Long Grove has a lot of old-fashion shops that sell antiques, hand-made crafts, chocolates etc.

Home made ice cream. YUM!

DROOL  =P~    Handmade chocolates which cost like USD3 per piece!

There is a park with a gazebo in Long Grove that I think would make a great location for a wedding ceremony.

Probably carved by teenagers in love

 

Over a year ago I was with Rob. It’s strange how fast a year passes by and yet with all the things that has happened in the past year, I feel as if it has been like 5 years.

Even though we talk everyday, I still really miss you Robbie.  

It was an indoor glow-in-the-dark (GITD) miniature golf place and we had so much fun. It was a good distraction for us. Rather than pouting and tearing up at the thought of me leaving, we goofed off and laughed like crazy.

It was my first time playing miniature golf, or any other type of golf for that matter. The place was super cool and I’ve never been in  room with so many black lights. I was secretly glad that I wasn’t wearing a white bra underneath my black shirt that day. Hehehe 

If memory serves me correctly it was a 18-hole course and we were given GITD putters and golf balls. I, of course insisted on the pink ball and putter. I mean it’s not like Rob would prefer the pink over the orange one.

After scouting around a bit, we got a *bit* goofy.

 

This is Rob showing his GITD balls, every pun intended.

And then, here’s me (because I have no balls) with my GITD nipples…

Camwhoring begins..

So happy!

And then we played…

I sucked at miniature golf so I’m pretty sure I will suck more at actual golf. I kept missing the ball when I try to hit it and Rob would laugh at me. When I finally got the hang of hitting the ball, I had to learn how to aim it. The goal is to hit the ball into the hole with the least number of tries. At one hole, it took me about 15 hits just to get it in. Yes, Rob was laughing hysterically. As revenge I would use my putter and block his shots when it was his turn.

We were the only two people playing at the time so when we reached hole number 15, I took the balls and went back to number 5. I know we weren’t suppose to but no one else was there so I’m sure nobody would mind.

Rob showing off his skills

The monkey with the monkeys

We were just sitting on a bench hoping to catch another sunset together. Unfortunately it got kinda cloudy so instead we people-watched. Within a few minutes we saw a bunch of nicely dressed people walking towards the boat that was right in front of us. Someone was having a wedding reception on the boat!

I’m assuming the theme is purple

There’s the couple!

Love her bouquet but not too crazy about the dress though.

Rob and I were kinda betting on the number of people who were invited. At first it didn’t seem like an extravagant wedding so we estimated about 50 people. One hundred tops.

As 7.30pm got closer a LOT more people showed up, queueing to get on the boat. I then changed my estimate to between 200-250 people.

I also made Rob promise me that if he wins the jackpot one day he will give me a sunset wedding cruise on Lake Michigan and everyone will have to wear something pink! Yours truly will of course be dressed in a pink accented princessy gown, holding a round bouquet of roses and lilies.  

As soon as I was satisfied with stalking taking pictures, we had dinner at McDonald’s. Simple, cheap and fast. We then moved on for our night ride on the ferris wheel.

Yeah I know we look greasy. It’s been a whole day out!

Us camwhoring in the ferris wheel

I look like I’m holding on for dear life.

Some pictures taken from inside the ferris wheel…

Clouds cleared up and the full moon was shinning brightly

After the ride, we walked around Navy Pier again to catch some night shots.

Rested my camera on the rail in Night mode to take this shot

Normal mode with highest ISO in my camera. 

We found a perfect spot to watch the fireworks show. Navy Pier apparently have these fireworks show 4 times a week ALL summer long EVERY YEAR. Can you imagine how much money they spend on fireworks alone every year? The show was spectacular to say the least, accompanied by catchy music! It is probably the best fireworks show I have ever seen in my life. Rob took videos of the whole thing but it’s a pain in the ass to upload such a big file so you’ll just have to judge by the pictures.

Everybody rushed to go home after the show and there was a LONG line for the free trolley ride to the train station. In the end we decided to take the bus and paid USD2 each. By the time we got back home it was already 1.30am and our feet were aching.

