For virtually the entirety of September, as well as the beginning of October, we had some pretty beautiful t-shirt type weather. This allowed for some much anticipated time outside with the Hubby! Since he has been so busy lately with exams, applications, blah blah blah, etc., we hadn't had much of a chance to enjoy the summer weather together. Good thing summer stuck around for a while!
We (Andee) were also able to spend some time fishing! Although the fishing isn't quite as good since the flood, Andee was still able to catch a few monsters! And of course, I always love spending time outside!
Andee and I were also able to enjoy a Benedictine Football game with Amy and Coach Freitag! Haha. It was really fun seeing Joe in action, and even though we had terribly rainy and unpredictable weather throughout the game, it was still really fun to watch! And we even managed to snap this photo before the rain!
Another exciting part of October is of course, Canadian Thanksgiving! Andee and I were both off work, and so we were able to have a wonderful date climbing the ski hill, relaxing, and chatting. What a beautiful apartment complex God has blessed us with here in Illinois! If you remember correctly, Andee and I called over 50 apartments, with only two even willing to accept our student loan without an American co-signer. And one of those places is now the place we can home! (for now at least!) God is good!! All the time!!
Meanwhile, Andee and I were preparing a delicious Thanksgiving feast consisting of mashed potatoes, gravy, butternut squash, green bean casserole, stuffing, and of course, turkey! Perfect for a table for three! Look who decided to join us for dinner? (The real story is that this picture took at least 10 minutes to orchestrate, we persuaded Aloe to the table with the promise of delicious turkey, several 10-second timers later followed by a photo shoot of just Aloe chowing down, and all the while our delicious meal getting cold) But not to worry! A little microwave later, and voila! A delicious feast was had by all!
This past weekend we were also thrilled to have Cassie and Trevor visit us for the second time in Illinois! Although it was a pretty cold weekend, it was so fun seeing family!! We were able to get in some shopping, Bass Pro shop, and some delicious meals and much more!
On Friday morning at 6:15AM, Cassie and Trevor arrived in Illinois! After driving all night, they needed at least a few hours of sleep to be able to enjoy the day! They settled for about three solid hours before we had a leisurely breakfast, and then headed out for the day! Since Andee had to work during the day, the three of us enjoyed some fun activities until Andee was off for the weekend! We started the day at the Cosley Zoo, which is always a fun afternoon! We saw some cute farm animals, birds, and of course, Bob and Robert the Bobcats!! I love them! There was also a cute little straw house, pumpkins, and bales of hay to get us in a Fall mood!
We then headed to the mall to do a little shopping, and had a delicious American Lunch at Whitecastle! Yum! Afterward, we headed to Bass Pro Shop where we met Andee for the evening! A little bit of shopping later, as well as a very cute Peanuts characters Halloween display, (sorry for the horrible quality of the picture, it was a print out!) and we headed to dinner! We enjoyed some yummy Chicagoland Portillo's, and the first of the three day visit was a success!
The next day, it was a little on the cold side, so we headed out to Chick-Fil-A for a yummy American lunch! We did a little bit more shopping, and Andee and Trevor got to spend a bit of time fishing while the girls fed some neighboring geese and walked around the complex! We finished out the evening by ordering in some pizza hut pizza, and relaxing inside. Perf!
Day three of the visit we had an extra special day that included visiting the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago! Ironically, Cassie and Trevor had been to the Aquarium before, but these two Chicagoland temporary residents had yet to explore downtown! The aquarium was home to so many interesting and fun sea creatures, and we had a really fun time! It was a beautiful day outside, and we even got these amazing photos in front of the Chicago skyline! Beautiful!
We then headed back to the apartment for Cassie and Trevor to pack up and head home. They would once again be driving through the night, and both had to work in the afternoon/evening the next day. Wow, they must really love us to do all the driving and sacrificing sleep just to come see us! We so appreciated having them come to visit us, and we hope to head back home to Canada for Christmas to see the rest of our wonderful family!
See you all soon!
