Chicago

On Thursday Kelda and I took a short trip to Chicago.  This trip was not your quick, weekend tourist trip but it was special.  Our newest daughter's (German exchange student - Alina) parents (and sister) were vacationing in the US.  We invited ourselves to come spend a couple of days with them in Chicago.  Keep in mind that a part of the agreement Alina has is that she can not see her parents personally until 3 weeks before she goes home.  This would be just Kelda and I.

During the weeks preceding the trip, we made arrangements and had Alina help us try to translate and prepare.  The last "organizing" phone call had Alina speaking to her dad in English and me in German.

Leonie talking with Alina on my phone while in Chicago.  Look at that smile!

When we got to the hotel we met them.  You could feel the love and joy we all felt towards each other.  We talked in our room for about 30 minutes before we went to dinner together.  Dinner was amazing.  We laughed and told stories and enjoyed learning about each other.  We became friends.  (We ate great Chicago pizza too).

The rest of the weekend we toured Chicago together.  The Brand's also had a family on the vacation with them that we were able to get to know.

We all had to leave on Saturday afternoon.  The trip was great but way too short.  It was sad for all of us when we said goodbye.  We took two family pictures.  One is normal and one was with silly faces.  I think the silly faces picture was done to keep us from crying.

We now have great friends/family in Germany.  We already started to talk about how we could come see them when Alina is back home in Germany.

I posted a few more pictures on my Facebook page.  Go see them to see a little more of the fun