Chicago Lessons

Here are some Pics. This is only a small sample. Stay tuned for more in the near future. For some silly reason, my computer will not let me edit. So read on if you want to read the post.

Wrigley Field

Go cubs yes, it is SUNday

Kevin and his new bff (anyone would be if you shared 20oz of coke with them right?). They are outside the College football hall of fame in South Bend before it moves. More free, Thanks Kelly. Notice, it is NOT SUNday.

kevy by the famous Chicago theatre.

awww.

Kevy by the Chicago river. I can't believe they can dye the entire thing green for St Patty's Day

The famous bean. I believe I have about 40 pics of this landmark. My cute husband and his picture happy ways.

Fun but strange architechture in Millenium Park

Buckingham fountain

Me and Kevy on a SUNday walk along lake shore drive (less than 5 min from our apt)

SUNday

I think the best and most obvious lesson learned I have learned since moving to Chicago is about Sunday. Now I have finally learned how it gots its name. Yes, we have learned that it is a day of rest, but the history around its name must have originated in Chicago. Since Kevin and I have lived in this city, the only day we seem to be able to observe the Sun is on Sunday, hence where Sunday gets its name. The other days of the week do not include sun in their names, thus it must be a day for rain and gloom. Not that we don't like Chicago. We have had so much fun exploring and learning about our new home, but it makes it a bit challenging when the only day we have for these explorations is this single day of the week.

Distance and Time


Now I am from Raymond (population: roughly 2500) to me, 60 miles should take 40-60min, that would only make sense right? Well, forget everything you have learned. Forget that I lived in the bay area and thought I had seen traffic, and assumed I knew what it was all about. I have relearned everything I once knew. 10 miles, can mean an hour, depending on when you want to go, in what direction you want to go, and what road you are taking. Who knew that it could be so complicated.


Hair and Humidity


I hate the humidity, I also hate doing my hair. Now this lesson is coming from a girl who managed to make it her entire senior year of highschool with a wet messy bun or ponytail to school. I would not mind doing this, but I do have a husband, and I feel like I should get all razzle dazzle once in a while, but read the 1st lesson once again, If I did do my hair, the humidity and rain make it look like I had a battle with a penny and an electrical outlet, what a mess. Poor Kevin.



Toques and Polar bears


One, who will remain nameless, since it is so "embarrassing", was tossing her darling toque in the air, when a gust of wind came along (hello, it is the windy city and there are plenty of gusts of wind) and picked up the hat and threw it over the 10ft glass wall into the polar bear's pool. (this polar bear was much prettier than the green one at the San Francisco Zoo). It sure got her attention (I am sure it was a girl), she almost dove in. I guess, they have good taste in fashionable hats. I think she just wanted to try it on.



Chicago Dogs


They aren't as good as I thought they would be. I will break every Chicago rule, and stick to JUST ketchup on my Dogs from now on.


Sox vs Cubs.


We live on the south-side, in fact, we live on the same street as Obama (I know, we almost moved when we figured this out), He pitched the opening pitch at a game this year for the Sox. For this reason, and this reason only, I am a Cubs fan. We even went to Wrigley field. Lots of fun.


Free Days.


I married an accountant. He watches his money (we are not allowed to say cheap), but in this city, there are so many fun things to do that ARE Free. They have a free zoo (where I learned about polar bears and fashion), free museums, and free fireworks. Since being here, I have been to 3 free museums (one of them twice), the free zoo, and we are planning on several more. We love free.

Countdown 9 days...

My favorite place, Monterey. We got to go last weekend with kevy's family

Just a few short days left here in sunny California. We have loved living here and we will miss it, but we are looking forward to our big adventure up ahead. I thought I would post some pictures from some of our more recent adventures and favorite places.

Me and my BFF and "drinking buddy" at Half Moon Bay. Our husbands were supposed to take us to the Ritz (as seen in the background), but must have spent too much on lobster for breakfast.

Kevy showing off his amazing form. He is a fantastic boogey boarder and body surfer

Kevy, our nephew Kaden and his sister Lianna down in Carmel. too bad it was a chilly summer day, but still so pretty.

Kevy and me at Point Lobos in Carmel

This hike was done on the hottest day of the year, I am sure, and nearly cost me my husband. I almost had to carry him down the mountain as since he ran out of water halfway up the hike. oops. We did live though. Yay.

Our hike at the Pinnacles continued. We did see a California Condor.

Kevy and I hiked Half Dome, this was on the way down. We ran out of water at the top of that hike as well. I need to become a better trip planner.

