Adventures in Chicago

Last weekend Scott and I headed to Chicago for Katie's birthday.  Usually we drive there, but both girls advised us that we'd never find a parking spot with all of the snow that had fallen.  Boy, were they right!  We chose to drive to Michigan City and then took the train to the Millenium Park Station, where Katie met us; then we just used taxi's for the rest of the time we were there.  Scott enjoys sitting in the front seat and talking to the drivers.  It's so funny, because none of them seem to be from America, they're all from somewhere else.  This weekend our drivers were from Morocco, Pakistan and Egypt.  They were all very friendly and talkative - I find it amazing that so many people from the Middle East move here, and then send money home to support their families.  As you can imagine, the man from Egypt had lots to say about everything that's going on in his country right now.  I asked him if he was afraid for his family (they live in Cairo), but he said no.  His wife is actually a professor there, but here he has to come to the U.S. to help support the family.  Guess that's why the people are revolting there!

So, anyway, we had a delightful time visiting, as usual.  Katie chose to go to "Joe's Seafood, Steak and Crab" Restaurant downtown for her birthday dinner.  It was very good and a lot of fun.

Katie and our friendly waiter, David.

Our beautiful birthday girl.

Me and my gal....



A couple of weeks ago Scott and I enjoyed seeing some old friends that we've known for over 30 years - Doug and Marlin Prins.  They live in Palmer, Alaska and were in Holland for a month or so after the holidays.  Our plan is to the take our RV (you know, the "P-Mobile") to Alaska for a couple of months after Scott retires, so they had lots of tips for us.  Of course we plan to see them while we're there, and maybe even take a couple of short trips with them.  Dad was interested to hear about our trip, because we'll be near where he was stationed during World War II - the Aleutian Islands.  Don't know if we'll actually get there or not, as these island are over 1,000 miles in length, and the only way to get there is by plane or boat (on extremely choppy waters)!  We will see.....

Doug and Marlin Prins

Old buddies, Scott and Doug (they have actually known each other all their lives, as Doug's parents were friends with Scott's parents)

We enjoyed having Perkins Restaurant practically to ourselves that night.

As I write this, the snow is melting outside and it's just about mid-February.  Makes me feel like Spring might finally be on its way!  It was great seeing some of the family at DeBoer's for breakfast recently.  Hopefully we can do that again soon......and by the way, HappyValentine's Day!!