birthday party

Ava's cool Candyland cake, designed and baked by her mother.

Some of the gang, and E under the remains of the pinata.
Happy 7th birthday, Ava.

Labor Day weekend

We saw the White Sox beat the Red Sox the Saturday before Labor Day in perfect weather.
Jim taking in the game.
Elizabeth and Ava.
Holding hands with her new buddy leaving the stadium.  
They got on the train but we walked to supper before heading home after a fun, long day.

Chinatown on Saturday

Halfway to Chicago, Jim told E we were headed to Chinatown.  Hurray!

First stop, a Chinese bakery.  Let's go back after lunch for butterfly shaped cookies.

It's not all cooking and celebrating in Chinatown.  We saw beauty salons, schools, banks, medical clinics and even accounting practices.   

Ready for lunch at Cafe Hoang?

Meatballs and noodles for E.  These were not our favorites.

Fortunately, we all loved the whole red snapper.
Here are the after shots.

We also had a great basil chicken salad and soft shell crab appetizer.  Hi Buddha.

On to the market.  Live frogs, anyone?

Here's the fish.

And roasted duck.
E decided she would stick to boxed candy individually wrapped in edible rice paper.

Come to visit!