July

This is a food festival Chicago holds

This one is a bit late, but whatever, it's summer, it's almost too hot to sit at the desk with the hot laptop. (I have to sit with a fan pointed directly at me). Temperatures have gotten pretty high here in the course of the season, reaching over 90 degrees some days, with about 80% humidity, which makes it pretty difficult to want to do anything. There have been afternoons where we just lay on our living room rug in front of the AC unit. 

Of course, July is the birth month of America and we get an extra day off work for it, so we took the opportunity to head up to Appleton, Wisconsin where some distant relatives(?) (the jury is still out as to whether or not there is any actual blood relation) of Lawrence's live. Kathy and Fritz were in attendance at our wedding. Their home is lovely and large, at the end of a cul-de-sac near an open field with a pond and a water tower. And it was completely air conditioned. We even got a bit chilly in our basement guest room, the first time we'd felt cold in weeks! It was a nice relaxing weekend away from the city, all the hustle and bustle that comes with that. We bought cheese, because Wisconsin, and then promptly left it in Kathy and Fritz's fridge when we left. Well, there's always

next time.

We got our own visitors from across the pond. Lawrence's friend Phil and his girlfriend Leanne came out to visit for a couple days during their "American Tour." We took them out for deep-dish, showed them our apartment, took them down to the lake, and Lawrence took them to Navy Pier. Shame they couldn't stay longer; it was also during the week so we didn't get much more than a few hours with them. 

Floppy hat, Harry Potter, Sand, Sunscreen

Along with the heat, summer has brought with it a series of pretty spectacular thunderstorms. There have been a couple that have been so loud, car alarms go off. We were going to go watch a Shakespeare play in the park with some other couples, but there was a thunderstorm instead, and we ended up just laying on our rug watching the lightning. The rain gets torrential. We've seen thunderstorms, but not like this. In Utah, the rain doesn't last long, and England doesn't actually get too many storms, but the Midwest has its own category of storms; the parking lots flood and the streets run like streams. In fact, we had a tornado warning once. Yeah, Illinois is also within the reaches of tornado alley. The tornado hit somewhere else though. 

We've also finally made it down to the beach. The water has always been a bit chilly, but now the weather is steadily hot, and we finally went. The first time we went, it was the day after a thunderstorm, so we couldn't get in the water because the bacteria level was too high, so we just laid on the sand and read. The next weekend we went, we actually got to go in the water and swim. (Water was still a bit cold). Gotta make use of it while the weather is still warm, especially since it is literally five blocks away. 

And so we wend our way through August.

Summer Underway

June was a pretty busy month for us here in the Galloway Calvert household. Both of us got Memorial Day off (ok, I know that's not in June, but close enough, since it was also the weekend before my birthday). The Saturday prior to Memorial day we went out to a dinner/show at Medieval Times Castle out in Schaumburg. It was the weekend just before my birthday (as aforementioned). There was a discount on tickets for that weekend so we went. It was fun, there were a lot of children, of course, but we got to eat with our hands just like in the good ol' days (baked half chicken, corn on the cob--which would not have existed in Medieval Europe--baked potatoes and bread rolls) all the while men in medieval get-up recited a cheesy script and large, beautiful horses trotted, swords clanked, and lances cracked in front of us. I'm 26, I'm an adult, and I know that wearing a paper crown will never get old.

 

On Memorial Day itself, we went down to Navy Pier. It was a sunny, hot day, so we jumped on a tall ship tour and spent an hour on the lake. We grabbed some dinner at a sea-food place on the pier and then headed back home. I'm pretty sure we saw the new X-Men movie at some point.

Tall Ship Windy at Navy Pier

Lawrence helping with the rigging

This is definitely not 26 candles

My birthday is on the first, and Lawrence came home with a tiny cake and candles (the candles were normal-sized, and there were not 26 of them, I doubt they would have fit on the cake!). We got Chinese from a place on the corner from our apartment, and just had a regular night in afterward.

A couple weeks later, we took a long weekend and flew back West for my younger brother's wedding. Lawrence and the Galloways haven't seen each other since our wedding two years ago. Even though we had to get up before even the crack of dawn to catch the plane, it was a lovely weekend, a nice break from the city. We rented a car, possibly the ugliest thing the rental company had, though the youngest boys thought it was funny.

We stayed at the Grandparents' house, took a dip in their indoor pool (actually remembered to pack swimsuits this time). It was a bit chilly on the day of the wedding, but it went through alright nonetheless. Lawrence and I Now we have a sister-in-law. Our family was in charge of the family luncheon the day after the wedding, and Lawrence shucked corn for the first time in his life. I guess that's an American thing...? Ha.My mom, the master of marinading, put together a great BBQ spread at the park for the families, and we filled ourselves on shish-kabobs, potato salad and pork chops.

Not everyone likes having their picture taken...

One of my sisters has a horse, and she led Lawrence around the little paddock. We had a good time playing twister with the younger kids, taking a tour of a Lego town, seeing robin eggs and beehives and horses and cows, and the snow still on the mountain caps. The night before we flew back, we stayed with an old friend of mine from college and then before we knew it, we were back to the city.

Our anniversary was the day after we returned. We didn't do much to celebrate. Went out for Mexican, came home and watched a movie. Happy two years to us!

We went out and purchased roller blades at the beginning of the month, and have since made good use of them, just about every weekend. There's a forest preserve just outside Chicago with a nice paved trail that we've done a few times, and there's a sculpture park not too far from us. We tried going along the beach, but there were too many people, and the trails weren't as well kept. But we've gotten some good use out of the blades, and we're keeping fit! We have managed not to come away with any serious injuries other than a few scrapes and bruises, and we're getting better every week.

Lawrence's birthday was on the 27th, which was a Monday, so the Saturday prior, I got us a reservation at the House of Blues, where we filled ourselves on fried chicken and lobster mac n' cheese to the ambiance of live blues music. Then I made a small cake (with the candles recycled from my birthday) on his actual birthday.



There's the sum-up of our month of June basically. The temperatures here in Chicago are rising, and we've had to break out the AC and a fan so we don't slowly steam to death in our third-floor apartment. I know I shouldn't complain about the heat, since I know full well within the next three months, I will start to complain about the cold.