=1734,max,n,center,][simage=1718,max,n,center,][simage=1725,max,n,center,][simage=1708,max,n,center,][simage=1733,max,n,center,][simage=1719,max,n,center,][simage=1701,max,n,center,][simage=1698,max,n,center,][simage=1706,max,n,center,][simage=1695,max,n,center,]

So after the zoo, Dominique tells me that she should check on my brother and see if he had left work, yet, or if he had even heard from my parents.  It’s 3:30 at this point.  Pauel calls back frantic, “They’re in Lansing! They’re in Lansing!”  Lansing is the town they live in.  I thought he was joking at first, because he kind of was using his joking voice, but the way I heard him rustling around in the background with keys and whatnot, made me think otherwise.  I was cracking up at this point.  This was the worst case scenario that my parents arrived at the house and no one was home. No kids. No grandkids.  Nada.  I haven’t heard my brother sound so scared since we were little kids and he had broken something valuable.  Oh how we revert to our childhood ways when we’re all together.  I love it.

Fortunately, everyone was in good spirits when my brother arrived home.  My mom took the opportunity to work on a few things from work while the children were out.  An hour later, when we all arrived back from the zoo, we were able to shock my mom and step-dad with our presence.  It was great to see  the look on her face.

We later had a yummy homemade fajita dinner and then my parents treated everyone to ice cream treats located conveniently just down the street.  After the ice cream, Cory and Athena gave an encore performance, while Uncle Jason presumed his duties as the play slave.

[simage=1620,max,n,center,][simage=1622,max,n,center,][simage=1618,max,n,center,][simage=1631,max,n,center,][simage=1625,max,n,center,][simage=1624,max,n,center,]

Right before bed, we decided to have a little Dance Party USA and have the kids show off their moves.  Caleb and Cory love to break dance.

[simage=1632,max,n,center,][simage=1641,max,n,center,][simage=1634,max,n,center,][simage=1635,max,n,center,]

The next morning, before heading out to Navy Pier, the kids decided to put on a fashion show with their back-to-school clothing that Nonny and Papa gave them.  Jadyn was the announcer over the baby monitor.  Uber cute.

[simage=1644,max,n,center,][simage=1643,max,n,center,][simage=1647,max,n,center,]

Later that day we drove to Chicago’s Navy Pier.  We stopped at Bubba Gump’s for lunch and afterwards rode on the ferris wheel and carousel.  It is a very touristy area, but it was fun walking around seeing all of the sites.

[simage=1657,max,n,center,][simage=1662,max,n,center,][simage=1663,max,n,center,][simage=1676,max,n,center,][simage=1672,max,n,center,][simage=1689,max,n,center,]

When we got back home, it was more time for relaxation.  It was Caleb’s turn to be the play slave for Athena, apparently.

[simage=1690,max,n,center,] Athena kind of stuck to Cory like glue all weekend.  Jadyn, Caleb, and Cory were all really good about letting us know if Athena was into something she wasn’t supposed to be in.  I think Cory loved the fact that he wasn’t the baby anymore.

[simage=1693,max,n,center,]

The next morning, my parents left, but not without some quick family portraits.

[simage=1616,max,n,center,][simage=1615,max,n,center,][simage=1613,max,n,center,][simage=1612,max,n,center,][simage=1611,max,n,center,][simage=1607,max,n,center,][simage=1596,max,n,center,][simage=1599,max,n,center,][simage=1600,max,n,center,][simage=1590,max,n,center,][simage=1594,max,n,center,][simage=1605,max,n,center,]