Chicago - Day 2

today was quite a lot of fun!  slept til 10:30... had a really wierd dream, tho.  april was visiting, and we were just hanging out talking, and then rebecca was there, and they were hanging out, talking.  i was still okay, and we were all chatting.  but then, then summer arrived, and we were all hanging out.  and it was still okay.  and then, it was like they were having a party, josh dumahel arrived - i think he was seeing summer (which is odd since they are both, well, married to other ppl.  LOL)  anyway, so there was now a party, and i felt very left out and not at all welcome at this party.  and we were now at my old house (the one that is foreclosed, not the one grammy lives in now).  and there was a little girl who must've been my daughter, but i knew she lived w/ someone else. 

i woke up to potty, went back to sleep, and thought the dream was over.  i was telling mom about it, and she said she saw someone in my room doing magic, and did i invite those ppl from north carolina, because she suspected that they were witches.  and i had a flashback of being in NC & hanging out w/ a wiccan group.  and i was really scared that they had found me & were doing black magic in my room.

wierd, right?  anyway, i felt totally discombobulated when i woke up!  LOL 

after i shook the cobwebs from my eyes (haha), and ate a little breakfast, and watched willy wonka (the johnny depp version), mom was all ready to go & we hit the road. 

our first stop was WM to get some cards for canasta tonight, and mom needed a few other things, as well.  actually, i needed a few things, but only remembered to pick up one of them.  whoops!  good thing WM is everywhere!  : ) then we were finally on our way to the zoo.  we got there about 1:30 or 2, i think.  must've been close to 2, because we were there for 3 hours & they closed at 5. 

it's a really neat zoo!  we saw giraffes & a polar bear & some rhinos & some penguins... : )  and other stuff.. (pictures added).  there was LOTS of walking, of course!  and after all of yesterday's walking, mom & i were both ready to drop at 5!  heh.  they of course were all decked out for halloween, too, but we both did really well...

after the zoo, we decided to go to PF Chang's for dinner.  i'll do a little menu post later.  i'd been wanting to eat there for awhile - april & her family really like it there.  i don't want to spoil the other post by mentioning my thoughts - never mind that i did that for Weber Grill yesterday!  ; )  *laugh*  anyway!  after dinner, we wanted dessert, but i wanted to try this place called Moonlight Chocolate Cafe.  i'd read about it in a magazine & seen it on Food Network - and Penelope (mom's garmin) said it was only like 2 miles away.  perfect, right?  wrong!  the place penelope told us to stop, that the cafe was right there - parking lot.  :(  it was the parking lot to some sort of mall, but neither of us really felt like walking around in the dark to find it - if it was there.  we couldn't see it from the road, anyway. 

le sigh.  so we just came back to the hotel & ordered dessert in from some take out place.  mom was calling in the order & i went downstairs to have a smoke.  i was just about to go back in when the fire alarm sounded!!  so i walked around to the front door & they said it was a false alarm.  whew, thank God!  but the fire dept still had to come out & shut off the LOUD alarm! 

when we got back up to our room, mom called for the food & we popped in Just Like Heaven (SO CUTE) and played canasta.  : )  mom won.  :(  *laugh*  dessert was scrumptious, but  - you guessed it - that'll be on the menu when i return home.  heehee.  gotta keep you guessing, or something like that!!

after the game & the movie, i came back downstairs... and got locked out and trapped on the back porch of the hotel!  the card readers wouldn't read my key card to let me back in.  how rude!  thank God i'd had the presence of mind to bring my phone, so i was able to call mom to come down.  actually, i told her to call the front desk, but she came down.  so, here i am, back toasty warm in the hotel, writing to all my darling blog buddies!  : ) 

and now i think i shall head back upstairs & hit the hay.  sooo tired!  i'm not used to all this walking around in the fresh air!  *laugh*  tomorrow we were gonna try the aquarium or museum, but since we got dessert (which, w/ delivery was just about the price of admission at one of those!) ... i think we're just going to head for home.  or, mom wanted to go back to macy's, too, so we might do a little more shopping. 

it's kinda funny - we came to "chicago" but didn't actually make it into the city!  haha!  that's okay, tho, because it was nice to make a new trip.  ya know?  chicago is full of dad memories - which is good, but it's nice to make new mom-memories.  : )  and i hope to be around - and for her to be around - to make many more!  we did reminisce for awhile on the way up here, and at various times during the trip.  but when we got teary eyed we just kinda stopped for a bit. 

we are happy, though, and remembering him in happy ways, and still feeling his love.  : )  i hope everyone's had a fab saturday!  take care & ttfn!  : )