A couple of (crazy) weeks in the homeland

Welcome back loyal readers! Tony and I just got back from two weeks back in the good old US of A. We were selected to attend the annual Rockwell trade show (Automation Fair) which was being held in Chicago IL and as a result, we were able to visit lots of family and friends and spend Thanksgiving in the states before heading back to Hong Kong.

I figure I would post some fun pictures from our trip home so that you guys can be famous too!
It was strange to be back in the US at first. Some observations were that there are SO many diet commercials (something they don't have here at all) and that coming into downtown Chicago which I have always thought was a big beautiful city, looked unimpressive having been to some much bigger places in Asia. It was fun to boycott Asian food for the week and our first meal back in the US was some old fashioned Chicago PIZZA. Delicious!
The show in Chicago was great, it was so nice to catch up with old Rockwell friends, my favorite distributor folks (hello T&H!) and customers. The show floor was very crowded and we got to enjoy some fun dinners and late night partying with our co-workers. I needed a 20 minute nap to survive each afternoon, the time change kills. After many long days and late nights we were excited when Thursday finally came around and we could head up to Milwaukee to visit Tony's family.
We took the train from Chicago to Milwaukee with some Amish people which was quite the deal, only $20 and an hour ride! We were invited over to Tony's brother, Nick, and his wife, Laurens' house for dinner so we could see our beautiful little niece Madelyn who is now almost 10 months...Isn't she the cutest? We had not seen her since her baptism in May and she has grown up so much since then, crawling all over the place and making everyone laugh.


On Friday morning, Tony and his dad hit the highway to drive up to their home in Northern Wisconsin for some good male bonding - deer hunting season opened on Saturday morning and they wanted to beat all the traffic (yes, apparently there is traffic on the way to shoot Bambi, who knew?) They were joined by Nick and Tony's brother-in-law Andy later on Friday night and the boys had a nice manly weekend without killing anything - they didn't even see a deer! But they did go sit outside in single digit temperatures at 4 AM...I just don't get it, must be a guy thing.


Me on the other hand, I was off to NYC for a quick visit to see my family for the weekend while Tony was gone. My BFF Sharon flew in from LA for the occasion and it was great to spend time with her. After grabbing my sisters car, we headed through the city and did some shopping at the mall. Hey, I needed new boots and I know I can't really get them here in Hong Kong, so it was necessary shopping as far as I'm concerned. We had lunch at Houstons and I ate the biggest bestest cheeseburger ever, totally craving some American food. On Friday night, we went to Queens and had a delicious dinner with mom & dad where I dispensed some early Christmas presents and between the four of us we polished off one bottle of champagne, three bottles of red wine, and some after dinner cognac. Ooops.


Saturday morning we took a walk in Alley Pond park which was great for Sharona and I since all the fall foliage was in full effect still in NY and neither of us got to see any this year being in LA and Hong Kong. It was chilly but beautiful. After the walk we went to Fortuneoffs where I was able to pick out my birthday present from mom & dad, a new watch! My old watch was a Seiko from 8th grade, still ticken! Hopefully this one last 10 times as long, I love it. Auntie M and A-Rob (my Aunt Marcia and Aunt Robin) met us for a delicious greek lunch and then we headed back to Queens to rest up for a night out on the town with the cousins. Before we went out, my second mothers, Maria & Stephanie, dropped over for some hugs and the Sporn-Heim news update...so good to see you guys! And thanks for the birthday gift!
As we call it, a "Cousin Outing" was planned for the evening and included the 6 first cousins on my dad's side, plus significant others and Sharona, so we were quite the crew. We had a great time as usual and stayed out until 4 AM dinning on the upper east side and then clubbing in the meat packing district. Fun fun fun!..Sorry Jr. & Randela, no good pic of you guys to post : (
Sunday we were invited to the Hamburgers (my aunt and uncle on my mom's side) for dinner and I got to see my little cousins too, who are not so little anymore, I think both are taller than me now! They were lamenting the fact that Tony and I would not be at their house for Thanksgiving since we are both very instrumental in the feast every year. Tony helps Uncle Peter cook all day long and I always wash all the dishes post dinner for 22 people...they almost cancelled it (but somehow I know they pulled through and we promise to be back next year for my favorite meal of the year in good old Jersey! We missed you guys!)My BFF Jamie and her husband stopped over on their way home from a weekend in Saratoga to say hello so I got to see them too!


Monday morning I returned to Milwaukee and Tony came back from his hunting excursion. We had dinner and drinks on Monday night with Tony's sister Theresa and her husband Andy but kept it a pretty early night since we were heading early the next morning to Michigan State, to pick up Tony's baby sister, Angelina, from college where she is a freshman. It was an uneventful 5 hour drive in each direction, but we got to see her dorm room and it really made me miss college. Ahhh.


Wednesday evening we met up with Tony's best guy friends (Rob & John) and their lovely wives (Deb & Jenn) for a delicious Italian meal at a great place called Bartolotta's....yummy! We headed out to the 703 club (Tony's parents tavern) afterwards for some drinking and fun with Theresa, Andy and Nick. There was a whole lotta air guitar and jager bombs, making for a rough Thanksgiving morning for some!
The next day, everyone was in a great mood following a big Packer win, and we ate our Thanksgiving meal around 5 o'clock with the whole Sollazo family. Madelyn was there to entertain us all and we exchanged Christmas gifts with Tony's side of the family since we will be back here in Hong Kong for Christmas. Everyone loved their gifts from the orient!
Friday night we went our for delicious Mexican food downtown at La Fuentes which is right near our headquarters, with the brother & sister crew. Angie stayed home to babysit for Madelyn so both Nick & Lauren had the night off to party for a change. They were very cute pointing out to me all the new trendy restaurants and bars developing in Milwaukee, easing the notion that it will one day soon be our home. We closed the bar and were home by 3, putting a great end to our stay in Wisconsin.
So, here we are back in Hong Kong after traveling nearly 24 hours yesterday...should be a fun week at work! Anyways, it was great to see all of you we could, and talk to you when we couldn't and to the rest, we will be back soon enough and can't wait to catch up more then. Email soon, post a comment on our bloggy blog, and till next time I LOVE YOU & MISS YOU!