Back to Costco

I just bought these fake UGG booys from Costco in December (I think) and I went to put them on yesterday and my finger went right through the back. The previous fake pair I had from Costco lasted years and I thought these were better because the sole was level and not a mini-platform like the old ones. I'm not sure what happened to them but I'll return them and see how that goes.

Thanks, kids

I made lasagna the other night and we tried out my Kitchen Aid slicer/shredder the kids gave me for Christmas. It works!

August missed us

August can't seem to get enough of us since we got home from Disney. I got warm while doing some housework yesterday and turned the furnace down. Then the house got cold (Chicago high temp of 16) so I sat by the kitchen furnace and August even joined me there.

Back to B’s

Allison offered to drive to B's Monday if we there was anything else he needed and since we had his water bottle, I decided to go. I packed up a small bag of things he wanted and a few things I thought he should have. We weren't able to find a good parking spot so we just dropped things off and came back home. It is nice to have him close by.

B’s first visitors

Nice but drizzly drive to B's apartment Sunday. Andy left his tool kit there, B had a few requests for more things from home, and E wanted to see his apartment.

We got lucky and found a parking space right in front.

Siblings chatting in the kitchen. He said he's found the recycling bin but isn't yet sure where to take his trash.

Andy checking out the view from B's bedroom window. It's a courtyard. The view from his living room is better, the street where there's more to see.

He has his desk set up with two monitors in the living room. He also has a futon there that he'll use as a sofa. He's trying to decide where to put the TV as it needs to be near an outlet and the futon is currently hiding the outlet.

After we left his apartment we drove around the neighborhood, Lakeview East, a bit. It's very walkable. He's close to a health club, a Jewel, Whole Foods and Walgreens.

He realized that he had left his water bottle (a freebie from Housing at U of I) in the Uhaul on Saturday. We had to go back home so E could grab a jacket she forgot and swung by the Uhaul store and, yay, they had the water bottle. It's B's favorite.

From there, we did some shopping with E then drive her to O'Hare for her flight home. Driving to the airport I could have had a perfect picture with a huge United plane going over the road and an El train passing by but my phone was in my purse. I took this on the way home. We were directly under the landing oath of several planes.

Officially empty-nesters

Saturday was the day we (mostly Andy) moved B into an apartment in the city. He nonchalantly told us exactly a month ago that he signed a lease. We knew he had been considering moving out but I didn't know he was seriously looking for a place.

I did tell him he's living my dream. When we got married, I wanted to move into a trendy neighborhood in the city. If I was going to be moving to Chicago, I wanted to be in the city, not a suburb. With me working a low-paying newspaper job and Andy in law school, though, we didn't have the money to be in the city or even an apartment by ourselves for that matter.

The moving van Andy rented only had two seats so I stayed home during the actual move. I was OK with that.

Andy got lucky and found a legal parking space so he stuck around to help B put his bed and desk together.

B gets settled in.

E flew to Seattle from Disney on Thursday night then flew in to O'Hare on Friday. While we were moving B into his apartment, she was at the Univeristy of Illinois-Chicago in her role as her sorority's national expansion director installing a new colony. She'll be back later this year to install them as a new chapter. She's gone to other chaoters around the country but it was nice that this time she could be at home with us. August was glad to see her. She wasn't so happy with him when he chewed through her Surface computer cord ... while she was doing installation prep work on it.

Random Disney

It was so nice to have the kids together. We think this was likely our last "all family" vacation but who knows?

This Christmas Mickey Mouse was hanging from someone's license plate.

This bird got a little too close to us in the England area.

L and her friends on the Rock 'n Roll Roller Coaster (and a random girl sitting in the front by T). L knows when to pose for the ride pictures.

The construction is finally done at Epcot. It's nice not to walk around the construction.

L told the kids there's a hidden Mickey on the globe at the Yacht Club. They found it.

This was in the Carousel of Progress. Have I noticed this cat before? I'm not sure. There is so much to see on all of the rides that I tend to notice something new on every one.

