Chicago Day 2- Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum

Our second day in Chicago was a cold and busy one. It rained for most of the day, but we didn't let it slow us down. We started our day with a yummy breakfast at the hotel, then set off for a bus tour around the city. The tour was really great and we learned a lot about the history of the city from our tour guide. We braved the top level of the double decker bus, even in the cold and periodic rain. Thank goodness for warm jackets, because we got some great views of the city!

When we got to the Shedd Aquarium, I just about died, because the line was about a quarter mile long. No joke. Thankfully, we had a Go Chicago pass, which made our wait about 30 minutes. If you ever plan on going to Chicago, please get a pass. It is so worth it!

The aquarium was great, but my homesickness started to hit, because I knew the girls would have loved it there. There was so much to do for little ones, even a little Arctic Play Zone, where they could pretend to be penguins. There were families everywhere and I kept seeing my girls all over. I kept it under control though when I thought of the lines the kids would have had to endure. Whew!

We didn't get to see a dolphin show, but I was able to get a sweet video of a mama dolphin and her baby.

After we left the aquarium, we walked over to The Field Museum. Our first sight was of Sue, the world's largest T-Rex. Emma loves dinosaurs and I was excited to get pictures to show her.

This is Sue's real head, which is too heavy to sit on top of the rest of her body.

Andy and I both loved the mummy exhibit, but I don't have any pictures to share because I was too involved with looking and completely forgot!  I'm not sure if I was allowed to take pictures anyway. There were a lot of interesting artifacts in that exhibit!

After touring, we caught a cab back to our hotel, where we rested up and talked to the girls. We were planning on having pizza that night and the restaurant was just a block up the street. It was still raining, but it wasn't worth a cab. It is so funny to me that here at home, I will drive my car from one end of a strip mall to the other in nice weather, instead of walking, but I think nothing of walking in the rain in the city because it's the easiest, and fastest, option.

Dinner that night was at Gino's East, for some famous, deep dish Chicago pizza. The line to get seated was out the door and around the corner, which, apparently, was the norm. We waited for about 35 minutes to get seated and then another 40 minutes for the pizza to cook. But it was SO worth it! Yum!

After a very long day, we headed home and got a good night's rest for the next day, which would be our last. Stay tuned!

Chicago Anniversary Trip Day 1- Sightseeing on the Magnificent Mile

Last week, Andy and I took advantage of my Fall Break from school to take an anniversary trip to Chicago.  I was a little apprehensive about taking another trip without kids, since the last one was kind of a bust. When I was pregnant with Sophia, we took a trip to Baltimore, and it didn't work out well. It was my first time to really be away from Emma and my pregnancy hormones reminded me of that fact every single second.

This time around, I was determined that even though Andy and I would miss the kids, we would enjoy our time together. I'm so glad we went, because Chicago is an amazing city. It was the first visit for both of us and we were really excited to explore together.

Our first day was spent getting acquainted with the city and touring the Magnificent Mile. Our hotel was right in the heart of downtown and we were able to walk everywhere on the first day. I have been to lots of big cities, and I have to say, Chicago is one of the most beautiful that I have seen. There is so much history and the buildings are gorgeous, both old and new. They also have beautiful landscaping throughout the city. I loved walking through this huge metropolis and then stumbling upon a beautiful garden.

Ok, enough talk...here are the pictures from our first day. Be warned; there's a lot of them!

The view from our hotel room.

Lego Land

From the top of The Water Tower Mall

The John Hancock Building

The view from the John Hancock Observatory.

Out hotel is the red building with the rounded top on the top right side of this photo.

Tomorrow's post will be from our bus tour and our trip to The Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium!

Hang In There!

See this?

This is my sad, old laptop. It has worked hard for me over the years. Six, to be exact. Which is about 538 in computer years.

This tired Mac just doesn't want to blog anymore. It can't download any pictures, it thinks about following a command for about 30 minutes and then usually decides to go to sleep instead. I have so many pictures on my camera that I can't download and it has been driving me crazy! There's so much I want to tell you about: our trip to Chicago, playing, blowing bubbles, camping in the backyard...I have this incessant need to share.

We have plans to buy a new computer soon. But for now, I have to settle for life via Instagram. Here's what we've been up to in a nutshell:

Hang in there! We'll be back soon!