One Fabulous Night

On Dec. 22, Jason and I went out for a night of French Cuisine and ballet (Joeffrey Nutcracker). I really enjoyed every minute of the night being able to dress up, eat delicious food and be entertained by an art form that is an important and dearly loved part of my life. I also enjoyed being in the city. Everest Restaurant is located on the 40th floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange right there off of Congress. Right from their website: Everest offers breathtaking views of Chicago on par with the exquisite wine and cuisine offered by Chef Joho. Bronze sculptures created by acclaimed Swiss artist Ivo Soldini adorn each table, while paintings by Chicago artist Adam Siegel line the walls overlooking the western view of the city and sculptures by Virginio Ferrari grace the dining room. Equally elegant is Chef Joho’s personalized cuisine, influenced by his Alsace, France origins. Here are the two pieces of art (er dessert) from our table...





Here we are in the lobby of Everest. The coat check lady was kind enough to take the photo. Unfortunately the flash was still off from when we felt goofy enough trying to take photos of our desserts without attracting too much attention.



Of course you cannot take photos of the performance at the ballet (at the Auditorium Theater, which is just down the street from the restaurant), but we thought it would be ok to take some in the area outside of the seating during intermission. In fact one of the ushers took one of the photos (not shown) for us. But still, some guy came along and scolded us for taking flash photos in the theater. The weird thing is it seemed like it was 5 minutes before he even came over.



Does Jason look extra happy? Perhaps it is because of his celebrity spotting. He saw a guy he SWORE was Jim Gaffigan, comedian. We "followed" him up the stairs during intermission after I got out of the powder room (we were actually going that way anyway). He was with his 2 year old son, a real cutie with a head of blonde curls. Jason actually asked him if he was who he thought he was. He said "yeah" and appeared less than excited to be recognized. I suppose it gets old after a while, especially if you are out with family trying to relax and have fun. We talked to his wife a bit after he walked away.

So anyway, it was a really fun night and a rare occurrence that we get to go out to such nice places.

Let the Christmas Season Begin!

After the stress of Thanksgiving, we started out the new holiday season with some recovery time and lots of good fun.

Saturday night we were in need of some rejuvenation time, so Jason and I went on a date while our dear friends watched the kids. We went to eat at Cracker Barrel for some comfort food. We had an excellent waitress and delicious food. The green beans remind me of my grandma's and put a smile on my face. We both had chicken and dumplins, my favorite! Then we went to a movie, which is a rare event. We saw American Gangster. I wasn't used to seeing Denzel Washington in a bad guy role, so it was strange. It was way to violent.

The kids were really good for our friends. My friend just loves them and they love her. She is like an aunt to them and a sister to me. They also just love their son James who is 5. And to give the husband some props here, it was he that Miles went to for comfort when he missed his parents.

They looked too cute sleeping when we picked them up to take home.




Sunday on the way to church we saw a nursery where pretty Christmas trees were being sold. After church we went back and got a gorgeous one! The whole family is happy! Jason is a pro at securing trees on top of cars!




For most of the afternoon Ella did a craft and Kristi worked on a gingerbread house with "help" from the kids. Ella actually did put some of the candy on a window and the roof. Miles made "bear tracks" in the snow. Ahem. It was fun and I might try to put together a gingerbread house making party next year! If not, I'd definitely like to make this a tradition in our family! Also, we all enjoyed some hot chocolate that afternoon. While we were working on the house, Jason was putting up lights outside in the COLD!







Back to the tree. I think we found the perfect place for it this year. A little nervous about it being so close to the fireplace. After we straighten it up and got the lights on, we let the kids put on the ornaments with minimal help. I did move a few up higher. The point is: it is more important that people had fun than that the tree look perfect. I have mentioned this before, but all of those snowflakes are a Czech tradition and were make by Jason's mom. We love to look at them every year.

With an attitude of gratitude, we focused on the positives and truly enjoyed the weekend. We hope that you too will experience the joy and miracle of the Christmas season!

"Fall" Fun

We went to an Apple Orchard/Pumpkin Patch/Kids Fall Fun place called "Apple Holler" in Wisconsin on Saturday. It was HOT HOT HOT! Didn't feel like fall at all. But the kids still had fun. I think we may try a different place next time though.

"Nature Walk"

During a nice day last week I took the kids on a nature walk. This was basically walking around the yard and down a few houses to pick up leaves. Later we did some leaf rubbings.

Celebrating our Fifth

We went out for dinner and music at Pete Millers in Wheeling.

fun

Back from Washington Island

We are back from our week long stay at Washington Island of Door County, Wisconsin. Well, it was overcast the whole time and 70 degrees. I was sick for several days. But we made the best of it and were actually sad to leave. Some highlights were:

* Staying in the simple but cute cabin with no TV, no phone, no internet (we brought a radio and listening to public radio).

* Albatross, the cute little walk up/eat outside restaurant where we got our ice cream.

* The ostrich (and other exotic animal) farm.

* Playing at play parks and story night at the red barn.

* The ferry ride.

* Eating at Al Johnson's Swedish restaurant on the way up and back. The place with grass and goats on the roof!

* Finding a great potter in Egg Harbor.

















We won't mention the mouse that took up residence on our car... that Jason just told me about today! I sure hope that thing is gone!

Finally I will post photos later of the cute utensil crock we bought at from the potter we found that we loved!