CHICAGO!

This past Friday, we loaded up and headed out for Chicago. We went to Chicago for a 90th birthday celebration... and a celebration it was! Joe's grandpa had a serious girlfriend (Marg) for quite some time and she was turning 90! The time Joe's grandpa was alive we got to spend a lot of time with Marg (and her family) and really got to know her well! She is such a neat lady and such a sweetheart! 5 years ago they had an 85th b-day party for her and Joe's grandpa... neither one of us was able to attend.. so we just knew we had to go this time!

Marg and Joe


Friday night, we headed north of Chicago to Marg's son and daughter-in-law's house (Paul and Marty). It was a pool party! They have an indoor pool in their house! It was great catching up with them and visiting. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Marg and dived into cake and Chicago style pizza! Our nephew was quite the swimmer. He is only 2, but loves the water. I guess normally he is a little scared.. but now all fear is gone. Joe loved splashing him (he loved it) and I really enjoyed catching him after he jumped off the side of the pool!

My brother-in-law tossing my nephew in the pool and me trying to catch him!

Saturday morning we really wanted to go tour the city... but rain came in! I guess I should tell you that it was our first time to Chicago! We had a great breakfast at our hotel... omelets made-to-order and all kinds of goodies. We wanted to head downtown, but instead headed to a huge mall. It was quite fun (3 story mall) and we even got a free chocolate sample at Godiva.

We then scurried back to the hotel to get ready for our upscale evening. We dressed in formal attire to prepare for the big celebration. Marg's birthday party was on the 80th floor in the second tallest skyscraper in Chicago! 14 of us rented a limo to ride into the city. We rode in an 8 passenger limo with Joe's parents, sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and niece. It dropped us off at the Aon Center. We headed to the 80th floor to the Mid America Club on the elevator. Our ears popped because of the elevation! We were graced with a beautiful beautiful view of the city and h'orderves. It was amazing to look out and see the whole city from above (even to look down at some skyscrapers). We visited with others and took many pictures.

Joe and I outside the limo!

Our nephew, Toby, really enjoyed the view from the 80th floor, too!



The amazing views!

Millennium Park from above...

From there, we moved to another room for dinner. The tables were decorated with about 2 dozen red roses. We had another great view of the city at sunset! On fine china we dined with about 50 others. Our first course was mango soup. It was quite different and cold.. can't say I had ever eaten anything like it before. The main meal was steak and lobster tail. It was so good! The servers then presented Marg with a plastic flower thing that played "Happy Birthday". It was very neat... in mid song.. it burst open and inside were lit candles! She made a wish and thus came dessert! Baked Alaska was the dessert. It was so neat... the servers brought several big cakes out with fire on them. The dessert was great... it was ice cream with cake rolled up on the outside. I had never had anything like it! After eating and such, we all rushed into another room for a spectacular view of the fireworks lit off from Navy Pier. It was amazing watching/looking down on them from the 80th floor!

Picture of the whole family - Joe and I, brother-in-law, Joe's sister, nephew (Toby), niece (Luci), and Joe's parents!

Joe and I at dinner on the 80th floor!
Joe enjoying his steak and lobster!

Our nephew in awe of the fire on the Baked Alaska dessert!


Looking down on fireworks set off from Navy Pier!


The night was one I'll never forget.... It was so fun and quite an upscale fancy experience with great family!


Sunday was our tourist day. We woke up with plans to go to Shedd's Aquarium, but then decided to go on a river and lake boat trip. We had heard rave reviews from others and thought it would be something we all would enjoy. It was a guided tour with about 200 others. Normally I am not one to hear the history of a city or such, but it was quite interesting and informative. I learned the "windy city" is not called that because of wind, but rather because a influential man thought Chicagoians are "windy" with their talking and accents! We even got to go through the locks and see the city from a distance! It was great... ! We went for lunch at the Weber Grill Restaurant... it was very good.. and we had the same type of yummy rolls we had the night before.. pretzel rolls! The only sad part was that we had to say "goodbye" to Joe's sister, bro-in-law, niece, and nephew...

On the boat ride... with the Sears Tower in the background!....

and a view from the lake... see the tallest building a little right of the middle?... that is the Aon Center.. the building we were in the night before! Cheesin' on the boat tour!

The whole fam again at Weber Grill Restaurant!

