C-H-I-C-A-G-O

Josh and I got back Sunday night from a fun trip to Chicago with our friends Todd and Jenny. We planned this trip a few months ago because we all wanted to get away. And since we are both expecting babies in the spring we knew this would be a good time to get away before the madness began. Jenny, Todd, and I have been to Chicago before but Josh never has. I was so glad to be able to share one of my favorite cities with him. We had the best time. I have lots of pictures to share so consider yourself warned.

Wednesday after work Jenny and I hit the road to Todd's parent's house. Our husbands, both in the ministry, would join us later after Wednesday night church. We wanted to cut a little time off of our drive for Thursday.

Bright and early we hit the road. Todd and Josh did all the driving while the two preggos lounged in the back seat.

Our mother's sent us with some snacks for the trip. Just what we needed. :)

Not long into the trip we made our first, of many, Starbuck stops.

Then we stopped for a nice relaxing lunch.

Since Jenny and I are pregnant we needed (me especially) lots of bathroom breaks and other stops just to stretch our legs. We eventually made it to Chicago. We stayed outside of Chicago in Schaumburg because the cost was soooooo much cheaper. It's a nice suburb and had all kinds of neat things. We've (J, T, and I) have actually been to Schaumburg before so we knew what to expect. After checking into our hotel we headed out for dinner.

Enough said.

After a delicious dinner and dessert we all went to bed early to get rested up for our big day in the city.

Our hotel had a great complimentary breakfast and Todd made us waffles. They were so good!

We were all really impressed with where we stayed. It was so inexpensive yet it was very clean, spacious, and had great food. We will certainly stay there again.

We decided instead of driving into the city and paying to park we'd get a one day City Pass for the trains and buses. That was such a good idea.

Here we are about to get on the elevator at our train stop. Jenny and I avoided stairs as much as possible.

The Train

We made it. Yea!

We started out at Macy's so we could read the story in the windows.

This year's windows were based off of this book.

If you haven't seen Macy's window displays they tell a story with their windows. You go from window to window to read and see the illustrations.

Next up, the Christmas tree in Macy's. It was really pretty! After that we walked around the town some before heading to eat.

Todd was so nice to carry his pregnant wife's purse.

Michigan Avenue has some of the best shopping and it has great scenery.

Here we are by the river.

After some walking we decided to use our pass and get on a bus to head to lunch. Great decision.

Good times. When we got off the bus we headed to Gino's Pizza for lunch. Yum!!!! You have to wait a long time but it is so worth it.

Looks like some fellow hog fans have dined in there as well. What a beautiful sight!

We ate a little while we waited.

Delicious! We had to walk the pizza off some before getting dessert.

Sprinkles cupcakes! Woohoo! I had only been to the Sprinkles in LA and Dallas before going to the one in Chicago. Maybe I should visit them all?!

I got the Lemon Coconut and Josh got the Black & White

How's this for a lady ready to attack her cupcake?! Bring it on!

After dessert we walked and shopped some more.

Josh watched a little basketball while we looked around.

Then he milked a cow.

When we had enough of shopping we headed to Old Navy, bought some warm clothes then headed to Navy Pier. It's one of my favorite places in the city.

Josh wanted to drive us around the pier but that didn't work out. What a shame.

Here's the Ferris Wheel. Josh has never been on it so he and I rode it. It was neat to see the city at night.

Another thing I love about the Navy Pier is the shooting water.

By this time we were all getting really tired. We were ready to eat and go back to our hotel.

We got on a bus and headed to dinner at Ed Debevic's.

The waitress made us wear hats or she wouldn't wait on us. Ha. Typical Ed's.

The best part about eating at Ed's is when the wait staff dances on the counter. We almost missed it but we didn't. Bubbles, on the right, was our waitress. She was a pistol. After dinner we caught a train back to the suburbs and went to bed. We had a big day planned for Saturday.

Our Saturday morning started with breakfast (as if we hadn't eaten enough).

Walker Bros is so good!

And we were all really excited to be there. Every meal comes with pancakes so I knew I'd be served a feast.

A feast indeed.

We were so full after breakfast so we headed to Long Grove to look around. It was raining so that was a bummer. And it had gotten really cold. We managed to have a good time though.

No comment.

Josh found things to entertain himself while we all looked around. We eventually decided we were finished fighting the rain and cold and headed to a big outlet mall. It was freezing and we barely bought a thing so we didn't stay there too long. We headed back to the hotel for a nap. After we rested we went to Woodfield Mall. All I wanted on this trip was a Christmas ornament to remember our trip and at this point I hadn't found one yet. Thank goodness Macy's came through and I found the perfect one. I forgot to take a picture but I will. It's great. While I was looking at ornaments Josh found a friend.

We didn't stay at the mall long because we were starving. We went down the street to Maggiano's for dinner. We had to wait and hour and a half but it was worth it.

When dinner was over we went back to our room and went to bed. What a fun trip we had!!! We left early Sunday morning to head back to Arkansas. We were exhausted and ready to get home but I could go back this weekend if they'd let me.