After the Cubs game we headed over to Jen and Chad’s for their annual Retro on Roscoe party. After hanging out at the house for a bit, we went to the festival to meet up with more friends and to get something to eat. I always like Retro on Roscoe, but this year the food seemed different. Dallas has a favorite Polish stand that he looks forward to every year and it was no where to be seen. Maybe because of this? I tried to be a bit healthier and got a chicken kebab with a salad and nothing had any sauce on it. It was all very dry, including the pita it was served with. Oh well.
Last year this space in the garage was filled with about 10 strollers and there were many kids running around the party. I thought it was a sign of the times, and I think it still is, but for some reason this year? No strollers. And only a handful of kids.
Like most years there was a ton of beer pong being played. I did not play this year but my brother did. Before I knew it, it was 11 p.m. Not too late, but we had met up for the game at 11:15 a.m., so it was a long, long day. Caroline, who announced that day that she will be our DD for 9 long months, gave us a ride home.
On Jess’s second day of her visit I took her to Navy Pier. I haven’t been to the pier for years, so it was time. Jess had visited Navy Pier before, but she was very young (2004, 2005). I asked her if she remembered and she said she can’t remember a lot from when she was little. Funny. In my mind she is still “little.” Hahha. She is the ripe old age of 8.
A month or so ago I saw a Groupon for Seadog boat cruises. I thought this would be something fun for Jess and I to do, so I bought it. I invited Quinn to join us, so we met Jen and Chad and Chad’s dad, who was in town from Baltimore, on the pier. We were doing the 30-minute lake tour. Seadog also does Chicago River architecture tours and some kind of extreme ride where they go really fast and spin in circles and who knows what.
For the lake tour we would go fast for a bit and then slow down and the guide would point out some things in the skyline and then go fast again. I think we went about 40 mph. I’m not sure, though, because the guide was terrible and had really bad jokes, so I was trying not to listen. It was a fun ride. Definitely worth the Groupon price of $13. And, it was great to be on the water and get the breeze, since it was 90+ degrees, 100 with the heat index, that day. HOT.
Navy Pier Swings
After the boat ride, Quinn went off to the Children’s Museum (located on the pier) for a while and Jess and I headed for the rides on Navy Pier. Jess had been telling me about how she went to Bay Beach, an amusement park in Green Bay, and how she really liked the swing ride there. She wanted to try the swings on Navy Pier, but wasn’t so sure when I told her she’d have to ride herself because I get sick going in circles! I told her I’d wait right at the exit and it would be fine. She manned up and went on the ride and even told me later on that she was brave enough to barely even hold on! Daredevil.
Funny side note about Bay Beach. Our family used to go there when I was young. The way that Jess was describing the rides to me, it seems like nothing has changed. I remembered going on the rides she told me she went on. One difference was that Jess told me they had a roller coaster now, which they never had before. Back when we used to go, it was like our parents and aunts and uncles would stake out a spot by Lake Michigan and hand my cousins and I some money. We’d go buy tickets and candy or whatever and disappear for the day. Just meet them back up on the grass for a picnic later. I don’t think this is how Jess’s trip went!
So, after the swings we met back up with Quinn and his family for lunch and then we were back on our own, off for more rides!
Jessica on the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel
Rachelle & Jessica. Right after this Jess actually spoke up to request that I don’t take any more photos of her!
Views from the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel
View of the swings from the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel
Jess had also told me that the ferris wheel at Bay Beach was boring and she didn’t like it. When she saw how big the ferris wheel at Navy Pier was, she decided she wanted to give it a second try. Here’s the thing: The Navy Pier ferris wheel goes so slow. Like so slow that it never even stops to let people on and off. They just exit and board while the thing is moving… slowly moving. And you only get one trip around. Afterwards Jess told me that it was boring and she didn’t like it. Figures!
Cirque Shanghai Extreme
Cirque Shanghai Extreme Motorcycle
Cirque Shanghai Extreme Motorcycle stunt
There are FOUR motorcycles in there!
Our final activity on the pier was to see the Cirque Shanghai Extreme show. I took my other niece Stephanie to a show similar to this a couple years ago and she really liked it. This Cirque show is kind of like a variety show with groups of performers coming out and doing different tricks and acrobatics and balancing acts. One of the biggest additions to this show was the acrobatics they did with motorcycles in the show’s finale. They rode the motorbikes on a wire over the audience and did tricks from above the middle of the audience. They also rode the bikes in a metal ball. I thought it was impressive when they did one, but then they added another and another and another. At the end there were 4 motorcycles riding around in the metal ball. Crazy. I couldn’t tell if Jess liked the show or not. She seemed interested, but afterwards wouldn’t really say. (She is still SO SO shy and mostly not talkative around us. Especially Dallas, who she has not spoken a word to in her whole life.)
