Two weeks ago one of my dearest friends, Katie Irion, flew into Chicago late on a Thursday night. The next morning Anna and I left our kids with a baby-sitter and drove down to Chicago to spend two days in the city with her. I have never loved Chicago so much. It was nothing short of delightful. It was fun to explore new things, re-visit favorites, eat delicious food, and most importantly, just enjoy the company of these two dear friends of mine.
And now for a lot of pictures...
First up was lunch at Shake Shack. Richard and I discovered this place in D.C. I won't tell you how many times I ate there in one week. Imagine my delight when I heard they were opening up in Chicago. Yum.
After lunch we spent the afternoon at the Art Institute. It was beautiful and inspiring and huge.
Dinner was Chicago deep-dish pizza at Giordano's. Yum again.
We ended the night on a 75 minute architecture cruise around the city. The only bad part about this is the rain, and we were freezing by the end. However, it was beautiful and so fun to see the city lit up at night, plus we also learned a lot about Chicago.
Saturday's festivities began with breakfast at Wildberry, which we actually didn't even finish until 1:00 pm, and Millennium Park.
After that our plans kind of fell through due to good Chicago weather and very long lines, but we didn't let that spoil our fun. We rode the trolley to Navy Pier, walked around, took a taxi to the Magnificent Mile, and shopped.
We wrapped up our day with Pinkberry frozen yogurt and Garrett's popcorn (good dinner!) After that we met another Milwaukee friend who has moved away but happened to be in Chicago that day! Perfect timing. We found a nice grassy spot by a beach, ate popcorn, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.
We finally headed home about 6:30 that night. Our good husbands had held down the fort so that we could have an entire free day in Chicago, it was wonderful.
Katie spent the next day and a half in Milwaukee and we soaked her up. Sunday evening we had a dessert night with long-time Milwaukee people who knew the Irions...there aren't many left! It was such a fun evening though. Made me so happy, once again, for the time we've had here and the people we've met.
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| Katie moved away before Rachel was born, so they've only met each other twice before this, both when Rachel was less than one. Shockingly, Rachel adored Katie in the few hours they were around each other. Rachel walked around all day saying Katie, Katie, Katie. As a sign of affection Rachel gave Katie her half-eaten cookie and then asked to be held. Really quite endearing. |
We wrapped up Katie's visit with breakfast at Blue's Egg and a visit to Elm Grove Park. This was the only picture I got of our last morning. Marshall just looked so cute and grown up, all at the same time. Sigh...
Well, it was just the best weekend. So glad it worked out. And so glad we all have husbands who made it work out. Until next time!