Sunday night we had to depart for home... well sorta. We traveled to Elkhart, Indiana to Amish country with Joe's parents. We found a cheap hotel room and spent the night. We found some Amish goodies - cheese, pineapple salsa, candy, and my personal favorite - peanut butter marsh mellow cream spread (I have already eaten half the jar)! We went to a quaint little Amish restaurant for lunch, where I had peanut butter pie... can you tell I enjoy peanut butter? I still have quite a hankering for some Amish cinnamon rolls... I guess Wednesday was baking day and we were there Monday... :(

So, now that we are back in Lewisburg, we have been connecting with individuals about our ministry... and conducting a road side produce stand. So far we have had only one customer. Wait... another customer.. yay! I just sold all our zucchinis! Joe's parents have a very large garden and sometimes can't eat all the veggies that come on at one time. Today we are selling cucumbers, squash, eggplant, banana peppers, cabbage, and zucchini. Hope all is well... and if you made it through this whole blog entry.. way to go!

Joe outside his parent's house at our produce stand!

More tractors and flea markets...

On Saturday, it was Joe's dad's birthday. For the occasion, we went to another combined tractor show and flea market. I really like flea markets and enjoy trying to get a better deal on things. It was a great time... and they also had homemade ice cream (which is always a plus). I think about every weekend this month.. I have had homemade ice cream :). But, I did hear on the news that July is "National Ice Cream Month", so I guess I better eat up!

Joe's parents... aren't they cute?

I learned more about tractors this weekend. We also got to see a man that makes different objects out of wood basically using chain saws. The best part of the day was when I found the perfect Christmas tree topper. I have been looking for one for about 2 years now. I found very few in the 2 year search that I liked and they were too expensive. Well.. I found a bargain and as they say "one man's trash is another man's treasure"!

My awesome Christmas tree topper for 25 cents! It is supposed to be a candle holder thingy.. but I am pretty sure I can rig it up for our tree! I was very excited!

Joe and I are very excited for this weekend. We are traveling to Chicago for a family get-together/birthday celebration with most of Joe's extended family. Joe and I have never been to Chicago! We will have to fill you in later on our trip! Hope you all have a great week! :)

July 4th fun Fun FUN

We had a great 4th of July holiday!

Last week, we traveled to Lima to be with Andrea's parents for a few days. We had a great time boating on Indian Lake and picnicking. This past weekend, we spent some quality time with Joe's parents. We went to two different happenings on Saturday. In the afternoon, we went to an antique tractor show and pull. It was my (Andrea) first time to a tractor pull. It was hard to understand what was going on, so I was more interested in the flea market. We got a few good deals. I was proud of myself for talking a couple vendors down on their prices on a board game and book. The food there was great! You can't beat the fair type food they had. All of us really enjoyed the homemade ice cream! They had many different flavors, but we shared strawberry and peach! We all had a great time at the tractor festival!

Joe and I at the tractor pull! My first experience...

Later in the afternoon, we then headed (with Joe's parents) the Preble County Fairgrounds for an antique tractor show and hot air balloon liftoff. It was a little disappointing, as there weren't any tractors there. They did have a Civil War demonstration, which was pretty neat. I am normally not one to be interested in those sort of things, but I would have to admit that it was quite informative and interesting. They told all about the guns they used and how they loaded them. They also fired off a canon and shared how they used it, etc.

Firing of the cannon...

After seeing many tractors throughout the day and a Civil War demonstration... I was really ready to see the hot air balloons. They set them off in the infield of the grandstand. I just think they are so neat and fun to watch. I even entered a raffle to win a balloon ride.. I think I lost, as I still haven't gotten a call. Riding in a hot air balloon is on my list of things to do before I die. So they had liftoff and then the Ohio National Guard band played. It was very patriotic and I especially enjoyed the kettle corn Joe's mom bought for us.

Hot air balloon liftoff!

Debi (Joe's mom) and I were super excited about the hot air balloons! Oh.. you might of noticed.. I got my haircut! The balloons then came back for a glow session. They fired their balloons back up and it looked like they were glowing with the fire inside of them.

This was my favorite - it was the Ohio State balloon! Someone got engaged on it that night, too! All in all, the day was so much fun with Joe's parents and with all the festivities! So, that was Saturday...

After church on Sunday, we (along with Joe's parents) headed to a park called Carriage Hill for an ice cream social and hiking.

Hiking at Carriage Hill...

The hiking was fun... but all the ice cream was gone! I was a little saddened about it. Carriage Hill has an old-fashioned candy store, so we got some good candy instead. To end our July 4th festivities, we went to the fireworks with Joe's mom. We found a perfect spot in a field next to the fairgrounds. They lasted for about 45 minutes, but the finale was a little lame. It was still really fun and I got a few neat pictures of the fireworks!

Hope you all had a great 4th of July! We know we sure did... can't go wrong with family fun!