Our whole family was excited that we would get to spend Father's Day weekend in Chicago! We headed up on Thursday and landed mid-afternoon. Both girls have become pros at air travel which we appreciate. I did laugh though as they asked what time we would launch. I guess that's a carryover from our time at Rocket Center a few weeks ago! David picked us up from the airport, and we headed towards their home. The Blackhawks were having their Stanley Cup celebration parade that day, and we decided it was best to stay in for the evening. We ordered in some delicious pizza and simply enjoyed being with David and Jan. Nick joined us towards the end of our time there, and it was great to visit with him again. We finally decided to head over to our hotel, so we could all rest up and get ready for a fun weekend.
I took tons of pictures throughout this trip, but I've tried to condense them down to collages where possible, just to save some space.
On Friday morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel and then drove over to Lincoln Park Zoo. It was an amazingly beautiful day! We were so fortunate with our weather the whole time. The zoo really wasn't too crowded either, so we were able to take our time and get up close and personal with the animals. The girls really enjoyed riding the endangered species carousel. We were all fascinated by the gibbon monkeys and their crazy calls. I loved being in the big cats' den where we were able to get incredible views of lions, tigers, wolverines, etc. Lily was very excited to get a stuffed animal from the zoo to match "Linca," the sea otter she got last time. She settled on a cute giraffe that she has named "Necklace." Mia decided she would save her souvenir buying for a later day.
After several hours at the zoo, we headed out for lunch at D4 which was so good. Then Jan took the girls while Ryan, David and I stopped by a great butcher shop and our hotel to get a few things together. Jan started by going to Walgreens to get the girls sweatshirts. Though it was beautiful, we weren't expecting the upper 50's for the weather! When the wind blew off the lake, it was really chilly! After they got sweatshirts, they walked over to Maggie Daly Park where a new playground had just opened. Mia was thrilled to see the new climbing wall! She spent close to an hour and a half on it. She was definitely the smallest person out their climbing, but she had the most determination. I'm truly amazed at her confidence and willingness to try things like this. Love this girl!
Just after she started climbing, David and Ryan dropped me off. Jan and I alternated staying to watch Mia and playing on the rest of the playground with Lily. It was a pretty neat one with lots of different areas to explore. It started out being not too crowded but then filled up as the day went on. We realized that was the last day of school for Chicago kids, so many were celebrating at the playground.
When Mia's climbing time was up, she joined us on the playground. They had a great time together.
David and Jan were very kind and offered to keep the girls for us at their home Friday night so Ryan and I could have a date. Nick found some tickets for us which we appreciated. We cheered on the White Sox this time, and loved that it was "Mullet Night" sponsored by Great Clips. It was hilarious. This was a great evening.
While we were at the game, the girls were having a blast swimming at David and Jan's home. They will always take the chance to go swimming!
They also took this time to play with Taz a lot. They love that little dog!
On Saturday, we enjoyed breakfast together and then stayed at their home for awhile. Ryan and I were super excited to visit Eataly for lunch; we love this place. It's probably one of my favorite places to visit, anywhere. After that, we went to see the newest Pixar movie called Inside Out. It was really cute, and we all enjoyed it. Saturday evening we spent eating all sorts of yummy meats and cheeses from Eataly. It was wonderful.
Sunday was Father's Day. We were thankful to have both Ryan and David around to celebrate with. Our girls have no idea how blessed they are to have Ryan for their father; he's a great one. We decided to celebrate by visiting the Adler Planetarium. It was a fascinating place. The first part was all about the Gemini and Apollo space missions which we all love. Ryan and I loved that the astronauts read the creation story in Genesis as a Christmas Eve broadcast from space. The NASA flight manual said they would do this because there was nothing more appropriate than this. I had goosebumps just listening to it. We visited the dome for an interesting space adventure movie, and we ate a little lunch in the cafe. There were some beautiful views of Lake Michigan and the city from the cafe. The rest of our visit was spent seeing how other civilizations used the planets to create calendars and tell time, and how our understanding of the solar system has deepened with scientists and their tools. It was a wonderful visit.
Another beautiful day; love this view from the Adler balcony!
We made our way back to the condo and got everything ready to grill out for the evening. Look at this beautiful view! This is on the 17th floor of the condo tower where they have lots of grills and patio space for the residents to use.
I think it's safe to say the girls were worn out from this weekend. This is them all cozy on our sofa bed in the hotel.
This is how we found them sound asleep the next morning.
On Monday, David picked us up. We enjoyed a breakfast at Yolk and then stopped by to see his new office. It's in a really cool loft setting. We got to meet his employees too which was nice. From there it was time to head to the airport to come on home. Our flight was delayed for a bit due to some bad weather coming in, but we managed to get out before it hit. Both girls fell asleep on the car ride home. It had been a big weekend. We all loved it though. We always enjoy our time with David and Jan. We look forward to doing it again!
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