Auld Lang Syne

On Thursday the 20th (Emilio’s 36th Thursday in this world), I sent a text message to Peter saying that we would be late to our scheduled noon rendezvous and as soon as I pressed the send button, I got a text message from Peter saying that they were going to be late. Turns out we were almost perfectly synchronized and so we met at the Grand stop on the Red Line minutes after exchanging text messages and took the free trolley together to our original destination spot: Navy Pier, the most visited tourist spot in Chicago (according to one guide I read). The focus of our visit was the Chicago Children’s Museum, which is more of an “Exploratorium” than a museum, as all of the exhibits are, essentially, playgrounds. The highlight for me was the water works station where we used clear plastic Tinker-Toy-like tubes to construct odd fountains, but I also enjoyed constructing flying machines, and playing statue to video butterflies (see the photo of Mari above on the left). After leaving the museum, Iona and Aedan took a thrilling ride on the Wave Swinger and then Iona joined Peter and Mhairi on the Ferris Wheel while Maria and Emilio and I enjoyed watching Aedan make his way through the SkyTrail ropes course. Once everybody’s feet were back on solid pier, we plotted the fastest route to the Chicago Theatre, where the Scots among us had first-row balcony seats for a performance of the Gipsy Kings. We ended up sending the Gibsons on ahead of us, but the bus we took to the El dropped us off near the Chicago Theater so we met up again by coincidence.

On Friday, the G’s checked out of the Days and lugged their gear up to Andersonville, where Peter helped me install our window air-conditioning unit (and just in time as temperatures soared on Saturday) while Mhairi and Mari hit the shops.

We later dined on corn dogs and “Chicago-style” Polish hot dogs (firsts for our Hebridean friends) with Jack and Julie and Nathaniel at Huey’s, where Maria gave us a class in the gestures to use if you want to imitate Mhairi when she describes something as “huge.” After lunch, took a short walking tour of the ‘hood, bought cool stuff at Kopi Café and Presence, sampled dozens of beers at Charlie's (one of us did, anyway) and then headed back to Chez Foster.

The plan was for the Gibsons to take an 8 p.m. taxi to the Holiday Inn Express at O’Hare in anticipation of their early morning flight to Orlando the next day, but the plan didn’t account for Karaoke (we're in the throes of Copacabana in the photo at right), the laughing fit that a dancing Mhairi induced from Emilio, or a rousing rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s disco classic,“I Will Surive,” performed in the style of Grrrrrroundskeeperrrrr Willie (of The Simpsons), if Grrrrrroundskeeperrrrr Willie werrrrrrrre rrrrrreally angrrrry. My favorite lyric: "I'm not that tenderrrr little perrrrson still in love with you. " There were calls for an encore performance of this one, folks--and an encore was delivered. And so, we did not bid our last farewell until 1:30 a.m., and even then, our time together seemed too, too shorrrrrrt.