Chicago Trip

We took our last vacation (for awhile) last week.
On July 2nd we flew to Chicago, rented a car, and drove 3 hours to Bobby's hometown.
We spent lots of time with Bobby's Mom, Step-dad, Sister, Brother-in-law, and twin nieces. It was so great to spend some quality time with all of them since we don't get to see them but 1-2 times a year.
July 4th was the big family reunion. We got to spend all day with Bobby's huge family. They all expressed (over and over) their surprise that 1) Bobby actually got married, and 2) Bobby is about to have a baby. Lots of jokes and laughs at his expense. :-)

Bobby & I headed back to Chicago on Sunday. When in the city, we returned our rental car, checked into our hotel, and had Chicago-style pizza for dinner at Lou Malnati's.
Monday we shopped til we dropped.....The Magnificent Mile of Chicago on Michigan Ave.



We paused shopping for a stop at Millennium Park to see "the bean" and the "spitting fountains".
















After a long day of shopping we decided to have an early dinner at highly-recommended Shaw's Crab House. Bobby enjoyed delicious oysters, and we shared some amazing king crab legs. We decided to stop for some dessert at Tavern near our hotel. We told the waitress to surprise us with her recommendation, and she brought us the BIGGEST chocolate cake I've ever seen in my life.....we were only able to eat maybe 1/3 of it.

Tuesday we did the Double Decker Bus Tour all over downtown Chicago. Our first stop was at the Sears Tower - Sky Deck. We stood in a super-long line to just get into the Sears Tower where several more lines waited for us. Once we got to the ticket buying line, Bobby noticed the "express pass" option and solidified his "Hero" status with me. By getting the express passes, we got to skip all the many lines and get right up to the top.




















For lunch we ate more Chicago-style pizza at the famous Giordano's. Yum! Yum!
After lunch we hit a few more top spots in Chicago that took up the rest of the day:
- Shedd Aquarium - The Field Museum - Navy Pier

After a relaxing breakfast Wednesday morning, we packed and headed for the airport.

Overall it was a great trip...I really enjoyed the few days Bobby and I got to spend together away from our daily life. We really do know how to make the most out of our vacations together. But hands down, the best part of this trip was getting out of the crazy Texas heat for a week***. During our vacation we enjoyed highs mostly in the 70s, and low 80s a couple of times. We took full advantage of the beautiful weather and spent most of our time outside. We even ate most of our meals outside. So Nice!

Trust me, it was not lost on us that this will be our last easy trip for a long time..... We did take time to appreciate not pushing strollers around the airport, or dealing with crying/screaming babies on the airplane. We know that we have lots of trips in our future that will not be nearly as effortless.

***Did you know that today is Day 28 of triple digit temperatures for Austin!?!?!? Of course I picked the hottest summer ever to be prego.......
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