Transformers, Weddings, and Patrón

Emily's sleepover with nine girls is over, we are home from Chicago, and both kids appear to be over a virus that left them with a weird rash all over their body. I can finally sit down and blog.

Now that the Ke$ha songs have quit permeating my every thought(a side effect of the sleepover that took place last Wednesday) I think I can put together a few coherent posts. Who spells their name with a dollar sign anyway?

So Saturday we took off for Chicago to attend the wedding of my sister's childhood friend. We enjoyed staying in a four star hotel in the downtown area. The movie Transformers 3 was filming about a block away from the hotel and we could see part of the filming from our room. Joanna and Brent were there a day before us and had seen four bodyguards stationed right outside the room across the hall from them. They never saw who it was, I am thinking it might have been McDreamy himself.

We headed down to where they were filming as soon as we dropped our stuff in the room. At first I didn't think we would get to see anything due to the massive crowds already there. We were behind a second set of barricades. Then the crew had everyone behind the first set of barricades move due to a gunfire scene they were about to film. We were now front row!

  The man standing next to the guy with the bull horn is Patrick Dempsey.

You can kind of see him here again with his stunt double. Brent stayed with Emily, who was captivated by all of this, while Matt and I went back to the hotel room with Ava. As they were getting ready to leave some of the actors were walking and Emily stopped them to ask them if they would take a picture with her.

After we got ready for the wedding we took a bus down to Buckingham Fountain for the ceremony. The rain held off and it was a beautiful ceremony.

The reception was at the same hotel that were staying at. I was worried about Ava behaving as this was a fancy place.  We let her walk around for while and then Matt took her for a walk while I stayed with Emily.

I enjoyed a gin and tonic before dinner( ok maybe two), and Matt and Ava joined us in time to eat. Shortly after dinner Ava was starting to meltdown so I took her back up to the room so Matt and Emily could dance it up for the wedding guests. I was asleep by ten- Matt and Emily closed down the place. More to come about our trip tomorrow…

I do have to add a  note about my favorite gnome Vern. He begged to come along. I hesitated as he is very obnoxious and quite frankly, I get sick of dealing with his shenanigans. But, I relented and he joined us. This is what I found when I got back to the hotel room.

Damn it Vern!  Patrón in hotel room, fifty dollars.  The look on the face of the lady at the front desk when you tell her that your gnome drank it without permission, priceless…..