Shug and Paul come to town!

One of our favorite things that happened this fall was when Shug and Paul came to visit us, all the way from Alaska!  It was kind of a surreal week.  

And yes, I stole most of these pictures from Shug's blog, if you feel like you are having deja vu.

First thing first: we went apple picking in Wisconsin! 

Paul thought it would be fun to show the boys how to feed goats at the farm.

Some call Paul the goat man (you may notice that Paul grew a beard since our last visit with the Riggs).

Paul decided to get a little closer for a more intimate goat-feeding experience.

And of course, the real reason we went apple picking was to get the freshly made donuts from the farm!

We spend a good amount of time doing what we do best: hanging around at home.

Paul entertained us on his harmonica for many hours.

We had a pizza taste test, buying four pizzas, only to discover that we had a split vote between Lou Malnati's and Giordano's (which I don't understand, because Lou's is clearly the best).

Jam session by Paul and Ben

Shug enjoyed the light and warmth from the window.

We did our thing - and Shug kindly took pictures.

We made the essential Fall leaf-shaped sugar cookies.

One day, we headed to the Art Institute of Chicago.  It is a glorious place.  Ellis and Sam really loved it, and I will say it was a high moment on the spectrum of parenting satisfaction for me, as the boys and I enjoyed the artwork and talked about the artists that they like and recognize.  The stars aligned, and they were in good spirits, and yes, complete strangers came up to me and told me what a good mom I am.  Doesn't happen every day (usually the complete strangers are annoyed with my lack of parental control)!

Here is Sam helping himself to a piece of candy from one of the pieces (taking a piece was part of the exhibit).

We all loved these Chagall windows!

And Paul appreciated this portrait of himself!

I succumbed to the temptations of the gift shop (verdict three months later: definitely worth it!)

We walked around Millenium Park and acquainted Paul and Shug with Cloud Gate.

They found "the bean" to be romantically inspiring.

Paul and Shug did a really good job of being amused by our boys (and also entertaining them).  They loved watching Sam play in the fridge and ask to have his drinka milk made BIGGER!

Paul and Henry made brownies, using four eggs borrowed from the neighbors I had never met until that night.  Nothing gets between Paul and brownies, apparently.

We went to the zoo, where the boys got a true kick out of the kangaroos.

And we played with Becky and Brian - enjoying a fun adventure downtown for tapas.

And of course, we played Catan.

We gave Paul and Shug a little tour of our town.  We all enjoyed stalking the house where Home Alone was filmed.

And Ben gave a rousing tour of Northwestern's campus.

As you can see, we had a fun-filled week!  It was really lovely, and we were sad to go back to our regular lives at the end of it.  Henry remarked that he was REALLY going to miss Paul and Shug, "because they are just so good to have around."  We wish they would come and live with us ALL the time!