The Lost Blog: Jen in Chicago

North America
June 13th 2008

Published: June 23rd 2008

Friday, June 13-Tuesday June 17, 2008
Friday morning without Rob....I am suddenly without a car, without a phone, and without a camera. I just realized that I left my phone charger in Denver earlier in the week and my camera was mysteriously broken last night. Ugh!

As always, it was a relaxing, enjoyable visit with family in Chicago. My mom, sisters, niece and nephew were all there, so it was a week full of family time. Friday morning Holly and I decided to keep Nikki company on her one-hour train ride into the city at 7am. We were looking forward to a long day of walking and shopping, and that’s exactly what we got - one LONG day of walking and shopping. At one point we came across a big 'annual bike to work day' event and we figured since we took the train to the city that's close enough to walk through and get free stuff. There wasn't much there, but we did have our picture taken with the Chicago Bulls mascot.

After Nikki got out of her conference, we met up with her and shortly after, our cousin Timothy and his girlfriend came in to the city

Sisters

posing at Millenium Park

to meet us too. Because Nikki hadn't yet seen it, we made the obligatory trek back to Millenium Park for yet another photo op with the big mirror Bean, but I don't think she cared too much. She seemed to enjoy the shopping a little more than the tourist attractions. Eventually, we took the 5:00 train back to the burbs, ordered in Chinese food, and called it a night.

When I woke up on Saturday, it was a beautiful day, and we decided to spend it at the beach. Tired of all the over eating I'd been doing, I jogged to the beach and met the family there. I did get to play volleyball with my cousin Shelby and her boyfriend and his family; that was a lot of fun. The sun was hot, but the water was only 57degrees! I think it's funny that I made it all the way to the beach, but never even touched the water.

For dinner we ordered everyone's favorite, Lou Malnotti's deep dish pizza and ended up where else but singing family karaoke in the living room. Does everyone's family do this? I'm thinking probably not, but it's always a great

The Millenium Park Bean

yet again...another picture of it.

laugh - and memory - and this year, for Brady, maybe a new favorite song. The next day overheard him singing "Love Shack, baby love shack" along with the tv over and over again in an attempt to learn the words.

Sunday my family left, and I was suddenly on my own. I spent Monday lounging and reading which was really nice, but by Tuesday I was ready to buy my Amtrak ticket to Ann Arbor and resume the big road trip.

Additional photos below

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