The T-shirt returns

I never thought I'd see this shirt again! B took it to Japan with him last June, and left it at his host family's house. No big deal, except that it was the shirt we had picked out for his casual senior photo pose. His host family sent the shirt back here with the Japanese students that arrived Saturday. How nice of them to go through the trouble to do that. B already texted his host mom a thank you.

And, fortunately, I found a casual T-shirt for his senior picture (in the nick of time, I might add) that I like just as much. I say I found it because I bought it when B wasn't with us. He's a little picky, but it's pretty amazing how similar the two shirts look.

School day

Today was Takako's first day at OPRF. She visited here last year on the school's trip so things are familiar for her.

After school we went to Target, where she bought some snacks.

She helped B make dinner, garlic chicken, peas and a salad.

After dinner, she gave us gifts for being her hosts. L loves surprises!

Sightseeing in Chicago

Today we took Takako into the city for some sightseeing. We parked in Andy's office garage, and went to the Picasso.

Then we walked to Millennium Park for some photos with the Bean.

From there, we stopped at Starbucks so the kids could get a drink to warm them up, then the Disney store, which was one of Takako's requests.

Then we drove up north to go to the Chicago History Museum. L actually laid in this bun and we made her into a Chicago hotdog. I have a photo, but she doesn't want it posted. Neither B nor Takako would get into the hotdog bun so I took their picture in front of it.

I thought the best exhibit at the museum was this display of the dresses designed by Mainbocher. This is from the museum's website: "Chicago-born Mainbocher (1890–1976) established a fashion empire serving royalty, Broadway icons, and the social elite. Raised in a modest home on the city’s West Side, he leveraged his passion for the arts to become a tastemaker of twentieth-century style. His acclaimed designs include the wedding dress for the Duchess of Windsor in 1937 and a corseted style that anticipated Christian Dior’s New Look." His evening gowns were beautiful and it was surprising to see that he designed the Girl Scout uniform and several uniforms for the women's Navy.

The exhibit included an interactive computer where you could create your own design. Here's L and Takako standing beside their design.

And you have to end a day of Chicago sightseeing with deep-dish pizza.

She's here

Andy and B went to O'Hare this morning to pick up some of the Japanese exchange students and bring them to the welcome brunch. Here's B with our student, Takako. L didn't go to the airport but she did make this sign, at B's request, so he could take it to the airport with him to welcome Takako.

This is Andy's artsy shot of the students' luggage. Fortunately, we only had to put three big suitcases in our Buick.

The welcome brunch, in a house just up the street from the high school. Lots of breakfast foods available for the students and parents.

Takako volunteered to give a welcome speech on behalf of the Japanese students.

After the brunch, B and his friend, D, who also is hosting, went with their students and L to the area shopping mall. They had lunch at Flattop before coming home. Takako took a good nap before getting up for dinner.

Meanwhile, E took the bus to Normal to visit her BF at ISU. They went to Avanti's for lunch, then made this tortellini soup for dinner. He's in student housing, but it's an apartment at Cardinal Court. When Andy and I were there, Cardinal Court was married student housing. Now, it's mostly sophomores. Guess it's a way for the school to keep kids who prefer apartment living over dorm life in student housing.

We're ready

I spent today cleaning and doing laundry in preparation for our Japanese student, Takako, to arrive tomorrow. She'll be staying in B's room. Here it is all clean!

For dinner we went downtown to Pizzeria Due. We had a Groupon that expires Saturday. We thought we had used it when E was home from college at Thanksgiving, but it appeared to still be valid - and it worked.

Banana bread blunder

So, the plan was to make banana bread to take to the welcome brunch for the Japanese students arriving Saturday. I made one regular loaf and one with mini chocolate chips and they both stuck in the pan! I think I tried to take them out of the pan too soon. My plan is to slice them and arrange them so they don't look so messed up. That might work.

Mr. Fix-it

I noticed Monday when I went to make dinner that the oven wasn't heating up. While the repairman was here today, I noticed my letter holder on the back porch was hanging on by one hook. I think this whole house is falling apart. I decided we wouldn't have to worry about it falling - we have to sometimes slam the back door to shut it and it shakes the letter holder - if we screwed it into the wall, so that's what Andy did.

Playtime?

When Muffles wants to play, he sits on his toy.

College injury

Poor E! She texted us Saturday morning that she was hurt her finger Friday night she jumped on her bed and slammed her knee into her knuckle. Ouch. She said, "Luckily, it's my right hand, and I can still move it even though it hurts." She thinks it's just a bruise but said if it still hurts by Wednesday, she'll go to the medical services and see if they can do anything for her. Today she texted me this picture. It doesn't look too bad, right?

