We decided to take Mayu out one last time before she leaves Wednesday. We went to Palmer Place in LaGrange and got to sit in the balcony which I don't think we've done before. We're usually in this beer garden.
The food is OK and the service can be questionable (though it was good tonight) so the biggest draw is being able to sit outside and eat dinner. We figured for Mayu to truly experience summer in Chicago she had to dine al fresco at least once. And it was a beautiful night almost 80 degrees and an almost full moon to be sitting outside. We asked Mayu what touristy things she liked the most and she said the architectural tour and shopping on Michigan Avenue.
I asked the waitress to take a group picture before we left.
When we left to go to the restaurant, I stayed in the house a while longer to set out our parting gifts for Mayu. I was thinking of taking them to the restaurant but didn't want everyone crying in public. I also thought of taking them to the airport to give her Wednesday but thought it would be better to give her time to pack them.
I found this on etsy and thought it was too cute not to get for her. We put a card from L on that gift. I told her not to read the card because I knew it would make us all cry.
We were both tearing up by this point so she looked through the other gifts but didn't take the ribbon off the album to look through it. I think she'll do that when she's alone and I'm glad she spared us the tears. After opening her gifts she and B went to a friend's house to hang out. The next two days are going to be rough and sad.
I got this album late last year and have been taking pictures of her American adventures since. I hope she wasn't bothered by all the photos but I wanted to give her a nice souvenir of her time with us. We did a smaller one with 60 pictures for Takako and she said it is her "treasure." This one holds 200 photos and I came close to filling it. I think there were seven pictures left to fill. It was a lot of fun to make for her. A few of the pages:
I really like how this inside front cover turned out. Our card to her is in the top left corner.
And this is the inside back cover with L's picture. The flower stickers and washi tape are a theme throughout the album.
Andy looks it over before I wrapped it up.
The church gave Mayu this plate for her participation in all the youth activities. The story is that while cleaning out one of the rooms at the church, they came across a box full of plates. Not sure why they were made or when they were given out but the church has been giving them to people as they leave or retire. It's kind of guady and kind of big. Wondering if she'll find room in her bag for this or leave it with us. And on the back it warns, decorative use only, which is a little scary.
And I wanted to send a note to her parents so I put it on some Lindt chocolates ...
... and didn't want to forget her brother so we made him a gift bag of various American candies.
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