Chicago...day 3

On our last day we ventured out to walker brothers for breakfast....a favorite restaurant of mine when we visited UR when I was a girl. It did not disappoint. 

Then UR took us to the Chicago botanical gardens. It was a perfect day, actually our whole trip was beautiful...in the 70's with sun each day!

On our way home we found a five guys burger for dinner which was new for us....it was tasty but we weren't in love. We are willing to give it a second chance though. 

Overall we had an amazing time! Sometimes we just need to sneak away like that and get away from it all and soak in a little bit of each other. We will for sure be headed back sooner than later this time. 

A big thank you to UR for his awesome cooking skills and hospitality and generosity for letting us stay with him!!!

Chicago day 2...

Tuesday morning UR took us to a fab bakery for breakfast in this hometown. It was amazing!!

Afterwards he dropped us at the metra station near his house. We decided that public transportation was easier than paying for parking and traffic jams. 

First on our list was The Field Museum. Owen was curious about the mummy exhibits but Wyatt wanted to get out of their ASAP!!

We had this exhibit all to ourselves and Owen enjoyed listening to the man who worked there talk all about what everything was. 

"Sue" was of course the coolest part of our visit. 

The cabs in Chicago were a bit tense. Most of the times I wasn't worried about not having booster seats but when we exceeded 70mph in a 40mph zone I was pretty anxious. Thankfully we all made it okay!

Our s cond stop was the museum of science and industry.....way more kid friendly. We decided to split up here as we had a movie come with our tickets and Wyatt wanted to see the humpback whale one and Owen wanted to see the adventure in space one. 

Both boys were IN LOVE with this city and train track set they had on display. Like they could have been there looking at it for hours and follow the trains around...again and again and again!!

I hung with o while kris and Wy paired up. Honestly it was nice to have some separation. I think it was best for each boy to do exactly what they wanted to.

Our last pass for the day was to the sky deck in the old Sears tower, now the Willis tower. We were in an elevator for 103 floors......and while the view was breathtaking I was ready to get back to street level in about five minutes. 

Owen was so brave!

And wy too!!  Never in a million years did I think he would walk out there.....so proud of both of them!

I'm not going to lie, I walked out their on my tippy toes, there is such an unnatural feeling about the whole thing....but again totally worth it. Kris on the other hand, not even an inch of him would get out there....

So beautiful!

And finally our last destination in downtown Chicago.....drumroll please!!!!! The LEGO store. It was the grand finale of our trip. 

I signed the boys up in advance for one of their Lego building creation activities. 

It was a shark that they got to make and keep. 

And this is their Christmas present from us to them...besides the trio they both got to pick out something from the Lego store. 

Wyatt picked out a police station set and a set of police minifigures and a small Christmas set and Owen picked out a large Christmas village set and a small Christmas train set. 

Overall it was the perfect end to another busy day!

Chicago- day 1!

This year we decided to take the boys to Chicago for their Christmas present. We've been choosing a trip each year for Christmas in lieu of lots of presents under the tree that are 1) unneeded and 2) not remembered. I think this is our third or fourth year of celebrating like this. I know the boys would love to have tons of presents but I'm hopping that as they get older they will remember our traditions and carry them on in their own families. 

We left super early last Monday and drove straight to Chicago. We were thankful for the time change of one hour as it gave us an extra hour to roam around in the aquarium, which was amazing! Hands down this was the ultimate favorite destination of our entire family. 

Check out their faces.....and this is after having been in the car for close to 5 hours. 

After Shedd we ventured out on a walk to find the Navy Pier...big mistake! We knew it was a bit of a walk but we were sure we would find some form of transportation to get us there. Nope!! We walked the entire distance. It was painful after an already long day. 

Wyatt was less than enthused....oh and we were hungry too!

Thankfully they gave us a few smiles. 

After Navy Pier we headed back to the aquarium to get the car, we found a taxi this time and everyone was a lot happier.....until our drive from downtown to my uncles in rush hour. I am definitely not a city girl. 

Alas we made it to the great UR's and were greeted by some Christmas decor and filet mignon and shrimp followed by some pumpkin pie. It was the perfect close to our day.  It allowed us the downtime we needed to refocus on the purpose of our trip. 

Next up is day 2!