July 26, 2000
My sister came and went without a hitch.�
They arrived Friday around noon at O'hare.� Umm, they had been waiting for me only about 10 minutes, but I swear this time it wasn't my fault.� Honest!� I arrived on time!� Really I did.� The problem with my tardiness was actually their fault.� Promise!� I told them time and time again.� Wait for me at the gate.� Wait for me at the gate.� Did they wait for me at the gate?� Of course not.� They decided to wait by baggage claims.� How was I supposed to know?� Well I didn't so I walked at least one mile to get to the darn gate to find out they weren't there.� I finally concluded they'd be at baggage claim, made my mile-long treck again and there they were.� My sweet, cuddly five year-old niece saw me from far away and came running toward me.� It was awesome!� I couldn't, wouldn't let go of her.� *smiles*� I then saw my nephew who's gotten really big, and my lovely sis and bro-in-law.� I was a happy girl.
After our hugs and kisses we made our way back out to my tiny car.� I was going to rent a car but they wouldn't let me.� Alas we squeezed into the bug and left.� I was going to take them straight to eat but they were anxious to see my tiny apartment (they're weird like that).� So we headed home.� On the way there my sister was telling me how my niece was talking non-stop on the flight.� She explained to everyone around her that she was going to Chicago to see her Tia Sandra and to see the snow (she thinks it snows year round here...she's five remember), and to see her cousins, yada yada.� That girl can talk.� She also informed the passenger in front of her that I wasn't married but I might have a boyfriend (ummm, did I mention she's five?).� So when they'd been waiting for me that passenger said I shouldn't be late since I didn't have a husband and my niece agreed with her.� Too funny.�
Anyway, we didn't encounter too much traffic, to my surprise, and we got home relatively quick. My niece was so excited to see my apartment so she kept asking if I had a kitchen, and a bathroom, and a room, and a bed, and toys.� Ay ay ay.� Once she walked in the front door and saw everything she was pleased.� Especially with the few dolls I have in my room.� Her next question was 'what did you buy me Tia?'.� Ay ay ay!� My sister and bro-in-law also liked my place and quickly settled in.� They wanted to rest, but decided they were too hungry to take a nap.� So we went around the corner to the Thai restaurant I had taken Elaine too also when she came to visit.� They loved it.� Especially my niece who kept saying 'this is the most delicious food in the world Tia!'.� She just kept making me laugh.��
After that we went back home to supposedly rest but since our cousin's were moving the next day we decided to visit them instead.� We walked the few blocks to their home and found them already filling a moving truck they had rented.� My sister and cousins chatted away while I looked after my niece and nephew.� It was fun actually, but we only stayed a little while knowing they had a lot left to pack and put away and we agreed to meet for dinner that night.�� We went back home and rested, talked, looked over pictures, reminisced, gossiped... everything two sisters who haven't seen each other in months would do.� *smiles*
Later that night we went to the restaurant we'd agreed on and waited.� Waited some more and nothing.� Finally one of our cousin's showed up but not the one that was moving.� She informed us that they weren't coming because they were too tired.� Understandable but rude.� Especially knowing we wouldn't be seeing them again.� Oh well.� We had a great dinner, talked some more and finally went home to prepare for the next, event-filled day.�
Saturday morning -
We headed to breakfast with our cousin Vale.� From there we had planned to take the el to downtown and that we did.� On our way to the station I heard a train approaching and told her that was the train we had to take and if we missed it we'd have to wait at least another hour for the next one (not true), so she ran like a mad-woman up the stairs before I had a chance to tell her I was just joking. It was so funny!� Not to her of course, but to the rest of us it was.� Hey! A friendly sister prank.� Anyway you should have seen how excited my niece was, especially seeing my niece's eyes light up as she boarded the el and felt the train move.� My sister and bro-in-law were also pretty excited.� I explained some of the sites on the way and joked that at the stop we were getting off they had to run out or the doors would close on them.� Didn't work this time.� Darn.� We finally arrived at our destination, directly in front of the Daley Center where the Picasso 'baboon-like' statue is.� There's also a fountain there and of course my niece wanted to go swimming.� Ay ay ay.� From there we walked down Michigan Avenue north.� We stopped by a sports shop to get some Cubbie gear and at the always-present Starbucks to get a couple of chocolate brownie frapps (mmm... I think my sister's addicted to them now).� When we arrived at the bridge crossing the Chicago River we stopped to take pictures.� Then some video.� Then more pictures.� Ummm, then more video.� We finally made it across to The Chicago Trib and Sun-Time Building where we admired the architecture and ummm took more video and pics.� Upon seeing the huge Benito Juarez statue my sister ordered us to stand by it and continued to videotape us and take pictures.� Ay ay ay.� After I convinced her that there was much more to see we continued walking.� We planned to take a boat ride from that exact location to Navy Pier and it would leave in an hour which would give us just enough time to walk down the magnificent mile and back.� And boy did we walk.�
When we walked by the Water Tower we noticed a tattoo artist.� She was doing face-painting too and asked for donations instead of a specific price.� So my niece wanted a butterfly on her face.� It was sooo cute.� The colors matched her sweater (it was a bit chilly that day btw) and she added glitter which my niece kept touching and asking 'is it still on, is it still on? over and over.� From there we walked across the street to FAO Schwartz which of course my niece immediately fell in love with.� She wanted EVERY SINGLE ITEM in there.� But I told her I'd get her something at the Disney store instead.� She wasn't convinced so she decided to grab as much as she could in case I changed my mind.� Ha ha ha.� Not likely... especially with the prices.�� After about 20 minutes of browsing we decided to head back to where the boat was going to pick us up for our ride to Navy Pier.��
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This is an old picture of my beautiful niece and myself.� I'll get the ones from this visit up as soon as they're back from being scanned.� Ain't she cute?