 

P/S: I know my pictures aren’t great in quality. I want an DSLR!

The angmo eating chicken feet with fork and knife. So cute! ;))

 

View of downtown Chicago from the train station in Chinatown

Alas! I have returned after 1.5 years

The whole reason for going down to Navy Pier again this time was for us to go on the Ferris Wheel. There is a special story about this ferris wheel ride.

When Rob and I first started out, we would always tell each other about our homes and the things that made our homes special. He would always send me packages of many random things from Chicago. One day he sent me a bunch of postcards and one of them was a picture of Navy Pier, at night, with the ferris wheel in sight. I have always loved ferris wheels but never been on a really huge one before. I told him I would love to go on it if given the chance.

Rob then made a promise to me that one day he will bring me on that ferris wheel, even though he is terrified of heights. During my first visit to Chicago, the ferris wheel was shut down for winter so we didn’t get to go on it. This time he was determined to get me on it.

Rob kept his promise to me. I love you baby!

We decided to go for a two ride combo, which meant we could go on the ferris wheel twice. It was a better deal than buying another ticket ride for the night view. Pictures of the night view in the coming post. This ferris wheel is a 7 minute ride and 150 foot high.

Views from the ferris wheel…

The wave swinger

  

There was an air show that day so the jets were flying all over the place, doing all sorts of stunts and formation. They were really loud!

After we were done on the ferris wheel, we ventured around Navy Pier sightseeing.  It was such a nice day, skies were blue and it wasn’t that warm at all.

Musical carousel. Yes I was tempted to go it

This will look familiar to you if you have seen Dark Knight.

We were camwhoring by the dock and this guy noticed and offered to take our picture.

He was with, I pressume, his wife and daughter. His daughter wanted really bad to be in the picture so I picked her up and she was uber happy.

And then she was satisfied and we got our couple shot.

Reminds me of the ship in Pirates of the Carribean

Yes we both look tired. Not much sleep the night before apparently

Funny mirrors

This is how I would look short and stumpy

Oh my GAWWWWD

Okay, that’s it for now. Gotta run some errands and get me some Starbucks!

Part 2 will be up soon, with pictures of Navy Pier at night.

The rose garden was the one of the gardens that were closed during the winter. I was eager to check out the roses. I was definitely NOT disappointed. Mostly there were just red and pink roses but they were so beautiful. I admit I was tempted to pluck a few.

The waterfall garden was also closed during winter. It seems that I have missed out quite on quite a lot during my first visit. I love the waterfalls. It was nice to sit there for a moment and listen to the tranquility of water flowing.

Ying yang ducks by the waterfall

We were tired of walking for almost 8 hours and decided to wait and catch the sunset by the lake nearby. The last time we caught a sunset together was at the beach when Rob was here.

While waiting, we camwhored.

Kissy kissy :-* 

Awwwwww Robbie so happy! Makes me smile to see him so happy

My favourite picture of us. I have this picture framed in my room.

And then the sunset begins…

We left about 8.30pm hungry as hell. Stopped by a restaurant (I forgot what name) and gobbled down food. It wasn’t great food so I guess it’s not surprise I can’t remember the name. Heh

We had crabcakes as appetizers. Not too bad.

I think I had some Jamaican chicken with rice kinda thing. The chicken was dry and the rice was kinda tasteless. The thing that was somewhat tasty was the apple sauce that came with it.

Rob’s main course. Some kinda beef brisket thing.

And because food wasn’t that great and we didn’t finish, I started playing with our food. I made a sailboat. Heh.

This is totally unrelated but later that night at about 2am, we were a little bored, so Rob took me shopping at Walgreens.

We were practically the only two persons in the store, as you can already tell with the empty parking lot. While cruising the aisles and poking fun at each other, Rob got ahead of me and stopped at the toys aisle. He then took a ball and threw it at me. I caught it and threw it back at him low. He kicked the ball and it bounces off and hit my forehead!!!! I swear it was like I saw the ball coming at me in slow motion and before I could react WHAM it literally hit me.

