Celebrating July 4 at an Overnight in Mt Prospect

On July 3-4 we stayed overnight at Damian and Vanessa’s house. They had a barbecue and I knew it would get late so we just decided to bring KC and stay overnight.

I heard of this guy Knuckles and I finally met him. The sword-bearing tie dye guy is his fiance’s son.

KC and Miles

Isaac

Sparklers!

Derek

Dylan

Davin

Warming my feet by the fire!

Kelly and Todd showed up in the morning with a ton of Krispy Kreme donuts!

We were getting ready to go to the Mount Prospect parade and actually Dylan and Derek were IN the parade, but then it was called off for safety reasons.. the Highland Park parade shooting happened that morning!

So we ended up bbqing and hanging out at the house a bit longer.

Johanna, Leo and Luca also came over. Davin gave Luca a belated birthday gift.

This was the first time we met Georgie, a baby brother for Chapo!

West Coast Fast Food Favorites

So, while we were in California we had two fast food weaknesses that we had to take care of. 1. In-N-Out Burger. Everyone knows about this one. Everyone has to make it a destination. Every time I kick myself for not going enough when I lived in San Diego. This was actually our first stop after we arrived at the airport!

2. L&L Drive Inn, which serves Hawaiian food and is based out of Honolulu. L&L is a chain scattered all over the islands and also has expanded to some areas of the mainland, but not Chicago. I actually ordered the healthy plate (gasp!) which had brown rice and a salad instead of white rice and mac salad, which is on a traditional Hawaiian plate lunch. It wasn’t as good, but at least I wasn’t feeling as guilty!

Dallas also wanted to go to Jack in the Box, but we didn’t. Can’t beat the Sourdough Jack, though. Dallas and I very rarely eat at any fast food restaurants at home, I don’t know what gets into us when we travel! We had Krispy Kreme‘s too!

Random Activities in the Rain

Yvan playing air hockey

Jeannette playing air hockey
Yvan & Jeannette, ESPN Zone, Times Square, Manhattan

Last night: Doughnuts at 2 different Krispy Kreme restaurants, dinner and quarts of Pete’s Summer Ale in a bar full of moldy bras at South Street Seaport, and acting like little kids in an arcade. More details on Tien’s site.

Bubby’s is Hard to Resist

Rachelle: “I want to get something light for lunch, since I had a muffin and a Krispy Kreme doughnut for breakfast. Oh, and cheap (like less than $5)”
Jeannette: “Let’s go to Bubby’s!”
Rachelle & Allen: “OK!”

Bubby’s is a favorite, but it’s neither light nor cheap. We had $11 pulled pork sandwiches.. but man, they were good! The chef comes up to our table and asks Jeannette how she likes the vinegar based barbecue sauce. She says she doesn’t like it so much.. that it’s runny and gets all over her hands. The chef looks hurt even though he promises we could never hurt his feelings.