James and I were lucky enough to tag along on one of Chris’s business trips to Chicago back in November. We happened to be in between foster kids and the timing just worked, so we jumped on it.
We arrived on Wednesday and while Chris headed to the office, James and I grabbed lunch at Potbelly’s and then walked through the city to the
Lincoln Park Zoo. It’s open every day and it’s completely free. What a great way to start our trip!
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| James will take any opportunity to run, especially on a gorgeous fall day! |
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| This tree was so beautiful he just had to hug it. |
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| Me and my boy loving the crisp fall weather and beautiful changing leaves. |
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| Getting a closer look at the Chicago skyline. |
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| This is the closest we have ever been to a lion. It was so fantastic! |
That night we all had dinner at
The Purple Pig, which is my favorite restaurant in Chicago. I was super excited to take Chris there and he loved it (as I knew he would).
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| These two are just the cutest! I’m one lucky girl. |
Thursday morning, James and I went by the Maestro office to meet some of Chris’s coworkers. It’s always nice to be able to put faces with names you hear so much about– for them and for us.
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| James models one of Mr. Tony’s many hats. Looking good, guys! |
James insisted on having lunch at some place called
Devil Dawgs (not too bad!) before we headed to the
Field Museum for the afternoon.
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| This kid can really eat. He loved it!! |
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| He’s pretending to run from Sue. Who has been dead for a very long time. He’s funny. |
Having seen an interesting exhibit on the Terracotta Army at Epcot, James and I had done some more studying and research on them and found them so fascinating. When we got to the Field Museum, we were excited to discover that there was an exhibit on them there as well. The best part was learning that China only allows ten warriors out of the country at any given time, so the ones in Chicago were the only ones outside of China at that time. We were able to see the actual warriors taken from the dig, not just replicas. It was awesome!
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| “Are you ready for the Terracotta Warriors?” |
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| Such an amazing piece of archaeology and history. We were thrilled to see them in person. |
The Field Museum is really great and well worth the visit. We also enjoyed exhibits on Ancient Egypt, Tattoos through the ages, and of course, the dinosaurs.
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| A lovely goodbye to a great museum. See you next time! |
Of course James couldn’t visit Chicago without trying deep-dish pizza, so we headed to
Lou Malnati’s for dinner that night and were happy to have Chris’s friend/coworker, Eli, join us as well.
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| Yes. This blog is 90% pictures of food. Yes. James eats most of it. |
Friday started off properly with giant donuts and coffee for breakfast at
Fire Cakes.
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| Delicious! |
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| He can’t believe I’m going to let him eat the whole thing! |
After doing a little shopping after breakfast, we joined Chris and some of his coworkers for lunch at
French Market, which happens to be right near his office. There were so many amazing choices that I was almost paralyzed with indecision. Then, James and I were off to the
Art Institute. What a really great art museum that is! I’m a big fan of the Impressionists and enjoyed seeing so many works by Monet, but my favorite part is talking to James about all the different types of art and watching him discover what he is drawn to or curious about.
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| We are about to get our learning on! Time to see some art! |
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| James wanted our picture taken in front of Monet’s Houses of Parliament since we had just been to London. |
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| Taking a selfie with Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. We think the puppy looks like a little Leo. |
Friday night’s dinner was at Grand Lux Cafe with Chris’s friend/coworker Trevor, and his wife, Catalina. It was such a fun night and we were glad we got to spend time with them. Unfortunately, I was apparently having too much fun to take any pictures! Sorry, guys. We will have to do better next time.
Saturday, James and I were excited to finally have Chris along with us for a day of fun! We started out with some coffee from
Bow Truss Coffee Roasters and then headed to the
Skydeck because James was super excited to stand out on the glass floor and look down. Unfortunately, it was too windy that day and it was closed. He was pretty bummed about it because he had been really looking forward to it, but now it gives us something to plan for when we go back. So, we got a Lyft and headed for the
Museum of Science & Industry which we had heard good things about. We had a great time there and would definitely go back next time we are in town.
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| James was excited that his hot chocolate had a “design” like the coffees. |
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| Train exhibit silliness. |
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| Coming as no surprise to anyone, James waited in line forever to “drive” this combine. |
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| They happened to have a phenomenal Lego exhibit while we were there. These two were in heaven!! |
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| He’s “walking like an Egyptian”. #raisinghimright |
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| A little piece of home in Chicago. |
On the recommendation of some of our favorite people, the C Family, who hail from Chicago, we had lunch at Portillo’s. So, of course, we had to take a picture and send it to them to make sure they were jealous. (Love you guys!)
After that, we decided to take a bit of a break back at the hotel room. We were all pretty worn out from such a busy week of fun (and work for Chris, sorry babe!) Dinner that night was at
il Porcellino and it was really good! The food in Chicago did not disappoint and I can’t wait to go back and eat there again.
Sunday morning was cold and we grabbed a quick breakfast at
Do-Rite Donuts & Coffee and then walked to Millennium Park where we could check out Cloud Gate before heading to the airport. Chicago is a great city with lots of delicious food, nice people, and a gorgeous location next to the water. We can’t wait to go back, preferably when it’s a bit warmer.
