We went to Naperville today to visit Debbie, Jeff and Maddie and went swimming at Centennial Beach, the amazing public pool near their downtown. Great fun by all! After swimming we had a quick detour to watch a little league team practice, which may have spread a little baseball fever ahead of Saturday’s Cubs game. Then we swing by Lou Malnati’s pizza to pick up some dinner and had a lovely meal of pizza along with some vegetables and dip that Debbie and Jeff had ready, and some ice cream for dessert. Great day!

Day 3 was a great one, the heat broke, bringing the temperature down to 25c and we brought the Brennans in to the best of Chicago, the loop, followed by Millenium Park, followed by Navy Pier. Isabelle is already getting the hang of the train: We started off with a quick slide down the Daley Plaza Picasso And then a lot of fun splashing in the Crown Fountain in Millenium Park and making faces into Chicago’s world famous bean!   Then we went to Maggie Daley Park, lost the kids in the huge playground there and had a quick came…

The Brennan family holiday to Chicago has begun! After a bit of delay leaving Dublin airport, which actually served them well on that they were a bit tired upon arrival and therefore more inclined to sleep well and adjust to the time change, they had an uneventful flight across the Atlantic and landed in good form. Saturday was really a travel and adjustment day, but today we hit the ground running. Phyllis and the kids went to mass at St Mark’s. It was in Spanish but very welcoming and warm. Paul stayed back and watched Clare vs Cork in the…

John had an opportunity to visit Liam’s appartment and neighborhood in Houston this week, as part of a business trip he was taking for work.  He got in before Liam was off work, so was first able to visit the museum around the corner from where Liam lives.  It was a really great museum, with one installation all made up of bamboo shoots.          Once Liam got home, we first went to Liam’s favorite restaurant in his neighborhood for some great tacos and tamales.      We also got to see the “hellacious” parking situation in Houston, which…

John and I went out for dinner then rooftop drinks to celebrate meeting 29 years ago this weekend! That’s a perfect little moon you see up in the sky above the twinkly lights! There was a dj at the bar who played a very cool mix of a Jackson 5 song, which reminded John he’d also heard the Jackson 5 earlier in the day in whiting, indiana. Then we heard them again while cycling home… quite a nice tie back to our trip to Gary last weekend, childhood home of the Jacksons! John was in Whiting, an industrial town in…

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there! John treated us to some flank steak tacos with goat cheese, sweated onions, grilled peppers and cilantro. Yum!

I had my first lake swim this morning. It was delightful! I saw a fish!

John and I went on the annual Tour de Shore bike ride with Mike and Andrea this weekend. As usual the ride was a great time! First, let’s look at an overview using the route tracking software that John has on his bike. The ride started at Millennium Park around 7:30am. Some highlights along the way included a pancake breakfast at Wolf Lake (note the little spur just above the N in the word Dolton on the map.) The pancakes were poured, flipped and served at high speed – we had to catch them on our plates! And these mr…

If cndkmen had an illustrator on staff, we could have done a pretty cool graphic showing Liam moving south west to Houston, and at the same time, Debbie, Jeff and Maddie moving north from Ft Lauderdale to Naperville! Debbie and Maddie’s route took them by plane to Kansas City, then by car to St. Louis then on to Naperville, where their belongings arrived via moving truck. John and I went out to visit last Sunday, and it was great to see them getting settled into their new home! We went to the Centennial Park area near downtown. It has a…

Last weekend I got to visit Mexico City with Lou, a good friend who has been working in Mexico for years with farmers helping them develop their mezcal (a type of tequila) for the US markets and Bruce, a mutual friend from the neighborhood.  It was a great opportunity to travel to Mexico City with someone who knows the area well, and I have to say it was a really great trip.  Mexico City is absolutely huge, 22 million people, and the central business district and neighborhoods were really fantastic, very safe, lots of great food, and lots of great…