The ball then bounced back to him and he had a combination of a look of horror in his face while trying not too laugh. I was in shock when the ball hit my forehead (it didn’t hurt, I was just in shock), stood there for a few seconds dumbfounded.

When I finally realised what had happened, the first words outta my mouth was “YOUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” while pointing at him and then we both laughed hysterically. I kept pointing at him, between laughs and said “I don’t care, you’re paying for my stuff here!”. I grabbed a basket and piled on things like no tomorrow. At this point he was wiping tears from his eyes because he laughed so hard.

We bought flavored tea, candy, moisturiser, hair brushes, and a coloring book, among other knick knacks. Yes, a coloring book….for ME. No, I don’t want to get into that right now.  :P

~le sigh~ I miss shopping at 2 in the morning!

We were supposed to borrow Rob’s brother’s DSLR but at the last minute something came up so we had to make do with the two digital cameras. But hey, that didn’t stop me. I went absolutely INSANE taking pictures of that place. It was a totally different view altogether and I loved it. I can’t wait to go back there again, perhaps during fall.

I sorted through the pictures I took and I think it’s better I break up the post about the garden into two. I think overall there are around 100 pictures. This post should have about 50 or so pictures. Maybe it’s best you go pee or something first.

All you gotta do is pay an entrance and parking fee and you could stay however long you wanted. We spent over 8 hours there and still couldn’t finish exploring the place. It was HUGE. Anyway I’m just going to let the pictures do most of the talking.

Grape vines

Rob taking a picture of me taking a picture of him

Grapes! I was so tempted to ask Rob to pluck me some to eat.

Rainbow formed in the pond/lake whatever you want to call it, the wonders of nature.

I love the sunflowers. They were ALL over the place. (Well DUH it was summer after all.)

This is next picture is my favourite picture and one I am very proud of. I had to be very quiet and still while taking it. I have to say it came out really nice (albeit after a lot of tries ) considering it was taken with just a point-and-shoot digital camera.

Now moving on to the lilies. Oh the beautiful lilies….and they smell so GOOD!

Water lilies in the pond…

More pictures

Grasshopper staring back at me

In the midst of walking around going crazy taking pictures, we took a turn somewhere and came upon bushes with cute little maroon colored flowers.

Then I saw this sign..

 
I started rubbing the leaves and flowers and sniffing my fingers. It’s true. They do smell like chocolate! I was hungry at the time and the smell made me crave chocolates so much. So what did I do? I rubbed more and sniffed my fingers like some disgusting socio-path.

Rob tried to coax me to keep moving but I was just insanely into sniffing my fingers. Eventually, we moved on and came across some ducks and started snapping pictures.

 

Then we saw this sculpture thing by the pond where the ducks were hanging out. Apparently I decided to “be” a flapping duck…

See any similarities? QUACK!

Part 2 coming up soon. I need time to resize and upload another batch of 50.

It was such a good day to sightsee, the sky was blue and the sun was bright. Very purty!

That’s the dog beach

I enjoyed watching the dogs play, chasing each other and dipping in the water. How nice would it be if we had a dog beach. I know Leo would love it. Speaking of that dog, he was doing the pity face by the door and wouldn’t give up (even though I tried really hard to ignore him) until I gave him a treat. Crap! That dog knows my weak side too well.

Vainity

Told you it was windy…

More vainity

It was really sunny, which explains Rob’s squint but he’s still CUTE

Lurking from the wall at the bathroom area

After the lake, we decided to drive downtown for some sightseeing. Actually it was just me wanting to take pictures of the skyline.

This church looks so much different than the last time I saw it.

The wiener car. Rob did explain what it’s about but I don’t remember.

As we approached the city, there was a standstill. It was a weekend so there was no reason for the traffic jam. Rob thought that it was because of a baseball game.

It wasn’t a baseball game. In fact, very far from it. As Rob was maneuvering to avoid the congestion, we somehow ended in unfamiliar territory. We reached GAY TERRITORY.

The first indication that it was gay territory was when I saw two guys holding hands, literally skipping down the street like two little girls. They looked so gay happy!

See? So cuddly!

