Grove Fest

While Avery was at the water park with the Girl Scouts, Morgan and I went up to the Grove Fest so she could check out the rides.

She started off on the Downdraft, which is a "spinny" ride as she called it. It went up in the air, up and down and spun around. When she got off, she said "man, I didn't think I would get THAT dizzy!"

Next, she went on the Guitar. This one just goes around and up and down. She loves this ride, but only if she gets to sit in the front row. Otherwise, you don't get any wind! :)

Next up was the Pharaoh, the boat ride. She's not a fan of this ride. She says she feels like she will fly out. So, she crouches down in her seat!

Then, she went to Zero Gravity. I think this may be her favorite ride! She likes to lift up her feet when they get going.

There was a new ride this year called the Ring of Fire. This goes around in a circle and you can get stuck upside down at the top! She was a little apprehensive about going on it, but she braved it anyway! She ended up LOVING it!

She even got stuck upside down a few times!

She rode this again with her friend Emily right after this. This may be her new favorite ride! :)

We hit up the disco ride, which is pretty tame.

Of course, she had to ride Zero Gravity again!

We ended the day with a funnel cake!

Tasty

On Saturday, Matt and I ventured over to the Taste of Randolph for lunch. Our "lunch" ended up lasting all day and we came home full and sunburned! A few friends from work met up with us as well.

We started off with guac from Decero - goes well with beer and champagne!

Pulled pork sliders and mac-n-cheese from Crossroads

This was a duck leg, but I didn't get back in time before Matt had eaten it all!

The people watching at these festivals is always so much fun! Lots of interesting people and lots of dogs!

Who knew they made shades for dogs?!?!

Oh, and I can't forget the entertainment at the Taste of Randolph! There was definitely a strange show going on with some scantily clad women. I'm not sure what it was because I didn't hear the announcments at the beginning and I didn't see any signs... but whoa!

Ummm... I thought this was a family event?!?

I think she was dancing to "Push It"

We finished off the Taste of Randolph with Belgian Chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels - yum! We also stopped off for a drink at Haymarket on our way home (you know, because it was such a long walk home).

Getting caught up on the blog

A few updates from the past week... all jumbled into one big post.

**Burger Fest = A Bust**
On Saturday, after watching the NL lose in the World Cup (boo!), we hit up a street festival in Roscoe Village called Burger Fest. We decided to venture into "Burger Zone" (identified by the smoke hovering above the area). The lines were ridiculously long! Some of the stands were running out of burgers... one was actually completely out. Who runs out of burgers before 8pm at an event called Burger Fest?!? Since we didn't want to wait in line a half hour for a burger, the only things Matt and I ended up getting at Burger Fest were chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks. We went to Riverview Tavern afterwards and everyone got burgers there instead.

Matt and Andy played a round of putt-putt at the festival. This was an exciting course, folks! ; ) I think Andy won by a stroke.



I think Samantha is going to need a shorter club!


**The Shack**
On Sunday, Matt and I drove to Fremont, Michigan to meet up with his family. We stayed at The Shack, which is near his grandparents' old farm. He used to go there as a kid on family vacations.



This place is known for their banana splits, which are served every night around 9pm and included with your stay! : )



Matt's grandparents donated their farm to the Newaygo County Conservation District in 1996, to be used for educational purposes. It is now called the Kropscott Environmental Center. Sunday night, we went to see the observatory that has been set up on the farm. Unfortunately, the sky was not cooperating (too cloudy) and we didn't get to see anything. But, we did get to see how they built the observatory so that the roof rolled off for viewing purposes. My Dad would love that place!

On Monday, we visited with family and relaxed. In the afternoon, there was a memorial service for Matt's grandfather who had passed away earlier this year. It was the perfect setting right by the lake. Everyone shared some favorite memories of him.

On Tuesday, we went floating on the White River. The water felt awesome since it was so hot outside!

Even Max the dog loved floating!


Afterwards, we went to a house that Matt's aunt and uncle were renting nearby and had a cookout. We sat around a campfire and the kids made s'mores.

Yum! Matt's uncle Ed is a master griller!


Gotta love glow bracelets!


Well, that was until we started hearing this gurgling noise... Matt's cousin, Leigh Ann, remembered that there were automatic sprinklers in the yard and we all jumped up just as they started spraying everywhere.

We finished the night off inside playing Catch Phrase. We played boys vs girls, but I'm not quite sure we ever kept score.

We had a lot of fun relaxing with Matt's family... here are a few other random pics from our time there.



If you want a more comfortable ride, just put an old car seat on your tractor!


Matt's mom with Gavin, Raygan and Delaney


Beautiful Michigan sunset


Flower beds!


Leigh Ann, Billy and Duke


We had to head back to Chicago on Wednesday morning. We stopped off at the outlet stores in Michigan City, IN on our way home. We bought some clothes for our trip to Greece!

**Asian Grilling**
Friday night, Matt and I went to a cooking class. We haven't gone in a while, but there was a one-day sale last week, so we signed up.

