Chicago

We drove down to a Chicago suburb on Wednesday night so that we'd be on time for Karl's great-aunt's memorial service.  Our google map from the hotel to the funeral home led us astray, but we managed to find it on time, anyway.  It was a nice service, and I'm glad we went--lots of relatives to meet that I didn't know, and Karl doesn't see often. 

Afterwards, we had planned to see the Art Institute in Chicago and then drive home.  Elise and Albin were much more interested in getting back to the fireworks at our local festival.  So we decided to do that, and went to a park with Karl's cousin for an hour or two, who had some time to kill before getting to her flight.  We played bocce ball, looked at the lake, and chatted.  We left about 5:30, thinking that should be plenty of time to get home to see 9:30 fireworks.  I suppose it would be plenty of time if one didn't get lost, but we did.  Karl has a good head for directions, though, and we made it home and to the festival with fifteen minutes to spare.  The fireworks were lovely, the children were happy, and all's well that ended well.