This day turned out to be a long day, just because it was so hot outside, I think. I was so sweaty and tired when we got home. Plus, we took a bus and a train each way to get out there. Ugh! But it was a fun day and worth it. On the ride north to meet Amanda, I did get Jess to admit she had a fun weekend, so that is good. Before her visit she had told me more than once that she didn’t even want to come for a visit, but I’m glad she did. Despite her shyness and lack of openness to us, I think it is good for her and fun for me to have her around. Hopefully it will get better as she gets older (I’ve been saying this for about 6 years!).
To further celebrate Jen’s birthday, this past weekend Jill, Kristin, Jen, Jen’s mom Nancy and I all headed up to Kohler, WI for a pampering girls spa weekend. I’d never spent a whole day at the spa and I’d heard a lot of things about Kohler, so I was excited to check it out.
Note: You’re not allowed to take your phone or electronics around the spa. Which makes sense, because you’re there to totally relax. The photos of the spa and our hotel are from their official websites.
On Saturday afternoon we left for our 2.5 hour drive. I did not want to take my Jeep, since the breakdown was a little fresh in my mind, so I borrowed Jen and Chad’s Smart Car and drove that. Jill rode along with me. Kristin drove the others up in another vehicle just in front of us. In Pleasant Prairie we stopped for a late lunch. I’d already eaten, so I just got a small scoop of the flavor of the day: Backyard Smores. YUM.
We arrived in the late afternoon and checked into two connecting rooms in our hotel, the Inn at Woodlake. Ironically, this is no quaint inn by the lake. Well, it is by the lake, but it is a very modern hotel. All the rooms were wired up to the max. At one point we turned the TV on and Jill was in the hallway, she thought someone was in the bathroom, but we quickly realized that there were TV speakers in the bathroom!
Also, I didn’t really think about it beforehand, but every bathroom in Kohler and the surrounding areas is all rigged up with top-of-the line Kohler products. You should have seen how many jets our shower had!
While we were settling in to our rooms we cracked open a bottle of wine that Kristin brought along. Our rooms overlooked a putting green, a bocce court, an outside seating area and a small lake (I’m assuming Wood Lake). Since the seating area was empty, we brought our wine outside and enjoyed the evening before dinner. The photo above is of the seating area/event space in use, but of course, while we were out there, we had it all to ourselves. Nice and relaxing, next to the lake, which is pretty much where that guy in the back, standing up is pointing.
For dinner we took a very short drive over to Sheboygan and ate at Osteria Nonna Maria. This place was great! Delicious, down-home Italian cooking. Our waitress was Kim and her grandparents own the place. And we got to meet them. They went all out to help us celebrate Jen’s birthday. I’ll have more on this in a separate post, because the restaurant is one place I did take photos.
So, the next morning we headed over to the Kohler Waters Spa. Our hotel offered a free shuttle to anywhere in Kohler that we wanted to go. So convenient. And there was no wait either. When we had the concierge call, it took about 3 minutes for the shuttle to arrive. I was not getting a massage until 11:00, but decided to head to the spa early with everyone. If you were getting any services there you were able to hang around the spa all day and take advantage of the relaxation pool with a waterfall, whirlpools, sauna, steam room, rooftop relaxation room with a huge whirlpool and fireplace, and refreshments like fresh fruit and nuts throughout the 4-story building.
We checked in, got our robe and spa slippers, changed into bathing suits, put everything else into our lockers and then headed our separate ways. I spent a couple hours on the rooftop reading a book on a luxurious lounge chair nearby the fireplace. I switched off between reading, napping and taking dips in a whirlpool all morning. The funny thing is that in the hotel the night before I was reading a Kohler magazine and saw a photograph. I held the magazine up and proclaimed, “I want to go to there!” Guess where I was the next day? Yeh, I spent almost the whole day in the room I had seen in the magazine. So awesome.
At 11:00 it was time for my massage. I didn’t know what kind I wanted to get, so I got the massage sampler. This was 50 minutes of several massage techniques in sequence, including warm stones, stretching, ah-shiatsu (barefoot massage), and sinus pressure relief. I loved the stretching and the warm stones. The barefoot massage was .. uh interesting.. The therapist actually stood on the massage table and held onto bars that were attached to the ceiling while she massaged me with her feet! It was interesting. You couldn’t really tell it was feet. I had a hot compress under my neck and a cold compress on my eyes at that point and really you just feel the pressure the same way you do with hands/arms/elbows. And yes, she did wash her feet right before the procedure!