On the menu for the night...
Appetizers: Shrimp-mango wontons and Grilled chicken satay with spicy peanut sauce
Salad: Asian pear salad
Entrée/Sides: Ginger-hoisin salmon burgers with wasabi mayo and edamame rice salad
Dessert: Grilled seasonal fruit and lemongrass cream parfaits

Matt and I worked on the chicken satay, which I must say turned out awesome! : ) The salmon burgers were amazing, too. I didn't know how they'd make them, but they started out with huge pieces of raw salmon, chopped it up and mixed it with ginger-hoisin sauce and some other spices. Then, made it into patties and grilled it. Very tasty!





After the cooking class, we stopped off for a drink at the Holiday. And got into a fierce Connect Four tournament. Matt killed me. That boy loves his Connect Four!

Fun weekend

Friday after work, I was supposed to go to the Taste of Randolph, but as anyone in Chicago knows... there was nothing going on outdoors due to that crazy storm! I had left work a little early and was home watching the storm roll in from the west. I took some pictures, but haven't downloaded them yet. It was pretty ridiculous!

After the major rain blew through, I met up with Tony and Kari at Emmit's. When I walked in, I noticed it was hot and looked more romantic than I remembered that place being. Ummm... that's because the electricity was out and there were candles lit all over the place. I had one drink there and then we headed up to Jack's 404 Wine Bar for dinner, where I had a few glasses of sparkling wine and way too much cheese!

Matt was out with co-workers that day for a client team event. They had picked Roof at the Wit for their happy hour. Not the best day to be sitting 30+ stories up on a rooftop patio, but they still managed to have a good time!

On Saturday, Matt, me, Erin, Ross and Brett all drove down to Peoria to meet up with my Mom and Dad. We were celebrating my Mom's 60th birthday (or her second 59th birthday, as she likes to phrase it) and also Father's Day. We stayed at the Par-A-Dice Casino, so we gambled some (ok, some gambled more than others!) My Dad had a good streak going at the Roulette table with all of our birthdays - his came up twice in a row and then once a few spins later (4th), and Matt's came up twice (13th) pretty close together as well.

That casino is pretty strict about drinks. I tried to get Matt and Ross another round of Jack and Cokes and the waitress told me she had just given them some and they couldn't possibly be ready for another round yet. She said the cameras are watching to make sure people don't drink too fast and they need to be careful. Considering the crowd of people in the casino at the time, I was thinking she was nuts to worry about these two... but, whatever.

We had dinner at Avanti's and we were shocked at the price. Seriously, there were 7 of us and we all left super full (apps, salads, meals) and we had alochol. The total cost with tip and tax was under $110. Matt and I can spend that on ourselves pretty easily going out to dinner in Chicago! Nice!

On Sunday, we had brunch at the buffet at the casino, which was pretty good. Lots of options! We drove back to Chi-town and I spent the rest of the day napping and catching up on tv. Matt grilled out turkey burgers for dinner. Yum!

I took a camera with me and didn't take one picture. I am terrible!

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we could all get together to celebrate with my Mom and Dad!

Shannon's new place

On Saturday, my friend Shannon was having a housewarming party. Her new place is right above Dave & Busters on the 31st floor. She has a corner unit and an awesome view of the air show. We hung out there for the afternoon and caught the Blue Angels show. Have I mentioned I love the air show???

My friend Theresa and her husband Matt brought their baby Lauren to the party and she was such a cutie!


Here's a shot of Shannon, me and Hany...


I love the Blue Angels!



Looking down from Shannon's balcony, looks like the General Lee going by!


We stayed there until the show was over and then I pretty much passed out after that. I may have drank a little too much wine at Shannon's place!

Air show

I'm a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan of the Chicago Air & Water Show... well, mostly the Air Show. I don't think I've really watched the Water Show before. But, I just heard some planes flying by outside and I can't wait until this weekend to see the show! : )

Saturday

Matt and I recovered from our Friday night out... mainly with the help of Pizza Hut. : )

On Saturday afternoon, we went to a showing of The Dark Knight at the Navy Pier IMAX theater. That movie was awesome! And watching it in IMAX was so cool! Some of the scenes made me lose my stomach (people jumping off buildings, Batman flying, etc.) Oh, did I mention that the only seats left were in the very first row! It definitely wasn't as bad as sitting in the front row in a regular theater, though.

After the movie, we decided to go to the Retro on Roscoe festival. As we were heading out from the movie to find two cabs (there were 7 of us in total --- me, Matt, Erin, Ross, Hany, Grant and Brett)... Grant managed to work out a deal for us to take a limo from Navy Pier up to the festival for $50. We decided to go for it and when we got in the limo, the driver said we could drink anything that was in the bar (which included Heineken and Bud Light!) Score! : ) So, we rode up to the festival and each had a beer on the way.



We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Riverview Tavern. We got into the festival just in time to see Sixteen Candles play. That band is so much fun to watch... they really get the crowd going. We lucked out and found a spot not too far from the stage.



After the concert, we went back to Riverview Tavern for a few more drinks. Keeley (Ross' sister) was there with a couple of friends, so we all hung out. Then Matt, Brett and I went to the Diner Grill. Matt hadn't been in a little while and was craving a milkshake. Brett had never been there before (crazy, I know!)



After some cheeseburgers and a quick call to Barry (we were playing Amarillo by Morning after all), we totally crashed! What a fun day! : )