A few months ago Bea and I finally figured out a way to get together- in Chicago!! We brought our husbands along too, and called it great big a birthday/anniversary/friendship celebration! Every weekend in May was a busy one, but it was totally worth putting life on pause to go have some adults-only fun! But first, we dropped the kids off with the Tolberts for their final besties fling! They were more than happy to send us on our way.
Bea and Matt's flight was delayed, so we ate an anniversary dinner by ourselves (delish!) at the Cheesecake Factory- it has become a tradition thanks to my mom and dad!
And we really wanted to pick them up from the airport but their flight was delayed again, so we headed over to our hotel-right in the heart of downtown on the Chicago River!
.We did stay up until they arrived at the hotel around midnight, gave them big hugs and then hopped into bed. We had a full day planned for Saturday!
Bea has never been to Chicago, and it was so fun showing her all around our favorite city!
Of course we had breakfast at Beatrix, and they gave us these delicious pastries for free, I'm sure because Bea was with us!
And we walked,
a little memory pic for Allison- we came here years and years ago!,
and we checked out the Bean in Millennium Park,
Look! Authentic Chicago pigeons!
Living their best life.
We wandered all over beautiful and artsy Millennium Park
and enjoyed the tulips that were in bloom all over the city.
We walked over to Buckingham Fountain, which was actually set to turn on for the season that day!
We hung around and enjoyed a good therapy session in the shade for over an hour, but eventually we gave up on the fountain
and grabbed some Garretts popcorn on our way back across the river!
My kids have taught me to always be on the lookout for weird pictures. I thought they would like this one.
We had just enough time to check out the Water Tower- and a wedding!-
and apparently another pigeon-
before grabbing some Chicago dogs (gross)
and making out way down to the river for a long-awaited bucket list item of mine- an architectural tour of downtown Chicago skyscrapers!
And it did not disappoint!
At least for the 98% of the tour that I saw. It was perfectly warm and sunny weather and I definitely closed my eyes for a few minutes.... Jason did too.
But we still saw plenty of beautiful buildings, and we all enjoyed the chance to relax for a good 90 minute tour of one of America's most beautiful cities.
These are called the 'corncob' buildings!
Hee hee- thanks for humoring me Matt and Bea!
We had tickets for a 10:00 PM comedy show, and at this point we probably should have calmly grabbed some dinner and relaxed in the hotel for a while before making our way over to the venue, but no. Jason and I are vacation gluttons for punishment, so we set our sights on Navy Pier and walked, and walked and walked all the way to the end of the pier,
which was totally worth it.
Hooray! It's always so wonderful to be together!!
But eventually we had to turn around and walk back to our hotel. It was a hike! And we got a bit lost. By the time we got back to the room we had walked almost 12 miles that day and we were all feeling it. Downtown hiking for the 40-somethings was an adventure to remember, but we saw some beautiful sights along the way (when we weren't navigating Death Alley).
A few slices of Giordano's pizza perked us all back up and then it was time to head to the Trey Kennedy show- the reason we decided to meet in Chicago!
Grossest bathroom I've ever been in, but so many laughs and boy did I love sitting next to this cutie all night long. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful best friend!
Next morning was a lazy, long, delicious breakfast at Wildberry. I think we could have sat and chatted for another two days straight, but eventually we all had to head back home.
Hey look! They did turn the fountain on!
What a fun weekend! It's never easy to take time off from life as adults, but I'm so glad we did because we had such a great time together, and I think Bea has finally forgiven me for marching her all over the city. Next time we'll meet at the beach!
