Chi-Town Day 5: Suburbs

By MAGGIE WANG

We started the day with the intention of joining Soop's family at the Glenview parade honoring July 4th but got derailed because Sedona (and Kevin) expressed disinterest in starting the day steaming in the hot weather. Despite somewhat nice days by Chicago standards, we spoiled Californians weren't buying it (and it was probably a good decision given that it was another long day).

We ended up doing a little time at the suburban Old Orchard Mall, where we stumbled upon a Frontera Fresco restaurant. That was coincidental considering yesterday I was just telling Kevin that I wanted to try Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill.

I watched Bravo's 2009 Top Chef Masters, and Rick's personality and food always appealed to me -- and well, I found out for sure on this day! The family shared a Cubana Tortas (Roast pork, Chihuahua cheese, Applewood smoked bacon, black beans, cilantro cream, chipotle mustard and avocado) with a Raspberry Prickly Pear Agua Fresca. Really great!

Soop, wife Jenn, and kids Emily and Matthew Boyd kindly offered up their Glenview home for a cookout after they got home from the parade. Their place is super cute and so clean that I am envious -- with a large backyard for plenty of fun. We were joined by Mag's and Bry's families (though Teddy and wife Nori had headed off to Montana on vacation).

Bry's eldest son Ethan led Sedona, Maven and Austin in playing in the sand. Ethan was sweet and chill, but I don't think I heard more than the word "OK" come out of his mouth.

The girls played with Soop's daughter Emily a lot. They enjoyed many games of hide-and-seek inside and outside. That was hard to capture by camera, but not to fear, Kevin got some of it on video for future posting.

To give the Soop family some rest, Bry's family of wife Kate and three kids plus two of Kate's nephews joined us at a local park and then Portillo's restaurant for some more bonding time.

Sedona was a delight all day long and still had plenty of energy for the playground, but Maven was pooped. I must say that I loved it: At home I always need to use Maven's nap time to get work done, so I really enjoyed my snuggle time with her!