Friday, June 29th Down By The Waterfront

On Friday, Paprika and I started off our day at our usual lunch spot, The Corner Bakery. Then we went for a 4 mile walk along the marina, all the way to the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum and then back to the hotel. Paprika loved looking at the boats and every time I would say "the boats"- she would say "da bose"- it was really cute! We looked at ducks, geese, and people watched. The path down to the aquarium had an amazing art installation of globes focusing on different environmental issues. Paprika loved feeling the globes and looking at their different colors.

While we were walking, we saw a Segway Tour roll by. It had to be one of the dorkiest things I've ever seen, so I had to take a picture!

On the way back, we walked by The Taste of Chicago, which is a huge food festival that had just started. It lasts for over a week, and draws thousands upon thousands of people to Chicago. We got a glimpse of it as we were walking back to the hotel.

That night, Paprika and I took a cab over to Mr. Mustard's work, and then we all took a cab to Ryan's apartment. Ryan is one of Mr. Mustard's best friends from childhood. He and his girlfriend, Katherine, have a great apartment in the city. They cooked an awesome meal for us. We then went and had Italian Ice at an amazing little hole in the wall restaurant a few doors down from where they live. Then we went to Ryan and Katherine's new house that they just bought. It's a great duplex in the city and was built in the 1800s. They are completely restoring it, and we got to see the "before"! It's a really neat home. After that, we went to a very upscale dessert restaurant called "Hot Chocolate"- by this time it was about 11 p.m., and Paprika hadn't even napped for the day yet. She does so well even when she's tired. She loved listening to the music at the restaurant, and even got to sample a small taste of Mr. Mustard's chocolate souffle. So good. Then, we went back to the hotel and she fell asleep very easily for the night!