Our trip to Chicago was so over the top fun that its hard to try to pour those memories into a blog post! It was a fantastic five days with such an incredible family! This really will be a vacation I will cherish for a very long time and I'm so thankful to the Chicago Ginn's for making it happen!
That being said, it didn't start out so great. Our flight was delayed SEVEN hours!! And two of those hours we were in the plane on the tarmac! All things considered, our two 4 year old travel mates did a pretty decent job. I think the waiting was probably the hardest on me! Thank heavens I had Nana!! We would have never survived! Thank you Nana!!
But once we got to the Windy City all the festivities began. Saturday was a beautifully memorable day for Kate's First Holly Communion. She looked gorgeous, the church was spectacular, and the service was lovely. I will never forget her face after drinking the wine sacrament for the first time or her response to a compliment. During mass I leaned down to give her a hug and whisper "you are the prettiest one here." Without even missing a beat she said "I know!"
Who knew you could have a Mormon Godmother? I absolutely love it and feel so honored!
I gave her the rosary I bought over 10 years ago at The Vatican while back packing thru Europe.
After the church Tyler and Vicki proved again that they really know how to throw a party! They hired a food truck that served up the most incredible gourmet burgers I've ever had from their drive way! We shared those with Vicki's awesome family and their great group of friends who are very nice people and great conversationalist. All the kids played outside together and there were lots of little girls to completely doat on Keagan and especially Riley. There was probably around 75 party guests that came and went but two close families stayed into the night. That worked out fantastic for me because I ended up winning 60 bucks when Keagan and Riley's assigned horses won the Kentucky Derby! And I had girls fighting over who could bathe my babies! Unfortunately the dynamic duo of Keags and Tess did maybe dampen the celebration just a little when they picked a bunch of the neighbors flowers. Apparently their horseys were hungry. That resulted in some great apology notes to the forgiving neighbors.
How do you know it was a fantastic party? When you can't stay awake for breakfast!
Sunday was a day to relax in one of the most beautiful houses I've ever seen and let the kids play and have a total blast! We did go out to lunch and Maya and I teamed up to complete a poster board for her school project. But we really just spent most of the day relaxing and watching the cousins have an absolute blast together!
Monday was a busy day full of lots of fun. We went to the Shed Aquarium in the morning. By far the most amazing aquarium I've ever seen! It was spectacular! The Baluga Whales, the gigantic crab, jellies exhibit, touching star fish and dressing up like penguins were the highlight!
After an enjoyably delicious lunch at Chicago Cut right on the water, we really enjoyed the beautiful Millennium Park. You can't go to Chicago and miss The Bean, which Keags calls The Pickle!
And then we had a quick trip through the Art Institute of Chicago. Its fun to translate pieces from a text book to real life, so I really enjoyed the Picasso exhibit and the Thorne rooms!
For dinner we devoured Chicago style stuffed pizza! Yumm! I really shouldn't be surprised that Riley quickly passed on the kids thin crust cheese pizza and had an entire slice of this monster!
On Tuesday we made a little road trip to Michigan so Nana could check it off as the 47th state she's been to! The town of New Buffalo gifted us amazing views of Lake Michigan. It was darling and we had a great lunch, fun at the park and yummy ice cream.
That night was more cousin bonding and memory making. The gruesome twosome of Keags and Tess happened to be playing a game of "hide from the evil baby!"
And guess who the evil baby was?
I thought it was harmlessly amusing but Tyler was not all to pleased and so nicely encouraged me to "be a parent!" Hahaha!
That was what made this trip so spectacular. Tyler wasn't working so we all had fantastic time together which was of course used to make fun of each other and laugh. And all the kids just played and played and cemented great relationships and memories! I am so thankful for our trip to Chicago, for the memories made, relationships renewed and strengthened and not least of which that our flight home was easy peasy! Thanks Tyler, Vicki, Maya, Kate and Tess! Love Chicago and love you all!
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