And Sunday

We spent today in the Magic Kingdom. (You can see Olaf, Anna, Elsa and Mickey in the photo). We had Fast Passes to Pirates of the Carribean, Space Mountain and the Mine Train roller coaster. That last Fast Pass saved us a two-hour wait!

We didn't want to spend a lot of time waiting in lines, but we did get on the Dumbo ride! Can you go to Disney and not ride Dumbo? We did skip Small World, though. Here are some pictures from the resort we stayed at, Saratoga Springs. Its motif is a race track.

We stayed in a studio room "The Congress" section.

The room.

The view from our room. Disney Springs is right across the water.

Main lobby.

This statue is outside the main lobby.

This is the Artist's Pallete, a quick-service restaurant where we had good breakfast burritos in the morning before taking the bus to the Magic Kingdom.

The lounge where we charged Andy's phone and watched some football. It was starting to storm so we spent a good portion of the afternoon in the lounge waiting for the bus to take us to the airport. Even though our flight was supposed to be at 8:40 p.m., it got delayed till 11:25 p.m. because of tornadoes in the area. We finally boarded at about 11:50.

We stared at this sign for a long time in the airport. It was right next to a restaurant where we had a nice, leisurely dinner. What else can you do stuck in an airport for hours? At least the flight wasn't canceled.

Saturday at Disney

Here's a breakfast for champions. We went to Hollywood Studios soon after it opened so we could to on the Buzz Lightyear ride. I think the wait was only 20 minutes. And, best part, I out-shot Andy on the ride!

We also went on the Star Wars ride then sat in on the "Frozen" sing-along. I think L would love doing that! It was funny even though we didn't sing. The songs were pretty much stuck in our heads the rest of the day (and they're played pretty much everywhere).

The show in the main outdoor plaza at Hollywood Studios was about "Star Wars." It was pretty cool to see the stormtroopers walk right past us. From there we took a boat to Epcot, which was hosting its first Festival of the Arts. They had some human statues like this:

And several famous paintings people could put themselves in, like this one of Washington crossing the Delaware.

I'm not sure why the photographer insisted everyone needed to post with their arm up. It's not like that in the real painting.

We went on Soaring, which has been totally redone since we'd been there last, and we had a Fast Pass to skip the line for the new "Frozen" ride. (Again with the "Frozen" songs.)

Break time. Enjoying a beer in the garden in the British area of the park. We do like that Epcot has a lot of places to sit down and relax. By this time, Andy's phone needed charging so we went in search of the members' lounge. On our way to find that, we found a character photo spot for Disney Visa card members. We figured since we were there, we might as well go in.

And we were surprised to find Mickey and Goofy in there! This is kind of an awkward photo; they appear to be laughing at Andy. I can't remember why.

Here we are with Mickey and Goofy!

Across from that was the members' lounge. We sat in there, had some free soda, and Andy was able to charge his phone. (Everyone was charging their phones. Fortunately, there were lots of outlets.) It's a nice place to relax.

Our last ride before our steak dinner at Le Cellier was the Mexican boat ride with Donald Duck. We didn't take any pictures at dinner but we were full and tired afterward.

To Disney World!

Andy came home early from work and we grabbed lunch then drove to Midway to catch a flight for Disney World (sans kids)!

I wasn't sure what city we were flying over when I took this picture. I figured it was Atlanta, but had no way of knowing. Later my phone located it as Smyrna, Ga., which is a northwest suburb.

We were watching new of the inauguration on Andy's phone. He had free drink coupons from all of the travel he does for work so we each ordered a beer. We also asked for the complimentary Diet Coke. The flight attendant brought the beer, but didn't bring our sodas. When we asked about it, she came back with another beer. We said, no, we wanted the sodas. She apologized, gave us the second beer for free and then brought the soda. I like flying Southwest.

Instead of going straight to our resort, we asked the Magical Express to drop us off at the Contemporary Resort so we could go into the Top of the World Lounge. It took a while for them to reschedule us in their computers, but soon we were on our way. Here we are in the lounge. We didn't have park tickets for Friday so we just stopped in here for a drink and an appetizer dinner of pretzels.

Nice chandelier ...

... and another.

This is the lounge. We both thought it would be bigger.

This is the view of the Baylake Tower pool from the Top of the World Lounge.

And this is the view of the Magic Kingdom.