Overnight Trip

Oh Chicago, We have missed you. The city of Chicago will always hold a special place in my heart.  I went to college for fashion, I always wanted a big career in the big city.  Then while I was in college Matthew and I started dating, he happened to live in Chicago.  I fell in love with it and visited often.  We fell in love in Chicago, we got engaged in Chicago and after we got married I moved there and we had our first place there right downtown.  A lot of people say they live in Chicago but we really did, right in the middle of it all.  It wasn't too long after living there and I realized my job wasn't what I always wanted, and sometimes the city could be rather annoying.   I had a love/hate relationship with it.  None  the less I'm so glad we got the opportunity to live there and loved all we got to experience in that time.  But for now,  I am so thankful for our spacious house (something we would never have in the city) and our children who I can't imagine living the city life with. 

Well Saturday we drove up to Chicago, met up with Nathan and Kacie and spent the day downtown.  We first stopped at Matthew's school so he could see all the renovations they have made, then we headed north to our old neighborhood and ate some lunch.  Next was Shedd aquarium and it sure was busy.  I have been there already a couple times but it was still fun.   Then we walked through some of the touristy stuff like the bean and Millenium park.  Next was a few stores for some shopping and to Macy's to check out the massive Christmas tree and then began the walk to figure out where to eat dinner.  We ended up eating at Cheesecake factory and it was delicious!  Lastly, we took a carriage ride through some city streets and then along Lake Shore Drive.  After a long day we were tired and ready to head to our room for the evening.  The next day we went to Ikea and had some deep dish pizza for lunch.  We had a great weekend.  It was nice to get away for a night without the kiddos but Sunday night I sure was ready to see them.  I didn't leave Noah alone for a long time, but I was really needing some fun so I think that made it easier to leave Carson.  We have only left town without Noah a few times (2 were REALITY trips, and one was our trip to Arizona with my family  this last spring) so a fun trip was definitely overdue.  I hope that we can do things like this a little bit more often in the years to come! 

Hanging out at the bean (couldn't get this picture to flip for anything)

Being a tourist again

Our wonderful carriage ride

I had taken one before but really liked out driver  this time.  She told us all sorts of info about the horses and the city rules (very interesting, seems like they really do take good care of them)