yesterday was moving day. or rather, the movers came and took all of our things… we’ll be flying out later in the week. we are very thankful that my parents are here to help, especially in the cleaning and cooking department. in fact, i think the kitchen will be cleaner than when we moved into the parsonage, thanks to my mom’s skills.

my wonderful friends at HPAC threw me a baby shower last weekend. i felt very blessed to be able to spend time with them, especially during my last week here in chicago. thank you for all the gifts and adorable outfits… this baby is already getting spoiled. thanks especially to the hostesses lisa and shawna!

my parents are in chicago this week to help us out with the move back to vancouver. we took a break with a nice father’s day brunch at sola, one of our favorite restaurants. my aunt kathleen was also able to drive up from indiana and spend the day with us.

In a continuing effort to broaden everyone’s cultural horizons, here is a video of a guy beatboxing the original super mario bros. theme. Enjoy.

last week i went to a free She & Him concert at millennium park with debra and sarah… together with thousands of other like-minded 20-30-something year olds. admittedly, i haven’t followed the band’s music in the past, but i like zoe deschanel (‘Elf’, ‘500 Days of Summer’). our plan for finding a nice grassy spot was thwarted, and had to settle for the board walk along the winding sky bridge, which although offered no view of the stage, was at least comfortable.

towards the end, we snaked our way through the crowds and actually got close enough to the front to catch a glimpse of the band. then ended the evening with some hazelnut gelato at cafe baci.

joe officiated the ceremony for todd and trilisa, and we had a great time celebrating together with old friends we know and have known from chicago.

me and jana, fellow pregnant ladies.

at the reception, annalise caught the bouquet!

last weekend we drove to jackson, MI to attend Todd and Trilisa’s wedding. on our way there, we stopped at a diner on the side of the highway for lunch… the “Waffle House of America”.

in jackson, we stayed at Hankerd Inn, a cute bed & breakfast which was conveniently located only a few minutes from the church. we were assigned the “Teacher Room”, filled with antique knick knacks, dating from the early 1900’s.

breakfast was at 9AM every morning, and always delicious.

as our time in chicago is (too quickly!) coming to an end, i find it delightful to still come across things i haven’t seen before. i had the opportunity to spend the day in downtown while waiting for our car to be serviced.

well okay, first one is not a particularly delightful sight: even the art institute lion has jumped onto the stanley cup bandwagon by wearing a blackhawks helmet. sigh.

the original facade to the chicago stock exchange building (it was on the other side of my much visited chicago art institute).

on my way to Navy Pier, finally walked down to the harbor where all the boats are out ready for summer.

and finally went to the (free) stained glass museum at Navy Pier. here are a few examples by Tiffany… really quite beautiful and painting-like.