Grandma called and asked for the kids for the 4th of July weekend, I said no. Clay said, let's just let her have them and we will go somewhere. Like where? I don't know, "let's go to Chicago". And just like that it was settled.
So off to Chicago Mommy and Daddy went and down to Florida went the kids and Grandma. It's very fair to say, we all had an amazing weekend!
We rolled into to town Saturday morning and literally didn't stop from the moment we arrived. I can't believe how much we were able to squeeze into 3 days.
We caught a few city sights as we wheeled our suitcases off the train and to our downtown hotel. I couldn't believe how big the city was and just loved the river rolling through. There is something about a city on water that gets me every time.
We settled in to our hotel and then we were off again to grab dinner and take a bike tour of the city. We wandered onto the porch of a Tapas restaurant and dined on the most incredible dinner...and a pitcher of Sangria.
We arrived for our bike tour feeling pretty good. Can you get a DUI on a bike? That probably explains my uncontrollable giggles when Clay struggled with his bike helmet. I mean I literally had tears of laughter rolling down my face. You totally had to be there. Containing myself was an ongoing battle.
Most adorably, all the bikes were named {like 100's of them}. Ours just so happened to be characters from mine and Jack's favorite novels. Scarlett and Potter....I had to send Jack this pic. I mean, what are the chances?
We biked around the city and made a few "famous" stops....Memorial Park...
...some fountain {I have regretfully forgotten the name of}...
....and the river and city skyline....among others. After our bike tour we grabbed a couple appetizers and had a drink across the street from our hotel. The evenings got progressively longer as the weekend wore on.
We grabbed breakfast the next morning and headed out on a boat Architectural Tour. It was very entertaining and super interesting {mainly for Clay}. I could barely get him to take a jaunt around the boat with me for fear he might miss a fact.
We followed that with a bike ride to Navy Pier where we grabbed lunch, got souvenirs for the kids, and decided how much they would have loved this part of the trip.
Before we knew it, it was time to get cleaned up and head out to our dinner reservations at Gibson's. I was told this was a "must do" by a friend. The food was amazing...we are talking giant steaks cooked to perfection. Cheers to deliciousness!
Dinner was followed by another "must do"....Second City Theatre. We watched a comedy show on dating which was so out of our element but super funny none the less.
More good times followed with a Blues Bar and another late night.
On the 4th of July we suited up in Chicago Cubs/American colors and headed to the baseball game via the city train.
I honestly can't think of much that is more American than baseball and a stadium filled with red, white, and blue. The opening ceremony for the game was pretty amazing. I think I saw the biggest American flag I have ever witnessed get pulled across the field while listening to God Bless America.
It was a pretty incredible way to celebrate the birth of America.
We can happily announce the Cubs won our first game at the W.
Once again we found ourselves needing to get cleaned up and head out to our dinner reservations. Our last night we were dining at Bill & Giuliana Rancic's Italian restaurant, RPM. The funny part about this is we came super close to canceling our dinner plans and just going low key.
Something told us to pull through...and I am so glad we did, because not only was the food absolutely delish, but....
...we met Bill and Giuliana. What?!?! Yes, this really happened. This story could be a whole post in itself. But, to make a long story short, I was totally joking when I asked the waitress if the Rancic's were there that night. Ummm, yes they were! Next thing I know, we are meeting them and getting a picture too.
So incredibly cool!
Still trying to soak in that that encounter had actually happened, I drug Clay to a country saloon for after dinner drinks. It was my turn after I had endured an entire night of Blues.
We topped off our last evening with our latest night out. Cheers to an incredible impromptu vacation!
The next day we were catching a flight and off to meet our babies at home. I would soon find out they had just as much fun as their old parents did.
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