A week full of Canadians and a GA girl ;)

I figured I'd better post something before you all think my guests killed me and hid the body ;). It's just been really busy here the last week with us getting ready for our Puerto Rico trip. We leave on wednesday! Here's the condensed version:

Monette and Chris arrived bearing gifts for everyone! The kids got bags filled with the coolest stuff and boy were they excited...even Josh (and he's not an easy one to get emotion out of lemme tell ya). They bought John and I the most beautiful picnic basket that I'm sure we will be using as often as we can. I've always wanted one, funny how Monette always seems to know exactly what to get. After all the gifts were opened they settled in while I prepared dinner. After dinner we went for a walk around our neighborhood. We have a really nice park with a lagoon where you can fish and a water cascade where you can sit on the rocks and just take in the fresh night air. It was a very relaxing evening.
The next day we went to the Mall, shopped a bit while poor John was at the dentist getting a wisdom tooth extracted. We watched a movie in the evening and waited for Jenn, Les and James to arrive. It was really late...early in the morning actually when they did and we got them all settled in so they could rest up.

My mom babysat the kids while we had a fabulous grown up day (thanks mom!) We started out at the lakefront and took some really nice pictures then we went to Millenium Park. On to Navy Pier where we spent most of the afternoon shopping and strolling along the pier. In the evening, Chris and Monette treated us all to an amazing dinner at Reza's after which we rushed back to the pier to catch the fireworks and then tried to make it over to Buckingham Fountain. We wanted them to see it at night because it's so beautifully lit but sure enough the lights went out just as we started taking pictures. It was a very long day but we had a great time!

The following day was spent with the kids at the Shedd Aquarium and enjoying the skyline. We rode the trolly into downtown and made a stop at the Sears Tower. Although we couldn't get Monette on the Ferris Wheel the day at the pier she did go up to the Sky Deck for a spectacular view of the city.

The next day Jenn, Les and James were off to continue their journey on to the great north. We spent the afternoon at the Art Institute and then walked along Michigan Avenue and into the theatre district. John drove us to the Harpo studios (there weren't any tapings going on while they were here but at least Monette got to touch Oprah's name in her sign!) The best part of the evening was when we went to Maxwell Street and got polishes and fries and took them home where Monette made poutine for us all. MMmmm...yummilicious.

We did lots of walking and lots of shopping and man were we tired after it was all said and done. It ended way too soon though. I didn't get to cook nearly as much as I wanted to because we were out everyday but there is plenty to see and plenty to eat the next time around. We loved having everyone here and can't wait for them to come again.