Final Chicago Post! Day 2

Good morning!  

I was woken up by the train this morning, won't miss that!  Luckily it was good timing and I dragged myself out of bed and headed to the gym.  Weird to think in 9 days I'll be transitioning back to running outside, so excited!  Although basically having a private gym has been pretty awesome, no complaints there!  I ran a 5 mile tempo run with an average pace of 9:30, I am happy to be getting stronger as a runner.

  You know it is a tempo run when it looks like a heart monitor at a hospital 

Today is my last post on Chicago, you can read about our 1st day here and here.

On our 2nd and final day in Chicago we decided to head out for breakfast and asked the front desk for a good family spot.  They recommended Eggsperience on Ontario and it did not disappoint!  While we were walking there we passed by RPM Italian which is Bill and Giuliana Rancic's restaurant, I was super excited!  Sadly it did not open until 3, but yes I did peak in the windows. 

When we first walked in the lobby of Eggsperience it was packed and we figured it was going to be a really long wait.  The host immediately got our name on the list and we were seated in less than 10 minutes.  The service was awesome and the food was really good and not very expensive, I would definitely go back.

Love them 

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel, grabbed our car and headed towards Wrigley Field.  Our friends have a personalized brick at Wrigley Field and in addition to seeing this landmark I really wanted to find their brick.  It took a little while but I finally spotted it!

{Instagram Pic}

Once we were done freezing our noses off at Wrigley Field we headed towards our last stop, The Museum of Science and Industry.  It was included in our City Pass and it had the word science in it so there was no way Jess was skipping this one.  We go to OMSI pretty regularly in Portland, but this place is like OMSI on steroids.  There was so much to see and do there, Jess was totally in his element.

I was excited to see their Naval exhibit with an entire submarine on display.  I wish they would have had those 2 posters in stock, I think my brother would have really liked one of them.  

We were finally kicked out at closing and Jess was super bummed.  I think we'll definitely go back when we are in town again.  It was almost 6 at this point and we had a good 4 hours of driving ahead of us!  So we piled in and headed home.  It was hands down one of our best family trips to date, all 4 of us had such a good time and there was never a dull moment.  I am already saving my pennies for the 2014 Chicago Marathon!  

Tell me about your run today, are you training for an upcoming race?  

What is your favorite trip to date?  

Do you collect things when you travel?  

- I have just started to recently collect Starbucks' mugs from the different places I've visited.  I have to really like the place though, those mugs aren't cheap!  We also collect magnets from every new place we visit.  We keep them on our fridge in the garage and it is a fun way to remember all the  places we have been.  

Chicago - Day 1 Part 2

Hi!  

I ran an easy 4 miles this morning on the treadmill and then headed to the grocery store, seriously out of everything.  Luckily we don't need much since we are heading home in 10 short days!  Crazy how fast it has flown by, although there were days where it couldn't go fast enough.  

I shared the first part of our weekend trip to Chicago here, so as promised here it the 2nd part of our day.  

After our boat ride down the Chicago river my Uncle Tom grabbed a police car and took us to meet his wife  Debbie and their daughter Dani at the Shedd Aquarium.  We basically were escorted all over Chicago like we were something special, it was amazing!  

  

The aquarium was packed and the line to just get in wrapped all the way around the courtyard.  I would guess it was at least an hour wait.  Since we knew we were going to be seeing a few of the museums while we were there we bought the Chicago City Pass.  The pass included the Willis Tower Sky Deck, Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science and Industry, which were all places we had planned on visiting.  We realized when we got the aquarium that Debbie and Dani weren't going to be able to by-pass the line like us and we sort of panicked.  Jess being Mr. Resourceful asked the friendly girl behind the City Pass booth what our options would be and she gave us 2 free wristbands for the aquarium!  FREE!  He walked back over to me in shock, he couldn't believe our luck, I couldn't either.  Honestly every person we ran into while we were in Chicago was over the moon friendly, such a great city.  

After the aquarium we all headed down to Navy Pier.  As soon as we walked in we saw a Thomas train and the girls were so excited to go for a ride.  

       

They also had to get some ice cream, I somehow resisted.  I honestly do not know how I walked out of there without a cone myself.  Self control at its finest.  

While we were at Navy Pier the girls caught eye of the Easter Bunny and actually requested they get to sit with him.  SHOCKED!  I jumped at the chance to get them in line and have their photo taken.  They never want their picture taken with Santa or the Easter Bunny.  It turned out pretty cute considering I had no chance to do hair or put on a pretty Easter dress.  

Another picture of a picture, boom! 

While we were doing the pictures Debbie went to get us some popcorn.  I am thinking regular movie style popcorn in the red and white bag, you know what I am talking about.  Ya, I was wrong, this popcorn was insane!  It is from Garrett's and she bought us 3 different styles, traditional butter, Chicago Mix and Chocolate Covered Caramel Crisp, dying.  We were inhaling the stuff on our drive home Sunday night, now I have to learn to live without it.

It was finally time to meet up with Tom, his other oldest daughter Megan and her husband Matt.  Tom and his family took us for traditional Chicago style pizza at Gino's East in downtown Chicago.  UH-MAZING.  I know I am not going to be able to go back to regular pizza, Chicago style pizza is hands down the BEST pizza I have ever had, there is no debate.  Don't bother trying to sway me, we eat a lot of pizza!  

