...Life is But A Dream

Rolling down the river...

Well, we didn't "Row, row, row" the boat, but it was an amazing time nonetheless.

To celebrate M's victory over his Master's program, I got him a little graduation gift.  Thanks to the modern marvel that is Groupon (and all the other group-based discount companies- this one might have actually been Living Social) I was able to rent us an electric yacht (with a Captain!) for a leisurely architecture tour and dinner cruising down the Chicago River.

...I don't think he realized he was going to be carting around a bunch of art, architecture, construction, engineering, and urban planning nerds.  That certainly changes the tenor of any conversation about, well, buildings.

It's amazing... when you live in a world class city, there's sort of a stigma to "tourist-y" activities.  You don't need to go to the top of the Sear's (sorry, Willis) Tower- you're a LOCAL.  You don't need to dedicate days to museum hopping, you're a LOCAL.  You certainly don't need to go around downtown looking straight up at the buildings' dizzying heights- what are you, some sort of country bumpkin?

No.  You're a local, dammit, and that means you are officially too cool for those sorts of activities.

Which is utter nonsense.

Fun is fun, cool is cool, and the things that get relegated to the sphere of "tourist activities" aren't by default lame or uninteresting simply because they're a great way to enjoy the Chicago-ness of Chicago.

We had never taken a river tour.  And this was an amazing way to do it.

We picked up Five Guys for dinner (don't worry about my gall bladder- I had some fruit and veggie rolls from Whole Foods- YUM), and met up with some of M's best friends from college for the boat ride.

The day could not have been nicer.  Around eighty and sunny, with barely a breeze, we started off about half an hour before the sun started to set.  It was absolutely gorgeous.

The girls had a BLAST.  I think their favorite part was the other boats, they loved waving to people on the water taxis!  My favorite was when a little speed boat was going by- the driver topless- and SI shouted out over and over again, "That daddy is naked!"

That was freakin' great.

So without further ado- the photo spam!  (And many thanks to Aunt Texas, who's photographs are way better than mine!)

Before taking off (or even getting her life jacket on)- SI with Grandpa

DD was nervous at first- but the presence of french fries quickly calmed her down.  Just as the sweet tea vodka did for Grandma.

We love Aunt Texas!  Which makes it all the sadder that she and Uncle Texas are moving... back to Texas.

Uncle Texas, Max (one day you'll get your own blog name), and M

Our fair city

On for ten minutes every day (weather permitting), the Centennial Fountain commemorates the reversal of the Chicago River.  Which is a fascinating story that I won't tell you now.

My kind of town...

DD, SI, Uncle Texas, and Aunt Texas 

Mini-cupcakes in M's new school colors

DD enjoying the sights

I might be pointing out ducks, I'm not sure.

Warming up to Max- who they don't see very often

Seems like Max is okay...

Yeah, he's cool.

Congratulations M!  And hooray for boats!