We had the windows down so I didn’t want to offend anyone by going crazy snapping pictures of gay guys with their Asian looking baby or guys kissing each other by the roadside. The BEST thing I saw was a waiter, in a tuxedo costume (and believe me it WAS a costume) above the waist and black tights. Let me explain why I said “above the waist”. As Rob drove by, this waiter, with a menu in his hand, turned and I saw his bare ASS. His black tights was bare at the back. My jaw dropped.  :-O 

I’m sure you realized by now that we were both in shock. The first thing outta my mouth was “HONEY LOOK!!!! HIS TIGHTS!! I SEE ASS!!!” Before Rob could say anything back, I said “OH MY GOD! LOOK AT HIS ASS!!!! HE’S GOT A NICER LOOKING ASS THAN I DO!!” Rob responded by saying “Honey I don’t want to look at his ass!!!!”

Then I go “BUT HIS ASS IS SO PERKY AND SMOOTH LOOKING AND WHITE”. Rob cringed and said “NO NO NO OH NO I DON’T want to hear about another guy’s ass.”  It’s not like he’s some homophobe or anything but I think any straight guy would feel very uncomfortable to be in that situation. LOL Sad to say I didn’t manage to snap a picture. The last thing we needed was a bunch of gay guys wanting to beat us up.

Trying to recover from it, Rob kept driving and we reached an alley. Guessing there was a back way out of that alley, he turned in. Then I saw two guys, standing next to each other, back facing us, towards a wall of sorts. Suddenly I understood the visual and realized that these two guys were peeing behind the wall.  :))   Along the way I saw many more gay men and rainbow hats/ballons/costumes.

Anyway, turns out roads were closed for the Northalsted Market Days. Obviously the rainbow flag meant it was some gay festival celebration.

Now I have nothing against gay people nor am I so “sua ku” to have not seen gay guys before. I was just caught off guard and was ecstatic with what I saw. It definitely was a culture shock for me. Thinking back, I was definitely really “into” the whole scene. No, I don’t mean I’m into gays ok. I love my man!

Eventually Rob managed to get out of Gaysville and drove around a bit more before heading back for dinner.

If this looks familiar to you, you may have seen it in the Dark Knight movie which was mainly filmed in downtown Chicago.

Okay, that’s all I’ve got to say for now. I’m still thinking about that gay guy’s perky butt and wishing I had a nice butt like his. Rob is probably cringing again now reading this. HEH HEH HEH HEH

One of the things I miss about my trip are the NISA dogs.

Rob’s mom is the founder of NISA (Northern Illinois Samoyed Assistance). What NISA basically does is rescue Samoyeds that are either abandoned, from abusive homes, or puppy mills etc. You get the point. Most of the NISA dogs are temporarily fostered at various homes by members and volunteers until they are adopted to a permanent home.

Princess Naomi, her royal huffness

Taking pictures of Naomi is easy because she’s a camwhore and it does help that she is always following me around. Rob’s mom calls me Naomi’s “human”, as opposed to Naomi being my “dog”. Naomi apparently took a liking to me the first time she saw me in 2006. When I went back last year it took her a few minutes to kinda recall who I was. There was that sparkle in her eyes when she realized who I was, at least that’s what Rob said.

Anyway during this last trip I started calling Naomi “Princess”. She likes to huff, hence I came up with the name Princess Naomi, her royal huffness. I was very tempted to get her a plastic tiara and take a picture of her but Rob said the dogs may end up chewing on it, which would be bad for them.

I find Naomi a very sweet dog. She’s very particular about getting my attention. If I start petting Nikki (another female dog) she gets jealous and starts barking at me, as if to say “HEY!!! YOU’RE MY HUMAN!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH HER??!!!” Then I would move my other hand to pet her and she’s satisfied. However, when I give attention to Pete she doesn’t seem to care at all.

Occasionally her and I would go into huff mode. I would say “huff” and she would huff back. Repeat the process for about 5 minutes or so. I have gotten her to huff so much now that she constantly does it to Rob. The reason why she does it so much now is because when I was there, every time we go into huff mode, she gets a really good treat from me.

