Just got back to the Windy City

It's so easy to get behind on this blogging business - amazing how out of touch with the world we felt without the laptop for 5 days in St Louis!

D and I had a fab weekend, sans enfants, and are eternally grateful to the Steinkes as it seems our children were menaces! It's good to know that after 11 years of marriage we still enjoy each other's company and it seemed we had plenty to catch up on. Actually, I read a fun article in a magazine the other day which asked couples what they considered to be the secret of a happy marriage. One couple said 'Never fight with your clothes on!' They had a rule that they only allowed themselves to argue if they had first gone home and got undressed, by which time most of the tension had naturally dispersed.... Another man who had been happily married for 35 years said, " We decided a long time ago that I would make all the big decisions and my wife would make all the small ones. So far there haven't been any big decisions"!!!

We had a very interesting meal at Charlie Trotter's on Sat night. He's supposedly the top chef in Chicago and does a 'tasting menu' inspired by international cuisine. It's definitely more a case of quality than quantity - after 7 courses we weren't exactly hungry but by breakfast on Sun we were ready for the full works!!! We also opted for the wines to match each course and for the first time actually enjoyed dessert wines ... though I was intrigued that none of the wines were American.

On Sun afternoon we headed to the Oak Park district of Chicago and went on a walking tour of some of Frank Lloyd Wright's early works. Interesting even for the architectural ignoramus, but we were glad to be free of the children for that one!

On Monday, we headed down to St Louis, Missouri where we spent the week with Bryan & Rachel Mowrey (Bryan leads Jubilee Church, the Newfrontiers offering there). It was really refreshing to get away from the city and once out of the Chicago sprawl it was a straightforward drive down Highway 55. It took us about 5 1/2 hours' driving - slightly less on the way home as I wasn't very good at respecting the 65 mph speed limit!!

We really enjoyed spending time with the Mowreys and their 20 month old certainly kept us entertained! Our children were rather challenging, esp on the food front and I think we realised that we have been asking an awful lot of them to be so adaptable to different surroundings. Is enjoyed attending the art camp Jubilee Church were running and we visited the famous St Louis arch. The weather was actually unseasonably cool and a little drizzly; really refreshing after the heat here. We really enjoyed heading for the Missouri Botanical Gardens for an open-air concert on the Wed night.

We also spent some time with John & Linda Lanferman (John leads Newfrontiers USA) which was very helpful as we consider whether or not we may come back out to Chicago for a longer stint in the future.

The journey back was fairly uneventful though after stopping for one of many loo breaks, we discovered we were metres from the old Route 66 highway. We thought it would be rude not to travel along it for a few miles as it ran parallel with our route. When googling Route 66 when we got home it just struck me how enormous the US really is - this route used to run almost 2,500 miles from Chicago to California. I worked out that I've visited 7 States which leaves so much unexplored! I hadn't realised before that the river running through St Louis was the Mississippi which was pretty awesome in itself but then when looking it up I read that the Mississippi's flow is only 9% of that of the Amazon!! Wow! Though I have to say that, having visited the Insectarium at St Louis zoo and seen some of the bugs they have in the rain forests, I think I may steer clear of South America!

I am doing Sunday School tomorrow at church (some of you will appreciate the irony of that). We will be trying not to think about the fact that we should have been in Paris watching the final of the Tour De France. It's a funny old life!