Chicago

J and I took a great weekend trip to the Windy City.



We said goodbye to our girls and headed off alone.



We stayed downtown in the Fairmont with my parents, brothers, sister-in-law, nephew, and my brother's girlfriend. We love meeting up with family members to explore different places and vacation together.



Friday we toured the Windy City. I'd never been there before and absolutely loved it. Chicago has a beautiful downtown filled with modern, manly buildings, intersected by the Chicago river, overseen by the elevated train, and bordering the massive Lake Michigan.

We stopped in the Sears tower and tried to be brave as we stood on the 103 story sky deck- a panel of glass you can stand on that overlooks the city.

 


For lunch we ate Chicago style pizza at Giordianos and happened to meet up with J's brother James for a great chat.



In the afternoon/evening we took a bike ride along the lake, stopped at Navy Pier, walked through Millennium Park, got the required pictures by the Bean, ate dinner on Michigan Ave. and spent the night shopping at some of the fun and fancy stores on the magnificent mile.

 

Saturday we woke up early and left Chicago for South Bend, IN, home of the Notre Dame fighting Irish (and touchdown Jesus).



We started with a tour of the College Football hall of fame with Dave and Courtney (and sweet baby boy VCR) where we saw Lavell Edwards locker and J spent some time throwing the ball on the turf with his Dad and brother.

 

 Then we walked around the beautiful campus (gorgeous buildings and well preserved and maintained campus) talking and preparing for the game. The Notre Dame band escorts the team into the stadium before each game and it was a sight to see.




Inside the stadium, the next 4 quarters were a different matter and suffice it to say there were some long faces when we left.

We spent the night in Valparaiso, IN and saw their children's primary program (while at the same time missing the program of our own children at home). Bummer. Indiana was beautiful and we took the scenic route as we drove back into Illinois for our departing flight. Especially coming from the desert, it was so fun to experience great fall weather for a few days. The rain, the chilly wind, the beautiful changing leaves were a nice change of pace. Then we said goodbye to my family for a few months.



J and I dropped this sweet boy and his parents at the airport, and then had a few hours left in Chicago before our flight departed and decided to check out the Frank Lloyd Wright district in Oak Park.

 

It did not disappoint. We took a walking tour for an hour and heard about Wright's famous prairie style construction and saw several houses on the blocks that he'd been commissioned to design. They were each unique and had interesting features, but if we had to choose we'd land in this one.

 

We finished the afternoon off with a delicious sausage and Italian ice from Johnnie's and said goodbye to the fall weather and the windy city.



Get a load of this tree- it literally had leaves of every color.  Beautiful.



We arrived home to find all was well with our children. Our wonderful friends kindly consented to come to our house and stay with the girls while we were away and we couldn't be more grateful to them for holding everything down so well! Clean house, happy girls, and a welcome home sign were all we needed to feel like we'd arrived back in paradise.



Fall football trips/destination vacations are the way to go. This is one tradition that we'll keep for years to come.