Naomi was rescued from a puppy mill. She has been living it good ever since.

Pete the singer

Pete is Naomi’s brother, also rescued from the same puppy mill. Unfortunately when Pete was adopted years ago, he was abused by the family. He gets nervous around new people. During my first trip over, he wasn’t as clingy to me. He would usually just watch Naomi getting my attention.

This time around he really let loose and followed me around a bit more. Pete knows how to sing, thanks to Rob. Not the conventional “singing” but in doggy terms, he sings. Every time he sang, he got a “Good boy Pete!” from me and then a treat, which explains why he goes around the house “singing” all the time now. He loves being praised.

Spirit the English gentleman

When I give out treats, Spirit is always sitting behind the rest of the dogs waiting patiently for his turn. He doesn’t push and shove to get to the front for his treats. He just waits quietly. Hence why he is called the perfect English gentleman.

Spirit is also always playing with his sister Nikki and it is hilarious watching the both of them go at it in the backyard. They chase and pounce of each other like there is no tomorrow.

Spirit is young and active but at the same loves snuggling up to whoever is on the couch. I love that he rests his head on my thigh when I’m on the couch and I can pet him while he wags his tail.

Nikki Wigglesworth

Rob came up with the last name Wigglesworth because Nikki is a hyper dog. She wags her tail like crazy and it just wiggles her butt like crazy. She and Spirit are always poking people with their cold noses and every time it happens, I just can’t help going “Oooh. Cold wet nose!”

Nikki has a favourite red ball that’s constantly in her mouth. The funny thing is she can go “Wooo wooo wooo” with the ball in her mouth. I know it’s hard to believe but it is true. I just don’t have a video to prove it.

Schizo Radar

Radar is somewhat anti-social with humans because he was from an abusive household. I guess he doesn’t trust humans much. He’s skittish most of the time and its ironic because he is the biggest dog in the house.

I did get a chance to pet him but I thought it was kinda cruel (but funny) how it was staged. Radar is always sitting and laying down next to Rob’s mom at the dining table in the corner of the room. One day Rob’s mom got up from the chair and I sat on it. The look of horror on Radar’s face was funny but at the same time it made me feel kinda bad. I petted him and he still looked terrified.

He has followed me around once or twice and most of the time I didn’t know he was. One time a wet nose poked me from behind, I turned around thinking it was Nikki but it was Radar. He was curious! Anyway, when I turned around and he saw me looking at him, he sprinted to his corner and hid.

Glutton Lexy

Lexy is always craving for attention which at times drive some of us nuts. But I think she is a sweet dog too. It’s just that she doesn’t understand when to “stop”. I heard she is bad influence for the other dogs. I didn’t get to bond with her much though so I don’t really have much to write about her.

Last but certainly not least, the apple of Rob’s eyes, his cat Baby Kitty.

Yes, I know. She’s fat pleasantly plump. I like calling her the tuxedo cat because of the white fur down her chest. I told Rob that his cat would scare all the scrawny stray cats in Kuching away and claim Kuching her territory. The thing is, according to Rob, there are cats there BIGGER than Baby kitty.

Short and stumpy (Heh)

Rob rescued Baby as a kitten, abandoned near an apartment complex. One day he took her home and she’s been a brat ever since. She’s spoilt rotten, that’s why. Her dish bowl is almost NEVER empty. She sometimes drinks from Rob’s cup because she prefers the FRESHEST water available. Oh she also loves boxes.

I cannot deny that Baby kitty is a friendly cat. She’s a happy cat, purrrrrrrrrrs like crazy when given attention, especially from Rob. She is afterall living a great life.

I have more pictures of Naomi and Pete because they tend to follow me around the house when I go over. Rob calls them the “two seniors” so they are allowed to go in his room. That’s where all the treats are. Pete and Naomi know that too.

Some pictures of the dogs playing in the backyard.