At noon we all met back up for lunch. We’d pre ordered lunches when we checked in. I had a salad and a glass of wine. Actually, I think everyone got salads. After Culver’s, an Italian dinner and birthday cake the night before, we needed to detox with vegetables!
So everyone else was staying up in Kohler until Monday, but my vacation time from work is severely limited for the rest of the year because of all the vacation time I took for our wedding. So, I needed to head back home in the Smart Car on Sunday. I’d originally planned to leave after lunch, but I realized there was nothing I really needed to be home for. Dallas wasn’t even there, he was in North Carolina. Plus, I was having so much fun at the spa, I didn’t want to leave. Everyone else had afternoon spa services scheduled, but I didn’t because I had planned to leave. I decided to just hang out for the afternoon. I laid around and did more napping and swimming and reading and loafing around. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!
When everyone was done with their spa services we all met back up.. for… you guessed it! More laying around! The spa was just so relaxing and beautiful. I never wanted to leave! But, alas, I had to get on the road at some point. I took a shower at the spa and we all left to go back to the hotel. I quickly packed my things and was about to fly out of the room, but oh man! Kristin and Jill were setting up a cheese plate to have pre-dinner snacks and wine. They were eating at the Whistling Straights restaurant. Fancy! I guess my wallet wasn’t going to miss that, but they do have an awesome looking scallop dinner on the menu that I would have loved to try. Oh well.
My drive back to Chicago was pretty uneventful.. until I got close to Chicago. I left Kohler around 6:15 p.m. and expected I’d be back to Jen & Chad’s by 9:15. Around the part where the tollway ends and merges to the Edens I hit some major traffic and was stuck there for something like 70 minutes. More than an hour. Just stopped. Crazy. It did give me time to call my dad for Father’s Day, though! I had seen him a week then and given him a gift (Kona Brewing beer label tshirt of the beer we had at our wedding!), but it was still nice to chat quick on the actual day. Anyway, I didn’t end up getting to Jen and Chad’s to get my car til late, I didn’t get home til after 11 p.m. I was so tired! Monday morning came early!
Despite the drive home, I had a fantastic weekend. I loved hanging out at the spa. Yes, it was way pricey, but I only got one service and then just enjoyed the free amenities. A big thanks to Jill for coordinating every detail of the trip! She was so organized and prepared that I told her she should be applying for event planner jobs! And happy birthday to Jen. Remember, 40 is the new 30!
P.S. Fun fact I just learned while looking up “Kohler, WI” on Wikipedia:
Many people in Wisconsin refer to drinking fountains as “bubblers,” because the first Kohler drinking fountain was known as “The Bubbler.”
Bucking the Reid family tradition of having elaborate games at 40th birthday parties (see Brian, Jill, Chad), Jen opted for a food and drink extravaganza in the backyard. Chad and Jen chose 4 different periods of Jen’s life and prepared food and drinks from each of those phases. What an awesome idea! Luckily the weather cooperated, because there were probably 30+ people there to celebrate with Jen. It was a little chilly, but overall good. I had so much fun stuffing my face on all of Jen’s favorite food and drinks! Plus, so many of our good friends were there. And it was sunny. Sunny! What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon/night.
Here’s what we had:
First course: Belgium, where Jen was born
Food: Cheese plate
Drinks: Leffe & Jupiler beer, white wine, or gimlets
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Second course: Newport, where Jen grew up
Food: Grilled shrimp, steamed clams & mussels
Drinks: Sam Adams Summer Ale, white wine, or more gimlets
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Third course: Virginia, where Jen went to college
Food: Assorted chips. Premade guacamole, salsa and taco dip.
Drinks: Cheap beer – Bud Light, MGD, cheap red wine, or more gimlets
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Fourth Course: Chicago, where Jen lives now
Food: Grilled sausages (assorted from Paulina Meat Market), baked beans
Drinks: Goose Island Summertime, red wine, or more gimlets
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Fifth Course: Kristin’s Homemade Cake
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Surprise Sixth Course, courtesy of beer. .. much beer.
Groupon for Real Tenochtitlan. Jess, Jen, Chad, Quinn and I. Quinn got arroz y frijoles and said his OJ tasted funny. Minutes later he passed out. I swear he didn’t have any pours from the pitcher of margaritas.
Jess and I split to go to Cole’s. Nathan’s band, The Pear Traps was on at 10:00 p.m. midnight.
Late night, Alice’s Lounge. This is really in Avondale, but I don’t want to change the post title. Polish dive bar. Crazy laser lights. Karaoke. The bar doesn’t close until 4 a.m. We did not stay quite that long.
