We have had a few people bunk at our house overnight, but they were only here to sleep. We didn't get a chance to show them what fantastic tour guides and hosts we are.
Andrew and Jenn had the privilege of being our first victims... I mean visitors.
To make them feel very welcome and excited about their 4 day stay with us, the kids and I picked them up at the airport. It only took us a little over an hour to drive to the airport (which is only 12 miles away from our house), so my kids were sufficiently irritable and freaked out for the hour drive back traveling at an average speed of 10 mph in the "sparse" Chicago traffic
Once we arrived at our humble abode, Mitch didn't waste any time at showing Andrew a good time.
Andrew was overjoyed to have the opportunity to put together my birthday present. He is the mechanical one of the Rencher family. I'm sure it would have fallen to pieces if he hadn't come to put it together for us.
Following such an exhilarating activity, we took them to dinner at Dellece and then to a very authentic Chicago creamery:
If you ever visit Chicago, you've got to check this place out. Seriously amazing!
The next morning was Lydia's birthday, so there was much to be done. As soon as Andrew woke up, he generously offered to help and I wasn't about to let his offer go to waste. I had him whip up a little breakfast for my little princess. Nothing fancy, just some scrambled eggs, bacon, home-made pancakes, juice, freshly sliced strawberries and bananas.
And I couldn't deny Andrew the pleasure of cleaning up the birthday breakfast!
We thought it would be a great idea for Jenn & Andrew's first day vising the city to bring the kids along. I mean how can you get a feel for Chicago without 2 toddlers to look after? This meant we didn't leave the house until about 2 hours after we intended to and we had some extra things to carry along, but it was no problem now that Andrew was here to help!
We walked to the train station and waited for the train to arrive. It was slightly delayed due to technical issues and once we boarded, it was a unique experience because the train slowly moved forward a few blocks and then went back to the station to change tracks because there was some construction going on. Pretty awesome!
Lydia didn't mind the delays one bit. She was starting to take quite a liking to our special guests.
In fact, once we arrived in the city, we were really exited to have some extra hands. Mitch had been wanting to buy some good walking boots to get ready for the winter months ahead, so we took advantage of Jenn & Andrew (and their electronics to entertain our kids) and did a little shopping that we had been putting off! I know Jenn was grateful to have such a close look at Michigan Avenue's Columbia outlet. She is such a shopaholic!
We shopped until we dropped... or at least until the kids dropped. I finally decided to spare Jenn & Andrew more pain and take a cab back home with the kids so they could at least move around the city a little easier.
Our next adventure was an architectural boat tour down the Chicago river. Our journey down to the tour dock was an adventure of its own. It just so happened that the Chicago Marathon was going on the same morning and other than road closures, we had no problem but for the traffic caused by the 45,000 runners and their families.
We provided those runners with some post-race entertainment. Picture this: 4 adults (one of which is 8 months pregnant) and 2 toddlers running/waddling/dragging through downtown trying to catch the boat. Jenn was the only one who looked like she knew how to run. Poor Andrew and Mitch had to carry Ben & Lydia and I waddled along as fast as my displaced hips could carry me (I might have peed my pants... once or twice... three times a lady! No biggie).
Never fear, the Rencher's are here! And we were all excited about it?
Jenn and Andrew were greeted by the aroma of 9.5 million residents and their bodily functions... I think they rather enjoyed it!
The tour was actually quite fun. Jenn was kind enough to be our personal photographer/tour guide. Thanks to the book she had been reading on some of the history of Chicago, I'm pretty certain she knew more about the city than our actual tour guide did.
Being on the river offered a view of the city that was spectacular! Behind us in the picture below is the Sear's Tower and in front of that is the building Mitch lives in... I mean works in.
The Korean Paparazzi was also on board and requested some pictures with our beautiful red-head. She was most certainly the highlight of their tour.
Andrew caught a glimpse of his dream job!
On Sunday we fed Jenn, Andrew & the missionaries at our home. I just could not keep Andrew out of the kitchen!
Before we would let the missionaries go home, Andrew felt prompted to share a message with them.
Then Lydia and Andrew shared some couch time together.
We absolutely loved having Jenn and Andrew stay with us!
Ever since they have left, my kids have been repeating these phrases over and over and over and over and over again:
Ben: "I just want Jenn to come back and play with me."
Lydia: "Andrew! Andrew! Where Andrew go?"
Ben: "Mom, I just want to play with Andrew and Jenn at my house. Why can't they come back and play with me?"
Lydia: "Andrew? Jenn? Andrew? Jenn? Andrew? Andrew?"
I know you are all booking your flights to come and visit us after reading about Jenn & Andrew's delightful visit. We're looking forward to more people coming out... I've got a stool that needs to be repaired.