Radar

Spirit and Nikki

Nikki with her favourite red ball

Nikki and Naomi

Pete sunbathing on the deck

Radar and Spirit

Naomi and Radar

Pete eating whipped cream straight from the can

Happen to catch Princess Naomi during her royal squat

Pete, Naomi, Spirit and Nikki hovering… waiting for treats

Pete and Naomi waiting for a treat from Rob

Pete and Naomi still waiting for a treat from Rob

They’re still STILL waiting

This is probably my favourite picture of Naomi

Similar picture of Pete

Spirit, again the gentleman look

Nikki saying “HI!!!”

Pete and Naomi posing

Pete and Naomi again

Le sigh~~ I miss the pack.

People sitting on the lawn while listening to an orchestra playing.

I for one am not that interested in that kinda music so we continued walking across the park to Buckingham Fountain. It’s a few blocks away from Millenium Park. I had wanted to see it during my last visit but since it was winter, they shut it down. I wasn’t going to miss it this time because the pictures from the website I saw it at was so pretty!

It wasn’t just pretty, it was HUGE!

HUGE right? Right? Right?

We decided to stay until dark to watch the light show. We parked out butts on a very strategic bench right in front of the fountain. We needed the rest cause our feet were aching like hell. It was nice to sit and watch people through sunset.

After trekking the whole day from the station to Lincoln Park Zoo to Millenium Park to Buckingham Fountain, I got myself a leg massage in front of the fountain.

Ahhhh bliss!

Rob got us matching shoes

Some pictures as it was getting dark…

It was so windy out that night that water was spraying at us and water got on the camera lense. %#!%!!

One last picture of the skyline before leaving

After that, we stopped by TGIF for dinner.

Rob and his “Freshly Baked” shirt. He’s so my stud!

Always my favourite – thirst quenching Pink Lemonade

Rob’s typical cheeseburger and fries

Mmmm look at that melted cheese

My sizzling chicken and shrimp

Geez all this food talk is making me hungry. Think I’ll go eat an apple or something.

So here’s another post about my recent trip. Go get a cookie and come back so the pictures can load up.

Lincoln Park Zoo is one of the few zoos left in the US that’s free. Since it’s free, cheapo me made it one of the things to see in downtown Chicago. Rob and I took the train downtown, got off a station which I have totally forgot the name of and walked oh, I don’t know, about 13 blocks (right honey?) to the zoo from the train statio we go off. My legs got tired even before we reached the zoo! *glares at Rob but oh-so-lovingly*

These are pictures taken along the hike to Lincoln Park Zoo.

This is probably the MOST gay-est statue I have ever seen.

Eventually we reached the park that was connected to the zoo. Many trees were wrecked from a storm a few days before. Rob and I happened to catch the tail end of it while we were out shopping at the time. I think we were at Premium Outlet Stores in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.

Victim of very strong winds

The view of the city from the park

Broken branch from lightning I pressume

I blew a sigh a relief as we reached the zoo. The trek there was starting to make me feel like we were lost or something. Anyway, I was eager to check out the animals and seeing as it is a free zoo I didn’t have much expectations on the zoo. I was surprised at the variety of animals they had.

From lions…

Sleeping lion

Getting peeked at by the same lion

I was lucky to catch feeding time for the lions.

…to birds…

…to camels…

…to tigers…

…to leopards…

…to ducks…

….to flamingos…

…to seals…

Somewhere in that pic is a seal, I swear.

…to my favourite animal…

Which would be the polar bear because it resembles someone I know….

……….

……….

……….

It’s Rob! This is basically how he looks like when he’s trying to get up for the day. He lifts his head like that, looks at me with eyes half open, sort of like peeping at me then….

….rubs his eyes to get a clearer vision on what’s going on, accessing what day it is and then….

….plops his head back down and goes back to sleep.

This shows how large a polar bear’s paw is.

The zoo even allowed a “Robear” to roam around the place with a red backpack (it’s mine). HEH

Behind the zoo itself is a little park, with lush green grass and colourful plants. It was quite a sight.

Oh how I love the vibrant colours and fragance of lillies and it does help that they are oh-so-pretty too!

Last but not least, more camwhoring…

That’s it for today. Will write soon. Until then, have a great weekend everyone.