Home again, home again. One of my favorite things about a vacation is how wonderful it is to be home afterward - no matter how incredible the trip was!
Last month (man, I'm behind!), Mike and I flipped the calender to April and realized that if we were going to try to get away for a few days before Baby Girl gets here, our options were the 8th-12th or the weekend of May 24th - at which point I would be almost 37 weeks pregnant. No thanks, that'd be crazy uncomfortable. It also helped the decision that the 9th was Mike's birthday, so these two super frugal people were able to convince ourselves to splurge a little. So we quick consulted our bosses and were luckily able to get work taken off for Wednesday through Friday!
That Tuesday, I had my 30 week appointment and then picked Mike up from work. After helping him get everything ready to be gone for 3 days, we hit the road. About 6 hours in the car and a quick stop for dinner in Davenport later, we arrived at our hotel in Chicago. We decided to stay at the Best Western River North because they offer free parking (otherwise about 50 bucks a night!!) It wasn't anything special, but it was clean and the bed was comfy.
Wednesday we slept in and then checked the weather. It looked like rain on Thursday, so we decided to do our outside attractions on Wed. We walked the couple miles up to Lincoln Park, stopping for lunch right before we got there at a restaurant called Nookies. They had trident forks. Fail.
After lunch we headed into the Lincoln Park Zoo. It has become tradition for us to go to the zoo when we take trips the two of us. So far Omaha is still my favorite, but St. Louis and Lincoln Park both are worth your time - plus Lincoln Park is free! You can check out my animal pictures here.
We left the zoo at about 4:30 to walk to Navy Pier. When we got to the pier we had dinner at Capi's, an Italian place in the pavillion - chosen mostly because we could get seated immediately, we had walked about 10 miles so far that day! Unfortunately, it was during dinner that we discovered that the ferris wheel was closed for maintanence and the rest of the rides opened for the spring on Friday! So after dinner we finished up our walking for the day by heading back to the hotel and crashed early.
After lunch we headed into the Lincoln Park Zoo. It has become tradition for us to go to the zoo when we take trips the two of us. So far Omaha is still my favorite, but St. Louis and Lincoln Park both are worth your time - plus Lincoln Park is free! You can check out my animal pictures here.
We left the zoo at about 4:30 to walk to Navy Pier. When we got to the pier we had dinner at Capi's, an Italian place in the pavillion - chosen mostly because we could get seated immediately, we had walked about 10 miles so far that day! Unfortunately, it was during dinner that we discovered that the ferris wheel was closed for maintanence and the rest of the rides opened for the spring on Friday! So after dinner we finished up our walking for the day by heading back to the hotel and crashed early.
Thursday ended up being a beautiful day so after lunch at the Slurping Turtle, we walked (again- oh our aching feet!) to the Field Museum. Their traveling exhibition right now is on biomechanics - right up our alley! We walked the museum for a couple hours, took dorky pictures with Sue the dinosaur and then headed out.
At this point I had gotten pretty lame and sore from so much walking, so we meandered our way back, taking lots of breaks. I only kinda getting stuck laying on the low steps. Mike was sweet enough to take a picture instead of helping :)
Luckily, the halfway point for our walk back was Millenium Park, so Mike got to see the Bean for the first time. And of course we took the mandatory picture.
After getting back to the hotel, we got all fancied up and went to Kinzie Chophouse for Mike's (belated) birthday dinner. Fantastic. Seriously, I was super sad to not be able to take my leftovers back to the hotel (no fridge/microwave) and that was after eating so much of it that I honestly thought I could be sick. Yum.
At this point I had gotten pretty lame and sore from so much walking, so we meandered our way back, taking lots of breaks. I only kinda getting stuck laying on the low steps. Mike was sweet enough to take a picture instead of helping :)
Luckily, the halfway point for our walk back was Millenium Park, so Mike got to see the Bean for the first time. And of course we took the mandatory picture.
After getting back to the hotel, we got all fancied up and went to Kinzie Chophouse for Mike's (belated) birthday dinner. Fantastic. Seriously, I was super sad to not be able to take my leftovers back to the hotel (no fridge/microwave) and that was after eating so much of it that I honestly thought I could be sick. Yum.
Friday as our only day with anything on the schedule - an afternoon at the Spa at Dana. Before scheduling the trip ihad googled prenatal massages in Chicago and this spa was both recommended and only about 4 blocks from our hotel. We slept in and had a quick lunch at Portillo's and then headed to the spa. I'm so glad we scheduled it for the last full day because I was ready for it after all our walking the previous days! After we were done, I was ready to go again, so we decided to head back to Navy Pier. Their "swing into spring" opening was happening, so they had dollar rides on the giant swings and then we played some mini-golf. I aced the first hole, but then the pressure of the Masters caught up with me and Mike beat me by like 6 strokes :)
Our last big stop in Chicago was Eataly. It is kinda like an Italian restaurant and Ikea had a baby. We had dinner (Italian style pizza with fresh moz, basil and mushrooms) and gelato there after wandering the market area, then headed back to the hotel.
Our last big stop in Chicago was Eataly. It is kinda like an Italian restaurant and Ikea had a baby. We had dinner (Italian style pizza with fresh moz, basil and mushrooms) and gelato there after wandering the market area, then headed back to the hotel.
Saturday was our travel day. We packed up and checked out at about 10 and got on the road. About 30 seconds in, Mike announced that we could definitely get used to living in a big city so long as he never had to drive... ever. Once we safely made it out of the city, we headed to Ikea in Bolingbrook. We were super successful in terms of saving money by spending money. We got a loveseat and patio furniture, as well as toddler dishes/silverware. Winners :) Then just a five hour drive and a quick stop to set up the church for Sunday and we were home again, back to real life :)
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