CHICAGO!!!

CHICAGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has taken me forever to post this blog-but I have been so excited to do so! Jeff and I took a little break together and went to Illinois for a few days. He had a business trip there and so we went a few days before to enjoy some time just the two of us. It was amazing!

Here's what we did...

19th of July

We flew into Chicago, rented our PT Cruiser and drove to Jeff's Grandmas home where we spent a couple of days there with her. It was so much fun to watch Jeff with his Grandma and to enjoy some time there with her. She of coarse would have liked to have seen the kids-but I hope that she was able to enjoy the time that we spent with her. She is an amazing woman. Jeff's grandpa passed away in December and because of Jeff's dad's passing the day before, we were unable to attend the funeral for Grandpa. Jeff has a special spot in his heart for his grandparents. He would often come and spend some of his summers with them and has a lot of memories tied up in their home with them. It was fun to have him take me around and remember a lot of things that happened there including learning how to swim, loosing teeth, getting in an accident with grandpa's car one summer, etc. We went to Ice cream every night and spent most of the time with Craig and Sue too. We are so grateful for the time that we were able to spend with our Illinois family! We love you guys!

One thing that I loved before we went to the city while at his grandma's house were my own memories that came flooding back of my own childhood. I have been back to the Midwest quite a few times since I moved from Indiana but it seems that so much was going on, or that I was preoccupied with taking care of children, etc. that I didn't take the time to breathe and remember. Driving along the corn fields, all of the red barns and beautiful farms that are so well kept, etc. The grass is so green and people don't even have sprinkler systems! One night we sat at grandmas window and watched a lightning bug light show. I had missed them so much. Jeff's family thought I was weird, but I sure enjoyed it. We went on a walk one night in the dark and we heard the cicadas chirping, saw the fireflies, and heard quite a few bull frogs by a small pond. It was like heaven on Earth for me to remember those sights and sounds from my childhood. One thing that I do not miss however is the humidity. Oh what it did to my HAIR! My skin was nice, but my hair was out of control!!!! The third day I was there, I finally gave up and did my hair curly (which it is naturally more curly than I thought) from there on out!

JULY 21st

After saying a tearful goodbye to the family, Jeff and I ventured on to the Big City! I could hardly stand it driving the 45 minuted to get there! I was so excited to be there and do the things on our agenda. We stayed at the Chicago Hilton which is right where we could be center to everything! It was a beautiful hotel and everyone was so nice to us. The concierge got to know us very well! We were constantly asking questions of where things were, how to get somewhere, the cost of things, etc. I LOVED Chicago! I soaked up every minute of it! I had been there a couple of times as a kid, but not like this! I have to admit, one of my favorite things about being there was the "traveling Jeff". I have never met him before! Those who know Jeff know how shy he is and pretty timid for the most part to talk to people he doesn't know, etc. Now that he travels all of the time, I was able to see him in action as he talked to anyone, went out of his way to ask directions, or have someone explain things to him, hail a cab, whatever!
It was so fun to see him like that!

The first night we were there, we just went down to the Navy Pier and just hung there the whole night. We rode on the Ferris wheel, we ate hot dogs (not a common thing for me), got ice cream, played miniature golf, and shopped. It was a very fun night. We walked to our Hotel that night and got to see a lot of the sights at night.



JULY 22nd

The next day was our only full day there and boy was it FULL!! We got up that morning and took our time finding this great restaurant that we had been recommended to go to called

Lou Mitchelle's. It was worth the hike that we had to take to get there. It was a lot of fun. While we were waiting, they brought us donut holes and Milk Duds to eat as a teaser. It was a fun little Diner feel. A great way to start the day. Afterwards, we had had our fill of walking so we decided to catch the trolley which took us more time than it would have to get to the museum which was our next stop. Jeff loves museums and I wanted to do something that he wanted to because I was making him go to a Broadway show that night. We went to the Field museum and it was so interesting and extremely HUGE. We could not have seen everything even if we had been there for 6 HOURS! When we were done there, we walked again back to our hotel to change and get ready for our evening outing. We were going to go see WICKED! A dream come true for me to go and see a Broadway show! I got to ride in my first Cab ride to dinner first at the Cheesecake Factory-my fav place to eat and get dessert and then we hurried to the Oriental Theatre to see our show. Words cannot describe what an amazing production it was and how I felt being there with Jeff, seeing this show and feeling exactly-even more-how I knew I would feel to be there! INCREDIBLE!!!! Jeff even liked it a lot. He even let me listen to the soundtrack in the car the whole time while we were driving around! That is a night that I would relive anytime!!! Even after we walked back to the Hotel, we hopped in our car and drove around to see some other stuff, and find the route to the airport for me the next day.


JULY 23rd

Bitter sweet would be the words to describe how I felt leaving Chicago. I was excited to go home and rescue my mom and dad who so generously kept our kids for us while we were gone, but I was so sad to leave Jeff and to leave the CITY! It would have made things easier if he didn't have to stay for work for a few more days. Wednesday, he went to work that morning and I took my time getting ready and packing to leave. I then walked my way one more time to the convention center all by myself to meet Jeff for one last meal! (Can you tell that I was sad to leave?) We got some Chicago Pizza and we said our good-byes! You would have thought that we were saying goodbye forever! It was pretty pathetic watching us probably-but we had had such a great time! Good-bye Chicago-but hello to new memories. I can live off of that one for a long time!