Big City Sights....

Well another week has come and gone in the "big city" as Gehrk (my step dad) would say. There have been many wonderful moments and some hard ones as well. Andy was on an extended work week last week meaning he did not get home until pretty late on Friday night and usually he rolls in late afternoon on Thursdays.....that's a big difference when you're talking to the girlfriend who has yet to start work herself and wants to get the weekend started! Let's face it: drinking champagne alone is not nearly as fun as drinking champagne with beer. HA :) So with that said and most of you sensing my sour mood on Friday, Andy promised a fun filled weekend with some great sights of Chicago.....and that it was!!

Friday: On Friday morning before AK rolled into town I got up and ran the Lakeshore path which is the famous path that runs along Lake Michigan. The run came just in time....physically and mentally. You see I was starting to get a bit homesick and think there was nothing more beautiful than the peaks of the Rocky Mountains, but low and behold Lake Michigan is quite remarkable and after that run I told many people "I get it now." Friday night ended with a great dinner with Kristyn and Alan (pictures to come) and thanking them for all their help with our big move to the Windy City.

sky line from the water!!

Saturday: I hesitate to write about Saturday for many reasons, but here it goes.... Saturday morning we were slow movers and just kind of hung out. We are avid football watchers so watching our alma maters (Champagne = University of Iowa & Beer = Michigan State University) is usually a high priority. We caught most of the Iowa game after a morning run and saw them pull off a great homecoming victory! Go Hawks!! Then it was time to prepare for the "big game," which was MSU/Wisconsin, college game day, etc. However, before the big game, we slipped over to a neighborhood bar and had a Tall Paul sighting. Paul originally worked as a nurse here in Chicago and then relocated to Denver where I met him at Children's. He and his wife Anne (great name...just sayin!) just had a baby not long ago so we snuggled her, had a few laughs with Paul and met some of his great Chicago friends. THEN. FINALLY. AFTER. ALL. THE. HYPE....we went to Grand River, a Michigan State bar to watch an unbelievable game with some really great friends. The game was so exciting with so many great plays, I nearly thought AK was going down way too young. Those Spartans make things interesting, but in the end pulled off a great win (Thank. The. Lord). So a big win makes for a happy home and for celebrating way too late!

Paul, myself & sweet Baby Lila

Such a natural....anyone have any doubt??

And the boys are back in town....

Annie/AK & Alan/Kristyn....notice the Hawkeye shirt? I may root for State, but I still represent!! 

Sunday: Sunday began a little late and a little slow. I was so excited for the big win on Saturday that I insisted on showing these folks how to celebrate "Iowa Style." Big mistake....huge actually! :) I'm not that young anymore, BUT we did rally and went out and about. AK had a few returns to make so we headed to J. Crew (after he twisted my arm and drug me in. HA! :) which ended up being in a really fun shopping area, so there it began. Before long we had been to Gap, Banana, Crate & Barrel, etc. We then hit up a great little burger place for lunch and headed downtown. Chicago has some great sights from some of the bridges that run in the middle of the city and since we are still tourists we thought we should go see for ourselves and snap a few pics. The weather was perfect so we enjoyed walking around and getting acquainted with our new city. All in all we had a great weekend with many great sightings. AK left for work today and I am about to head back to Iowa for a few days before I start back in the real world again!!

self shot...so fun!

not a bad place to call home, huh?