Morris

We arrived in Morris late friday evening after 6 hours in the car from Michigan.  We were very excited to see Jared, Candace, and Isaiah!  We unloaded the car, took a tour of their house, had a beer, visited a little and then called it a day.
Saturday morning we ate apple cinnamon rolls from a local bakery in town.  They were delicious!  After breakfast Aimee, Candace, and I took the dogs for a walk around Morris.  Candace showed us around downtown, and walked along the canal.  Morris is a very nice town, with very nice people.  Later in the afternoon we headed towards Chicago, which is only about an hour drive.  We first stopped at the Brookfield Zoo, and saw a lot of unique and beautiful animals.  The highlight was the gorillas showing off for the crowd, pounding their chests, smiling, and hanging upside down.  Isaiah got to pet some goats in the petting zoo section.  We enjoyed the zoo, hadn't been to one in a long time.  After the zoo, we headed to downtown Chicago.  Jared drove us around showing us some famous buildings and historic blocks.  We decided to eat dinner at Gino's East.  We had the best pizza that we have ever had, hands down!  It was sausage deep dish, which went well with summer ales :).  We stuffed ourselves at Gino's and then stopped by the United Center to get a few pics of Michael Jordan.  After that we headed back to Morris and ended our day.

What a Cutie

Watch Out Goats!!

Gorilla pounding chest

Sears Tower

Downtown on the River

Deep Dish at Gino's East

His Airness

Sunday we went to The Village Christian Church for sunday service.  They had a good message, and the music was fair...lol!  We enjoyed going to church with the Baker's and meeting their friends.  We talked with Nate for awhile afterwards and then went to lunch at Portillo's.  The Italian beef sandwich was sooo good.  We filled up on some good grub and then went back to the house and watched the USA women lose the World Cup :(.  Jared and I went to a local smoke shop and grabbed some cigars to take with us to a cookout that night.  We went over to some good friends of their's for steak, mashed potatoes and green beans.  That was some good home cookin!!  The boys smoked cigars on the back patio and enjoyed the fresh air.  We wrapped up there, and headed back for some drinks and cards. We played 31 and nerts.  Both were fun and everyone was laughing and having a good time!

Monday was our last day with the Baker's.  We drove out to Starved Rock Park west of town.  It is a very cool park with paths and trails leading down to a waterfall and pond.  The dogs had a blast chasing each other, getting wet and playing around.  It lightly rained on us the whole time and was a little foggy down in the canyon,  which made for a very unique and fun experience.  After getting soaked and hiking around we jumped back in the car and went to have lunch.  We ate at a little cafe in Morris, and had chicken salad sandwiches and pasta salad.  Everything was home made and very yummy!
We had such a good time with Jared, Candace, and Isaiah.  Can't wait to see them again!!