Even better is this is the same pizza place he took my mom when she was a kid.  I still can't believe how much I loved this pizza.  Yesterday I was looking up Chicago style pizza recipes and what sets apart Chicago style from other styles of pizza, it is becoming an obsession.  

After dinner we headed over to Tom and Debbie's house to hang out and spend some more time together.  Jess, I and the girls called it a night around midnight, said our goodbyes and started to head back to hotel.  I am so glad I had the opportunity to spend the weekend with my family and they had the chance to meet Jess and my girls.  I cannot go on enough about how gracious and sweet they were to my little family, it was like we had known each other our whole lives.  Chicago is an amazing city, but it was the people who really made our day so wonderful!    

Stay tuned for Part 3 tomorrow!  

Chicago Day 1 Part 1

Good morning!  

We got home late last night from Chicago and while we are beat, it was the best weekend hands down.  As soon as we drove into downtown Chicago off of the expressway I was smitten.  It was 10:00 at night and the streets were filled with people and cars, not something this girls sees in Sherwood!  Sarah and Katherine were both mesmerized by all of the tall buildings and it was so fun hearing them oh and ah over everything.  We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in downtown Chicago and it was a really nice hotel, we even had a view!  

{Instagram Pic} 

Saturday morning we got up and ready for the day and our first stop was the Willis Tower, formerly the Sears tower.  I was nervous about doing the tower because long elevator rides and heights aren't usually a great combination for me.  I didn't want to miss anything my girls were doing though so I sucked it up and I am so glad I did.  The views from the 103rd floor were incredible!  I think we got lucky because it was a clear day and we could see everything while we were up there, I could not believe how far we could look out.  I also can not believe my girls were able to do this.

It still makes my feet tingle just looking at this picture.  

Plus I somehow worked up the courage to have this picture taken. 

I was desperate for a family picture of us up there!  And yes that is a picture of a picture, I roll pro like that.  We are actually on a plexi-glass clear floor, that isn't Photoshop and it is freaking me out the more I look at it.  Totally worth the panic attack though, the picture is pretty cool and I would have regretted not doing it.  

This is the building we were in, Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) 

And this is me zoomed in so you can see where we were standing, yikes!    

After we did the Tower it was time to meet up with my Great Uncle Tom (my mom's uncle).  I talked to his wife, my Great Aunt Debbie, on the phone and she said he'd be meeting us around the tower.  We decided to walk towards the river since that was where he would be coming from and as soon as we walked by each other I just had a feeling it was him!  I have only met him one time prior at my Grandfather's service 12 years ago but just knew it was him.  

He works as a Chicago Police Officer in the Marine Unit and he took us for a ride down the Chicago river in one of the police boats.  It was amazing!  He and his partner let the girls drive the boat the entire trip down the river, they were so gracious.  It was a beautiful clear day and part of the river was still green from the St. Patrick's day festivities the week prior.  I can now check that off of my list, I have always wanted to see the Chicago river green and couldn't believe I was actually on it while it was green!  I actually teared up...what a dork!

When we reached the end of the river we docked at his "office", could you imagine this is where you work everyday?!  The job is a challenge though I can only imagine...Chicago cop, hello?!

The view of the Chicago skyline from here

No words, breathtaking.  

This was all by 1:00!  It was the longest, quickest, best day in a long time.  I am going to have to break our trip down into 3 different parts because I don't want to leave anything out.  Mainly for my own record, I do not want to forget anything.  I promise this will become a running blog at some point again :)  I can also tell you the Chicago marathon WILL happen next year, Katie has already agreed to it!  

Have you ever been to Chicago?  

- Tell me about it!

What did you do this weekend?  

- Besides a lot of walking, no running actually occurred.  Tell me about your run instead!

      

   

Off to Chi-Town!

Hi!  

This will be short and sweet since we are heading off to Chicago in just a few hours!  

I wish I could fit my boots in one of those bags, oh well!  My general rule for packing us for a trip is no more than 2 bags for the 4 of us.  Usually Jess and I share a bag and the girls share a bag...but my hair dryer tends to find its way with the girls stuff.  I am going to do a post next week on how to pack for a family.  I've been traveling with the girls since they were 6 weeks old and have learned quite a bit in the last 4 years.     

We are driving so I am wearing my favorite Pro Compression socks.  I usually wear them for long road trips and when we fly, I notice they keep my feet from swelling up.  I tend to eat a lot of salt on road trips, ahem... 

I have been looking forward to Chicago since we arrived back in January.  My Grandfather grew up in Chicago and lived there his entire life until he joined the Air Force.  His brother and family still lives in Chicago and I am really excited for him to meet Jess and my girls.  I feel like I'll have a connection to my Grandpa for a few days and that is exciting.  He passed away suddenly when I was 16 and I was really close with him my whole life, so this trip will be special.  Plus it's Chicago with my husband and kids, going to be amazing!  This is our last big trip and when we get back it'll be time to start packing up and heading home.  

I packed my running gear and our hotel has an awesome fitness center so I plan on using it.  This week has been lacking in that department, but that is how life goes sometimes.  I was dwelling on it until I realized that is life and I'll just have to pick up where I left off.  Sun is shining in Michigan today and it is Friday, what more could I ask for at this very moment?!    

Since I don't have a workout to share, tell me about your best workout this week!  

Where is your favorite place to visit?  

Any big runs or races planned for this weekend?