More for Mike

W 83rd St Terrace in Bloomington

Backyard, from ground level, from left to right. I don't want to keep the trampoline.





If you keep going to the right of the backyard and around that side of the house, here is a close up of that wooded area where it meets the backyard:


View of the yard from the deck (second shows traffic on E Bush Lake Rd):




And this is that funky thing with the upstairs bedroom(s). The shot is kind of weird. It's taken from inside the master bedroom. On the left you can see out the master bedroom door to the other bedroom door, and on the right you can see the opening (french doors go into the other bedroom) between the two. So this would either be a large master or two bedrooms. There is also a third bedroom on that floor (similar in size to that second bedroom).

Pics for Mike

First are the ones from Colfax...

Backyard. Kay and I will measure it tomorrow. As you can see, the neighbor did put in a chain-link fence on their property, so we could do the same if we wanted to fence this.







Here is a view from the downstairs living room. From left: hall to laundry room; exercise room/office; stairs to main level; 3rd/guest bedroom.


If I were to turn on the spot, there is a wet bar on the other side of the family room, which has cabinets for extra storage:




A closer shot of the exercise room/office. There is actually about another 3 feet of space to the right that didn't get in the picture.

So, how was Chicago?

In short, it was too short. We had a great time, but had to come back earlier than either of us would have wanted to go back to work. On Sunday night, after we checked in to the hotel, we walked down the block to the Vong's Thai Kitchen, which advertises itself as Thai-French fusion, though I didn't notice any French influence myself.

On Monday, we spent the day at the Adler Planetarium, which was way cool. I guess Jim Lovell must have donated everything he owned to the Planetarium. Maybe they'll rename it the Lovell Planetarium someday. Reminded me of my early career goals to become either an astronaut or astronomer. Anyway, I highly recommend it. We even learned how to use an astrolabe! (Now if only I can learn to use a sextant, I'm set!)

That evening we went on a dinner cruise on Lake Michigan, which was fun. The food was quite good, but it was cold and windy, so we didn't spend much time above deck enjoying the view. And there were only two slow dances and far too many line-dances, electric slides, etc.

On Tuesday, we walked the Miracle Mile and spent a fair portion of the afternoon atop the John Hancock Center. After a brief respite, we went to the Annoyance Theater for a night of improv. Turns out it is on the same block as the Green Mill--who knew? We watched four groups, and the second, Chicagoland, was absolutely hilarious. If I can find a link, I'll post it.

Wednesday saw us at the Museum of Science and Industry on the University of Chicago Hyde Park campus. It was alot of fun, and we'll have to go back to see the things we did not get to see. That night, we hurried back for steaks at Ruth's Chris and gorged. Then it was on to Second City for No Country for Old White Men. If you are in Chicago, you should take in this show.

On Thursday, we slept in, then packed and left Chicago for another day. We spent most of the long weekend unpacking and opening presents. Thank You's will be forthcoming, but we have a lot of them. If you don't get yours immediately, be patient.

On a different note, Karen had a follow-up with her surgeon yesterday, and her back is healing well. Apparently the stress of getting married did not cause her further harm!

Once again, to everyone who helped out and participated and came to or even just sent a present or even wished us well, THANK YOU!