Arrrgh!!!

We had a busy day on Sunday. My youngest sister, her two daughters and one of their boyfriends came up for the weekend. Dear Husband took the younger girl and her boyfriend to stay on the boat overnight, while the rest of us vegged out at home. Saturday night we had a phone conference and agreed to meet at Chinatown in Chicago in time for lunch.

Most of us are pretty good path finders, but the exit to Chinatown eluded us, so we had the scenic tour of the neighborhood where the fruit and veggie market is located. Thanks to cell phones, we managed to meet, parked the cars and headed onto the main drag of Chinatown. We decided to try a lunchroom that was new to us. We were their first customers, but the place filled up fast.

Everyone ordered, dishes were passed and shared. Five us ordered dishes with shrimp. It was the first time I'd ever seen shrimp and scrambled eggs! As usual, we were stuffed, and we were just starting the day. The streets were lined with vendor booths under white canvas tent tops. As we walked along, we filled our bags with almond cookies, a red fabric purse, two stalks of silk orchid blooms, umbrellas, and bottles of icy cold water. My sister bought a conical woven hat to shade her eyes. I'm sure it's become the required headgear for gardening in central Indiana.

We watched a very brief Lion Dance and then headed toward the cars. Our goal was to see the Shedd Aquarium, and attend the three o'clock show at the Oceanarium. Who knew how difficult it was going to be to find the exit to the museum campus off of Lake Shore Drive???

After a lot of false starts and seeing things a second time, we managed to get everyone off-loaded, through the ticketing process and back into one group. Elegante Mother let us put her into a wheelchair for the day. The museum staff, seeing the wheelchair, moved our entire party to the front row seats. EM thoroughly enjoyed seeing the dolphin show up close, and the dolphins were kind enough not to drench us.

At the end of the day, one carload headed home to Indiana, and another made the trek west to the suburbs. I was exhausted. I definitely walked too much on a knee that had been free of it's immobilizer just four days. When we got home, I covered my knee with an ice bag, and let the cold do it's work. It wasn't a prudent choice to spend the day in the heat, walking around for six hours, but I'm glad I got to participate. I had a good time, and it looks as though my knee will recuperate.

Next time.....I'm taking a cab to the museum!