USA

This morning we caught the train down to the Navy Pier which turned out to be more of a shopping centre located on a Pier than anything else. We had a wonderful time looking around the Pier and its attractions and stumbled across a winter wonderland expo that was happening so we had a great time looking at all winter attractions. After the Navy Pier we headed to the magnificent mile which is the premier shopping area of town - similar to Rodeo drive but not quite as exclusive. This place was huge! We managed to find the apple store and get Kylie's ipod fixed - after much stress - and then we headed back to our hostel. With a bleak evening ahead of us we searched the neighbourhood for some kind of entertainment and found a show called the Snow Queen written by Hans Christian Andersen which looked very interesting - from the outside! We decided we didn’t have the funds to see the show and as we were leaving we asked the guys doing the Valet parking whether there were any cinemas near by. One of the guys must have felt sorry for us and he gave us two free tickets to the show. Unfortunately the show wasn’t that good….but at least the tickets were free. At one point one of the actresses was singing a song that her ideal love note would be written on a fish… .what the? At least we can say we experienced the ‘cultural’ side of Chicago.

This morning we had breakfast at a truck stop before reaching the Sioux Falls airport to catch our flight to Chicago at 10.50am. It was a sad farwell to the rest of the family and tears were shed by both sides. We waited until the last minute to go through security and what a mistake that was. We rushed to get to our plane (which was making its final boarding call!) but there were others behind us so lucky we were not the last! We both had quick cat naps on the plane before arriving in Chicago. We caught a shuttle to the hostel and then went out exploring the city but only managed to make it to the first Macdonalds where we had some food and walked the surrounding streets before returning to the hostel to escape the cold.

This morning we sent the hugest parcels home to family and to try to get rid of some of the weight in our bags. Kylie's is hugely overweight and she accumulated so much stuff while in South Dakota so it was definitely necessary. After sending the parcels home we headed into Brookings to re-organise the photos and print the cd's from the day before and we also bough candy (lollies) to send yet another parcel home! The photos took most of the afternoon so we headed home to quickly change before going to Pizza Hut for dinner. It was a sad farewell to both Dawn and Mike and Grandmas Rue and Thomsen and Lois as we headed home to spend some time with the family before we fly out tomorrow.

After yet another lazy morning in the house we drove into Brookings to finish some of the wedding chores. Linda's boss gave us a tour of her work which was really interesting. We then headed over to the mall where Kylie caught up with Joanne who was her Exchange Co-ordinator during her time in South Dakota. We then headed to Walmart to print off some cd's of the wedding photos which was supposed to be an easy task but turned out to be very long and frustrating as we all left with only 1 cd in total! That night we headed to the Casino for dinner and so Kylie could have a go in the money booth for her birthday. She was able to catch $27 dollars! We both then went and played blackjack since we didn’t get a chance in Las Vegas and we both faired very well with Katie winning $17 dollars and Kylie winning $18 dollars. So a profitable night was had by all! We retired to Paul and Sheila’s house for some ice-cream birthday cake (Oreo' - Kylie's Favourite) before heading back to White for bed.

Today we headed out to Paul and Sheila's house for brunch and the present opening. Brunch was fantastic and then the present opening was heaps of fun as we watched the bride and grooms faces light up with each present. We stayed the remainder of the afternoon and played cards and board games until the early evening before returning home where we played cards again until late evening!