I'm baaaaaaaaack!

Chicago was as soul stirring as I thought it would be. The sofitel bed embraced my weary bones just as expected and the skyline sang Katy, I love you! To which I replied, I love you too. I ate my favorite pizza http://www.sanfratellos.com/. Lounged on rooftop decks overlooking the city. Had intense romantic philosophical conversations with Scott that have filled me up. The man knows how to woo me. Seriously though, I think my happiest times are on rooftop decks, with a pitcher of beer and deep conversation. It's my thing.

We walked, and walked and walked more. Then went to bed, got up and walked some more. We ate, ate, ate and then slept, the got up and ate some more. There was lot's of eating and walking. It's a good thing because then I would have probably gained 7 lbs instead of 4.

We stayed with Scott's brother David (you remember, he taught me how to drive stick) and his wife Karen for the first 5 days.

** side note**
David-Scott's Brother
Karen-David's wife
Ed-Karen's brother and Melissa's Husband
Melissa-Scott's sister

There's a thin line of inbreeding in the DeJong family. Not really, but it's close.

David is married to Karen
Melissa is married to Ed
Ed and Karen are brother and sister, and David and Melissa are brother and sister. And to top it all off, Scott and Karen dated before Karen married David (scott's brother.) As Scott says, the Dutch marry the Dutch marry the Dutch. I broke the chain with that one. I tainted the royal blond haired blue eyed, wooden shoes clip clopping through the tulips, wind in your hair from the windmills blood line.

So, anyways, we stayed with David and Karen for the first 5 days. We like them. David cracks me up. He's funny, like Scott. They love Jamaica even more than we do, and boy do we love us some Jamaica. They even named their son Luke Nesta after Bob Marley, who's first name was actually Nesta. Nesta Robert Marley. We went with them to this random authentic castle in the middle of the suburbs to listen to some Reggae. It was so much fun and now I have a Red Stripe bottle as the background on my phone. Jamaica stirs my soul like Chicago does.

We watched lightening bugs out in the field behind their house, listened to music, sprayed OFF bug spray a LOT, made good food like David's famous whole wheat blueberry waffles and just generally relaxed.

The day of the 4th was with the WHOLE family. Interesting bunch, we'll leave it at that. I played Wii golf and kicked some serious butt. Golfing is in my blood, what can I say?

Overall, it was a great trip. I even took pictures! Even some of.....wait for it.....ME. I know, I know, shocking. The best part is that I didn't delete them from the camera when I saw my double chins. I'm workin' on it.

Pictures to follow.
Peace from Chicago!