After a long weekend alone in Chicago with my love for our first time since our honeymoon seven years ago we are finally home with our lil monsters again! We had a fabulous time in what has easily become one of our favorite cities in just four short days.
Some of the things we enjoyed on our little vacation:
FRIDAY….
Wicker Park! My love got to stand in front of a building that was in a scene of one of his fave movies “High Fidelity” for a pic. We had lunch at an old lil pub called “Pint”. We hit up a rad lil local Skate shop to get our son some souvenirs we knew he’d like. We rode the El for the first time. Bought some goodies at Hershey’s & Ghiradelli’s for our lil monsters. Had dinner at Giordano’s at the recommendation of our friends. Then that night Matt went to catch his friend’s punk show while I went shopping with my friend Mandy before she left to go out of town the next morning. After his show Matt met up with us and we checked out the lounge on top of our hotel and then the three of us had a drink at Gino’s East next door to our hotel. Gosh I love that lady and the fact that her doing a hash tag search for #brusselsprouts two years ago gave me one of the kindest souls for a friend!
SATURDAY….
At the recommendation of my friend we had breakfast at an absolutely beautiful place called “The Grand Lux” overlooking Michigan Ave. Then walked to Millennium Park to take pictures of “the bean”. Probably my favorite part of that moment was that our daughter facetimed us while we were there and we were able to show her as well. The complete look of awe that she had was priceless. After a little more exploring it was time for our Chicago mob tour. It was ninety minutes full of all sorts of interesting facts. That evening was our much anticipated murder mystery dinner. Our Mother’s Day/Father’s Day gift to each other. By far one of our favorite things we did while we were there. We had to pick our own alias names, of which Matt picked out for us “The Blacksheep & The Blacksheep’s Wife”. It was in a beautiful hotel downtown. The entire show was full of comic relief. And we even got to channel our inner detective in us and we solved the case! So much so that we figured out all four of the actors that were planted amongst the guest too! We jokingly attributed our mad detective skills to watching far too much Investigation Discovery over the years, ha ha.
SUNDAY….
We got up early and headed over to the Sears (Willis) Tower. Apparently the locals still call it the Sears Tower. Pretty much like we still call a bridge back home “the green Bridge” when it obviously hasn’t been green for many years now. Tell that to a local though! I have an incredible fear of heights, but am thankful we weren’t in the Hancock Tower that has a new glass box that tilts out. We had a perfect view of that box from our hotel room and that looked terrifying to me. After coaxing myself into it I somehow managed to step out into that stinkin’ glass box that is on the 103rd floor that is 1,353 feet in the air. I faced my fears. Mainly so that I could tell our lil monsters. I never want them to let their fears control them or prevent them from seeing the world (even if it happens to be from a glass box at a frightening 1,353 feet in the air). They can do ANYTHING they set their mind to! Outside of that glass box there was an absolutely stunning view of Chicago that I just couldn’t get over! From there we went Oz Park to take pictures of the Wizard of Oz statues for our lil monsters since it’s one of our family faves. Did a little more last minute shopping before dropping off our things to the hotel and meeting Phil & Katie for lunch at Gino’s. Then we went to the a Navy Pier and explored the Stained Glass Museum and loved taking in the beautiful view of the Michigan Lake and city skyline. Then we walked over to Garrett’s for the infamous “Chicago Mix” popcorn (that happens to be cheddar & caramel, interesting mixture) for our popcorn loving daughter before walking back to the hotel. Sunday night we went to the “Midwest Live & Loud” show and Matt got to see his favorite band, Noi!se. He finally got to meet the lead singer that he genuinely admires for his musical talent, his family values, & his military background. Just an all around good fella. Sounds like I just described the man I am blessed enough to call my husband. It’s no wonder why he looks up to him.
MONDAY….
We enjoyed out last breakfast in the city out in front of our hotel before walked over to Giordano’s to pick up pizza to take home for our lil monsters to have yet another taste of Chicago. I loved exploring that city mostly by foot and really getting to take it all in. After checking out we headed over and caught the Metra out to Buffalo Grove and got to spend the day with Matt’s cousin Rachel. Her dad & step mom even came out to spend some time with us, incredibly sweet people. We just love Rachel! She is one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met. I’m so thankful we were able to spend some time with one of Matt’s favorite relatives and well one of mine too! On the way to the airport she took us over to see the place that his grandparents’ home once stood. It’s now a big building there, but still so amazing to be able to show the picture to our lil monsters and show them even a tiny piece of family history. Back when we went to New Orleans my dad showed us the home that my great grandparents once lived. It’s almost unbelievable to me that it’s still standing and in fantastic condition. How amazing is it to show our monsters the home that their great great grandparents lived in?
I have to say it wasn’t easy being away from our lil monsters, and I likely wouldn’t have gone had they not been able to stay home and in their environment with their maw-maw. Two of them even got to go have some fun with my friend and her girls. FaceTime was also extremely comforting to be able to still see them daily. It was a fantastic four day weekend spent with the love of my life. The last eight years we’ve shared together have been full of amazing experiences and I’m incredibly thankful to be able to add this to our ever growing list! It was fun Chicago, but we are so happy to be home with our monsters where we belong!
