So, Dan and I met up with them in Chicago on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. We went to Navy Pier that night to eat and watch the fireworks. We stayed at Hotel 71 overnight..Ashley took countless pictures of the tv and the phone in the bathroom in their room. :) The next morning we stood in line at the first Starbucks we found and then spent hours walking on the tulip-lined Magnificent Mile, stopping in at Ashley and I's favorite clothing stores. After hitting everything requested, we rolled thier luggage to the train station, found our seats and were Michigan bound. Just before that though, we made a pit stop at the casino where my love for electronic roulette and any amount of decent luck found my Mom!
We sipped on my homemade lattes from my fancy machine on Monday morning. we only went out that day to the grocery store. We made tacos and then watched The Bachelorette. The next day, the Triemstra van showed up promptly at 9:30am to take us all to Shipshewana....Oh, yes Amish country. We shopped until we dropped in the vast flea market and then stuffed our faces with an Amish family style meal. Once back in Kalamazoo, Dan took Mom and Ashley on a tour of the fire station. Wednesday we took it easy around the house played the Wii (more coffee) and had a three course fondue dinner in my new fondue pot (and we made strawberry daiquiris! yum!)
Thursday we (had more yummy lattes) showed Ashley around downtown Sagatuck, my favorite little town of great shops by the water. Mom saw this last time she was out here. It was bit rainy. Then we took them to Culver's for dinner. Then, we ended up in downtown Kalamazoo at Monaco Bay, the Piano Bar. Or better known as home of the American Idol contestant Matt Giruad! We made plenty of requests (one we sent up with Ashley's phone number on the back) to the players and then Dan leans over to me and says "Isn't that Matt?" I looked and sort of freaked-out more than I thought I would. I grabbed Ashley and we got our pictures taken with him. Right afterwords, I realized it meant way more to me than it did for Ashley when she asked me "So, what season was he on?" I was like "Ashley! He was 5th this season!" Apparently, she's boycotting American Idol after her tryout. Friday, we hung out at the house until we met up with other family members at Duane's house. Mom and I made up burgers for the guys to grill. After everyone ate and it started to get dark, Scott shot of some fireworks and Dan juggled for the kids, using his fancy LED lighted juggling balls while they all sipped on root-beer floats.
We drove to Chicago the next day to drop them off at the airport. It's always sad to say good-bye! Their trip went so fast, but I'm so glad we had the time we did. I miss having them around. I went back to work yesterday...yuck. I hated it and I miss vacation! Here are some pictures of their trip out here! i can't wait to go out there in September! Eeee! It will be like a great close to an awesome summer here!
Dan and I waiting for the train to head into Chicago
The view from the aquirium we visited, then we walked to the hotel
Here's us taking in the view while we wait for Mom and Ashley
A great view, our hotel is off to the left
Starbucks time!!!
We are totally tourists! I like this picture! :)
Us at the casino sitting at the roulette machines...Mom was loving it!
Fondue night!
Mom and Ashley sitting in Danny's fire truck...Ashley almost took off with it by accident
Ashley holding the jaws of life at the station...cute guys just around the corner
The three of us sitting at Lake Michigan
Me with Matt Giruad at Monaco Bay....I loved it! He's so nice!
Ashley with Matt....Ashley's like "Not sure who this is, but this is cool!"
Little Ryan, Zach, Michaela and Frankie, sipping on root beer floats!
No comments:
Post a Comment