anniversary trip

since we got married (6 years ago!), brian and i have had a tradition of switching off years planning our big anniversary date.  we don't do many fancy dates overall, usually just the typical dinner/movie or dinner only dates, so we have gotten into the habit of going all out for our anniversary.  it's so fun!  it is usually a complete surprise for the person not planning it, too, which makes it way more fun!

this year, i decided to do something really special because it will be a while before we do anything big, with the new baby coming soon.  we have been talking about taking a weekend trip to chicago for a couple years, so i decided to jump on it as our anniversary/babymoon celebration.  i mentioned the trip to kelly, and she was so excited because they have been talking about taking the same sort of trip for a while.  their anniversary is in may, so they post-poned their celebration to the end of june (which is when we went to chicago) and joined in on the fun.

the guys had no idea what we were doing.  so we thought.  if they knew, they did a good job pretending. they didn't know we were going out of town until we pulled into the airport parking area, then they found out where we were going when the attendants put the tags on our bags.  it was so fun surprising them! 

grandparents watched the boys while we were gone, so we could rest easy leaving them behind for 2 days.  we left friday after work and returned late sunday night.  it was a quick trip, but we had so much fun.  we stayed downtown, across the street from the river.  it was perfect location!  we did so much walking (especially since i was 6 months preggo).  we were exhausted.  but it was worth it!  the pictures will depict all the ground we covered. 

brian and i forgot our camera in the car.  ugh!  luckily, kelly had hers (as she always does), so all of these pictures are kelly's:


friday night:

on the bus from parking to the airport in kc.  where are we going???

arrived in chicago, bags in the room...out to eat.  sooooo delicious!

sorry for the blurriness...our hotel

saturday:

picture taken across the street from our hotel...before walking 100 miles.  ha!

our tripmates.  nathan and kelly

we walked to navy pier.  very cool.  and beautiful weather!

we had to get one of these.  brian is known for making conversation with statues.  hilarious!

navy pier

art sculpture on the way to navy pier...can you see?  canoes!

view of the city from the pier

people have so much money.  private yacht with a helicopter on the back.  insane!

lunch at gianni's (sp?) pizza.  best pizza i have ever eaten.

waiting for the train to go to wrigley field

these guys have been to a lot of different ball parks together.  next time, they can actually go to a game here...when kelly and i are not there.  they said they'll bring the boys when they get older.  fun!

on the train on the way back to downtown.  lack of planning on our part.  the game ended and we had to ride back with a million others on the train.  it was hot.  and muggy.  and sweaty.  on the train, smashed, sweaty bodies.  by far, one of the grossest things i have experienced.  brian and i tried to make light of the situation...

nathan did not think it was funny.  haha!

then, we walked to millinium park.  there was some opera/orchestra deal going on.  we tried to stay and listen, but honestly, it was pretty bad.  (and we are music lovers!)

so we soaked our tired feet in the little stream around the corner.

near millenium park, there was a mirror ball (i'm sure it had a real name, but i wasn't paying attention) and kelly went nuts with her camera.  seriously, i spared you from the 75 pictures that look like this and the one below.  it was pretty awesome, though!

after that, we went to harry caray's restaurant for dinner.  delish!

nathan and kelly stayed out and took more pictures while brian and i went back to the hotel.  i was beat.

so pretty!

sunday:

we all slept in (brian and i were up by 830.  ha!  funny what time is "sleeping in" after you have kids!)  we went to breakfast, just the two of us, then walked around and shopped a little until nathan and kelly were out and about.  it was a really nice, relaxing morning with brian.

our plan was to walk around the financial district and over to willis (sp?) tower, what used to be sears tower.  but, we walked into a black cloud and proceeded to run from it (literally) for the next 20 minutes.  we made it under the art museum overhang and sat there waiting for the storm to pass.  we sat there for about 40 minutes.  

waiting...

we then went back to the hotel and tried to decide what we were going to do from there.  the weather threw us off.  we decided to go to the contemporary art museum.  it was interesting, to say the least.  i'll spare you from those pictures. :)  then, we went to gianni's pizza again.  yes, again.  the pizza was that good.  then, it was time to catch the train back to the airport. 

thanks for a great weekend, brian, nathan, and kelly!  and even more, thank you, brian, for your love and support through the years.  i can say that--we've been together for 12 years!  12!  i love you brian, more than words can express.