Tim & Darrell Come To Town

Tim and Darrell came to visit this weekend past and what a fabulous time we had. I took some time off work to show them around the place and we had a full program planned. They arrived mid afternoon last Thursday, and we picked them up from O'Hare. I think it is always best to get on the right timezone asap, so we had planned not to let them sleep until much later that night.

We took them to our favourite restaurant, any old excuse for Wildfire works for me. We had a number of cocktails, even Jonesy, which really surprised me, and as usual a fabulous steak dinner. Tim decided that as it was late and he was tired, he wouldn't have steak as it might be too much food and give him indigestion, so instead he order Chicken and ribs. Half a chicken and a crap load of ribs, four times the size of my steak..nice work Jones!

On Friday we decided a little retail therapy was in order, although Jones wasn't too keen, being a firm "I don't like to shop" person. However he soon got into the spirit of things buying more than Darrell who had being ridiculed for his desire to shop. Everything from t-shirts, jeans and belts were Jones' items of choice.

We had to eventually drag them both out of the mall several hours later for our trip to the hockey. Tim again wasn't sure he would enjoy it, but as a big hockey fan Darrell was really excited. Turns out Tim is a hockey fan too, he loved it, and also loved eyeing up the girls around us! However, for the first time ever since I have been to a game, they lost. So I am never taking them to a game with me again!

Saturday was a much more leisurely day. We had planned a trip to a local winery, The Glunz Family Winery, they import grapes from California mostly and also use locally grown raspberries. They have a tasting room very close to us, in the Historic Village of Longrove, where you can taste up to a dozen different wines and ports, fabulous, unless you are driving :-( We all had a great time, and I enjoyed some of the wines, trying to be selective with the ones I thought I would enjoy most. Jones in particular seemed to enjoy the raspberry wine from a chocolate cup, see if you can spot that in the pictures.

As we were leaving, we noticed that it had been snowing, and in fact continued throughout Saturday night, it dropped about 2-3". It was really nice to have some fresh snow whilst they were here and the whole place looked great. On Saturday night, Lorraine did us proud with Mexican dip, home made soup, and sausage casserole. Even Tim couldn't manage the pineapple crumble. Thanks Tim we love it, all the more for us.

On Sunday, the guys had Bears vs Packers tickets, and were very excited about the game. Lorraine and Tim planned their journey to the game, and we planned to meet up with them later, for a tour of the city. Packing them off at the El station, with a huge breakfast inside them and several layers of thermals, shirts and jackets, we met up with them later at the Art Institute, for the tour. The Bears won, so Tim was happy, although they both said the game was scrappy.

We walked along through Millennium Park, saw the bean, the skating rink, the picture fountains, and onwards down to Navy Pier. It was getting dark by this point and the city was looking even better. We went for a quick spin on the MacDonalds ferris wheel and all the way to the end of the pier..it was frickin' cold! Darrell said if anyone mentioned how cold it was at home this winter, he would explain to them.

We walked from there through the parks and streets towards Hancock tower. Lorraine made a snow angel just for me..aww. In the Hancock tower we had some cocktails on the 96th floor with the fabulous views all around. More cocktails and some Guinness for Darrell before heading down to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and yet more cocktails. Tim felt a little squiffy, as you can see!

Monday was their last day and Darrell still wanted a leather coat, so more shopping ensued, and TIM, not Darrell, bought more stuff. Packing was interesting, as despite having brought an extra bag with our stuff in, and not having full bags originally, it was now a struggle to squeeze everything in. They eventually managed it with Darrell actually packing Tim's bag as opposed to simply throwing everything in. We dropped them at the airport around five and went home to collapse from exhaustion.

Now some of you are probably wondering what we did with Reggie through all of this activity. Well on Friday we had a friend walk her, on Saturday and Sunday Hazel looked after her, and then on Monday, a friend walked her again, so she was very well cared for. Look at how content she is with us now. Anyways, I think that covers it all, check out all of the pictures here.