Well, EFY is now over and I drove down to Normal IL to pick up Brittany and some other folks that went down.  That’s one of my favorite things to do.  It’s great driving back home listening to all the fun stories and such from the kids.  🙂  The only thing I don’t like is getting up and leaving at 4:30am to get down there to pick them up at 7am.  🙂

After we got home, I took a rest, cleaned a bit, and then we drove downtown for a little kayaking adventure and Cirque du Soleil entertainment.  Angela had found a Groupon for kayaking on the Chicago river for a really good deal, so 6 of us got tickets and went.

It was a lot of fun.  This was Angela’s first time in a kayak and so she and I got a tandem one.  The kayaking was actually an architecture tour while on the Chicago river.  We would paddle around the river, stop at specific places, and our guide would tell us about the buildings and such.  I had been on an architecture tour before, but not this way.  The kayaking was awesome (as long you don’t fall into the river which is really gross and dirty).  🙂

It was actually pretty good exercise!  We were out on the river for almost 4 hours!  We think we’ll do that again!  Only one person ended up swamping his kayak and that was because he thought he was really cool and was goofing around.  Some people are just not the sharpest tool in the shed.  We about gagged when he went under.  🙂

After our kayaking adventure, we drove over to Navy Pier and went to a great performance from Cirque du Soleil.  It was called Cirque Shanghai: Year of the Dragon.  It was really cool and we had a great time!  The acrobatics and balancing acts were amazing!  It was really cool and crazy at the same time.  Who would think to have 6 motorcycles going around and around a metal sphere at the same time without hitting each other.

After the performance, we walked around for awhile and tried to find something to eat for dinner.  We were all pretty hungry.  Navy Pier was totally crammed with people, so we decided to walk back toward the lots where we parked to find something.  We ended up eating in a hotel restaurant but it was really good.  Maybe it was because we were so hungry.  🙂  We got home pretty late and after getting up at 4 to get ready to leave, I was totally ready to crash!  🙂  What a great day, though!!!