Much to my delight, Crabbygal and Trubble decided to head to Chicago in August of 2001, to meet some Sissies! I picked them up from their hotel downtown. I was greeted with some yummy maple candies and leaf lolly! Foam Pants was due to arrive later that evening, so we had lots of time to kill.

It was a beautiful Chicago summer day, so we walked to the Art Institute to meet up with Mad Hatter for lunch. We had a lovely meal together, swapping stories of Sissy, people with the exact same name, and babies babies babies.

After walking Hatter back to his place of employment, and still with a long time before our next guest arrived, we headed towards the Field by way of the lakefront. We walked slowly, savoring the perfection of the weather, Crabby and Trubbs making fun of my so-called accent the whole way!

Finally arriving, with only a couple of hours before they closed, we went in, saw some sights, and exited upon closing. We sat outside on the steps with our vending machine purchases, laughing about Crabby's wild panties stories.

It was getting close to Foam time, so we left, off to my place to meet her. We got a panicked call from her, saying she was having car troubles and was stuck in traffic. I told her where to get off and which direction to go. Finally, after several calls and lots of traffic lights, we found our girl. Trubb looked under the hood, and we decided to let it cool down for a bit.

The evening sky setting on brought out the sights and sounds of a Midwestern night: fireflies and locusts. Crabby and Trubb delighted in the fireflies, which they didn't see in their corner of Canada. The sound of the locust postively fascinated them. What to Foam and I took for granted and garnered not even a thought was totally foreign and completely intriguing to them.

Finally, we left Foam's car at my house and headed to Gino's for some real Chicago pizza. We had a blast and ate til our guts were at bursting level. It was time for a nap. We bid the Canadians good night, and headed back to my place for some sleep. Of course, we had to have a peek at the SF boards, and the 8-week-old Jackson had to do Foam's hair.

Morning began with a lovely breakfast at Ann Sather's, during which Foam divulged that she'd never used maple syrup on her breakfast foods, but rather corn syrup. The three of us thought that preposterous. Sadly, we had to say our goodbyes to Foam before heading to the Brookfield Zoo.

The zoo brought many giggles from our trio. We watched a pair of bats getting their groove on, some baboons jerking themselves off and a rhino pee almost on Crabby's command (ask Crabby how almost any animal relieves itself, and she can rest assured tell you).

Finally, we received a call from Shrew, who was almost in town. We met him back at my apartment and headed off to meet wooman for dinner. Trubble barely got through regaling us at his knack for bringing rain with him wherever he vacations (seems it literally always happens) when the clouds opened up and dropped buckets on the Sissies dining outdoors. Luckily, we had a large umbrella sheltering our table, otherwise, we'd have been drenched.

The next morning, the four of us headed to Indiana, to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel and to see the famed Dunes National Park. It was late summer and practically deserted, making for a beautiful visit. We played in the water, picked up rocks and drew Sissies in the sand. Trubb and Crabby wanted to, ahem, christen Indiana, but thought it'd be rude to get it on in front of Shrew and I.

Several hours and too much sun later, stopping for Bugles at the vending machine. Turns out, they don't have Easy Cheez in Canadia and therefore Easy Cheez/Bugle cones were unheard of to our foreign friends! They had to try it. Apparently, Easy Cheez is a sedative to Canadians, and the pair crashed in the backseat almost the whole way back.

Bowling. We then went bowling. As always, I came in dead last, but had lots of fun in the process. Finally, our party had to end. Shrew had to get on the road, and I had to get some sleep for work the next day. My heart will always hold the fond memories I have from that meet.

As a final note, I had a ton of photos, and most of them are currently missing. If I find them, I will update. Until then, mourn their loss. I've really no idea where they went.