Hanging Out at the Hyatt

April 3, 2015

My family made an impromptu trip to Chicago on Thursday evening. Though we weren’t able to hang out when they arrived, Liz and I trekked over to where they were staying after our work day on Friday.

Here, my mom and dad are looking over food options (we got dinner delivered) while Jasmine goofs for the camera.

Nice view looking over the Chicago River northward (that’s the Hancock Tower in the distance).

Liz and Jasmine, playing with some small, toy bunnies.

Jahnu, working hard on his legos.

Jasmine, wanting someone to pick her up while she sat inside an American Girl bag. Jahnu couldn’t do it, but I was able to lift her up two or three times (before the strap broke off).

Dinner has arrived! Chinese food, of course. We ended up ordering from somewhat far away, getting delivery from Papajin in Wicker Park. Amazingly, even though we were far away downtown… we were right on the edge of the delivery area. Nice!

On meeting the delivery guy downstairs with my mom, I was surprised that the delivery guy actually recognized me! We got delivery from them often while at Logan Square, but we haven’t been in the area since we moved in 2014. Somehow though, this guy still recognized me!

In addition to that, he thought I was 28 (which was really flattering). The guy started talking with my mom in Mandarin, and I could kind of half-follow what they were saying. It was a cute exchange, and the guy was really nice.

After dinner, we talked about my upcoming talk at 20×2 Chicago. When I mentioned the prompt was “What’s Next?”, Jasmine immediately got the idea that she could also do a talk… and began improvising a half-skit, half-commercial.

Over the next 45 feverish minutes, she and Jahnu would do these very random, 30-second plays/commercials. Each time, they hid behind the chair to “prepare.”

Did I mention they both had a fairly large cookie, prior to this segment of the evening?

Of the many performances of the night, Jasmine’s “dead zombie duck that’s coming back to life” and Jahnu’s “My name is President Nothing” were highlights.

Here is Jasmine, showing off a brand of “man perfume” while Jahnu does his impression of Godzilla. Which apparently involved him beating his chest like a gorilla.

I really should have taken some video. Not because any of the sketches were any good, mind you. But just so that I could have some embarrassing evidence for when they get older.