After we returned from the river we still had 3.5 days together! It felt good to still have so much time.

On the drive home Monday night, the boys and girls car each made a list of ideas of things to do with our remaining time. It included items as simple as “try Arby’s curly fries” and as in involved as “go on an airplane ride.” There were several “American” inspired things we couldn’t make happen due to timing—like go to a drive-in theater or demolition derby (both would have been fun!).

I had a long intro written explaining how reluctant I am to plan out set itineraries now and how I’m more of a “have some ideas and go by vibes” or follow someone else’s itinerary girlie, but you’ve all read that. All I will say is I am grateful Dunja and fam didn’t mind that I didn’t have their trip planned out to a T. We were all joking about it, and everyone was careful not to use the “p” word (plan) around me. Ha ha ha.

Tuesday, August 19th

All that said, we did have one thing “planned” for Tuesday—we were signed up for the 7:00 am HIIT class at WWM! Dunja and Clarissa really wanted to check out my gym and I was ecstatic to share it with them!

Even on HIIT day, which is killer.

I love taking friends to WWM. It’s a wonderful gym and the people who teach and go there are welcoming, kind, and also, a riot. I always leave with a smile on my face (and usually drenched in sweat).

They both did amazing! Clarissa specifically mentioned the night before she’d like to try flipping a tire, and one was outside for another activity, so she and Dunja got to flip it after class. So fun!

When we got back home Steven had already left for work, and Christian and Nicholas were getting ready to go to the Volo Auto Museum.

We had a chill morning, and took our time getting ready,

then went to Lake Michigan!

Dunja said the beach wasn’t what she was expecting, and I said it wasn’t what I was either—due to erosion, it’s different every time I go there! Most of the beach was washed away and the waves were quite high!

On the way back to the house I told Dunja and Clarissa about some of the projects we worked on before they came, like painting the gas lines, and how Steven jokingly said “if we don’t paint them, it will be the first thing they notice!” So I told Dunja she should mention them. She asked for a tour when we got home and said how nice they looked and Steven was totally on to us. Ha ha ha.

Steven had texted us that morning that he needed help with a special “work project” of trying a bunch of vegan spreads and chocolate samples he received. Dunja and Clarissa were happy to assist (and Christian when he got home)!

That afternoon, the boys came back on a high from how much they loved the Volo Museum. It made me happy seeing them so happy! Christian linked his phone to our TV and showed us some photos.

Then we hung out and painted,

and Steven and Nicholas put together their matching bush plane Lego sets. Funny story—Dunja and fam brought this bush plane Lego set for Steven as a gift and gave it to him Friday night. I had bought it for Nicholas as a gift and set it on his pillow in the guest bedroom. We all laughed a lot when they went to their room and we saw we got each other the exact same set! They were excited to build it together.

In the early evening the girls went to the outlet mall. At the river Dunja mentioned she’d never seen soap with scents like “prosecco” and shared they don’t have many soap options in Germany. I was all “Oh, I MUST take you to Bath & Body Works!”

They had a lot of fun smelling all the scents and deciding what to get! And I had two free items in my app and 20% off so win win!

While we were doing that, Nicholas was learning how to drive the skid steer loader!

They also got to experience Five Below for the first time,

and we made a few other stops.

Then we picked up Chicago style tavern pizza and some pasta for dinner. It’s funny, when I talked to locals and told them we had tavern style instead of deep dish, they were all like, “yeah, that’s the way to do it!” Deep dish=😒

Clarissa wanted to do face masks, and we’d picked out some special ones for everyone!

We were dying from all the silly faces we were making, and just seeing everyone wearing them.

While we wore our masks we loosely, yes, planned our next day in Chicago. At least which train to take, and Christian got us all tickets for the Architectural Boat Tour (thank you!). And we decided to match the next day! More to come!