L sent this picture Friday hanging out at Magic Kingdom. She said it was warmer than when we were there.

Leaving Disney

Andy was up early Thursday for rope drop at Magic Kingdom. He really wanted to ride Tron again before leaving. Here he is, one of six people on the ferry going back to his car after the ride.

We were out of our room by 11 a.m. as planned and went to L's apartment to drop off our leftover groceries.

Her cat is a little crazy and immediately tried to chew into the bag I used to bring her the extra water.

A big hug until we come back to see her in April.

This is L's apartment building, one of many in her complex.

We killed some time at a local outlet mall. The Disney store had a long line to get in, just like all of the rides at Disney. We skipped it.

E and D had a flight home on Delta so couldn't join us in the United Club. B came with though and we were able to have a light lunch, gelato and grab some snacks for the flight home. We were surprised that United had a Christmas tree decorated in red when their colors tend to be blue. As we were leaving to catch our flight they were taking the tree down.

Last full Disney day

Props to Andy who made breakfast every morning for our gang. Here he is making bacon on Wednesday morning.

It was still colder (though warmer than Tuesday) so the lines were pretty short. We rode Snow White's mine train which we hadn't done in years. We also went through the Haunted Mansion and neither of us recalled noticing this rose on a tombstone in the queue before. We also had a tiny cremains box in the space in front of our "doom buggy." We figured that was a placeholder for a broken buggy.

We met up with L and her friends in Epcot to ride Guardians again. L was able to get us in the virtual queue again with her fast fingers.

Andy and I went to the pub in the England area to hear a piano player. Andy requested, and he played, Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road.

We took L and her friends out for dinner at BJ's, a local restaurant. Andy said he likes the off-property prices more than the Disney prices.

All of us went (B stayed in the room and said he wasn't feeling well) to Magic Kingdom for after hours. Andy and I rode Pirates and the Jungle Cruise until I wanted to go back to the room. E and D went to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and was chosen to be part of the act as the Churro Guy. Here's L and her friend on Tron. L can pose because she knows exactly where in the ride the cameras are.

Tuesday was full of surprises

Our first surprise of the day Tuesday was how cold it was! A high was predicted of 51. Glad I brought my winter jacket. L got us on in the virtual queue for Guardians so Andy and I headed over to Epcot. The line for the ride was light and we saw a character dressed as Peter Quill from "Guardians of the Galaxy" walking in the queue greeting guests and taking pictures. I sent the picture to the kids. L was excited; E said he didn't look like the actor Chris Pratt. Close enough, I said.

Then, we got the first car while riding Guardians.

The lines were pretty short (I guess the cold deterred a lot of people) so we rode the Remy ride. We waited about 50 minutes in line. Not the most flattering 3-D glasses.

The Frozen ride line was also 50 minutes so we went there next. The ride stopped mid-way through ...

and we knew we were in trouble when the lights came on.

We had to wait for two cast members to arrive to escort us off the ride. Only one guest could stand up at a time and get to the walkway. We were in the first row and they evacuated from the back to the front. It was all smoothly executed.

They took us out back and back in through the gift shop, giving everyone a lightning lane pass to use at some point in the day.

That afternoon, Andy, E and I went to the Grand Floridian resort. I wanted to see the big gingerbread house but it was already gone. We did find a penquin in a gift shop and E said to take a picture and show it to the front desk for a button. I did and we got this button and I had a nice chat with the concierege who recently graduated from Bradley University.

For dinner Andy and I had a reservation at the Biergarten, a German buffet. We used our lightning lane from ealrier and ride Frozen. We were through the line in less than 10 minutes. The wait for everyone else was estimated at 70 minutes. We did a little window shopping when we got to the German area.

The German area was still decorated for Christmas.

The band was a lot of fun.

Lots of kids were dancing to the music.

The desserts were good. How cute is the Mickey head with a German flag?