Chicago Weekend

Jeff and I joined two of my aunts, Susan and Patty, and two of my cousins, Krista and Zach, for a fun weekend in Chicago July 25, 26 and 27th.  We drove up Friday afternoon.  My cousin, Erin, and her husband, Jeff, joined us on Saturday.  It was our first weekend away from all three kiddos.  A huge thanks to my mom and dad for keeping the boys.  Jeff and I had a blast! 

We arrived in Chicago and went to the #1 rated Chicago pizza place, Lou Mainati's Pizzera.  It lived up to the hype and worth the 1-hour wait.  

Our attempt at a group selfie. 

Having the waitress take it turned out much better! :) 

Yes, we were wearing jackets.  It was chilly...in July!  

After dinner, we were off to visit the Michael Jordan statue.  Jeff had never seen it before.  

We were getting texts from Aunt Sandy from Tyler's t-ball game of the boys so we sent them back a photo of us.  We were on the train into Chicago and killing some time anyway. :) 

We did a lot of walking around Chicago.  

A group shot at Cloud Gate, aka "the bean." 

After visiting the bean it was off to brunch.  

I don't normally document my food but we ate very well over the weekend.  It was also nice to be able to eat with two hands and not feed someone off my plate.  This huge skillet was very tasty AND it came with the pancakes and berries!  Yum!  Good thing we walked a lot because I ate a whole lot of this meal!  

We eventually made our way to Wrigleyville.  We wanted to take it all in and grab some drinks.  

The whole crew!  

Zach, Susan, Jeff, Patty, me, Krista, Erin and Jeff W. 

Harry Carey's statue 

A 100 year old ball park is pretty impressive!  

This lovely post prevented me from seeing the pitcher most of the game. 

Cards win 6-3!  

Proof that Jeff and Erin were on the trip with us.  

After the game, we ate again.  Then Susan, Patty, Zach and Krista caught the train back to the hotel and we decided to go with Jeff and Erin.  We wanted to explore Chicago more so we headed down to Navy Pier.  We enjoyed riding the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel so we could see the city at night from 15 stories high! 

Our view from the ferris wheel!  

After the ferris wheel ride we grabbed some margaritas to go from Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville.  We enjoyed them on our walk back to Millennium Park to watch the fireworks that are shot off the Pier.  It was a great night!  

The next morning we went up the John Hancock building.  The 94-story view was nice.  It made the ferris wheel seem REALLY small.  

Navy Pier in in the center of this photo.  

Nice looking city from up high. 

I sure do love spending quality time with this guy.  

 We didn't intend on wearing coordinating Under Armor apparel.   

A bit of walking/shopping along Michigan Avenue before we headed for home. 

Jeff joined right in with a walking tour to learn some fun facts about Chicago.  

In Millennium Park, there are two of these 50 foot glass block towers that project video images of Chicagoans.  The mouths open every 7 minutes (I think I remember that number correctly from what Jeff picked up from the passing walking tour) and spit water into the shallow pools below.  They are meant to represent gargoyles to protect the city.  They were very interesting.  

Finally we headed from home.  It was a quick weekend getaway but so much fun!  And the we got to see a Cards victory vs the Cubs!  We were able to pack so much lighter than usual without the kids.  We saw this vehicle on the way home and had two thoughts 1) we are glad we have a Suburban and 2) this is what our family vacations may look like in a few years (even with the Suburban)!  Ha! :) 

It sure was nice to get away but it was really great to get home to our boys!