Fall break in Chi-Town

We had so much fun on our Fall Break visit to Chicago...."yes come in October, it will be beautiful then!"....well that turned out to be a bit of a stretch...they were having unusually cold weather for this time of year, but we didn't suffer any permanent frost damage and got to wear some cute hats, scarves and jackets.
We spent a couple days in the city with my FAB cousin Stacy and her awesome husband Drew. Drew grew up in Chicago and was a great guide to the city. We had Chicago style dogs at Portillo's and visited Millennium Park , walked up Michigan Ave, ate Garrett Popcorn , and watched the sun set over Lake Michigan from the 96th floor of the Hancock Building, before heading home to have some authentic Chicago Deep Dish from Lou Malnati’s. On Sunday we got to watch the runners in the Chicago Marathon as they ran through Stacy and Drew's Little Italy hood. Then we visited Lincoln Park, the zoo and had some more great Chicago Food.

The Bean in Millennium Park



Millenium Park

















Werid Silver Statue Guy outside the Wrigley building....Em was scared of him!







We all loved this great American Gothic Statue!




















I think the sunset from the Signature Lounge in the Hancock building was my favorite part of the whole week!












Chillin' at Drew and Stacy's after the deep dish.










Emily and Stacy running the Chicago Marathon!




















Neat Columbus statue in Little Italy by Drew and Stacy's house. Thank you Columbus for finding American so we can have fall break and come to Chicago to visit our cousins!




















Lincoln Park Zoo with the Hancock Building in the background.












MMMMM ice cream sundaes for dinner at Margies!!!!!
















On Sunday evening Stacy and Drew drove us out to Hinsdale where we would spend the rest of our trip with my BFF and her fam. Kim's family moved to Chicago almost two years ago and are loving it there. It was so great to see them! On Monday Kim, her 8 year old Abby, Em and I had reservations to visit the Flagship American Girl store on Michigan Ave! These two girls LOVE AG!!!! We took the train into Chicago and headed for AG. We started out with a beautiful Brunch in the cafe, followed by the dolls getting their hair done and then some serious shopping! After several hours at AG we did some more exploring on Michigan Ave and went back up to the Signature Lounge in the Hancock for some day time views. Then had more Chi-dogs at Portillo's before heading back to Union Station for our train ride back to Hinsdale. It was a fantastic day.














































We miss these boys so much!!!!!!!!
Blakey


Eric

















Tuesday was a bit crazy day, Kim's husband Chris ended up in the hospital after being up all night Monday with chest pains and crazy high blood pressure. Kim got Chris checked in to the hospital then came home to take us on a quick trip to Graue Mill a beautiful nature preserve and working water wheel gristmill. It was a gorgeous spot and we took some awesome pictures of the kids! Then Kim headed back to the Hospital to be with Chris and Em and I got to spend the day with Blake, Eric and Abby! We miss these kids so much, it was great to hang out with them and catch up! They showed us around Hinsdale and took us to some of their fav spots, like Cosi for a great lunch, then we narrowly escaped an international incident and possibly being sold as indentured servants at the town candy store over some spilled skittles...phew, great candy store but not sure it was worth dealing with the Candy Nazi!









MMMMMM Murphy!!!





















Chris spent one night in the hospital and after lots of poking and proding they think he was dealing wiht a hypertensive attack that they will keep and eye on and mange with high blood pressure meds. On Wednesday Kim showed us around her favorite places in Hinsdale and we had lunch together before picking her kiddos up from school and heading for the airport to fly home.


Hangin with some of the Hisdale locals!

It was a great trip and we look forward to going back soon maybe in the summer ;) Emily LOVED the big city!!!! But we were both happy to get back to the beautiful Arizona fall and our gorgeous mountains!


I know what you're thinking.....man this looks like a great trip...i wish I could see more picutres...well you are in luck I have uploaded way too many here...

http://picasaweb.google.com/christa.flook/FallBreakInChicago#

Happy Fall everyone!