Trip to Chicago

Recently, Lon and Christy took a trip to Chicago via Christy's job. She works at the Food Bank in Abilene, and there was a training conference in Chicago she attended. Lon went along for the ride, being a tourist on his own during the day. He and Christy used the evenings to check out the sites. They ate lots of Chicago-style deep dish pizza, enjoyed a boat tour of the city, visited the John Hancock observatory, Sears Tower, the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Avenue), the Art Institute, Navy Pier, Went to a Chicago Bulls game, and visited Chicago's House of Blues. It was a fun trip that we really enjoyed! (There is a video of the skydeck from Sears Tower posted below!)

Photo collage of Chicago Water Tower

View from Architectural Boat Tour in Chicago

Lon on the Magnificent Mile...lots of shops! (he was thrilled.)

Giordano's Pizzeria....awesome deep dish pizza!

We agreed it is the best pizza we have ever eaten.

The boat we took for our boat tour!

View from boat tour...on the right is Trump Tower

Lon and Christy on boat tour

Lon & Christy at the Bulls game

Artwork at Millennium Park

Chicago Night Life

View of Skyline from the Navy Pier

Lon and Christy at the top of Sears Tower

View from "Skydeck" at Sears Tower

View down from Sears Tower

Artwork at Millenium Park...huge metal "blob"

Reflection off of the "blob"

More reflections taken off the "blob"

More reflections...

Fossil Rim & Wendy's "Un"Birthday!

This past weekend Lon and Christy kidnapped Christy's sister, Wendy. She was blindfolded and whisked away to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. (she was a real sport and wore the blindfold for the hour long trip from Fort Worth to Fossil Rim) Fossil Rim is a wildlife refuge of exotic animals like zebras, giraffes, cheetas, impalas, etc. Most of the animals (the non-man-eating) are left to roam the park free. You drive your vehicle around on the "tour" and see the animals. You can also feed them (although, not by the hand; a rule that we broke sometimes). We went to Fossil Rim to surprise Wendy for her "unbirthday." (she's turning 30 and doesn't want to acknowledge it) All of Christy's immediate family were there. It was a great time for Wendy & the fam.; and it was really a blast because we rode the entire tour in the back of a pick-up! (highly recommend it...just watch out for the ostriches!)







Wendy in a blindfold!



Ah hah! The gig is up!

Here's the crew! Taking the tour via back of truck!

Wendy feeding a baby giraffe

Mwwaa! Give me a kiss!

Are we in Africa yet?

Wayne (Christy's dad...the big hunter) the Hunter feeding the Hunted (A Red Deer)

One of Christy's favorite pictures! Her sister, Tiffany, feeding a giraffe.

Lunch time!

Gracie (Tiffany's daughter) petting the goat at the petting zoo (at Fossil Rim)

Gracie & Aunt Wendy feeding the giraffe

Yuvi (Christy's mom) laying a wet one on the striped fellow

Caden (Tiffany's son) tuckered out on his "Pa Pa."

Balloon Fest

See the kites flying?

Once it was dark, all the balloons turned on the fire for a pretty glow...

(click on picture to enlarge)

Devil's River Trip

We recently got the opportunity to stay at a cabin on the Devil's River in South Texas via our brother-in-law. It was a lot of fun! We joked about seeing "chupacabras" (mexican folklore of a monster), enjoyed the cold water, and ate more than we should. The weather was beautiful and at night we saw more stars than ever before. Lon caught the biggest fish (the only fish, but a big fish!) Included in the pictures are some ancient native american pictographs.

Lon with his fish!

This pictograph shows a coyote chasing a turkey.

The cabin has the red roof on the left.

Lon & Christy