The hike was just over 20 miles. (I am sure most of it was straight up) as you can see behind me in this picture, the final ascent is up chains that go at about an 85 degree angle up. People are going up and down that same set of chains. That line took me 3 hours to get through, but the view from the top is spectacular. Its a good thing I have kevy and he takes lots of pictures to remember it, because I will never hike it again.

We are on the Diving board at the very top of Half Dome.

At the beginning of our hike (you can see the part jutting out, it is the diving board we are standing on in the picture above)

Kevy thought he was commanding the elements.

The day before, we explored the valley and Yosemite Falls.

Kevy's family came into town for Labor day weekend. We had lots of fun with them. This is us at the beach in Monterey

Back from retirement

ADDENDUM: Reader Beware The following post has been falsified, embellished and contains down right lies. But to appease my darling husband, I will allow the post to stand.

By: Kevy Wevy AKA Kevykins

I'm coming out of retirement for one post only due to recent developments at home. These recent developments involve absurdly placed cups, bowls, plates, and cans that contain potential spillable disasters. The obvious culprit is seemingly unaware of these recent developments, and thus the need for the blog.

As you will notice from the picture, there is a table with an interestingly placed bowl partially filled with milk. As you will also notice, the bowl filled with milk is not just interestingly placed on the table, but it is placed at the most extreme edge of the table. As of now you are probably asking yourself the same question that has puzzled me for months. Why? Why is the bowl there? Why is the bowl placed on the corner of the table when there is plenty of room to accomadate it elsewhere? There is in fact, plenty of room to put the bowl in the middle of the table as to avoid cleaning up a mess in case of a spill. Well, after months of cleaning up diet coke, orange juice, and milk, I have determined that there is no answer to this question. It's like the chicken and the egg. In fact, I don't even think the culprit knows the answer.

Home Sweet Home

So this past weekend, I got to go get a taste of my future life. A glimpse into the inner workings of Chicago. The city has a bid in for the 2016 Olympics. It is filled with fabulous architechture, great views, diverse culture. and fantastic sports teams. Yup Sounds pretty spectacular right? Tons of Glitz and glam. Thats us.
Well, I have been doing some research. Kevin and I live in "America's safest big city" currently. Chicago has murder and crime rates 2.5X the national average. Kevin will be attending the University of chicago. It is a fabulous and presigious school. Good ol' Barack taught there at the Law school, Yup we will live just a few blocks from Obama himself. Every time I think about moving there, a song pops into my head (I was rasied on oldies) Jim Croce was right on When he wrote his song....

Well the south side of chicago
Is the baddest part of town
And if you go down there
You better just beware

That does it there. Sums it up. I got to take my sister and her little baby boy house hunting. We saw some impressive things, in some equally impressive neighborhoods. I just have to share my favorite picture of the day.

Yes, that is mold on the wall, and have you ever seen a fan do that? I hadn't. The houses all had some type of similar charm to that. I guess that is why they were so cheap. I think my other favorite thing, was when I was with my real estate agent later. We went to go look at another property, and pulled up in front of the place. She didnt get out of her car, so I waited, unsure if this was the place or if she was lost.... (I'm going to give you a little back-ground, of the area, the population is 99.7% black. I am not, as kevin LOVES to point out) I noticed throughout the day, that these people don't work, they are just out running amuck all day long, doing, who knows what. I bet it isn't good though. Kelly had been sufficiently nervous all day, but these are my future neighbors, I have to be nice and embrace them. Back to the story, So I look out my window and there are probably 15-20 big black guys, in their mid to late 20s. just hanging outside. My real estate agent then calls me and said "don't get out of your car" I am a pretty tough girl and as my little sister once said, "Nobody wants to rape a tall girl", so I wasn't that nervous. She went on to say "if you get out of your car now, within 5 seconds you will be surrounded" That sounded intimidating. I then reflected on the Chicago crime reports I had been reading. Car Hijacking, assult with a firearm, 1st degree murder, Theft of $300 or more. None of those things sounded very good, So I decided, if I couldn't even look at a place because of rif-raf, I probably shouldn't live there.

Cute Colton helping us house hunt

The best part of the visit, was that I got to see my cute sister and her family. I got into Chicago, and drove down to Southbend that evening. Kelly didn't tell them I was coming, and they were very suprised and excited to see me. We got to go to Mike's softball game ( we got there for the last out) but I am sure mike was amazing. We played at the park, found "treasures", went out for a "special" dessert because Aunt Cathy was in town, and watched some amazing bike riding skills. It will be so fun to be so close to them for a while.

Halle was going up and down driveways. Very impressive.

Mads, showing off her modelling, watch out new Jacob!!

Summer Fun.

