Today we headed out to Chicago for our good friends Hannah and Jotirs wedding. The trip got off to a nice start when we ran into our friends Kyle and Hunter in the airport !

Flights were good and we got to Chicago in early afternoon. First order of business was to try some Chicago deep dish pizza. We wound a place and it did not disappoint ! 

It reminded me of the John Stewart rant on Chicago vs NYC pizza 

Next order of business was a sunset boat cruise with Hannah , jot and all their family and friends. We found the boat.. The welcome sign was funny..   it wasn’t a Short cruise.. Jotir’s last name is ‘Short’ 🙂 

As we waited to board Hannah and Jotir  greeted everyone. They looked SOOOO happy !

We caught site of Lou and Kathy , Hannahs parents and our close friends on the boat getting ready

Then we set sail (does one ‘set sail’ in a motorized river boat ?)   It was a beautiful evening..  Hot.. with a nice lake breeze.. He headed out into th broad lake while we all mingled caught up with old friends and made new ones. 

Here’s Hannah with her brother August.. one of Max’s best friends when they were kids. 

It was great meeting Jotirs family.. They’d come in from all over. Suzette , Jotirs  mom  is so great.. really fun and funny. She and her close family now live in Miami (I think) . Jotirs uncles and aunts were super fun too.. some lived in Florida, some in St Croix,, 

Lou made a nice welcome.. set a great tone

Here’s Tony..  Jotir’s grandfather  had come in from Trinidad for the wedding. . he was the center of attention in any group because he was so nice, funny and wise. 

We loved the Chicago skyline.. amazing architecture

well.. not all of it 

It was great seeing all of Hannahs friends together.. amnion these women we haven’t seen since middle school or high school. 

It was getting dark as we pulled back in to dock

great day.. looking forward to tomorrow !

nite all, nite sam

-me

Fun treat today.. our sister in law Denise , our niece Elizabeth, our grand neice and nephew Emma and Mason, and Emma’s friend ‘Liv came in from New Hampshire to stay at our house during Mason’s soccer tournament.… turns out we’re gonna be gone from early tomorrow morning on, but at least we got to play with them today.… 

Today was actually Denise’s birthday so we had big burger, dinner and cake  and ice cream.. yum

A big weather front had come through mid afternoon with torrential rains.. the nice thing is that the front broke the heat and  dropped the temperature about 20 degrees ! We took advantage of the nice weather and headed down to the river after dinner.… Mason brought along a fishing pole. Though it happened after Diana and I and Denise had gone back to the house. He actually caught and released a 10 inch trout. !

It’s great hanging out with all these folks. Elizabeth is such a great mom and the kids are really fun.… They’re going to be staying here though. We’re leaving early tomorrow morning for Hannah’s wedding in Chicago.…

Glad we got to see them!

nite all, nite sam

-me

Another super hot day.. I think it hit 99 at work.    Friend bilL (he says ‘Capital L bill’) came by with popsicles !

Cool surprise tonight . A few months ago Diane came across these genetically engineered petunias that were designed to glow in the dark !

We’d heard that it was pretty subtle.. but tonight this happened !  Nothing subtle about it !

Here’s what they look like in normal light

and here’s what they look like at night !

even though they are called firefly petunias, they actually don’t have anything related to fireflies in them. Scientists were able to splice in some DNA from a type of mushroom, which actually makes them glow.

Very cool… But at the same time a little scary

As Gabe says.. “what could possibly go wrong” ?!

nite all, nite sam

-me

Today it got hot.. really hot.. high 90’s.. last year we didn’t even hit 90.. this is our second 90+ degree this summer !

 

it was a good day to stand in the river.. 

we have 3 days at least of this heat.. .. even though I grew up in Texas, I never got used to this kind of heat 

-nite all, nite sam

-me