Chicago, my love....
We had a short get-away to Chicago this past weekend and had a great time! I had the CASE V Conference for work and Ron, conveniently enough, also had a conference in Chicago, so we decided to go a little bit early for some family fun. We had planned on taking Patty to Chicago for her birthday back in October, but those plans had to change a bit because of some out-of-town guests that they had. We packed a LOT of stuff into about a day and a half!
Our first stop was to the Hershey's Store to get some hot chocolate. Yuuuu....mmmmm...
As we were there, we decided that we would take a horse-drawn carriage ride while we drank our hot chocolate. Here's Ron & Patty in the carriage: 
And us in the carriage: 
Here's Patty and I after our ride:
Then, after walking along the Magnificent Mile for a bit, we decided to stop off for some Chicago-style pizza. Oh, the bliss!!
As we were there, we decided that we would take a horse-drawn carriage ride while we drank our hot chocolate. Here's Ron & Patty in the carriage: And us in the carriage: Here's Patty and I after our ride:Then, after walking along the Magnificent Mile for a bit, we decided to stop off for some Chicago-style pizza. Oh, the bliss!!
It was POURING down rain, which put a big damper on our night. Chicago is so amazing at Christmastime, but we would have much preferred some big fluffy snowflakes to the rain that we got. Our pizza warmed us up a bit and then we headed to see the Macy's Christmas windows. Here's Josh under the horns that come out of the building:
Next, we made our way to the Christkindlmarket which is a German Holiday Market. It got to be pouring pretty bad, but we did a bit of browsing and Patty and I enjoyed a cup of the hot spiced wine. Here we are across the street from the Market:
And here is Josh and I in a bit of a reinactment of last year's Sear's Tower picture which was taken on the same weekend right before the 2007 CASE Conference:
On Sunday, my conference started at noon, so we met for breakfast, did a little shopping at my favorite store and then I left them to enjoy the city. Josh and Patty had a great day touring the city, shopping, seeing the Winter Wonderland at Navy Pier and burning off some of the (many) calories that we all consumed the day before! J didn't have the camera but if there are any pictures, I will post them later.
Next, we made our way to the Christkindlmarket which is a German Holiday Market. It got to be pouring pretty bad, but we did a bit of browsing and Patty and I enjoyed a cup of the hot spiced wine. Here we are across the street from the Market:
And here is Josh and I in a bit of a reinactment of last year's Sear's Tower picture which was taken on the same weekend right before the 2007 CASE Conference:
On Sunday, my conference started at noon, so we met for breakfast, did a little shopping at my favorite store and then I left them to enjoy the city. Josh and Patty had a great day touring the city, shopping, seeing the Winter Wonderland at Navy Pier and burning off some of the (many) calories that we all consumed the day before! J didn't have the camera but if there are any pictures, I will post them later.
That evening, my coworkers, Wendi and Susan, and I met J, Ron and Patty for dinner at Portillo's. We had some more Chicago-style hot dogs and roast beef. It was sooo good!
As if that wasn't enough, we got back to the hotel room and dug into our More Cupcakes. J and Patty picked them up during their afternoon of shopping and I couldn't wait to dig in!! Mine, not surprisingly, was a whole lot of chocolatey goodness! Josh's, not surprisingly, was a whole lot of caramel goodness!
(There are some much more embarassing pictures, but lucky for me, I am the one who writes these blogs, so you will never see those!)
Worth.Every.Calorie.
(There are some much more embarassing pictures, but lucky for me, I am the one who writes these blogs, so you will never see those!)Worth.Every.Calorie.Josh left on Monday morning to get back to work, so Monday night, I had to introduce Wendi (who might love chocolate more than me!) to the Hershey's Hot Chocolate. We did some Mag Mile browsing (yes...BROWSING! I only bought 1 small stocking stuffer for J! Despite the several things that were calling my name at Eddie Bauer and Crate and Barrel.) Here I am enjoying my brownie & hot cocoa:
After some more walking, lots of browsing and dinner at Buca di Beppo, we stopped for some fun pictures near the Tribune building. Here we are, Wendi to the right and me behind the suitcase:
Then we got some silly pics. Here I am in front of the Tribune Building:
And here is Wendi being blown around in the Windy City:
Finally, on the way home from the conference, Wendi and I stopped at the Visitor Center in Hammond. It is the 25th Anniversary of A Christmas Story, which happens to be one of Wendi's alltime favorite movies, so since the weather cooperated, we decided to stop by. Wendi took lots of pictures, but (and I am a bit afraid to admit this) since I haven't actually ever seen the movie all the way through, this was one of only a few scenes that I recognized (along with the mall scene where the elf kicks him down the slide). We had some fun with the scenes and it was actually pretty impressive. They all moved and seemed to be pretty realistic to the actual movie. Here I am getting into some trouble with the flag pole along with Ralphie.
After some more walking, lots of browsing and dinner at Buca di Beppo, we stopped for some fun pictures near the Tribune building. Here we are, Wendi to the right and me behind the suitcase:
Then we got some silly pics. Here I am in front of the Tribune Building:And here is Wendi being blown around in the Windy City:Finally, on the way home from the conference, Wendi and I stopped at the Visitor Center in Hammond. It is the 25th Anniversary of A Christmas Story, which happens to be one of Wendi's alltime favorite movies, so since the weather cooperated, we decided to stop by. Wendi took lots of pictures, but (and I am a bit afraid to admit this) since I haven't actually ever seen the movie all the way through, this was one of only a few scenes that I recognized (along with the mall scene where the elf kicks him down the slide). We had some fun with the scenes and it was actually pretty impressive. They all moved and seemed to be pretty realistic to the actual movie. Here I am getting into some trouble with the flag pole along with Ralphie.On a side note, we are thanking our lucky stars because Josh was in an accident on the interstate as he was on his way home Monday. Thankfully, no other cars were involved and he wasn't hurt. It was just the honda against a guard rail...and unfortunately for both bumpers, the guard rail won. You can imagine how much I got out of the conference session that I had to walk into about 2 minutes after talking to Josh. I am just so happy that my wonderful hubby was unscathed and we have much to be thankful for this holiday season!