Kevy and I have been busy going all over the place having fun this summer. We have had the opportunity to spend time with my parents and Kevin's family. We've been down to Carmel, Up to Tahoe, Spent time in San Francisco, Went to Wicked, to a Giants game. We're cramming in all the fun we can before we have to go. Here is some picture overload.

on the 4th, Kevin Lianna and I went rafting on the Truckee. We weren't the only one's with that idea. There was so many rafters there, you could barely move down the water.

Kevy and I went to Sand Harbor in Lake Tahoe to play on the beach and Jump off the rocks.

After we went rafting, we went to South Lake Tahoe to watch the fireworks.

We are so lucky to have Ken and Tina here, since Todd and Jenny ditched us. Kevy loves playing with his little nephew. They are so funny together.

Kaden was unsure about sand at first, but ended up LOVING it after kevy and Lianna burried him in it. (only to his waist though)

Kevy and his BFF (they have Halo play dates frequently) down at Point Lobos, just south of carmel. They later went body surfing in like 15 foot waves in like 50 degree water. those 2 are crazy

At Crissy Field. Spending the day at the beach while Jenny packed. Sorry Jenny.

Supposedly, this is where Robert Louis Stevenson was inspired to write Treasure Island.

This might be my favorite. He-Man is chasing the Evil Beast Man. You should have seen "Beast-Man" jumping into the bushes the day before. It was awfully impressive.

Aren't they darling.

There is a slide in the coke bottle, but it was really scary, so we didn't go. Now that he is 3, I bet it would no longer be scary.

PUNK"D

It all started 2 weeks ago. Kevin came home from church and told me that the 2nd counselor had come up to him and asked if we would speak in church in a couple weeks. So of course, he said that we would love to, without consulting me. I would have concocted a marvelous scheme so that I could avoid any such situation. If you know me, the only thing worse than stranger danger, is having to get up and speak in front of all those strangers.
So for 2 weeks I was stewing, still trying to come up with any excuse to avoid speaking. I even considered eating a raw chicken breast, hoping to get salmonella poisoning. I finally conceded, and after stalling most of Saturday afternoon, I got down to business at about 8pm. So I was doing some research, found some good quotes, structured my talk and got down to writing. It was about 10:30pm and I had about 2 pages done and Kevin asked me to email him a copy, claiming that he didn't want us to "use the same material". So I relented. I told him it was sent and he looked up at me with the most pathetic eyes and said, " promise you won't hate me?". I don't like that line, I don't like what it implies, I don't like being in the unknown like that. I start to worry. What on earth could he have done? Is he stealing my talk for his own? Is he planning on embarrassing me in front of the congregation (which he DID do). No, none of this could have prepared me for what was next. He said, " remember when I told you that brother baker asked us to speak?" yes, of course I remembered, I had been haunted by that for 2 weeks. "well, he really only asked ME to speak". WHAT? yes, Kevin had played me like a fiddle. I had sweat, toiled, stewed, griped, murmured and whined for all that time and I did not have to give a talk. Well, I should have been furious, I should have beat his lips off. But, as previously stated, my single worst fear in life is speaking in front of a large group of strangers. Instead of being angry, I was simply relieved. I didn't have to speak. Instead of tearing off each of his toenails, one at a time, I prepared his lesson for Sunday school and baked him homemade oreos at 1am. Reflecting back, I deserve wife of the year, no, better yet BEST WIFE EVER award.

Dominican Republic

So Kevy and I were originally going to go to Mexico for our honeymoon, but swine flu happened the week we were going to book our tickets. So, in our haste to find a new location for some fun in the sun, we discovered some great deals to the DR. What a beautiful place, and we had so much fun! Here are some pics of our good times.

we went to a place called 27 waterfalls we got to climb up to the 1st 15 waterfalls and then..
slide down some of them...

and jump off others. The water was so clear and cool and beautiful.

kevy and I took up ocean kayaking. we were not like the fat ladies who tried to get on before us, although it was really good entertainment. I think they flipped 6 or 7 times each. I should have taken some pictures of that

Kevy and me again at 27 waterfalls. We wore our own shoes. We could have rented some "water shoes" from the locals, but they looked like old, smelly 30lb loafers. I am sure we would have ended up with some type of foot fungus. yick

we went snorkeling at Sosoua Bay. Kevy was feeding the fish some rolls.

We did some boogie boarding

Our resort was all inclusive. Kevin took advantage of that and drank his weight in Pina Coladas each day.

We went deep sea fishing, but the marlin alluded us. Instead, kevy caught a wahoo.

Kevy and Me at Sosoua bay.