I have managed somehow to misplace/lose/have stolen my camera which is devastating as it had all my Florida and family pictures on it. I am currently working on downloading some of Mum's pictures she has sent me so Ill post them ASAP.

Anyway, last weekend Mum, Dad, Claire and Eleanor came and visited me in the windy city! I had a fantastic time showing them around my new city and hope they enjoyed it as much.

They arrived on Thursday evening to the Intercontinental hotel, which is amazing. It was a chilled evening with time spent at the amazing pool the like of which I guarantee you have never seen. It was built in the 1920's as a gentlemens club and the pool has remained the same to this day.

On Friday we were up early and they came out and saw my apartment and met Aoife. We then headed to Yolk, a fantastic breakfast restaurant in Chicago, where everything is 3 times the size you need it to be and comes with at least pancakes and potatoes! By the time we were finished we needed to be rolled out the door. Next we were off to the Sears tower. It was at one time the tallest building in the world until the towers in Malaysia took that title. I had not done the Sears tower before and found it fantastic to see the city from above. It looked very differnet from when I had been up the Hancock tower in the summer as everything this time was white and grey. We could see the frozen lake and river. we were now feeling slightly less full so we took a walk a few blocks and on our way saw the Flamingo, DePaul and Mum took pictures of the El tracks just like on ER!! We ended up at the bean where there was an admittedly limited ice museum. But with the weather being so beautiful the bean looked very pretty! Claire, Eleanor and I decided to get a little exercise and went ice skating in front of the bean. Poor Mum and Dad got a little chilly watching us but we were pink cheeked after half an hour! Eleanor put the rest of us to shame with her pirrouettes and jumps!

We had a great dinner at a bustling restaurant called 312 in the theatre district, where the food was really nice. We had fantastic seats for Wicked which although I had seen before it was still as brilliant as the first time.

Saturday was another busy day starting with breakfast at the Grand Lux which was also really good, with enormous portions and great fruit smoothies. When we tried to visit the aquarium but the line was just too long to even consider so instead we went to the Field Museum and saw Sue the T-rex, the Tsavo man eating lions, hundreds of very life like animals and some ancient american indian artefacts. It was really interesting.

By the afternoon the girls were ready to shop so Dad went back to the hotel and chilled out while we got to work on the shops. We managed to find lots of things for everyone. It was a very sucessful shopping trip!!

Our meal that evening was at a brilliant busy sea food place called Joe's. After a small mishap where I didn't have my Id and had to go back to the hotel to get it! But the food was fantastic. The crab claws starters would have been enough as a main meal but we ended up having melt in the mouth lobster and then free dessert! I actually thought I was going to explode!

Sunday morning I took Mum to church with me which was great. It was a great service and they did communion which was the first time they've done it when Ive been there. It was really different and relaxing.

It was a bit of a rush for Mum and I across town to the Ice Hockey where we met up with the other and watched the Blackhawks play the Colorado Avalanches. It was a really exciting game especially because there was a fight and we won!! Also the players are all so much younger than the ones in Belfast and much better looking!

After 9 more pairs of shoes and 3 jackets worth of shopping - all discounted might I add. We headed to a Brazillian Steakhouse called Fogo De Chao's which was yet another enormous fabulous meal. It was all you could eat and the meat came out on skewers, the waiters carried it round and if your disc was green they offered you some cooked to the temperature you desired. They had 18 different kind of meats. when you had enough you turned a disk red and you could take a break for as long as needed before you had enough room to eat more. Eleanor dug in and ended up eating as much if not more than the rest of us.

On Monday we had a quick breakfast having realised that one american meal was enough per day! We then headed back to the Aquarium which is the largest indoor aquarium in the world. They had the Komodo Dragon Lizards which were really cool and absolutely enormous!! The rest of the lizards and Chameleons were also really interesting. We also saw loads of cool fish, sea horses and sharks, as well as a Dolphin show and 2 baby white whales which are grey and very large for being babies!

The Afternoon was another shopping sucess, this time for Dad in particular. He managed to get more clothes than the rest of us! I also got my 21st birthday present from Tiffany's in a little blue box! It is a really nice silver necklace and I really like it! We also took Eleanor to American Girl Place where she was in heaven! It is a really girly shop where 6-10 year olds come and make dolls that look like them, dress them up to look like them and get their hair done. Its cute! Mum Claire Eleanor and i managed to do a little shopping as well, of course!!

That night we went to the Hancock tower for pre-dinner drinks. The bar is on the 95th floor so drinks are overlooking the city all lit up below. The best view in the place is from the ladies bathroom! lol! After that we went downstairs to the Cheesecake factory where we had their last big American dinner.Dad and I had amazig ribs and I got to take home half of Claire's dinner, Eleanor and Claire's dessert and half my ribs!! enough to stock my fridge for the next few days.

Tuesday was a bit all over the place with everyone trying to pack, me having work to do for that evening, Mum and Eleanor heading off to do last minute shopping in Old Navy, Dad and Claire doing pick ups and I even managed a last minute swim.

We had our last lunch back in the Grand Lux and it was the first manageable meal we ate! Lunch size portions are the way to go! The food was absolutely brilliant again! It was very sad to say goodbye to everyone knowing I wouldn't see them again for 7 months. I had such a great time seeing everyone, showing everyone my city (reassuring mother that I was safe and happy!) and just getting to spend time with the family again (never mind all the amazing food!) It was so nice to just relax and enjoy time with them!

Sadly it was back to Porridge on Tuesday afternoon with work etc but I did manage to head out on Friday night for birthday drinks and dinner at the Grand Lux, one of my new favourite restaurants!