CHICAGO — Good friends, good food and the comforts of his own home.

President Obama enjoyed all three when he brought his family home to Chicago for a long Memorial Day holiday weekend. It was the first family's first sleepover at their red-brick home in more than a year.

Obama's only public appearance yesterday was for trip to a private gym for a workout. Top advisers also updated him on efforts to manage the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

On Friday, Obama interrupted his getaway to visit the Louisiana coast for an update on efforts to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf.

The president was due back at the White House today after paying respects to the nation's war dead during Memorial Day observances at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Ill., south of Chicago.

DION'S EFFORTS PAY OFF WITH TWINS

LOS ANGELES — Celine Dion's struggle to have one more baby has more than paid off. She's pregnant with two.

Her publicist said yesterday that the 42-year-old Canadian songstress is 14 weeks pregnant with twins, and she plans to find out the sex of the babies next month.

Dion and her husband and manager, Rene Angelil, have one son, 9-year-old Rene Charles. She had undergone several rounds of in-vitro fertilization in an attempt to get pregnant again.

The pregnancy was first reported by People magazine.

PLAY WILL KEEP COLEMAN-BASED CHARACTER

NEW YORK — An award-winning play that features a character based on Gary Coleman is planning to keep that character, even after the actor's death.

The creative team behind "Avenue Q" has decided to make only small tweaks to the role played by Danielle Thomas. Coleman died Friday in Utah from a brain hemorrhage.

"Avenue Q" is a show about twentysomething New Yorkers, featuring both humans and puppets. It won three 2004 Tony Awards, including best musical, and is now running off-Broadway.

The Coleman character is a child star who now works as a building superintendent.

'SHREK' BEATS OUT 'SEX' AT BOX OFFICE

LOS ANGELES — Movie audiences are showing more appetite for Shrek than for sex over Memorial Day weekend.

The sequel "Shrek Forever After" remained the No. 1 movie for a second weekend with $43.3 million from Friday to Sunday. The film raised its domestic total to $133.1 million. That easily topped the sequel "Sex and the City 2," which was No. 2 with a $32.1 million debut that came in far below the $56.8 million opening weekend of its predecessor two years ago. Along with a $14.2 million haul in its first day Thursday, "Sex and the City 2" has brought in $46.3 million.

Debuting at No. 3 with $30.2 million was the action tale "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time."

— Advertiser News Services