Chicago!

We're back in the DR, but I wanted to show off a few photos from our time in Chicago before launching back into blogs about the Dominican Republic. We had a great time with family and friends, and really came back fat (we Americans eat a LOT!) and happy. Like I mentioned in a previous blog, our time was kind of a whirlwind, but here are the highlights below...

Mark and Isaac (our nephew, Steve and Amy's son) in their matching Wheaton t's at a Swedish restaurant/bakery on the way to Wisconsin.

Here we are in Wisconsin at the Brown Bear Restaurant in our matching "HaugenMartinBorton" vacation t-shirts. Very fun.

Steve eating the biggest cheeseburger I've seen in my life. It took four pieces of cheese to cover the area of the whole burger... and yes, he finished the whole thing.


Mark thought it would be fun to completely cover himself in sand while standing up to see if it was possible to get out. I'm not sure if Isaac is giving him a hug or trying to pull him out in this photo. :)

We celebrated Mark's upcoming birthday (August 29) with one of Judi's fresh blueberry pies. We picked the blueberries close to the Warren Dunes in Wisconsin.

We got to visit our good friends from Wheaton, the Ortlunds (Dane, Zachary and Stacey) at the home where they will be living while Dane does his PhD at Wheaton College.

We celebrated Zachary's first birthday... and were even there to see him snarf down his first cupcake!

When we showed up at Doug and Carolyn Walter's (at left) home, we didn't know we were walking into a surprise birthday party for Mark! It was so fun to hang out with the Walters and the Williams that night!