Chicago: Tourist Style

Chicago, you were incredibly fun.  I wish I could live in you for a year or two, but I can't.  So I'll have to settle with reliving my short lived moments I've had with you.
Here's a little breakdown of the first part of our trip:

The Hotel
We got to our hotel room around 7:30 PM.  Our hotel was fun; it was very historical.  We stayed at the Congress Plaza (thank you Groupon) which was built in the early 1900s and has been kept up really well.  Our room was fun, our window opened and we could climb out onto the fire escape.  I know that shouldn't be something that excited me so much, but it did.  I don't think I've ever really seen a room like that, and it reminded me of friends. (Joey and Ross - awkward man grasp, anyone?)

The Food
Oh man, lets just say, I could quickly become morbidly obese in Chicago.  The food was amazing!  I didn't feel too bad eating it though, because all we did was walk while we were there.  The first night we went to a place called Giordano's - holy cow.  I've never had deep dish before (we'll blame the Utah bubble).  I could barely finish one piece.  I have never experienced so much ooey-gooey delicousness before.  After the pizza we got cream puffs - perfect way to finish the meal.  yum.  After dinner we walked around and explored.  We walked past a little cafe called Wildberry's.  It looked cute so we decided to come back for breakfast.  Little did we know that it is actually one of Chicago's top rated breakfast places... and once we tried the food, we could totally see why.  I got white chocolate raspberry pancakes and Steve got strawberry cheesecake french toast.  There's really no way to accurately describe how delicious they were so I won't even try.  Just use your imagination.  I've since tried to recreate my raspberry pancakes.  Tried and failed.

The City
Oh man, I loved the city. The architecture was so amazing and unique. Chicago had some seriously neat buildings.  I loved learning about the history of the city (which you may learn about here).  We got to see most of the city on our Segway tour.  That's right, I said Segway tour (which will get a whole post of it's own, because yes, it was just that awesome). I seemed like such a small town girl/tourist with my amazement at all the cool buildings.  This was my first time in a big city, a REAL big city.  I know, it's sad, I'm 22.

Millennium Park
Millennium Park - Home of the bean.  We didn't spend much time here, just enough to admire the giant metallic bean and snap a few pictures.  Although, there is more to this park than just a bean.  They have a HUGE amphitheater.  Back in the great depression, musicians would gather and play for the people of Chicago as a way to try to lift their spirits.  It's become a tradition in the city and viola - an amphitheater was born.

Odds and Ends
The first night we got there, we walked, and walked, and walked... and wow, my back hurt.  So the next morning, when I tried to put on my pretty (and sucky for walking) shoes, Steve stopped me.  After trying to reason with me for a good while, he won.... and I wore these.  I looked like an old lady tourist, but my feet/back felt much better.

Here's a few other random pictures.

 Yes, this is a cupcake truck... a truck that actually brings cupcakes to you.

Sleepover Success

Last Friday Steve and I thought it would be fun to have my brother's kids over, and we were right.  It was so fun.  We started the night by getting dinner, everyone wanted something different and I indulged them.  Maci had Panda Express, J.J. had McDonalds, and Tyson went with a spicy chicken from Chick-fil-A (boy after my own heart).  Maggee wanted their food ;)

After dinner the boys went to work on making a fort and Maci and I went to work on dessert.  Thin Mint ice cream with lots of sugary mix-ins, I know how to woo 'em.  We turned on Iron Man and watched it from our fort.

Disclaimer:  Our fort looked way cooler in person.  the top part rolled down to close you in and we had christmas lights along the back of the couch.

JJ's little corner nook looked so dang comfortable.  We had a love sac and tons of pillows.  The kid zonked out by 9:30.  I don't blame him, I probably would too if I were him.

And zonked out he was.  That kid could sleep through a fire alarm.  We sat near him and played games past midnight, he didn't even budge.  Steve and I taught the kids a non-traditional way of playing Apples to Apples.  We use only the green cards and we play to the person.  So for instance, if it was Steve's turn to judge, all of us would pick an adjective from our hand of green cards to describe Steve.  It's so much more fun this way, and it usually ends up being slightly insulting, which really is more fun.  I think by the end of the night I was described as cold, heartless, senseless, wonderful, zany, global, and desperate.  Awesome.

The next morning I had to get up super early to go take some pictures (I'm taking a photography class this semester).  When I got back the kids were just waking up so hopped in the kitchen and got to work making them "gourmet" cinnamon/fruit pancakes.  

After breakfast we played a few more rounds of Apples to Apples (we got them hooked on our way of playing it).

And sadly our sleepover fun ended.  Steve and I decided that we're going to make this a semi-annual event and start inviting all the other nieces and nephews (are we crazy?) who are old enough to sleep through the night.  I used to have an annual sleep over with my cousin at my aunt's house and it was the highlight of my year.
Being an aunt really is one of the greatest pleasures life has to offer.