Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad

So what's better for a weary soul who has been trapsing all over Europe (I know, poor me) and watching seventy plus high school students:  A WEEKEND AT THE RITZ-CARLTON, BABY!  My dad, the past-president of the Texas Dental Association *tah dah*, has meetings at the American Dental Association headquarters and so I was lucky enough get to spend some time with him and hang out in Chi-town with my mom.

The view from our window

John Hancock building from the room

Water Tower Place, Hancock Building, and Ritz

The American Dental Association [obviously]

The Water Tower

Museum of Contemporary Art

Form Balance Joy

My granddaddy Dan was also in town with my parents and he took us up to the observatory deck of the John Hancock building.

Giant LEGO sculpture

Looking out on Lake Michigan

The Navy Pier

ADA building as seen from above.

Mom and Dad

Me and Granddaddy Dan

Just cleanin' some windows

The big talk around town--besides stateside return, of course-- was that Transformers 3 was filming on the Magnificent Mile.

Some guy keeping the people at bay. Unfortunately he couldn't keep director Michael Bay at bay.

The bridge partially drawn with cars strewn on top

wooo WRECKAGE

and CARNAGE

What's under the tarp... I MUST KNOW

Look at all those bullet shells in the box

One night mom, dad and I went out with some of the other dentist big wigs and then had some drinks in the current President's suite.  Luckily we happened to be up there just in time to catch the fireworks at the Navy Pier.

Get it little six year old Olympus camera

THE FAM

I also had to find some way back to the Blue Lake campgrounds because the general was parked there while I was in Europe.  Gloria, my friend Janai's mother, and one of her other daughters, Nikki, were brilliantly kind enough to take me the three and a half hour drive to the woods of Michigan.  THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Gloria proving to Stan that she was in the woods