Mini Getaway

For the last 9 years, we haven't taken any major vacations.  It's mostly by choice, but money plays a big factor into that too.

But that's ok.  With animals at home, and lining up people to take care of them, we try not to be away from home for too long.  It makes us feel a little guilty.  (Well, it makes ME feel a little guilty.)

We've been going to Chicago each summer for all of these last 9 years.  It's not too far away (3 hours by train, about the same by car), and it has plenty to do.

Since we started going when Grace was 5, and Evan was 4, they know the city pretty well too.  The only thing that has evolved is we no longer have to haul them around in strollers (THANK GOODNESS), and the cost of eating out has gotten dramatically HIGHER!

We tend to do the same kinda things each summer in Chicago that we've always done, but some have changed slightly too.

I still LOVE all the architecture, and now Evan feels the same.

We sight see at Navy Pier because they are too old for the children's museum there that we used to take them too.

We go to see a White Sox game because we always get good seats, it's very inexpensive ($10/ticket on Father's Day), and it's Evan's favorite team!

We eat at great restaurants like P.F. Changs, Giordanos, and Su Casa Mexican Restaurant (a hole in the wall we found on our last trip, but it is DELICIOUS!).

We go shopping...and when I say WE, I use the term loosely.  Brent and Evan like Sports Authority, and Evan likes the Lego store still.  Grace and I this year, dropped the boys off at the hotel after going to their stores, and we power shopped for a couple hours.  It was a lot of fun!

Since we FINALLY figured out where the "bean" was in Chicago, we now go to Millennium park to pose in front of it, visit the crown fountain, and people watch.

We also used to stay outside of town, and drive into the city or take the train in every day because after being downtown for a couple of days, we would then go visit Brent's family outside of town.   The last couple of years, we've taken the train from home to downtown and stayed at a hotel right in the middle of town, and walked everywhere we wanted to go, and then take their train right to the game.

It took us a good 7 years to get everything in order, but we finally know our way around pretty well now. 

Grace even spotted a sign for a design college downtown that she might be interested in pursuing in a couple of years.  It sure would be fun to go visit her there!

We had a great time.  The kids swam, we shopped, ate a lot, and relaxed sometimes too.  It was great weather, and we couldn't have asked for more. 

Now, back to the appointments, the animals, and the fair...bring it on!

The weekend that was

We haven't been on vacation with friends since Grace was 4 1/2 months old.

She's 13 1/2 now.

I know...

I don't know why we haven't done it since then, it was a BLAST.

So, back in April, we decided to do it again with our friends Ryan and Kristin Eby and their daughters.

We get together as often as we can now with our busy schedules, so we decided why not have a long weekend together in Chicago, right?

So, we did.

This past weekend.

We drove in separately and met at our hotel and then took the train downtown for supper and a White Sox game (Evan's FAVORITE team.)

We ate GREAT pizza, then a security guard came over and told the kids to get away from the fountain.

WHATEVER.  We laughed and laughed.

Then we took another train down to the stadium.

While we waited for the game to start, the kids got in a little batting practice at the "fundamentals" part of the ballpark.

We even had a fireworks show when the game was done.

It was a late game, so we headed back to the hotel pretty late, and hit the hay.

After breakfast in the morning, we drove into town for a day of shopping, AND eating of course.

The kids were all REALLY great about shopping in stores for each other.  Lego and sports stores for Evan, clothing stores for the girls.

Cheesecake factory...YUM!

We talked CONSTANTLY, and laughed ALL THE TIME.

Their girls, Courtney and Kaitlyn are just about the same ages as our kids, so they have a great time together too.

Our last stop downtown was Navy Pier.

We did a lot of people watching, and the kids rode the Ferris wheel.

We said our goodbyes to the Ebys once we left Navy Pier.  They headed back home to Indiana, and we took the train back to our hotel for one more night in Chicago.

It was a POWER weekend, but we had SO MUCH FUN.  

We all decided this should be something we do again.  If only for another weekend somewhere.

Too bad it's over, but it sure is good to sleep in your own bed again!

A short lived fantasy

When I was younger...like all through my high school years, and into college...I dreamed of living in a big city.

Anything other than the tiny little town I grew up in.  I mean, who wanted to live in a town where everyone knew the business of everyone else?

I sure didn't.

The thought of living in a big city was so EXCITING to me, I couldn't think of anything else.  My judgement was cloudy.

Years turned into other years, and I never did make it to the big city, but I sure like to visit it any time I can.

Brent doesn't understand it...but Grace sure does.  And now Evan does too.

It just so happened, that's what we did this weekend, but THIS time it was in all of our interests to "get outa dodge!"

You see, the Detroit Tigers were playing the Chicago White Sox for Opening Weekend and when Brent found this little tidbit of information out...back in February...well, we just HAD to get tickets.  Suddenly the big city was calling his name!

So we did.

We planned to take a ride up on the train, do a little shopping (the kids and I at least...), watch the game, and spend the night in a hotel downtown (something we've NEVER done in all the years we've been going to Chi-town.)

We left early Saturday morning on the train leaving from the South Bend Airport.

We got to Chicago in the morning, and found our hotel...just blocks from the train station.  It was tall, and glass and just plain cool all at the same time.  We were so close to everything!

We did a little shopping, and ate lunch at our standard spot...can't go to Chicago and not eat deep dish pizza, right?

The game was great...we even got free hats when we went in the gate...

White Sox won!  Brent was highly disappointed about that!

Then we went back to the hotel, found a PF Changs for supper, and the kids went swimming.

I stayed in the room and watched the cable TV we don't have at home.

This morning found us eating the hotel complimentary breakfast at 7:30am, then swimming again, doing a little shopping...and heading back on the train to South Bend.  I even got to visit my favorite store..Anthropologie...before we boarded.

We had a great weekend.  I'm ready to do it again...maybe in a couple of months.